And by "roller coaster" I mean "roller coaster." Not whatever you were thinking.

Some people find love in the most absurd of circumstances: Boy accidentally sits on girl working out at the gym. He's embarrassed. She's sweaty. It's love.

Girl drunk dials the wrong number. Boy answers. They talk. They meet. They get married.

But online dating has emerged from the damp, dark corners of social isolation. It's crawled up from the parent's basement, lost 30 pounds, gotten a job and started talking. To real people.

Everyone's meeting online these days. And why not? Sometimes you just want to see what's available without being bothered by the clingy, high-pressure salespeople.

But forget love. What do you do when you have two tickets to an amusement park and the only people you know who can go are you and...well, just you. Maybe you stay home, deny yourself the ultimate joy that is The Giant Drop, reheat Mac and Cheese for lunch and cry yourself to sleep.

Or maybe you post an ad on Craigslist, something like, "Looking for LTR but would settle for a trip to Six Flags"

My friend did (yes, it really was "my friend") and asked my opinion on the responses. She cleared out all the obvious sickos (i.e., those who sent nothing more than a photo of their privates), those who lacked conversational skills (i.e., e-mails that said nothing more than "wuddup") and anyone who used the word "sexy" to describe what made them a good amusement park companion.

Who was left? Still quite a number of seemingly normal, non-murderous Joes. She picked one and is off to roller-coaster-ride the day away today. I'm sending positive thoughts her way, as well as regular text messages to ensure she hasn't been cut up and tossed, piece by piece, over the side of the Splash Water Falls raft.

If it all works out for her, well, I might just have an extra ticket to Six Flags...

Admit it, you've had that moment. That devastating moment when a hot [insert appropriate noun here] speaks to you and says something entirely mundane like, "Good morning" and you - shocked - start to panic and can't think of anything worthwhile to reply back but you know this is huge and you must say something back so you stutter a few seconds and say..."G-G-Glued morning."

Glued morning? What a bust.

But harp not on the failure, because Craigslist's missed connections forum is offering second chances.

The posts are a riot - it reminds me of reading my friends diaries. Only now I don't have to make copies of the pages to spread around school - I can just forward a link.

Take for example the post directed "to the girl who spanked me on state street at around 8 on sunday." Makes each reader wonder, "Could he be talking to me? Did I spank any strangers on Sunday?"

Or this post, from a guy who struck up a conversation with a girl peeing in an Alley. That's a story for the grandkids.

It's love in the 21st century - and we get to watch it unfold.

In that vein, here's a (partially made up) love connection re-enactment based on the true love story behind this posting: You work at key in monument square.

Lonelyguy34 [talking to himself]: When! Oh, when will I find love? The tragedy, the loneliness! I can do nothing but pass the time reading random postings on Craigslist.

Posting: you work at the key bank in monument square...

Lonelyguy34: What's this? I work at Key Bank.

Posting: you're tall and incredibly good looking...

Lonelyguy34: I'm tallish and good looking-ish

Posting: and i seem to run into you everywhere- including random chinese food places on exchange street....

Lonelyguy34: OMG! I hang out at Chinese food places on Exchange all the time! It must be my soul mate - the woman I've been obsessed with for months! Finally! I've been waiting for this moment my entire life!

Posting: i'm unavailable but if i wasn't i think i'd certainly ask you out!

Lonelyguy34: ...what?

The beach can be a scary place.

You'd think it'd be relaxing - reclining in the sand, listening to the methodic rumble of the waves. Maybe knocking down another couple of pages from that 99 cent novel you've been reading for the past two years.

Then a shout distracts you from your book/gossip magazine/nap and you look up to find yourself uncomfortably close to a heavy-set Canadian in an ultra-thin Speedo.

I imagine hikers who come across a bear in the woods experience the same mixed feelings of distress and amazement as such a beach vision incites: You spot the meandering creature and hold deathly still - not even breathing - for fear you may catch its attention. You're frightened, to be sure, but can't get yourself to stop looking. Finally, when it has moved far enough away - is just a speck in the distance - you turn to your cohorts and exclaim, "Did you SEE that?"

But sometimes you meet the eyes of something much less frightening. Sometimes, when you're innocently scanning the beach, you may see that there's a fellow watching you. He's smiling, so you smile back, and then you get shy and look away. But inevitably you look again and he's still staring and smiling. So you go over and introduce yourself and he doesn't say anything. He's shy, too, you think, which is, like, so adorable.

So you talk to him awhile and he's such a good listener and he never interrupts and you think, "This guy is so perfect!" You find a pen somewhere and write your number on his arm and say, "Call me" or something lame like that and when you get back to your spot on the beach you take a picture with your camera phone so you can show your friends this awesome guy you just met who might actually be "The One."