I am moderately addicted to Craigslist and have been since the Great Apartment Search of '08.  My current search for an apartment is on hold, since I currently make enough money to pay rent on my storage unit, and nothing else.  The free listings and missed connections are the ones I check twice a day (at least), and while I'm not really looking for anything in either, I do find a gem on occasion.

From the Free section:


The pervasive spelling errors really sell it!

An exchange amongst the Missed Connections.  This is one reason I would never post one; I do not want to be lumped together with a woman like this:



He seems like quite the catch!




And finally, an open letter to the guy from the coffee shop:

Dear Guy,

I want you to know that I am very flattered by your attention to me, but you need to do more than simply acknowledge that you are socially awkward.  You need to practice being less so.  When we talked that first time, you admitted to as much and proceeded to look at me like you were starving and about to eat me.  It made me uncomfortable, and I was sure to tell most of my friends about it.  Now I'm blogging about it, so that covers some more friends as well as some strangers.

The second time we saw each other, you talked to me like we were old friends, expressing great disappointment that I was leaving as you were arriving and even saying as much as, "but I hardly got to see you!" in a whiny attempt to get me to stay. Please allow me to apologize for my behavior.  I forgot it was Thursday, your usual day; if I had known it was Thursday I wouldn't have gone.  Sorry about that. 

Here are some quick tips to determine whether a girl is interested in you. After you introduce yourself by making her take out her earbuds and turn away from her laptop, if she puts her earbuds back in instead of accepting your offer to continue the conversation, she's not into you, and probably didn't want to talk to anyone in the first place.  If, on the second meeting, she's with a friend and doesn't stop to talk to you, she probably wasn't there to see you.  If she stops going to that coffee shop altogether, congratulations!  You made her so uncomfortable her regular haunt and one place of reliable stability is ruined forever. 

While the traditional sentiment states, "It's nothing personal," it really is, and I hope you take it personally. No really, Guy, take it to heart.  If you change this particular set of behaviors, girls may not be creeped out by your over-eager, pushy presence and intense gaze!

Best of luck,

Emily