Orin and Hal on the phone (p. 1016)

quote

'I eat, sleep, evacuate, highlight things with yellow markers, and hit balls. I lift things and swing things and run in huge outdoor circles. I am just about as apolitical as someone can be. I am out of all loops but one, by design.'

Context

Hal's self-portrait, deep in the long n.110 phone call: his entire life is circular running plus exactly one loop, "by design." Circle and loop in consecutive sentences, in the first person, from the character whose designed loop — E.T.A.'s daily ring — is precisely what's hollowing him out.

Quoted from

Scene n110: orin hal phone

In anthology

Annularityspine