There’s very specific subsect of “nerd” gamer types that inhabit the Woody Allen/Charles Chaplin esque extreme arrogant pretension of shyness that Orson Welles spoke of, a narcissism of timidity. They love whipping out handheld gaming consoles in public places, slyly positioning themselves into apparent view as if to say “don’t mind me, I’m an introvert, I’m busy playing GAMES!” even though every five seconds you can see them glancing peripherally at anyone around them, hoping they get noticed, hoping it somebody asks them about it.
They often went through high school and college going out of their way to find the right balance between seclusion and display, huddling on the floor hunched over with headphones, never connecting with their peers but never actually staying hidden, hoping passerbys will crack open the mysteries of their solitude like an Easter egg of shit.
While a Gameboy is less obtuse than whipping out an entire Nintendo Switch, it’s somehow more obnoxious through its apparent hipsterism. Do you really need to be playing Pokémon Emerald Green at a fucking bar, as if you haven’t played a 20 year old game dozens, if not hundreds of times to the point that there is absolutely no degree of novelty you can suckle out of its haunches beyond going through the motions of watching numbers go up?
It’s even obnoxious when people bring books to the bar, an environment which specifically exists as a social venue but at least there’s some slight dignity in it, an acceptable understanding that you’re just bringing a social prop to a public place. At the very least a book doesn’t immediately drain the surrounding 20 foot radius around you into a steady desiccation of any allure or noir.
Me when someone else has a cold: Oh that's a bummer. You'll be ok soon!
Me when I have a cold: Nobody has ever been more sick in human history. Perhaps I have become more goop than man.