I picked up a copy of the Improper Bostonian on Friday when we went into the city to meet up with one of the guys we went to Montreal with. For those of you who don't live in Boston or don't read the Improper, it's a bi-weekly free magazine that considers itself the hip guide to what's going on in Boston. Personally, I read it because it amuses me -- specifically, the "Impersonals" section that they have at the back of the magazine.

The Impersonals is a column where people can write in short anonymous messages in the hopes of meeting that certain someone they shared a prolonged eye contact moment with. A typical message might read something like this:

Sunday 1/14 on the Red Line: you were wearing a red shirt and jeans, I was the guy in the A&F sweatshirt. We bumped into each other accidentally when the train suddenly stopped and you said you were sorry and smiled at me. I was so taken by your smile and the way you looked at me. But you got off at the next stop before I could get up enough nerve to ask you out. I was stupid for that, hopefully, you'll read this. --RedLineSmiler@hotmail.com

It's a completely guilty pleasure for me to read these. It's like a short printed version of "Blind Date" or something along those lines. Personally, I can't remember what I was wearing three days ago, let alone three weeks ago. And people are supposed to be able to recall that they bumped into someone on the T or in a club at a concert and respond to this? I can't honestly see anyone ever answering any of these ads, and I wonder what makes people write them in the first place. Is it because that Hollywood has drilled into our heads the need for the Chance Encounter With That Certain Special Someone?

In Stephen Sondheim's musical Company, one of the songs talks about the fact that there are so many people in the city -- the lyrics go "And another hundred people just off of the train/And came off of the bus/And got off of the plane/It's a city of strangers/Some come to work, some to play..." There are so many random people running around any given city at any given time that the chance of The Random Encounter leading to something meaningful that would change your life is a little hard to swallow.