Ah, Craigslist, and the “Missed Connections.” Derived from an old newspaper (remember them) classified section where people who saw each other in the street but were too shy to declare their love could find one another after the fact, that Los Angeles Craigslist board section is very good reading. I used to read it every day as a single girl and hopeless romantic. Logging in at CL today to post an ad, I found a very blog post-y ad I posted there in 2007, about a year before I met my husband. I share it below. Enjoy
Craigslist Ad – 11-11-2007
I have learned 3 things this morning on Missed Connections.
1) Straight men apparently do shop at the Target in West Hollywood. Apparently one was there yesterday, with his visiting mother, flirting in the returns line.
2) Straight men also shop at the Whole Foods on SM & Fairfax, where a guy was friendly in line at the soup counter yesterday with a girl he thought was cute.
3) I ought to be more attentive.
It heartens me that there are guys around West Hollywood who do things like take their moms shopping that are looking for that next person who might mean something to them in their lives hard enough that they make jokes in line for soup. That one needs a little schooling for shopping at Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck as it is known in some circles) but you catch my general drift.
So here’s my Sunday morning request to any and all of you. Smile at me. Flirt with me. Make jokes about the contents of my grocery cart. Even if it’s not me, there are so many possible outcomes! She could get a kick out of it and smile all week (which she will do even if she has a boyfriend), roll her eyes, go home and tell her hot lesbian lover, or maybe, just maybe she’ll give you her number. Isn’t finding the love of your life worth making an ass of yourself at Target? Maybe she doesn’t want to be the love of your life. Maybe she just wants to get laid. (I learned that today too- #4: there’s a girl out there fantasizing about a guy that works at Rite Aid. I bet real cash money all he’d have to do is ask how her day is going and he’d be golden).
I will do my part. I will be adorable and wear a ponytail (#5 – apparently men are fairly into the ponytails) and I will smile! And I will engage you in random conversation about floor cleaner, avocados, and the slowness of the elevators. These missed connections do not have to be missed. When I am in these situations now, having been chastened by years of reading MC, I go for it. I recently ran after a guy leaving my dry cleaners. He was picking up gorgeous suits, had an adorable dog, looked like Josh Hartnett but was 5’8″…he could have been Mr. Right, or Mr. Right now, I didn’t have time to decide because he was about to walk out of my life forever. He was engaged. And tickled pink. And I’m alive to tell the tale.
So please…I would sell my soul to date someone this side of La Cienega. I know we are out there, we just need to be brave. Long story short? Smile back. Ask for the number. Tell mom to wait a minute near the DVDs and run after that girl. You never know.
Happy erranding everyone…
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