Sunday, January 29, 2017

Natalie's Tinder

Almost exactly four years ago, I was hitting my low point in The Land of Coconuts. How it has been four years since I was living in Palau makes no sense to me but it does mean that you people are getting super old and I hope you've been saving for retirement and getting all of your colonoscopies. Also, prune juice.

I met some amazing people while I was in Palau. People who deserve to have entire galaxies named after them for how supportive and wonderful they were to me during that time when I was experiencing Island Ebola. (I call it "Island Ebola" because "Island Fever" is far too inept a phrase to explain the emotional explosive diarrhea).

No exception was my friend Natalie, whom I met on a boat one day. Natalie and I formed an immediate bond because she was experiencing her own isolation trauma. Except she had much more reason for it. Natalie was a Peace Corp volunteer and she was sequestered to a very small jungle village that was so tiny and isolated that she used to refer to the town I lived in as "The City."

My town had 10,000 people living in it. 200, if you only count people who regularly wore shoes.


Natalie was homesick and experiencing a level of loneliness that could drive any person crazy.

And so we latched onto one another. I vowed to drive out to the jungle and rescue Natalie every weekend if she promised to deliver a 48-hour stand-up-comedy monologue for me as soon as we got back to my apartment. This worked well, because Natalie was one of the funniest people I had ever met.

Natalie started referring to my apartment as "Homesick Embassy."

To this day, I owe a great amount of my survival and sanity to her.

And so, I was beyond excited when I found out she was going to be in Salt Lake City last week.

We spent the majority of our time doing this:



Also, since this was the first time in four years that the three of us were actually in the same city, there was a reunion that I'm sure would interest you:

Four years later and much less sweaty.

Then I spent the rest of the time using Natalie's Tinder and Bumble accounts to help find her a man.




Natalie received no boyfriends from this.

And now, please enjoy this week's Strangerville Short, featuring a few of my favorite prank calls.



~It Just Gets Stranger

14 comments:

  1. Can I put you in charge of my dating apps?

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  2. I see what you did there. Sabotaging her dating accounts. Quit messing around and make your move already! ;-)

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  3. I had completely given up hope of ever seeing or hearing of Daniel again. Thank you, Natalie!!!

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  4. DANIEL?!?! Need more info asap.

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  5. DANIEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE MISS DANIEL!!!!!!!! This is not okay. We need an update, as to how Daniel is doing!!!!

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  6. And there was much rejoicing in the land of Strangers. And then, collectively, we all demanded more details of your personal life.

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    1. He gives an inch, but we demand a mile. ;) And hey, to be fair, we want more details of Daniel's personal life. We just need to hear one sentence: "He's been doing well since you last saw him." :) We're greedy like that.

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  7. Please tell me the pictures are remakes from the I'm the King of the World scene in Titanic. Because that's what they made me think of . . . .

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  8. "Who is this how did you get this number" is amazing and I'm stealing it for my own dating profiles. 😂

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  9. DANIEL!!!! And don't think for a second I didn't notice you completed that entire post without saying his name.

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    Replies
    1. When you're as tall as Daniel, you don't have to be named.

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  10. Wait just one second. I have been reading your blog since long before you left for Palau, but you, sir are wrong. I have not aged at all. You are just catching up to me.

    Also, I read your blog the entire time you were in Palau and why do I not remember any mention of Natalie? She sounds so awesome.

    And also also, Daniel!!

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  11. Man...Where have the years gone?

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