← back

notes on meeting a stranger (annie)

04dec2025 - 12:30PST - 3120 St Paul St #7, Baltimore, MD 21218

stranger * feelings * summary by claude

stranger

• go on my timeline and see someone asking for someone to buy them something
• have an issue w/ procrastinating and this was my distraction for the day
• meet them in front of the BMA in baltimore
  • have no idea what they are going to look like/who they are at all
• turns out to be a young woman around 5'3 brown hair slight build
• start to walk and i ask if she has anyone else she could have asked for help
• she says no has no friends
  • covid was hard for her and became very insular
  • describes self a 'schizo'
  • no friends, does not maintain any relationships
  • not in college or working traditionally
• continue to walk and i ask if she likes that
  • she says yes, likes to be alone
  • says it's easy because people want a lot of things from her
  • says its hard to give people what they want
• i comment she should be more discerning, people are strange/have negative intentions
• continue to walk quietly for a bit
• buy what they want at the store and start to walk back to where we meet
• mention that after walking/talking for 5-10 mins she seems very normal
  • she mentions having anger issues
  • mentions shes not actually schizophrenic
• continue to walk down the street and i mention that im parked a ways down and ill see them later
  • forget to ask where i can get a coffee
  • text them after and they say they will buy me a coffee since i treated them
  • i agree and meet them around the block at the coffee shop
• comments on me getting a black drip coffee
  • mention i don't like sweet things
• tell her to sit down if she wants and we can talk or ill just read for a bit
• she wants to sit down
• we begin to talk about normal things
• tells me about reading
  • mentions carl jung and a book about objects (man and his symbols?)
• talk about dreams briefly and introspection
• tells me her dreams are always very literal
  • dream about being with a twitter follower she met in nyc and how they were navigating through a castle with shifting/morphing rooms and passages
  • i inquire who it was she says they may not like me knowning that
  • uncertain if she had looked through my profile but i hadn't looked through hers
• tells me about her high school experience
  • lonely, some sports some activities but covid got in the way
  • has a perception that she was failing/did not try hard enough
    • focused on failure
  • took college classes in high school (and clearly not dumb generally)
• tells me about her brother (nyc)
  • thespian, introvert? relationship ambiguous
• tells me about her mother/father higher education at different colleges
  • introverted, shaky relationship
  • father is a dodgers fan
• ask her what she likes
  • mentions reading philosophy/psychology
    • possible trying to understand self
  • clothing (on running shoes, aritzia hoodie etc.)
  • talk about tiktok (shows mer her tiktok, it's girly)
  • talk about twitter other apps
• pulls out flavored croissant
  • offers me some
  • at some point gets a line of it on her nose (watching her peel apart and eat it slowly)
  • point it out and she says it's a freckle or something
  • offer her a handkerchief and it's dirty
• i ask her about her username on twitter
  • she explains how she wanted something edgy
• i ask about her account (i hadn't gone through it yet)
  • explains how it used to be a nsfw account
  • explains how she came to have a couple transactional relationships
  • explains how she would sell photos online
  • shifting away from that with her account but uncertain how to proceed
  • talk about if that is enjoyable or why she does it
  • motive unclear cause unclear (futher conversation needed)
• talked about how she wants to move to europe
• wants to move ireland
  • english speaking
  • easy to navigate europe after moving there
  • easy to move around in europe generally
• talk about how she wants to get into rave scene
  • tell her how much time she has to do things
  • ok to behave/do certain things in rave scene
  • can have certain experiences she feels she might miss out on
• talks about how she wanted to move out and get out living with her parents very quickly
  • investing in stocks
  • trying to work and save money
    • uncertain cause or source of desperation need further conversation
    • some contradicition - everyone introverted/to themselves how could it be such a large issue
• ask her if anyone puts her on game how does she figure things out (claims to not know anything?)
  • describes herself as sneaky
  • describes herself as lying often
    • tells anecdote about getting black out drunk at thanksgiving and it not going well
      • maybe in new orleans
  • describes liking the non commit nature of relationship with older men
  • tends to get drunk as a coping mechanism?
• i tell her a few different anecdotes
  • my behavior in college
  • current relationship with friends/being able to relate to feeling estranged from others or some alienation generally
  • story about my parents/person i am talking to romantically at the moment
• natural a pretty person
• seems a bit insecure or too in their head, easy to talk to pleasant to have a conversation with
• needs some structure/direction
• talks about time in resident program for mental health recently that ate away at savings
  • ocd
• staying a few weeks at an air bnb
  • probably as a result of thanksgiving fall out
• believe she is not opinionated? not experienced enough
  • yet has little incites into things notices things
  • has taste likes aesthetics is clearly seeking a version of herself/reality
  • limiting self

feelings

• i felt unsure during the interaction
• i was not sure if she felt unsafe or comfortable
• thought it was interesting but things seemed to form a clearer picture through the conversation
• seems concerned about her appearance though she is attractive
• must have some history she is neglecting to tell me to cause a lot of these things
  • outside of the issues she is dealing with that she listed explicitly
• immediately worried and wanted to help/protect her
• i felt powereless in someways to help/guide her
• seemed clearly intelligent to me but wormholed into things that are not leading her where she wanted to be
• haven't been able to stop thinking about it felt sort of surreal
• seems like a sweet person

summary by claude:

Core Themes

1. Vulnerability and trust with strangers

• A chance encounter initiated through social media with complete anonymity
• The rapid shift from transactional interaction to genuine connection
• Both parties navigating uncertainty about safety, intentions, and comfort
• The strangeness of deep disclosure with someone you just met

2. Isolation as both choice and circumstance

• Claims to prefer being alone, yet reaches out to strangers online
• COVID as catalyst for becoming insular, difficulty maintaining relationships
• Contradiction between stating "no friends" and seeking human connection
• Family described as introverted/distant but also a source of desperation to escape

3. Self-perception vs. observable reality

• Describes herself as "schizo" (later clarifies not actually schizophrenic), having anger issues, being sneaky, lying often
• Observer sees someone intelligent, articulate, pleasant to talk with, naturally attractive
• She sees herself as failing/not trying hard enough despite taking college classes in high school
• Gap between how she presents herself and how she's experienced

4. Coping mechanisms and escape patterns

• History of transactional relationships, selling photos online, relationships with older men
• Drinking as coping mechanism (blackout drunk at Thanksgiving)
• Recent residential mental health program that depleted savings
• Reading Jung/psychology as possible attempt to understand herself
• Plans to move to Ireland/Europe, get into rave scene - seeking transformation through geography and experience

5. The observer's protective instinct

• Immediate worry and desire to help/protect
• Recognition of intelligence being "wormholed" into unproductive patterns
• Feeling powerless to guide or help effectively
• The interaction feeling surreal, unable to stop thinking about it
• Tension between wanting to help and respecting boundaries/autonomy

6. Small moments revealing character

• The croissant scene - offering to share, the fleck on her nose she claims is a freckle
• Offering to buy coffee as reciprocity
• Showing TikTok ("it's girly") - small gesture of trust
• Black drip coffee observation - noticing and commenting on small choices
• These tiny details building intimacy in compressed time

The dynamic: Two people meeting in the margins of normal social interaction - one seeking something unclear (help? connection? escape?), the other distracted and curious. What starts as a favor becomes an hour-long conversation that reveals profound isolation, intelligent but directionless energy, and the strange intimacy possible between strangers who might never see each other again.

← back