once

i fall in love with people very quickly. humans fascinate me. i was told today that i am unjaded by the world, and it explains why i deal with people the way i do. it's true, mostly. i have not experienced much of the ugliness of the world. i've heard of it, like rumbling thunder in the distance. i've not dealt with it much. or so it would seem, anyway.

as i said, i get attached to people quickly. i usually can sense things about them that intrigues me, makes me want to know everything about them. i do this thing sometimes that shows just how much i want to make that connection to other humans. i'll meet someone--once--and find them so amazing, so beautiful, i can't stand the thought of not knowing them. so, provided i know their name or have their contact information, i keep in touch with them by any means possible for months, maybe years later. let me illustrate.

first there was andy. i met andy while volunteering at a concert. we talked of similar interests and each other's lives while taking money at the door. he's one of those people who is so fascinating and involved in what he does that he has few friends, and keeps in touch with few more than his favorite people. that was the only time i met him, and though we have attempted to get together again since, have failed. however, we call and write e-mails regularly, mostly to stay abreast of new developments in the life of the other, but also to continue our talk.

then there's tim. we interviewed together at the school i am going to now the first time i interviewed (and didn't get in). he was short, funny, and looked like ernie off of sesame street. we hit it off pretty well; we both have a good sense of humor, are extroverts, and weren't too nervous about the interviews. (we should have been, neither of us got in, mostly due to the fact we were so late in applying.) he traveled to south america over the summer, and we kept in touch through facebook. while i reapplied to the school, he went on to start teaching in south america, then got married, then started a journalism career... all the while writing to me periodically, letting me know he probably wouldn't be coming back anytime soon. true to his word, he's still there. he calls me his "one-day-best-friend."

i think trevor was next. trevor doesn't really count, because we're up to 4 face-to-face meetings. however, prior to meeting #2, we just wrote on-line. i also met trevor at the concert--he and his girlfriend were volunteers as well. he has an intense, vibrant, energetic personality, and we clicked because our spit-fire conversations sound like they were scripted by writers for "gilmore girls." after months of not seeing trevor, i dropped in on him in his dorm room at my alma mater. we talked for about 2 hours. the third meeting was longer, about 3 hours of conversation that started at midnight. neither of us lost momentum, and were trucking hard straight until my buddy nick called me to come sleep with him. (he had stayed up until 3 waiting for me to come and cuddle with him and rub his back.) our fourth meeting was brief, but we still can count on one hand how many times we've actually seen each other, and yet we're very close.

finally, there's dave, the ape-man. god, that boy is big, and good-looking. (well, some people don't think he's that attractive, but i find members of either sex appealing based on different criteria than most.) dave came to help out at my old job for a day. he was a bartender, so i would chat with him over by the bar when i needed drinks. he's a neat guy, articulate, but laid-back, slow at times, the typical deep-voiced beefcake. i think it was our oppositeness that made us friends, and we also e-mail and text on-and-off. he wants me to come visit him when i'm on break. (a lot of people do, though...)

i'm not sure if it's me, or them, or me liking them, or them liking me, or all of the above. but it's amazing to watch the attraction between two people that sparks a friendship based off of once.