So I posted this missed connection on Craigslist on Wednesday August 6th, 2009:
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Verb-Wednesday-1:30PM-raised eyebrows – w4m
I’m not sure if this counts as a missed connection but I’ll post it anyway.
Wednesday at Verb, as I was coming in you were walking out. You smiled at me I think I smiled at you, but I for certain raised both eyebrows simultaneously. You were carrying an iced beverage, I held the door for you. I sat inside on a stool looking out the window, you sat outside with your back to me. You were talking with a 40-something bespectacled Verb lurker and when you got up to smoke you walked over with him to look at a bicycle. As I was leaving I walked by you as you stood smoking. You turned, we made eye contact, you exhaled smoke in my face. I don’t think it was intentional and I tried not to wince. I like to think I just took you breath away.
You-reddish/blonde hair?, blonde arm hair, wearing large silver ring on left hand (middle finger?), taller than me but not tall, you had a black shoulder bag/briefcase you left on the back of your chair.
Me-blonde, pony-tailed, dimples, straight from the gym, green deep-v t-shirt with a 2 headed cock on it (not sure you would have noticed it) we mostly made eye contact, you seemed to keep your gaze upstairs.
If this sounds familiar, maybe tell me something you noticed, something I missed.
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I never got any responses from this post and it expired after a week.
Today, September 4th, 2009, I was at the Verb and saw someone resembling this description sitting outside. He looked different than I remembered, no ring and seemed taller, but it was hard to tell because he was sitting down. I was inside reading an article in the New York Times about a man in Texas who builds low-income housing out of recycled and discarded building materials. I glanced up and he looked through the window at me, he had piercing blue eyes. I made eye contact, sort of smiled my furrowed-brow inquisitive but suspicious smile and then went back to reading the paper. When it was time to leave I just walked away in the opposite direction. I went to the drugstore and seeing that they were out of my favorite face wash, I retraced my steps, and passed by him sitting outside the Verb and tried, non-chalantly to see if he had a black shoulder bag/briefcase hanging off the back of his chair. On the way back from the second drugstore, it occurred to me that I could determine if it was my missed connection by conducting a short interview if he was up for it.
So on my third pass, I walked up to him and said “hello.” He looked up, smiled and greeted me; he had a German accent. Right away I thought to myself, this isn’t the guy. Although I had never spoken with my missed connection, I would have guessed that he was American, Californian if I were to speculate, because of his laidback posture and the fact that he looked like a surfer. I continued, “I think I’ve mistaken you for someone but I’m pretty sure I can figure it out by asking three questions, do you mind?”
“No, would you like to take a seat?”
“Thanks. Do you have a black shoulder bag/briefcase?”
“Um, I’m thinking…of all my bags. It’s possible.”
“Do you have a large silver ring that you sometimes wear?”
“Definitely, not.”
“Hmm…I think I might already have my answer. Do you smoke?”
“Yes, I do. Do you want a cigarette?”
“No, thanks, I don’t smoke.”
“I’m from Berlin. Have you ever spent time in Berlin?”
“Yes, a lot.”
“Really?”
“But I definitely know this person from here.”
“Well I was here, maybe two years ago.”
“No, it wasn’t so long ago. May I ask how tall you are? It’s hard to tell because you’re sitting.”
“I am one meter ninety-four.”
“So nearly 2 meters, you’re too tall.”
He was nice but he wasn’t the guy and having determined that, I excused myself.
“Well, thank-you.” I said and got up and left.
I could tell it was kind of abrupt end to the conversation and that he wanted to continue talking. There’s a strange vulnerability that comes with summoning the courage to approach a stranger and strike up a conversation. So never mind however successful the exchange, I tend to hightail it outta there.
