Greetings:

I've been trying out some different greetings and replies just to spice things up. In a previous post, I mentioned my "hope and despair" reply. That actually doesn't work very well. People always think something is wrong. So I've changed it up.

Now if someone asks me how I'm doing, I say "I'm on a roller coaster that only goes up." That works much better. Usually they remark something about roller coasters not being able to go up forever and that at some point a roller coast must go down. Thereafter the conversation segues into a deep philosophical conversation about whether suffering is the price we pay for moments of happiness.

Incidentally, that's a line from The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. It's the reply that Augustus Waters used when asked how he was feeling. He was on a roller coast that only went up. The best answer to that is to say "and it is my privilege and responsibility to ride all the way up with you."

I have a new greeting too. Some people like it, but others not so much. The greeting is "how's your online love life?" That has led to a couple of unfortunate defriendings.