Most self-help books will describe remedies and issue lessons to escape the perverted spiral of depression and anxiety. They will aim at improving the quality of one's life and inform choices and states of mind that nurture a healthy and productive psyche.

Not this book. Things can always get worse, and baby, they probably will.

My life was, is and will probably always be painfully average. I am the glistening standard of what it means to be normal. My grades, my looks, my jobs, my partners, everything, dead-center in the median of ordinary. Most of us are like that, at least that's what Alex says.

Oh, Alex? He's my best friend.

He's attractive and cool and mysterious and says things that I've thought better than I could ever say them. See, I've always known my mediocrity and was trying to be ok with it. But Alex, he seems to think I'm capable of more. He's my best friend and he's anything but average. He's also kind of a dick.