You’ve already met Mr. Sting and Mr. Crumpet, now meet Mr. Hey Self. This guy’s taught me a lot of lessons over the years. The comic above portrays one of my favorite.
For a bit more context on this, Mr. Hey Self and I were roommates for a year in Leuven. In our building, there was an elevator with a mirror. Two things happened every time I rode that elevator with him:
1) He would turn to the mirror and say “hey self”. This usually amused me, but every so often, it would get on my nerves. This was one of those times, so I called him on it. I wish I could remember the exact phrasing, but he said something along the lines of what you see above.
I’d never really wondered if I had healthy self-esteem before, but his response forced me to consider it. It turns out I did not. Not enough to look in the mirror and unironically say “hey self, you look good” at least. This was an unpleasant wake up moment for me. I realized I had some work to do. It was the first time I realized how important it was for me to actually be a fan myself. It was a good lesson to learn.
2) He would get a crazed look in his eye, turn my way, then play the “I’m not touching you” game that kids play. The one where you invade someone’s physical space but never physically touch them. I’m not a super huge physical contact guy now, but I absolutely hated physical contact then. So, he’d yell “I’m not touching you” and crowd me until I was a little ball on the floor. I learned nothing from this and did not care for it.
And now you’ve met Mr. Hey Self.