Missed Connections

My friend has this amazing story:

One late New York evening he found himself caught up in the headphone tangle that is the late-night-weekend Brooklyn train system. On his third attempt at a train that would stop in Bushwick he struck up a conversation with a pretty girl who giggled a lot at his Midwestern awkardness. At her stop, she walked out the doors and he watched her in slow motion walk away toward the platform stairs...

Pause for a second to understand this New York phenomenon: In the seconds it takes for a train to take off, before tunneled darkness, the acceleration creates an effect of slow motion to whoever is walking on the platform. There is a direct proportion between the emotion you have for said person and the slowness in which they walk away. Only in the New York subway. It's true, ask Woody Allen.

...he realized he never asked her name. Or contact information. Or appropriate Googling information. But love was not lost completely, for he could use Missed Connections, a section of Craig's List for moments like this. Only in New York could there be more than one of these moments on any given Wednesday night. Many times it is rauncy requests, but for the most part they read like this:


We exchanged a bunch of glances, including when you walk by me an the two women I was with (just friends!).
But then one of my two friends decided to leave and I did too... Alas.
So I didn't get the chance to talk with you...
But you were really cute. You had on a sheer white top and jeans(?) with long-ish hair and a charming smile.
Describe me a little so I know it's really you.
It was fun exchanging smiles with you and it might be nice to do so again.
Grab a drink sometime?

He described the moment and she found the post. They connected. They will always have that story.

I went to a one-man play tonight by myself. That quantifies as loneliness squared. The solitary man was Dex Edwards who wrote and performed in "The Rising Son: a story piece," a play about connecting to people of other cultures and reaching out to make those connections. I don't feel overindulgent by relating it to my life. That's the point of The-AY-ter. I keep talking to friendly people and when I feel them presenting opportunity to reach out, I shirk and run back to my apartment. To a glass of wine and a dog who shirks if I try to pet her. So much shirking. The girl at coffee shop, the usher at the play...they are all so friendly but I can't pull the social trigger. Damn this friendly Southern town. At least if I were in the Russian tundra, or Alaska during the dark months, or for christ's sake, back in New York, I would have an excuse for isolating myself.

I should join a Church.



POSTSCRIPT: I started looking at more MCs and I think this is my favorite:

Hey, I was biking around Staten Island earlier today and when I passed you, you yelled that you liked my Led Zeppelin T-shirt.

Get in touch with me if you'd like.