See the USA...

...on Craig's List-a.

Here's the fun thing about selling something on Craig's List. Sure you make a little bit of cash from random stuff you can't remember why you're saving. But you also get to meet the people who are willing to give you cash for random stuff you can't remember why you're saving. This is a great way to meet people you would probably otherwise never come across, except for when you're called for jury duty.

A little tangent on jury duty at this point. Other than having to wake up at the crack of dawn and schlep myself downtown (And here, another tangent, going downtown to jury duty in LA is the perfect time to use public transportation, i.e., the metro. Part of the reason is that you do have to get there so early, so there's still parking available at the metro station. I once got to a metro station at, oh, 7:45 a.m. and all the parking places were taken, and there was no street parking available. "But, Jen," you say, "couldn't you have taken a bus to the metro station?" In fact, no. There were no buses from anywhere near my house that went to the metro station. I looked up a possible route on the handy-dandy "trip planner" on the metro website, and the first step was, "Walk 2.5 miles to x bus stop." Seriously. "But, Jen," you say, "walking is healthy! Couldn't you have walked 2.5 miles at 6:30 in the morning? If you're asking that question, you clearly don't know me. Hi, I'm Jen, nice to meet you.

But back to jury duty, and then we'll get back to Craig's List. Other than the waking and the schlepping, and the waiting around in the jury room, once you get into a court room, it gets pretty interesting. Again, because of the interaction with people you would otherwise not meet. And people will say the most interesting/personal things out loud in court if they think it will get them out of jury duty. It could even be a reality show, "Get out of jury duty." People will tell the court their income, the amount of their rent, how their ex-husband won't babysit the kids, how even though they're a practicing psychologist making over $100,000 a year, 3 days of jury duty would financially bankrupt them. People also don't mind looking like idiots, "No, I don't understand any of the instructions you've just given me." "Well, if the guy's in court, he must have done something wrong." Me, I've gotten off with, "I don't believe civilians should be allowed to own handguns," and "I was in a car accident last year." I've also learned things like, in Iran, you're guilty until proven innocent.

Ah, the sea of humanity that is Los Angeles. Which brings me back to Craig's List. When you sell stuff on Craig's List, little inlets of that sea come to your doorstep. A Korean-American woman from, yes, Korea Town, came to buy a dining set for her back yard. A very nice Latino man and his daughter (skinny jeans, lip piercing - he let her do that?) came to buy a tape deck (yes, a tape deck), and insisted on paying $10 instead of the $5 I was asking because "it was fair." A hipster young white woman in short-shorts who bought a 60's hanging lamp for her "cabin." A young Latino man and his father who bought an ancient washer and dryer set, to take back to his new house in the very city from whence the appliances came.

My roommate also sold a DVD player to an Armenian man and his son, and an off-brand 23" TV for $25 to an older hippy guy in a BMW converitible. I also posted a pair of gloves on eBay and got an email from a woman in Croatia asking about them. Humanity, people, I'm telling you.

The internet, connecting people through commerce. But isn't that how cultures have always connected, through trade? You know, the Silk Road and all that. That's not news, I know, but getting to play in that arena for a little is like getting a taste for what it must be like to haul your goods to the market town where anyone and everyone can come haggle with you for your wares. Also, it's probably more fun than if your livelihood depends on it.