I’m typing this on my iPhone, which will make it, in all my blogging experiences, the first post I’ve ever actually written on Apple’s mobile device. I’m writing on the phone because even though it’s very late as I write this (12:45am pacific time, which is ungodly late for those of you in the rest of the country), I am out in a diner, sitting by myself at the counter, waiting for some multigrain banana pancakes.

Why am I doing that? Good question. I asked myself the same thing as I drove here, as I walked in, sat down and took a place by myself. This might be a mistake, I thought. I probably shouldn’t be here — I should be home in bed, reading, or maybe catching up on the sleep I’ve been lacking lately. But no, I’m out, drinking coffee (I did at least order decaf — even though it’s pretty nuts to drink coffee without caffiene, I do at least want to sleep sometime tonight), and waiting for pancakes.

(long clauses are tough to do on the iPhone — it takes so long to type them that I forget where I was going. There are probably some spelling mistakes as well.)

So: why am I here? I think it partly has something to do with getting old. I’m not actually getting old — considering all the working out I’ve done lately, I’m actually in the best condition I’ve ever been. But I do feel myself getting older just the same. I don’t fight the same fights I used to, I do things like go home after a party instead of out to another party. And I feel myself losing my grip on something I always felt a part of: pop culture. I saw a music video today (that I can’t link here with this keyboard, but maybe you’ve seen it — Katy Perry was cavorting with two dudes who call themselves some nonsense like “3oh!3″ in front of a fountain), and I realized that I had no connection to it at all. It wasn’t even that I didn’t like it — I didn’t — it was more like it and I didn’t even exist in the same world. Why would we? Katy Perry and the two dudes looked out of the screen and said, “this isn’t for you, old man. Go back to the 90s.”

I did. But still, like being in this diner, I felt out of place.

I was once told that to be an interesting person, you have to lead an interesting life. And so, shunned by Katy Perry, I decided to do something interesting tonight, come out here, write this post, and order these pancakes. A little gesture against the world. You don’t need me? I’m coming anyway.

The pancakes just showed up. I’m trying a bite.

Wow. They’re good. Come to think of it, this place isn’t so bad. It’s cleared out mostly in the last 30 mins or so, it’s a little quieter, and the light’s dim and auburn. I don’t feel that alone, actually — now that I’ve had a little food. I kind of feel like I’ve snuck downstairs in a big house to sit at the kitchen counter and have a late night snack.

And man, these pancakes are good.

I think this worked out, actually. I got this post written, and it’s not too late. I can finish this plate, pay, and be home in time to get a good night’s sleep.

I’m not that old. I may not belong in a world with that Katy Perry video, but that doesn’t mean I don’t belong elsewhere. Like at this counter, tasting the warm center of these banana pancakes, sipping coffee, and listening to the voices echoing from the kitchen, the low hum of the chatter at the tables around me. My waitress, a girl with short red hair, just sat down for a moment at the other end of the counter and asked another server how his audition went the other day. That’s funny.

I think I like it here. I might even stay a while longer. These pancakes are probably worth taking the time.

(sent from my iPhone)