Missed Connections

I can't help it; yes, I am a sick, sad, and depraved individual. I'm out to manipulate, to fantasize, to wonder. At least once (and sometimes twice) a week, I make a point to read some of the personal ads on Craigslist. Many are less than appetizing, some are humorous, quite a few are just plain disappointing. But my favorite indulgence is, by far, the Missed Connections page.

I guess it started when Amanda (yeah, I'm 90% positive) was on a Missed Connections ad. It was one perverted message, but led to many laughs around the bar table. It's a feeling I assume a line of cocaine is like-- you just want a little bit more. All the time. Who's next? I spend my time around fairly attractive, interesting folk, so you would think I'd stumble upon another great Missed Connections ad for any of my friends. As of yet, none have turned up.

And what about me? Is there a weird spot in me looking for that one that slipped by in the Chick-fil-A line? Did someone at the movies spot me out and decide they had to go immediately to Craigslist and post an ad stating that our connection was missed? Or what if I cut off someone in traffic-- are they pissed off enough to post their peeve publicly? Nah. No connection, just entirely... ignored. At least no one wants to bang my....OK, I won't go there, Amanda!

Really, I'm most curious as to the stories here. I want to be like Ira Glass in This American Life; I want to know the stories. Don't you? Which ones are really police officers setting up an unknowing criminal? Certainly, they're out there, right? Why did "David's" mom give him up for adoption, and why is her sister now looking for this long-lost nephew-- what sparked the search? Why are all of these married people so desperately unhappy? And what was it about her next-door neighbor in the Dallas hotel that struck her, so as to write a little ad welcoming a one-night stand on her last night in town?

And, of course, I want to know the answer to the ultimate question on the Missed Connections page: Are you gay, too? I wonder how effective the Missed Connections page is in establishing relationships (or sometimes, just hook-ups) for gay people. It must be rough, not really knowing if that hot guy in the grocery is gay or straight (I've had a few of those wonderings myself...).

Each one a little thread of people-- of relationships lost, failed, doomed, unexplored, unknown, or perhaps, after just that one little blue line of hyperlink, things might be looking up.