Lazy Hello - 42
Reply to: pers-340526079@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-05-29, 1:19PM EDT
Ten years ago I lived on a rock in Alaska. Lotta guys, lotta fish, not
a lotta women. Needless to say, I was getting more than a little
lonely. Winter of '97 I got my first computer, internet access (a real
biggy for the rock, dial up, 56K modems, woo hoo!) and now had a cheap
link to the outside world.
That winter was Awesome. Long dark night, no work scheduled, and
nothing to do but meet people online, chat, make friends... it was
great.
But, Subject To Change is the only rule that never changes. The sun
came back, the fish started to fornicate, that was that, play time
was Over.
However, despite the winter of describing my life to my new online
friends, they still didn't get the chaos of my world or the crazy hours
I was working. What was a wink of an eye to me was some weeks for
them. I got home after a stint of herring, checked my email, and
freeked. Hundreds of letters from dozens of people: Are You Okay? What
Happened? Where Are You? Are You Mad At Me? and so on...
I only had a couple of days of R&R before I had to get back to
the
machine, no where near enough time to reply adequately to everybody...
That's when the Lazies where born. One generic email to all my friends
with the words "Lazy (fill in the blank)" in the subject line so they
would know that I was still alive, it was a generic email, not to
them personally, and that they didn't have to read it or even reply...
just a
little Blip from up north so folks would know I was still kickin'...
Took a while for me to find my voice and a style that suited me, but I
found it. Writing Lazies became a near daily gig for me, very relaxing,
very therapeutic, very helpful... I'd just write whatever popped into
my
pointy little head, slice of soul, slice of life, a dissertation on the
art of glazing salmon, Baitboys new toy, my date with the Sunshine
Girl,
anything.
Some folks on the island didn't care too much for me broadcasting my
life over the internet... The rest of the world, however, seemed to
really dig it. It wasn't long before they began to forward my crap onto
their friends and family, and they to theirs...
Then one day total strangers started sending me emails: "Hi, you don't
know me, but, so and so has been forwarding your Lazies to me and I was
just wondering if you could add me to your mailing list" kinda thing.
At first that Really freeked me out... my list I could handle... Total
Strangers? *shudders* Creepy. But I added them to the list and just
kept right on writing. After a while, the weirdness of strangers asking
me for junk became rather common place and I began to add them to the
list without so much as batting an eye.
My wife was one of those people. Some chick in NYC, the daughter of a
friend of a friend of a family member. She was on the list for a while
before we ever actually communicated with each other. I let the world
know that I needed a vacation from the rock, that I needed to see some
people and do some stuff before yet another salmon season stole my soul
for the summer and I grew another year older with virtually nothing to
show for it...
Replies came in... Come Visit! And they were from folks I would have
liked to have visited, too... only they were in Nowhere Montana,
Nowhere
Colorado, Nowhere Lower 48 Wilderness...
Nice offers if you happen to be a city freek. Not too tempting if you
happen to live in the Last Frontier. People, yes. More wilderness? No.
A chick in Italy offered me a patch of ground to camp out on, and the
chick from NYC offered me a piece of floor in a Brooklyn apartment to
crash out on....
It was a tough call, but I'd already spent a lot of time in Italy, and
had never been to NYC, so I chose the groovy girl from the Big Apple.
It was a great trip. Two weeks of insane heat, man made mountains that
touched the sky, more people in one minute than I had seen in five
years... and, of course, the groovy girl.
We fell in love.
I went back to the rock, gave notice, trained my replacement, sold my
house... try as I might, I couldn't even finish out the season I was so
anxious to get back to the city and her. Late August of 2000 I split
the rock and have not been back since.
Winter Solstice of 2001 we got married.
April of 2004 we had a daughter.
Shortly after she was born my wife informed me that she wasn't too
happy
with things and wanted out of our marriage.
Subject To Change is the only rule that never changes.
We haven't signed papers yet, but the rings are off, we are separated
and living in a rather... unique? odd? freeky? we are living in a
less than normal relationship.
She's the breadwinner in the family, has a nice career, (which, sadly,
includes incredibly long hours away from home) and has a private life
outside of the home. She dates (I think off of craigslist, if so, Hi
Wife!) and I believe she has someone very special to her in her life
now... I hope so. She's a good person and deserves some good people.
I spend the days taking care of our daughter and I spend my nights
sleeping alone in the basement...
Our daughter is three years old now, which means I spend the bulk of my
time doing kid stuff. I meet a lot of other parents, but so far no one
I can, or would even want to play a game of cribbage with, chat with
(other than at the playground) hang out with... besides, they are all
in good, solid relationships with kids and don't really have any time
to
spare for an old bozoboy like me, you know?
So here I am, trolling.
I know a lot of people think of 'trolling' as an internet term. It's
not. It's a style of fishing. Basically, you tie a hook to a line,
bait it, and toss it off the back of the boat, then putt putt around in
the water until Something snags the bait. Troll fish tend to be the
best (as opposed to Net fish) They don't get beat to death, they are
treated with kid gloves, as soon as they are caught they are cleaned
and
iced and carefully stored... (Net fish sit in the hold of the boat for
some time before they are cleaned) In short, if you like fish, Trolls
are where it's at.
So ya, I'm trolling for chicks, but I'm not searching for anything
specific.. craigslist is uncharted waters for me, I don't have a clue
how this works or who is out there.
I will tell you the same thing I told my wife oh so many years ago now.
Yes, I'm trolling. I have a little boat and a strong line. I think my
bait is pretty groovy (but how would I know?)
However, there's no hooks. I'm not going to drag anybody out of their
element and do mean things to them. If somebody wants to hop into my
boat and putt around with me for a while, great. If they want to hop
out again and get back into that cool, clean water where they belong,
that's cool too.
I'm in no hurry. Lonely? Yes. Desperate? No. Good things are worth
waiting for.
So expect more of these as time goes by... my new Lazy venue. Take your
time with it, nibble for a while, see what you think.
IF you simply can't wait for the next installment, drop me a note and
I'll send you a link to my website, there should be enough crap there
to
bore you, if not to tears, at least to sleep.
Until next time
Rock On