A few days later, Mr. Esoteric checks out my profile again, and sends a simple message, asking how my week is going. It’s a couple of days before the Seahawks are playing in the Superbowl, which is all anyone in Seattle can talk about, so I ask if he’s watching the game or ignoring the hoopla.

I assume he’s ignoring the hoopla, because his profile says he’s not very into sports, except baseball. He prefers indie films and non-mainstream music.

He replies: Oh I’ve been a diehard New England Patriots fan since 1974 and a diehard Seattle Seahawks fan since 1976. I’ve been waiting for this Super Bowl for 38 years.

Perhaps he’s not that into football and other sports on a relative basis – Seahawks mania is at a fever pitch just before the Superbowl, could he mean he’s not that into sports relative to people like my neighbors, who shoot off fireworks that scare my dog every time the Seahawks score?

I’m confused, I say, and point him to his profile.

He replies: I guess it’s time to add a caveat to that.

I stop replying.

Mr. Esoteric has looked through my pictures, and found one of me giving a lecture at a local historical society. He asks, which one? and mentions he’s on the board of an area historical society.

This seems like a promising start, so I check his profile, and discover we have similar tastes. I reply with the information, and compliment his taste in poetry. I’m a big fan of T.S. Eliot too, I tell him.

He replies, a few minutes later, with a bit more historical society information, but quickly moves on to music, complimenting my taste there. He enjoys 80’s bands with cult followings, too.

He isn’t, however, a fan of one of my favorite TV shows, The Sopranos. I had to beg off the Sopranos in the episode where Janice had a gun at her head during sex, he says. That was a bit much for me.

I see his point, and have a sudden visual of the scene in question. There were many scenes in that show that might make a person uncomfortable; singling that particular one out makes me uncomfortable.

I tell him: I remember that scene. I kind of feel that way about Game of Thrones – I have to avert my eyes quite a bit. Still weirdly addictive, though. Then I change the subject, and ask him what he does for a living, since all he’s said in his profile is that he works in technology.

He replies: I haven’t seen Games of Thrones but I hear there’s a lot of rapes and murders in there which must be quite addictive as it’s a very popular show. Then he says he’s a freelance web developer and asks if my company is hiring.

He also mentions, in response to a comment I make about Ingmar Bergman movies, that he’s worn nightshirts every night since he saw Fanny & Alexander in the early 1980s.

I wonder how I’m supposed to reply to all this – with a job offer or perhaps an offer of Too Much Information. I attempt to change the subject again, but I’m running out of interest, and so is he, because he doesn’t reply again that evening.