Every piece of writing has a tone. In 12th grade English, Ms. Lamers told me that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has a festive tone. And that Beowulf has a pessimistic tone. Well, if I had to collectively tonate my last few entries, I would go with acerbicaustic. Not only is that not a word, it’s a decidedly negative not a word. I think there’s good reason at this point to write something with a positive feel. Here is my argument, briefly, in story form:

In a recent conversation I was asked why when I get upset, rather than directly expressing my negative feelings, I instead approach the issue humorously, in hopes that the other party will read my seriousness between the lines. After a bit of thought, I responded that since I have a very cushy life (two legs, probably not AIDS, etc.), I feel I don’t deserve to take minor irritations too seriously. A humorous, indirect approach helps me convince myself that I’m not overreacting but still (sometimes) gets my point across. This is admittedly disingenuous, and I think my readers are entitled to a minor penance, which here takes the form of my writing about puppies.

Last week I got to play with a puppy for 10min (see right for actual puppy played with). It was easily the highlight of my day. Said dog was a rescued bulldog mix, mottled black and white, and full of an insatiable desire to puppy-nip my fingers with its tiny puppy-teeth. The infant canine is cute because it mimics several physical and abstract attributes of infant humans. For example, its level of exuberance. The puppy is ecstatic solely to exist. It’s conscious memory being presumably quite short, even oft-repeated pleasures continuously surprise and delight it. Moreover, its affection for its owners is potentially limitless. Nothing can love so unconditionally. Hence, “puppy-love”.

That felt good.