I can pretend to be someone different, just like everyone else.

I put on my makeup and fix my hair, making myself pretty for the strangers.

The most intriguing influence about my gradual acquisition of a social life is all the new people I've had the unexpected pleasure of meeting. Those whom I come into contact with on a near-daily basis. Those whom I speak to once and never lay eyes on again. Those whom I run into in the most compromising of situations and end up acquainting whilst circumstances of our mutual introduction become nothing more than a memory we look back on and laugh about.

The accountant who wanted to be a DJ.

A man I met at the bus stop once upon a Saturday morning. He had claimed he was new to my city, having lived and worked in Nigeria for most of his life before transferring to his current location. He explained he was a radio host in his country, that he enjoyed his hobby more so than the career he was educated for. He said he used the opportunity to explain to his listeners the meanings behind the music he played, in hopes that others could feel the same inspiration while listening as he did. He says today’s music doesn't have that effect anymore.

I find it amazing how influential a single-serving friend can be. I could forget about him a week from now, a year from now, a decade from now, but the fact his memory stuck around long enough to inspire this entry means that he was, in fact, influential. I soon find myself pondering how influential I am to the people around me, seeing as the accountant may very well have already forgotten.

I wonder how he's doing.

The art of socializing is not one I will be bold enough to claim I have come even vaguely close to mastering, yet compared to the environmentally-influenced condition of solitude I've both grown up with and used to, I find this whole experience to be rather...fun. It's almost like how they say it is on television; good screenplays can help you decipher real people if you read into them just right.

Reaching the middle of nowhere is the fun part--going back the way you came won’t always be so easy.

Thankfully, returning to where I once was is no longer my intention.