I worked from the office yesterday. Our office is like a long hallway, and my desk is at the far end of it, so I’m mostly by myself, especially these past months when the desk next to mine was vacant.

Well, I got a little too used to being all by myself way down at the end there. Our office hired some new people and one of them was assigned the desk next to mine, so for the past five, maybe six weeks, I haven’t been entirely alone. The person who sits there now is so quiet, though, and I’ve become so used to being alone that I’m still in that mindset.

Where I’m going with this is: Yesterday afternoon, round about one o’clock, I caught myself eructating rather loudly, then realized I’d been doing that pretty much all day. This was just the first time I’d become self-aware that it was happening. When I did, I had to wonder why my next-door neighbor hadn’t said anything to me about it, but after a minimum of self-reflection I figured, she probably thinks I’m just a gassy old man. And I was surprisingly fine with that.