Well it finally happened. I never thought it would, but it did. Yesterday, as I drank at a the Local Pub, one of the patrons approached me and said, “Are you Nathan DeGraaf?”
Ordinarily, that question scares the crap out of me. My heart skips a beat and I begin to question myself. I try to be coy and say things like, “Depends who’s asking” or “No.” Sometimes I even use that classic OC line, “I’m whoever you want me to be.” But I feel pretty safe in the Local Pub, so I just nodded and said, “yes.”
“You write for that website, Points in Case?”
I couldn’t fucking believe it.
“Yes. Yes I do. You go to that website?”
“Oh yeah, all the time. My friend Michelle and I just love it, especially that rude guy who’s always going off on the south.”
“Justin Rebello?”
“Yeah. Have you ever met him?”
“No. I emailed him once.” After saying that, I felt stupid.
“Anyway,” she said. “Your stuff is great. I loved that column on blowjobs and especially that one on whores. I think they should put that one on the walls of the womens' bathrooms in every restaurant around here.”
“Wow. That’s really sweet. What’s your name?”
“Angela,” she said and then quickly added, “I have a boyfriend. I just wanted to say that I like your work. I hope you keep it up. It’s a fun site, you know, for people who like to read comedy.”
“Thanks,” I said. “You’re the first person who’s ever approached me about my column. You just made my day.”
“You know,” she said. “You look a lot better with your hair like that.”
And then she walked away.
I took away a few things from that random run-in. First, apparently people do visit this site and all the people writing in may actually exist. That made me feel good. Second, Jessica did a good job on my hair and I’m sure I’ll be going back to her. And third, people aren’t as easily offended as I thought they were.
As the man says, “Zippidy-Doo-Dah.”