Saturday, January 30, 2010

Do svidaniya

I received an odd email today through meetup. This site is not a place for singles to meet; it is simply a collection of groups for people to join. I found my current ukulele group as well as a variety of knitting and drumming groups I have yet to join. The email was from some 30-year-old man in my city who, apparently, wants to meet me. This message took me by complete surprise. It was somewhat of a pick-me-up, but it also brought on a sudden feeling of paranoia. I have no idea who this person is, but he found me through the ukulele group. He had suggested to his mother (who is a hand-drummer) to send me an invitation to a local drumming circle event so that we might have the opportunity to meet. When the drum circle was canceled at the last minute, he decided to email me directly.

Now, I am all for people going after what they want. In fact, I encourage people to stand up and take those risks because, let's face it, life doesn't present all the opportunities we'd like. Sometimes we have to jump start our lives a little. What makes me feel uncomfortable is that this person knows where I plan to be later on in February. If this individual is unbalanced in any way, that puts my safety at risk.

I have no intention of contacting this person, but I did some digging into his background just to find out if he is real. He appears to be what he claimed in the message. He is, in fact, in the IT field. He has his own business. I found him on MySpace. The page appeared legitimate, and I looked at pictures. I do not intend to contact this man, and it is good to now have a picture in mind should I pass him on sidewalk as I walk around Ann Arbor.

I have a strange history of attracting odd characters, and I think that this is just a new one to add to the list. If Beck were to read this, she'd probably label him "Weirdo # something" as she used to do in college. I have a truly wary nature about men. I've never dated anyone who was not first a friend, and I have no intention of breaking from tradition. In all actuality, I don't know where I stand in the whole dating thing, and I am enjoying not being set in any solid direction. I do things because I want to do them - without obligation.

I have decided to be passive about the whole thing. I will not send a message back, even though I've always been taught that it is rude to not return correspondence. In this case, I am not acquainted with the person and I did not solicit any contact. Therefore, it is justifiable to not contact this man. If we were friends or acquaintances, then some sort of polite refusal or acceptance of a date would be in order.

In his closing, he said "Do svidaniya." There were some instances of language differences that suggested he is from another country, but he seems to have a very solid grasp of American English, which suggests that he moved here while he was still quite young. His parting words struck me, though, because most people believe that do svidaniya means good-bye forever. It really means the same as the German "Auf Wiedersehen!" or until we meet again. Do the Russians have a word or phrase for good-bye that doesn't suggest a later meeting?