Alex makes me feel like a lamearse. He is as clever as shit (couldn't think of a more appropriate simile, I'm sure there is one) and he actually has opinions about things that matter instead of the stupid crap I'm interested in. (Brent, to a lesser extent, also makes me feel this way, but he loves me so I don't have quite so much of a complex about it.) Since coming back to NZ I've become a cocooned isolationist with a 'lalalalalala-I-can't-hear-you-up-there' attitude. I have become a NIMBY person. I don't *want* to be a NIMBY person. Maybe this is my 'I'm home and I'm decompressing' time. Or maybe I just really *am* a lamearse. Distinct possibility.