boys & girls



how we know

Friday, 21 October 2005 5:13 P GMT-04
Erin asked me if he made my head fuzzy and my stomach do flips and I told her no, that was the problem. I liked him fine but didn't feel that way around him, so I was confused about what to do next. It was almost two years ago, and we stood in the

something new

Saturday, 15 October 2005 11:59 P GMT-04
I emailed him and thirty other people at the end of a long, tired summer. "Come to our bout," I said, and thought "Why not?" I wasn't surprised when he didn't show, though I'd thought I might hear from him. You never know. At the afterparty I was

attraction, as illustrated by

Friday, 14 October 2005 11:59 P GMT-04
It was a Friday afternoon which meant it was an afternoon for musing and joking and unimportant conversations to distract from the piles of work. Jay and I emailed back and forth about the nature of attraction. "I don't put that much emphasis on the

but life is not the movies

Thursday, 6 October 2005 11:59 P GMT-04
Here is how it would go in the movies: You spend months denying your attraction, stating to all who will listen that you are not impressed, that he is not the man for you, that you outright loathe him. He is very loathable after all, the way he's

downward spiral

Monday, 3 October 2005 11:59 P GMT-04
I liked a boy once who was bad news. When we met he seemed sweet as could be, and spent the entire night saying how unworthy he was to be talking to me. But he was clever and witty and talking to him was like talking to someone I'd known for years an

ten months, circle back

Sunday, 2 October 2005 11:59 P GMT-04
The problem, I told Josh, was that the boys I wanted didn't want me - I wasn't their type. But the boys who want me aren't my type. So there's never any match and it's really frustrating."What type are they, and what type do you like?" aske

if you're not on one side, you're on the other

Sunday, 2 October 2005 11:59 P GMT-04
I met a guy the other night, a perfectly nice, perfectly lovely guy who I had only the most basic platonic interest in, but somehow ended up in a situation where he asked me out to a show and I had to say no thank you.

self-determination

Friday, 13 May 2005 12:59 A GMT-04
in may 2004 there was a boy and there was a leaving and there was a misunderstanding about intentions, and so i wrote something i thought was true. i didn't post it then, afraid it was too specific, revealed too much, would be misconstrued. then tim

the ships are aimed at the future; the rockets towards the stars

Thursday, 12 May 2005 12:59 A GMT-04
If he could be dismissive, she could be dismissive. If he could be past it all, onward and upward, looking only forward to the future, so could she. Her list was longer after all, the list of things she wanted to do, all the dreams she knew she'd wi

for the archetype's girlfriend

Thursday, 14 April 2005 12:59 A GMT-04
(find your context here)"She was crazy," he said, because they always say this. Sometimes with an eyeroll. Sometimes with a head shake. Crazy. She demanded. She demanded and did not listen and she made him crazy so she must be instead. She

sometimes we get our wish

Thursday, 24 March 2005 1:00 A GMT-04
on january 31, 2005 I emailed Laurel. i just talked to my boss about all my work issues (more $$, or at least a title change for extra work) and he promised nothing and said there probably wasn't cash, which i knew. but he was receptive and i did i

alone in a room with your stomach in knots

Friday, 4 March 2005 12:59 A GMT-04
A few months ago, I was emailing a friend who was unsure how to deal with a relationship, unsure how she felt about the person she'd been seeing, unsure about what to do. I wrote this to her: "i sort of think that if you need to be around some

so life affirming and yet, so useless

Wednesday, 2 February 2005 12:59 A GMT-04
A Few Signs You May Have A CrushUncontrollable giggling (girls only) and/or grinningNeedless mentions of potential crush. Particularly in stories where you have not contextualized them as a crush, where you are just mentioning them "casually&q

there is nothing for you here: part six

Wednesday, 19 January 2005 11:16 A GMT-04
The Cutest Boy in New York has a girlfriend.After five months of empty subway cars and boring walks to work, I saw him again this morning, trudging through the tunnel to transfer trains. I only noticed him because I was looking at the jacket of the g

where the heart is

Thursday, 23 December 2004 12:59 A GMT-04
two years ago I came home for christmas heartbroken. or about to be. in November I'd met a young man who electrified every nerve ending and charged every air particle and who made me rethink my previous thoughts on dealing cautiously with the opposit

some recent trends: part one

Thursday, 9 December 2004 12:59 A GMT-04
I've been talking to people about their relationships quite alot, which is how I usually spend the majority of my time. I'm endlessly fascinated by how people get together with friends and boyfriends and girlfriends. Perhaps the ten divorces in my i

part five

Wednesday, 17 November 2004 12:59 A GMT-04
I was waiting for the subway this morning and realized I hadn't seen the cutest boy in new york in a long time. despite being late as always. It's strange, I thought, how sometimes your timing is dead-on and you can run into a person over and over

midnight ghost stories

Tuesday, 16 November 2004 12:59 A GMT-04
I was up until 3am last night, insomniac. the can of caffeinated soda I'd had at 10pm didn't help, or the list of things I had to do, productivity I could be achieving if my body didn't insist on eight full hours. but it was more than that. my bed fe

something else

Wednesday, 20 October 2004 12:59 A GMT-04
It was a disastrous first date, full of mixed signals and covered by a haze of confusion and followed all night by old dates trailing the proceedings like idealized ghosts. But even so, there was a moment, a moment when she entered the bar's back ro

a short play for a long weekend

Tuesday, 12 October 2004 12:59 A GMT-04
When Exes Come to Visit, Your Hopes Can't Be Low Enough:A Long Holiday Weekend in Three ActsACT ONEGirl: Hey what's up? How are you?Boy: I am guarded and unwilling to admit to it no matter how many times you make attempts to bring up the awkwardne

but max said no

Friday, 8 October 2004 12:59 A GMT-04
a few weeks ago Jay and I were discussing all the ways you can feel warm and fuzzy for a person.Me: really, the idea of romantic love is so messed up. we always want to be the most passionate, most desired, most unforgettable person that our partner

ghosts in the walls

Thursday, 7 October 2004 12:59 A GMT-04
last night I was watching the debates and glanced over at the wall next to the tv. my walls are orange, with a stripe of white running through the center, around the room. and in the middle of the white stripe, next to the tv, above the stereo, was w

dear new boyfriend

Monday, 27 September 2004 5:49 P GMT-04
dear new boyfriend,i'm sure you will be just lovely. cute without being blindingly gorgeous; funny in a clever, sly way; slightly scruffy and disheveled, perhaps with some slight facial hair. i seem to be into that lately. i know you're smart enough

fuck the internet

Sunday, 26 September 2004 12:59 A GMT-04
in my case it's not so much picking at a stab as it is repeatedly jamming a kitchen knife in an open wound.i also wonder if there's a statute of limitations on tracking someone down to punch them in the kidneys.

you wouldn't change it if you could, but still it sucks

Wednesday, 8 September 2004 12:59 A GMT-04
things i did over the long weekend:sat on the street outside a house show filled with twenty year olds, alternately bored and pissed off, messaging Meg2 and getting drunk off vodka smuggled in a water bottlehung out with this guymet a couple of sup