The
lies he told himself to make himself feel better were usually about the
following things: his appearance, including assertions about his
weight; his possibilities for career advancement, and the way such
advancement would positively affect his mood; the cleanliness of his
apartment, in particular the bathroom where he kept the cat box; his
ability to remain relevant and aware about popular culture even when
taking into account his advancing age; his sexual proclivities, and the
way that, even though they were out of the mainstream, they were a
normal part of the spectrum of human sexual behavior; the fact that he
was very definitely going to be happy any day now.
The odds that he would believe those lies: not so good.
