This is my new favorite story on dublit.

I don't know if it resonates with me because I can relate to the protagonist or because I am glad that I'm not him. In either case, you've captured a "feel" which is difficult (for me) to describe. It isn't quite melancholy, it isn't quite angsty, it isn't quite hopeful, and it's not quite hopeless. But it is all of these things, more, less, and everything in-between.

I think we are compelled to dwell at and ponder the emotional poles, but life is not often a simple extreme. You capture this amalgamation beautifully. Usually life is spare parts galore, with a lot of glue.

*One thing though - AA batteries don't taste like anything, unless you can get your tongue on both ends. Did you mean 9-volt?