This was originally an email, but I thought it was blog-worthy.
\n———————–<\/p>\n
Last Sunday, I had a chance to meet someone off of Craig’s list…We’d been emailing wittily back and forth, and we decided we had to meet face to face. We decided to meet down at a place called Psychobabble…It was open mike night.<\/p>\n
I didn’t know what he looked like, but I told him I would wear a beret, and he would recognize me. I was sort of looking around, and I looked hard at this one guy, thinking it might be him.<\/p>\n
The guy (it wasn’t him) kind of skulkily followed me up to the counter. He nerved himself up to ask me, in a thick Russian accent, if I had come for the poetry.<\/p>\n
“Is it poetry night?” I said. “If only I had come prepared!”<\/p>\n
“You write poetry?”<\/p>\n
I looked him straight in the eye and said, “Doesn\u2019t everybody?”<\/p>\n
He said he would be reading his poetry. I told him I would have to make sure to listen for it.<\/p>\n
Then he noticed the copy of Crime and Punishment I had brought. You never know if these internet types will actually show up. I figured I’d better have reading material in case I got stood up or had to wait a long time.<\/p>\n
“Oh, are you reading that? He is my favorite author”<\/p>\n
“Yeah, I’m almost done with it. But I think I like Tolstoy better.”<\/p>\n
“Well, yes but..Tolstoy was very different. I mean…”<\/p>\n
“Yeah, Tolstoy was from a different era.”<\/p>\n
“Yes! Yes!”<\/p>\n
I had obviously impressed the socks off this Russian poet Muzhik.
\nHe had to regain some ground.<\/p>\n
“Well, if you like Tolstoy, you would probably like my novel.”<\/p>\n
That’s quite a claim.<\/p>\n
“You’ve written a novel?”<\/p>\n
“Yes. I could email it to you, so you could read it.”<\/p>\n
This is a new line. So much for etchings. We’ve gone on to novels!
\nBut I know better now.<\/p>\n
“Sure, give me your email address.”<\/p>\n
Better to get his than to give him mine. I had to get rid of him somehow. The guy I was really there to meet had showed up, and it’s bad form to be hit upon while meeting another male for the first time. Even though it was a platonic meeting, they can get miffed.<\/p>\n
I got his email on a napkin and me and the other guy slipped out of the cafe.
\nI missed my chance to hear the Muzhik’s poems.<\/p>\n
I’m still undecided whether I want an e-novel sent to me or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This was originally an email, but I thought it was blog-worthy. ———————– Last Sunday, I had a chance to meet someone off of Craig’s list…We’d been emailing wittily back and forth, and we decided we had to meet face to … Continue reading