Self-Destruction and Degrees of Separation

I'm self destructive. Not in that drug abusing, self loathing type of way, but let's just say I like a challenge. Difficult situations intrigue me, they make me feel alive, they give me something to think about. And anyone that knows me, knows I love to think. I love the chess game, and I love even more that feeling right before you know you're one move to check mate. Why the move before you ask? Because there's still that anticipation, and the possibility that someone else might out maneuver you. The possibility that the game could take a turn and continue to go on for hours, it's a high, and I love it. Recently I've found myself in a particularly tricky game of chess...because as we all know in order to win these games, there has to be casualties of war, and that my friend is where the degrees of separation come in. I once wrote a poem that contained the line, "why fight a war that you cannot win, especially if you are all of your men." Lately it seems that the casualties of my self-destructive warfare are along with myself, lots of other people I know.

How can this be? Because everybody I know knows everybody else I know.

It seems that there are no random chance meetings with captivating people in this fair ciy called New York. Everyone knows someone who I know...now this is not a new problem to face, but slightly more frustrating only because of location.

You would think in one of the most populous cities in the country you should be able to have a chance meeting, or meeting(s) with someone without soon finding out their whole life story from numerous people who all know them as well.

Because when this happens then my game is over before it even starts. There's no mystery, there's no intrigue, there's just research and of course facebook. Which between a couple of emails inquiring about this person and a quick glance over their facebook page, you know more about them than you could have ever really desired to know seeing as though, you've only bumped in to them once or twice, and you were enjoying setting up the peices for a chess game that seemed like it would be quite invigorating if nothing else.

So what's a girl with a penchant for a challenging situation to do?




Go to Brooklyn...I think there must be a lot of great people in Brooklyn...who don't know everyone I know, isn't there?