I'm obsessed with Reacher.

I've read every novel, most more than once, some of them more than 10 times or 20 times.

There are several reasons why. Obviously I like the writing style but also I like how certain things are described.

I definitely read an interesting sardonic tone through the lines.

Reacher is known for being a very minimalistic guy with no possessions, no home, nothing, and he takes pleasure in the simple things of life, something the author describes very well, albeit a bit covertly sometimes.

The prose that he uses to describe simple stuff is amazingly effective.

For example, there's one line from the novel The Affair where the author describes the meal that Reacher eats, a simple burger and fries combo, and the line goes, "I ate slowly and enjoyed every bite".

All Reacher novels are set in the US and recently I went back to the US for the first time since the pandemic.

When I travel to the US, I usually go to the same city for work reasons, and I have certain routines and rhythms.
I don't do it on purpose. It's just the way I am.

One of the things I tend to do is I tend to only eat once a day. Sometimes twice a day. I usually have a big meal around lunch and then need nothing else for the rest of the day.

So, one day, after going out on a date the night before, I was looking forward to my lunch.

I remember what I had done the day before, and I knew what I would have to do the day after.

The night before I had gone on the date with somebody I hadn't seen in seven years.

The date went great, but the problem was my dinner with my date had consisted of five pints of Guinness, no food at all.

So the next day I was starving.

I woke up, went for a swim in the hotel pool on the rooftop, and then I went for lunch.

Because I was so hungry, I picked a proper all-American place, Shake Shack, just because in my mind that's somehow better than the other fast food franchises, which probably isn't but you know.

I ordered the chicken burger, which I generally prefer to the 'normal' burger, and cheese fries to go with it, and a Coke

So the day before I gone on this date, and the day after I would have to go to a major event, which was the main reason why I was in the US in the first place, and the day after I would go on another date with my friend.

So I was feeling pretty good about it. I was feeling pretty good about myself, and pretty good about the whole trip.

So like the titular character in a short story about myself that I wrote... myself,
"I ate slowly and enjoyed every bite."