Histrionics II

I did try to ignore the stuff that Sandwich Repair Man was posting on my blog, because I had the uneasy feeling that I'd gotten in over my head with this one and also because it was becoming clearer and clearer to me that this wasn't at all why I started a blog in the first place, and like I said, therefore not worth the battle.

But now I feel I have to address them, because, well, because now he is just being mean. I will not remove any other posts unless they dabble in bizarro stalker-world, and I have any fear for my own safety.

He has asked for further explanation, and I can give that. I happened upon his site, much by accident, because I was looking for an article about the big friendswap party my friend Eric and his friends initiated several years ago. I wasn't going to it because I wasn't single. But I had explained the concept to a friend, and was trying to remember the details. What came up when I googled the name was Sandwich Repair Man's site, who had apparently had an exchange with the Friendswap people about their choice of location for the event, and the lack of consideration for its smokefree patrons.

Very valid point, SRM.

Anyhow, I started browsing around the site, and while it had nothing to do with me or anyone I knew I found myself unable to stop reading, or looking, as it were -- just like when YOU PASS A CAR WRECK. That was the car wreck analogy. It was not implying that your life was a car wreck, it was simply that, in the insidious way blogs have about them, I was unable to turn away from it even though I had no real reason to want to keep looking.

And at that time the bulk of the posts on the site were about dating frustrations. Some I read and found I sympathized with SRM, some totally annoyed me, and some I did find questionable in taste (like the email conversation that was posted between SRM and a coworker. Maybe the coworker was totally cool with it. Maybe she even liked the attention. But the idea of posting an entire email conversation about whether or not someone wanted to date SRM made me uneasy.)

I read it for a while, then pretty much stopped while I was away and busy, and yes -- living my own life. But then when I was back here in DC and trolling around the internet during a day job, I read through a whole debate, spanning several sites, about men paying for dates. It was a springboard for a post I wrote. I am sure I made it much more about SRM than I should have -- I should have kept it to my own opinions on the matter -- but I didn't. And like I said, I had no idea that SRM's statcounter would lead him back to my site. Lesson learned.

I am sorry that I hurt your feelings, SRM. I did not mean to do that. I am sure you are a cool person, interested in politics, and the world, and music and art, concerned about the fate of this planet and our country (despite your love for our neighbors to the North) and did not deserve to feel singled out by me. I am sure you have a lot to offer the world, and much to give to a special female.

My feeling was that you focused too much on getting a date and on your experiences (or lack thereof) and that this was holding you back. But what do I know?

The fact is, women will probably pretty much always be able to get laid whenever they want, if that is what you wanted. So perhaps I had trouble being sympathetic to the cause. I'm pretty average looking -- average to generous build and nothing exceptional when it comes to sense of style or humor or grace, perhaps a bit brighter than your average bird, but my knowledge base is extremely specialized and limited -- so, overall middle-of-the-road. And yet, finding someone to date has not typically been a struggle. Finding someone that I really LIKE to date - tougher. Making a RELATIONSHIP work - much tougher. But I think women do have it easier along the lines of finding someone at least to date, and probably to sleep with. And maybe that's a problem.

Anyhow, that was what first got me going with the SRM references. Oh! And by the way -- I never thought you wrote the Double Your Dating Crap. I KNEW they were sent to you from some frat boy Neanderthal trying to market on a fella's insecurities. See -- like I said -- brighter than the average bird! Dude, I even outscored Natalie Portman on my SAT's!

So, there you have it.

Now, some of the comments that SRM has been posting have been raising my ire (Just like my mom said! He just wants to get a rise out of me!!) and I guess, in my little histrionic, impulsive brain, I feel like they need a response.

Why is DC theatre so much worse than Seattle's, anyway?

Wow. What definitive statement. I'd love to hear about the theater you have seen in Seattle, and the complaints you have with DC theater. As a young(ish) theater artist in this town, I would love to know what keeps people from outside the theater community coming, and what keeps them away. And I WISH Seattle's theater scene was doing as well as you seem to think. Quite the opposite, actually. The fringe festival (in a town where the fringe element has always been strong and kicking in every scene: literature, music, art...) went bankrupt about two years ago, and as far as I know, has not been able to pull itself back up. The Empty Space, one of the first cutting-edge (as it were) theaters in Seattle almost went under last year. So SRM, if you love Seattle theater -- please! -- support it! Encourage your friends in Seattle to support it. I would hate to see the theater scene in any city die out. The more the merrier.

On a brighter note, the scene here in DC is continually growing, with the very exciting addition of our very own fringe festival next Summer. I worry whether we can continue to bring audiences into the many growing, renovated, and expanded spaces popping up all over the city -- but the growth is exciting none-the-less.

And speaking of Canada -- Canada has a fabulous theater scene! Many of the most exciting plays I've read this year have been from Canadian playwrights. So surely -- when you get up to Quebec -- do check out the scene up there. D'accord?

Okay. Gotta go meet a playwright and talk about hostages in Lebanon. More on this later, or tomorrow.