(WEEK 21) FREECYCLE
…is a website. Basically like Craig’s List, but there is absolutely no exchange of money. People just list things that they no longer have use for, and from there (in theory) it’s first come, first serve. It’s a bit of a mission to become a member; you have to go to their website Freecycle.org, and then join the Yahoo Group for your geographic area, for which you need a Yahoo ID/email of you don’t already have one.
My friend Aron left me a couch and a floorlamp when he moved away from Miami last year, and they were basically FPO until I had the time and money to properly design and decorate my space. Since they were donated to me, I figured I would continue the cycle through this website. As long as someone had the means to come cart away the junk still perfectly functional furniture, they could have it.
Based on this inaugural experience, I’ve decided that the users are all crazy or lazy. The first dude that emailed me wanted only the floorlamp. I really preferred both pieces to be claimed together – but I didn’t specify that in my email headline and based on the several emails I was sent when I signed up (including this rather scary one: SAFETY…be appropriately aware of the potential risk of having “a stranger” come to your home to pick something up. Freecycle as an organization assumes no responsibility for this risk.), proper Freecycle etiquette dictates that the first person to email you gets dibs.
So I told this first dude A. that he could have the lamp. Then I didn’t hear from him for a couple days. So this other dude B. ended up emailing me and said he was interested in both the loveseat and the lamp. Instead of posting pics and a description like on Craig’s List, you post all necessary info in an email subject line, which is then sent to every member of your local group. (Whether they want it or not. It’s becoming a bit like spam for me now since I was only planning on being a one-time Freecycler).
So then the A. guy did email me back and I ended up getting the two dudes confused when I arranged a pick up time with A. to come get the loveseat and lamp after work. He was like “Whoa, I only wanted the lamp…fit on my scooter…something something.” I told A. I was confused b/c there was another guy interested in the goods and that I hadn’t heard from him in a couple days so he could have the lamp. So this guy freaks out and accuses me of stringing him along for days for a [free, mind you] lamp and that he didn’t want it anymore because what I was doing was “shady” and “wrong.”
Overreact much? It’s a freaking free piece of furniture that I am trying to get rid of . I don’t care where it goes, as long as it’s out of my apartment; which is what I emailed to him in response. He proceeded to respond with a novel (which I only skimmed and deleted because I didn’t feel like wasting at least 15 minutes of my life) about morals…something, something…insert analogy of setting up a date with two guys on the same night…something, something. Wow. Glad this guy didn’t get anywhere near my apartment.
Which brings me back to B., whom I still haven’t heard from in at least a week (he must not have been impressed with the pics I sent him from my iPhone – Freecyclers can’t be choosers). So the beginning of last week, I get an enthusiastic email from M., who said she just moved into a small apartment and that the items would be perfect! I emailed her the pics and she said she would let me know by Sunday (yesterday) whether or not she would be able to come retrieve her new decor. Surprise, surprise, this chick seems to have fallen off the face of the Freecycle Earth too.
So boys and girls, today’s lesson is: when something is free, there is little to no motivation to follow-through, because you haven’t invested any money in the transaction. Three strikes, and I’m out. Whatever happened to Freecycle Etiquette Rule #16? “Be nice.” We’ve got a great little community here so when you arrange to pick up an item from another Freecycle Member, it is basic good manners to accommodate them as much as possible in terms of scheduling, and then be punctual; they are, after all, giving you something you need and asking nothing in return except that you will show up when you say you will. (Leaving someone hanging is never a nice thing.) Also, unless the giver tells you otherwise, assume that they would like you to come by as soon as you can to take away the item; no more than three days after the offer is made is usual. (Think of it as The Three-Day Rule.)
My last attempt at Furniture salvation is going to be calling the Salvation Army and/or Goodwill to see if they can come pick up the loveseat, and if not, it’s final resting place will be the dumpster. Freecycle FAIL.
(WEEK 22) Thin is the New Happy
I don’t know if all creative people, or maybe just high energy people in general, feel this way, but I always feel like there are never enough hours in the day. First, because I work so freaking much (good thing I love my job!). Then, I’m somewhat of a social butterfly and spend a lot of time training for triathlons and sleep is of course a huge priority of mine. So, that doesn’t leave much (if any) time leftover to read, do more artsy, craftsy stuff, write, blog, see movies, keep in touch with people, and all the other things I keep brewing in the back of my mind.
I have tons of books that I’ve started, but rarely finish them. Well, that streak changed this weekend. And the fact that I had hours upon hours to occupy in airports, planes and on tarmacs, is erroneous. This past Friday night in the recommended reading section at Target, I picked up a copy of Thin is the New Happy by Valerie Frankel. The description on the back was hilarious and the book was dedicated to “The last fifteen pounds. I don’t miss you bitches. Not one bit.” It is basically a memoir detailing her chunky chilhood and subsequently dealing with bad body image through a rocky on-and-off relationship with dieting.
I’m sure pretty much all women (myself included) can relate to trying to attain the photoshopped, airbrushed, edited, “perfect” body that we are bombarded with all over magazines and in movies and other miscellaneous media. (And for me personally, everyday on my walk to work; living in South Beach, a well-known model mecca and plastic surgery playground.) Just lose 10 more pounds. Just eat 300 less calories. It’s a funny, quick and interesting read and features a literary cameo by Stacy London, of TLC’s What Not To Wear. So to pique your interest here are some random parts of the book, in no particular order: diets, drugs, punk rock, promiscuity, epiphany, magazines, family, goals, dreams and an “iron-pumping granny.”
I’m gonna try to keep this reading (real printed words, not just from a computer screen, which I do plenty of already) thing going, because my brain has been starving for far too long.
mirandomology 