The Inspiration

I have a strange love-hate obsession with Craigslist dating, the way that I am obsessed with eating food from taco bell even though it is evil, unhealthy and gross. Taco Bell is OF THE PEOPLE, the day when I can no longer relate to the reasons why people drive 40 minutes just to order a Baja Chalupe is the day when I have rendered myself uselessly our of touch with most people's life experience.

Craigslist dating is to community building what day trading is to running a business. It can get the job done, but it's risky, crass, and not really based on the fundamental forces that create value in the world, IMHO. For that reason I'm really interested in seeing how it works and why people do it.

The best way to figure that out seems to be experimentation, so I'm trying to put things out there and understand better how relationships actually come out of what happens there. If I can further flesh out my community in the process then bonus, but I don't think that there are gaping holes to fill right now (cuddling would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath for this to be the mechanism that makes that happen.)

In this spirit of experimentation I got all inspired to write a craigslist posting yesterday, which made me realize how fun it is to just account for the stuff I do. Here it is:

There’s a lot you can tell about someone by how they spend their time. Here’s my week so far:

Sat- Woke up at 5AM to take on a pundit on Fox News radio, totally got him to agree with my frame on the whole Elliot Spitzer thing. Celebrated with a 4 hour hike, then went to the bday party of a friend who I haven’t seen since 4^th grade. We caught up by randomly throwing out years in our lives and saying what happened in them.

Sun-Swing dancing in the park! Dropped off $200 that I’d fundraised earlier that week, grabbed pizza from Arezmendi and finished a book I was reading on oil politics. Met up w/ an accountant friend of mine to do my taxes, then made a tomato, feta, basil and tofu salad for dinner*. Played around with some new blog software and wrote a postcard to my friend who is doing biological research at some game preserve in South Africa. Flip out over how much the basil on my windowsill has grown.

Mon- Rollerblade to work. I’m trying to get all of my friends who work in the Chinatown area to have lunch together by figuring out the holes in their respective circles of friends and doing some platonic matchmaking. I’m having reasonable success. Rollerblade home and make another tomato salad (ever had one food you’re OBSESSED with for like a week?) and meet w/ folks about affordable housing initiatives currently underway in the city. You heard what’s up with 98 on the June ballot? Nuts. At the meeting my friend brings me some flowers for no reason, super sweet. I walk her home and her and her boyfriend and I all cook together and joke around while they pressure me to post an ad on craigslist. I go home, make chocolate chip cookies from scratch** and go to bed.

Tues- Take cookies to work! Work on some software which will (fingers crossed) get a few thousand folks to volunteer next year. Meet with a friend for coffee to joke around and nerd out about ways to be creative/create social change and have it feed your life without burning you out. She gives me shit because I’m obsessed with community building as the answer to everything, but whatevs. After work meet up w/ some progressive kids to drink Tecate and discuss a voter guide for the June ballot. Get in an intense and interesting discussion w/ this kid who’s pro nuclear power as a solution to climate change (I’m not). Get home and watch Arrested Development (amazing show) with my housemates while cracking jokes, eating a burrito, and setting up an online network for queer folks from random parts of the world to get advice and support.

*In the interests of full disclosure- after I ate the salad I was still hungry so I had a hotpocket. I’m from St. Louis, MO so crappy microwaved foods have these strangely grounding food-of-my-heritage feel to them. Totally worth it.

**Chocolate chip cookies are a thing for me, I make them ALL THE TIME. My recipe has evolved pretty substantially over the years, it’s got antioxidants and omega3’s and all kinds of craziness and is incredibly tasty. I keep the dough in the fridge so I can keep making fresh ones throughout the week.

Drop me a line and let me know how your week’s been so far.