So after listening to a few of my brother's comical stories about ad's he had read on craigslist, I figured it was time I indulged myself a little in this crazy online community. And to my delight, it was not to disappoint.
Craigslist. It's not just for psycho's and sex maniacs anymore!
At first I just enjoyed reading ad's from people with really bizarre requests, such as a young man who just really wanted to know what it was like to make-out with someone with braces. He promised that it did not need to go any further than kissing, but it would mean a lot to him to have this experience.
No, I did not reply.
Or the one titled "dim sum" which caught my attention. It was a man who just wanted people to meet up with once a month to go out for dim sum. I mean you have to understand where he's coming from, you can't dim sum alone!!
And who doesn't love reading missed connections! Like this one...
We were checking each other out on a romantic downtown sidewalk today at around 10:30am. We were both outside the homeless shelter, though I'm hoping you don't live there. I know I don't. You had a beard and were wearing a hat, and you were manishly lifting heavy things.
The turning point in this addiction was when I actually took the next step and replied to one. But it didn't stop there, it became an obsession to reply to them all the time. My most recent fascination was this post:
Is there anyone out there who would just respond to the word "grapefruit" with some witty remark or question? I am curious to see what I will get.
That is all.
That is all.
You can't tell me that you wouldn't be intrigued to reply...
As uncool of a thing as it is to scour on craigslist, I admit that my friend list has gone up quite a bit. I am currently teaching 2 people English (one in exchange for Spanish), and offered to show another around the city.
I was tempted to reply to a few 'hiking partner wanted' ad's, but my friends (who already can't stand my geeky antics) seemed to think it was a bad idea to meet up with strange men off the internet and go off into the woods alone together. I guess I just don't see it that way. I admit that I trust people to a fault. To be honest, I still think it would be fine.
Well just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, I went off the deep end.
That's right. I met up with someone off of craigslist.
I've always wanted to go geocaching (fyi: just by reading this post you are becoming less cool) but as I have somehow managed to always have 'cool' friends, I've never had anyone to go with. In fact I've been banned from even mentioning the word geocache.
So if you don't know what this is (and if you are still reading this) it's basically just hiking with an added bonus of finding treasure. It's a huge 'sport' that people become pretty involved in but it seems as though a lot of people still don't know what it is even though millions exist all over the world.
When I was a child, my grandpa was a huge geocacher and would always take me into the wildness to these places in the middle of no where (wow I realize how awful this is sounding right now but I promise he never touched me there, there, OR there). It was actually a really fun memory. At the time I never understood what the whole thing was but I loved opening the treasure boxes and finding little toys inside.
Anyways, after replying to the ad of a guy looking for ppl to go geocaching with, we exchanged emails back and forth for about the next month, just talking about it and other stuff and trying to figure out a time that we could both go. He had only been once before with a friend who was quite experienced so we knew it was going to be a challenge. From emailing back and forth I had a pretty good sense that he was a decent guy, but again it could just be my belief that people are generally good.
We finally sorted it all out and he came over so that we could pick a few coordinates close to where I live. (Yes, I realize that inviting a stranger into my home while I am alone is maybe not the smartest thing, but clearly if you know me you know that this is just something that I would do and despite efforts, I really can't be helped).
The second he walked in he saw a guitar, picked it up and started playing. It was a little weird as I was just meeting him for the first time, and as I'm thinking this is my head, he suddenly starts full-out singing. Also, considering the circumstances, I suppose playing musical instruments upon introduction > murdering me in my home.
I would normally be pretty weirded out (and kind of was) but his voice was so amazing that I was just trying not to swoon all over him. Oh, did I mention that for an internet geek on craigslist, he's actually really good looking...In fact, even for a normal person, he's still quite good looking. Having a cute guy serenade me with a guitar (and be good at it) is kind of attractive. I've also been single for a while now so it really doesn't take a whole lot to flatter me anymore. You basically just need to make eye contact with me and I get flustered.
When he was finished singing, and I awkwardly congratulated him on his musical ability, we picked the coordinates and headed out, gps in hand, ready to find some treasure! First, we stopped at the looney store to buy some cheap toys to put into the cache. (The idea is that you take what's in the cache and replace it with something else).
We took off to the place we thought it was and followed the gps as best as we could, stopping every 5 steps completely confused and unsure of which way we were supposed to be going. I do blame him for this because I was quite upfront with the fact that I am directionally challenged whereas I was lead to believe that he was quite good at this sort of thing.
We finally made it within a 5m. radius of where the cache was supposed to be hidden. I did not have a clue what I was even supposed to be looking for, but regardless, I jumped into the brush, sticks, and piles of leaves and started eagerly looking for treasure.
I think we were probably quite amusing/confusing for the many people walking by us wondering what on earth we were doing digging around in the bushes, but we continued regardless.
For what we had figured out of the gps, it was basically leading us off the edge of a cliff that neither of us were too fond to go over. We dug around a little more and covered ourselves in dirt, leaves and spiderwebs just enough to finally give up and call it a fail.
I was quite disappointed that we never ended up finding any, but it was still a lot of fun!
We sat down on a nearby bench to reflect on our sad attempt at geocaching and debating over exactly whose fault it was that we were so terrible (conclusion = 90% him, 10% the gps)
We ended up sitting on the bench for nearly 3 hours, talking about everything from his experiences with drugs, and our views on one night stands, to favorite music and the philosophy of lululemon.
He actually seemed to be not crazy at all. In fact, I was a little disappointed with just how sane he seemed to be.
And although I never actually got to find a geocache, I did get to have quite a unique experience of a day. And I'm still alive and un-raped which is always the sign of a successful adventure.
Alive and un-raped is a definite success!
Love the witty grapefruit and the possibly homeless sexy man. Great stuff hahaha
Stop this, immediately. You keep having really interesting, completely random encounters that are making me feel jealous and boring.
I'd never heard of geocaching before but am well on it now - apparently there's one right by my work so will check tomorrow lunchtime!!!
Haha don't be jealous!! I really am just weird and far too often let my curiosity get the best of me. By no means am I doing anything useful or extremely exciting, rather I think it would more likely be referred to as creepy and stupid :)
Please do try geocaching, it's quite fun! I imagine even more so if you actually do find the geocache!
Hey! Great post...I've never been geo cahcing but would love to try it some time...think i'ld be pretty bummed out if after hours of searching I found nothing. :( If you love the likes of craislsit you should join couchsurfing...u can meet up with cool random people everyday of the week! :)
Vous postes sont absolument incroyable et je ne l'aime vraiment
I envy you for being such an adventurist! That was really an awesome experience i wish i could do too one day.
I FOUND ONE! It's by the canal next to my office. I didn't sign it though because a tramp was watching me from the shadows and thought I was picking up drugs. Oops.
This is such a great idea.
What an adventure!! So glad you came out alive. =)
I tend to trust people easily too.
Your geeky antics are amazing. I might look at this Craigslist thing... Come to England and we can geek together :D xx
And fooking hell. If someone started singing in my house I wouldn't know how the Jeff to react. I'd probably sing along, as badly as I can, until they stopped. And we should go geocaching. It's better in England ;p
ps. Miss youuuu x
pps. Love youuuuu