Monday, Sept. 20, 2004
e-mail exchange, posted at 10:02 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com My mother's blood was found to be rid of the Hepatitis C virus yesterday. She still has to stay on the crappy meds that make her hair fall out and give her 102-degree fevers, but, right now, she's okay and disease free. I'm relieved and happy and sorry I can't share her joy with her at home.**
I'm in a weird mood tonight. Have walked into both the Towson gym and the White Marsh gym and walked out without a workout. When I walk in there, the thought of breaking into a sweat just bored me both times, so I left. I haven't worked out since Wednesday and I'm hunkering for it, but apparently not enough.
**
Here's a treat for you - My e-mail exchanges with the match.com girl...
----- Original Message -----
First, I winked at her.
She wrote back:
You're profile seems cool. I'm assuming you've seen mine. I am only giving this match.com a trial run so you can email me at (xxx@xxx)
look forward to hearing from you
______________________________
(Dear girl):
Thanks for getting back to me. As you can tell, I am having an exciting Friday evening at home. I'm trying to get some lessons planned because it's going to be a very busy weekend, and already had a nice little happy hour out this afternoon.
Anyhow, yes, I read your profile and you seem cool. Might you be interested in getting together for dinner next week sometime, or is that too forward? I've actually never done the online thing before, and am unsure on ettique.
Sincerely,
(me)
_____________________________---
Dear (me):
I have no clue on the ettique rules either but dinner would be nice sometime towards in the end of the week. I am busy the beginning but thursday would work. Hey, my friday consisted of friend of the family obligations.
I guess tell me a little more about yourself...where you teach, how's it going for you, you're a vegetarian right? If so, why and how long?
Talk to you soon
(Her)
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(Dear girl):
Thursday could work for me as well; but I'll have to confirm on Sunday or Monday though with the restaurant where I wait tables on the side. That's the night I've asked for to have off regularly, if possible, so I probably have it off. I also have my 9th grade film series that night, so I'll be at school until 6pm or so.
I'm now a quasi-vegetarian after six years as a real one. I started eating fish and seafood a couple of summers ago, primarily for health reasons, to get more protein and good fats in my diet. I became a vegetarian back in 1996 or so because I worked in a butcher shop in high school and got sick of meat, and that turned into an ethical thing as well. Now, I'd say it's mostly health but partly ethical, although I'm not judgemental about it at all, don't worry.
I teach English at (the high school I teach at). Cool place to be. I started my 4th year last week, and really enjoy it. I'm also home shopping a bit right now after 3+ years of renting the same cheap, dumpy house in NE Balt imore.
I'm sorry, I can be a bit longwinded; it's the English teacher in me. And how about you? What do you do?
Sincerely,
(me)
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From: (her)
To: (me)
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2004 11:07 AM
Subject: Re: Match.com Message: hey
(Dear me),
Don't worry about it, if you're busy this Thursday we can always reschedule for next week. There's no rush.
About me, I work at (Big college) doing research on (mental condition). I was planning on going to med school so I wanted a job in research at some place reputable so I got this job. Now, I am interested in (health field). So I am taking classes and volunteering while working here...making the most of my time here.
I live in Charles Village...somewhat sketchy little area but I like it...it has it's charm.
I am quasi-vegetarian also. I like chicken sometimes but other than that, I dont eat any meat. It's a long story about the stomach flu and eating steak...not pretty. Anyway, I prefer vegetarian dishes most of the time.
Have you always grown up around this area? Or where are you orginally from? What made you want to be a teacher?
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----- Original Message -----
Me: I couldn't remember if I replied or not, but in looking through my sent messages folder, I guess I didn't. Sorry! My week has been swamped. I don't think I can do dinner on Thursday; I don't get to leave school until 6pm and then really need to get home and get my house cleaned and ready for my house concert on Saturday.
Yes, that's one of the slightly nutty things about me that I don't remember if I mentioned in my profile. I host concerts in my living room once a month. It's really pretty interesting. I get national, smallish musicians to play, and they make a little bit of money and have a place to play between DC and Philly, for example. Anyhow, my first show of the season is Saturday night and my house is nowhere near ready, and I work Friday night and Saturday morning at the restaurant. Busy times this week; I can't wait for it to be over. You can check out more at my (very crummy) website for it: (the website)
Alright, to answer your questions... No, I didn't grow up here' I'm from Michigan. I moved down here after graduating from college (MSU) and wanting to move somewhere south and into a big(ger) city. I grew up in the southwest corner of Michigan in a little beach town called South Haven, but spent the last six years of college and grad school in East Lansing at MSU. This is my fourth year in Baltimore, though, and I like it a lot.
I think I decided to become a teacher during my senior year of high school, when I was a student aide for my English teacher. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was a very influential time. I started college pre-med with a chemistry major, and even did two years of that, before I shifted to English (which was my minor) and Secondary Ed. I'm someone who will be a teacher for thirty years, not a job-hopper. I genuinely enjoy it and just love being in the classroom. I especially have a passion for urban education and doubt you'll ever see me in a suburban classroom.
So, what's your schedule looking like for next week? Thursday tend to be good for me, but I also normally only work at the second job one weeknight a week, so my schedule has some flexibility. Just not this week, I guess.
Hope your week is going well!
(me)
------------------------------
From: (Her)
To: (Me)
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 8:42 AM
Subject: Re: Match.com Message: hey
That's perfectly fine....this week got kind of busy and I have a deadline I have to meet next Tuesday so after that, my life will be smooth sailing.
Anyway, your concert events on Saturday night sound interesting. What a cool thing to do. How long have you been doing this? What kind of performers are usually there?
That's awesome that you see yourself as a teacher for good...there needs to be more people like you. I have some friends who are in teach for america and they are teachers out in LA and SanFrancisco and love it!
I volunteer at WIC and I love working in an urban setting....it's such an eye opening experience.
We'll coordinate something for next week.
(-Her)
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(Dear Girl):
I've been doing the house concerts for about three years. I booked for a coffeehouse in my dorm in college, and enjoyed it and got to know a lot of musicians, and that's pretty much how it started. I'm attaching a picture from Saturday; hope you don't mind! The musicians are generally folk singers. There are no speakers or anything; it's just voice and guitar. I once had a keyboardist. One time a singer brought a percussionist too. Saturday's show was a nice one - good crowd and good music.
Unfortunately, this week is looking pretty bad in terms of getting together. I hope to get out of this busy snag in a week. I have parent/teacher conferences tomorrow night, and have to work at the 2nd job on Wednesday night. I was hoping Thursday night would work, but I have a Happy Hour I'm kind of obligated to attend because it's for a wiffleball team that I'm organizing, and we're all supposed to go, and I especially should go since I'm the "coach." It's through the Baltimore Sports & Social Club - ever done anything through them? The weekend is jam-packed because my Detroit Tigers are in town for the only time this year; I'm going to the game on Friday night and Sunday afternoon and have to work at the second job on Saturday night and Sunday night. So, I hate to do this, but can we reschedule for the next week? It's looking like Tuesdays and Thursdays might be my best availability this fall as I begin to get my schedule sorted out. I know that on Thursday the 30th, though, I have plans - maybe Tuesday of that week could work. I think the second job will be scheduled on Wednesday nights, Saturday nights, and Sunday mornings. It's not too bad and it's nice to have cash on hand and save to buy a house, but it certainly decreases the flexibility of my schedule.
I also wanted to say that I've been obsessed with Friendster lately and, um, I sort of looked up your name. I hope you don't mind. You can feel free to look up mine if you'd like.Anyhow, wanted to say that I loved "Interpreter of Maladies"; what a great book that was. Have you read Lahiri's novel? I haven't yet, but I heard it's very good.
I hope you had a good weekend and the week started off well for you. How does Tuesday the 28th sound for dinner? I promise my schedule regulates itself soon.
(-me)
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I probably shouldn't have told her I stalked her on Friendster, I'm now thinking. Oh well. I've gotten ten e-mails from the site this week, so there are other fish in the sea. A few observations, though, now that all the e-mails are in a row:
1. Woah, I really talk for a long time about myself. Am I an egotist? I think I need to be much, much more succinct. Mysteriousness is attractive, and I'm so un-mysterious that it's ridiculous. And then I go and tell her every little interesting thing about me before I even meet her. Smooth move, jackass.
2. Now that she knows my life story what is there to talk about on the date?
3. Will she even e-mail me back now that she knows I stalk people on friendster? Of course I googled her as well, but there wasn't much there.
4. I cannot believe she made an it's/its error. Check it out. It's in that e-mail where she tells me where she lives. That's on my "3rd grade errors" poster in my classroom.
Still, I can't help but be excited to be talking with a girl who is A) not married, B) in Baltimore, C) is cute, and D) has a pulse.
PS: 5. You all know the plans I speak of on 9/30, right? Yup, it's A Fool's Fate's Happy Hour.