My friend Charles and I have Jack Kerouac Syndrome. JKS.

It’s okay, it’s rarely fatal. We can live like normal people for the most part.

Did you ever notice that in Kerouac’s novels, he’ll talk about a girl that he meets at a cafe or a party, and he’ll go on about how beautiful she is, how her personality is electric, and she brings him to life again? And then five pages later, the venue changes, he meets a different girl and falls for her all over again. Rinse and repeat every couple of pages. The poor girls.

This is Jack Kerouac Syndrome. The state of falling nearly in love with every beautiful, charismatic girl one meets, believing them to be your life force, your raison d’etre, and then forgetting about them the second the next beautiful flower comes along.

Yes, it makes relationships difficult. But in fact, Charles has had the courage to face the disease head-on and actually take steps to have a long-term girlfriend. We all wish the best for Charles, and hope that he can somehow overcome this sometimes debilitating illness.