Kind of simliar....what do you guys think when someone tells a story, and speaks in the present tense? For example, "she says to the guy."
Stylistic choice. Present tense and past tense are both applicable.
I'd only tend to use present tense with a time specifier beforehand - e.g., "By this point, I am absolutely dumbfounded, so I tell the bugger where he can stick his trumpet," but I don't mind whether anyone does or not.
"By this point, I
was absolutely dumbfounded" makes just as much sense and keeps the past tense consistent, so while I wouldn't personally just leap in with "so I say to the guy..." it's not something that I abjectly don't do.