Dullness & weirdness (Flanagan)

And his life was now, he felt, one monumental unreality, in which everything that did not matter—professional ambitions, the private pursuit of status, the colour of wallpaper, the size of an office or the matter of a dedicated car parking space—was vested with the greatest significance, and everything that did matter—pleasure, joy, friendship, love—was deemed somehow peripheral.  It made for dullness mostly and weirdness generally.

Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North