It almost seems out of character to write about myself, let alone think about posting it on the internet. Over the past few years I’ve become far more concerned with online privacy and taken several steps to safeguard myself against those who wish to strip it away. In addition, while I do consider myself to be somewhat introspective, this generally doesn’t manifest in written word; I usually either keep it to myself or verbally express my thoughts to those around me. Yet here I am, sitting on a bench outside the grocery store, writing an introductory post for this personal blog.
Perhaps I’m doing this in an attempt to conquer some long-standing mental block I seem to have with introducing myself. Open-ended questions like ‘Tell me about yourself’ always cause me to lock up and fumble my end of the conversation, regardless of the medium. What should I start with? My job? Hobbies? Values? My job is turbo-boring; not in a bad way, necessarily, but it doesn’t lend itself to interesting conversation, and if I wade into the more frustrating parts of my work I’m likely to come off as alienating. Hobbies… OK, I play video games, listen to music, run… none of that is super interesting, but those could be common interests. What’s the last thing I watched…? I can’t remember in the moment. Values and beliefs? I’d like to think those are pretty self-evident by the way I act, but of course this person hasn’t seen that. What even do I believe? I don’t usually have to verbalize it, I kind of just… do it. All of this plays through my head as I sit there in awkward silence, feeling my chance at establishing a real connection slipping away.
Thankfully, even in my adult life this quality hasn’t left me without friends. I’m incredibly fortunate to have landed in a social circle of people who take active interest in each others’ predilections, even when they wouldn’t otherwise share the same passion. Still, this limitation of mine finds plenty of opportunity to make itself known when I try to expand my social connections. A piece of advice I’ve seen given for people who have trouble making friends is to pick something unique about yourself, and then make it the thing you’re known for; bring it up often in conversation, maybe explain it to people who aren’t familiar, show photos or videos to elaborate, etc. My own experience with this tactic has led me to question its efficacy, but it nevertheless brings me to the namesake of this blog.
Cinnamon is the name of the Furret I carry around with me most every day at this point. Cinnamon was caught in an early-game area of Pokémon HeartGold back in 2023, and at some point it began to spend most of its time inhabiting the Pokéwalker I clip to my belt whenever I go out. If you’re unfamiliar with any of this, the Pokéwalker is a simple pedometer bundled with the DS Pokémon games back in 2010. You could send one of your creatures from the game to the pedometer, and then earn bonuses and play mini-games by walking around with it. The result of all this is that Cinnamon has accompanied me for a considerable portion of my life, and I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Clipping the pedometer to my belt is just as routine by this point as putting on my glasses or making sure I have my wallet when going out.
You could view this as an odd quirk of mine, and you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. The attempt at a simulacrum of companionship offered by the whole sphere of virtual pets and similar devices is something I find inherently intriguing, but regardless, it provides me an opportunity to proxy writing about myself through this old, simple piece of tech I still carry with me. For the immediate future I’ll be depending on Cinnamon to ensure I reach 10,000 steps each day, so that I’ll be more prepared for my vacation to Japan soon.
-Finn