Highlights from a London night out June 4, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 6 comments
I’m talking to one of the many bachelorette parties (excuse me, “hen parties”) at the bar when a girl comes up behind me and tucks the tag on my shirt back in. I discover later that she was actually affixing a sticker reading “Worst pickup line”. Apparently you’re not supposed to say “Allroight geeza” to girls. I wear the sticker all night long, unknowingly.
I’ve been talking to a girl for about five seconds when a guy comes over and tries to blow me out. He comes over, ignores me, and starts whispering in her ear. So I introduce myself to him. He asks how long I’ve known the girl, I tell him we go way back. All of five seconds. And that she used to eat my crayons in grade school. He starts making a big show, mockingly yelling about how much the girl likes me and how cool I am, so I tell him he’s sweet for helping me out and that I like how forward the girl is. He disappears soon after.
I’m hanging out downstairs when all the security guards suddenly rush up the stairs. A minute later, they run back down the stairs with a guy with blood all over his face. Then they rush back up the stairs again. By this time, the police have arrived. When the security guards rush back down the stairs they’re dragging a guy who’s struggling and swearing and clawing at the bannister. It takes about 3 security guards and another 4 police officers to hold him down on the ground outside the club.
I meet four girls and keep them rolling on the floor laughing. They tell me I’m the funniest American they’ve ever met. I eventually start talking to one of them one-on-one and she refuses to believe that I’m a social coach. She says I must be a promoter hired by the club to make sure all the girls have a good time.
My night ends when the police suddenly show up in force and quickly herd everyone out of the club. One of the officers says someone’s been stabbed. Crazy. I talked to half the people in the club that night. There’s a good chance I talked to either the guy who got stabbed or the guy who did it. Walking up the stairs after the first fight, there were blood droplets all over the floor. I could handle that - I did mixed martial arts for a few years. But walking down the stairs this time, I saw a spray of blood all over one of the walls. It was like something out of a horror movie. Girls are fun, but they’re not worth getting killed over.
Oh, and I get recognized during the post-stabbing commotion so as the police are clearing out the club, drunk American tourists begin taking photos with me and encouraging me to do a Jowler.
It’s impossible to find a taxi in London after 1 am. So we walk home. I get home around 4 am, just as the sun starts coming up. In less than a day I’ll be on my way to Ibiza…
Your thoughts?Advice from David Braun June 2, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal, Work , 2 commentsI’ve found that I get most of my best ideas while talking to other people. I had a great dinner with David Braun the other day. It turned out that we’re working toward the common goal of simplicity in our own lives. To that end, David has consolidated everything he needs for work onto his laptop and now spends his workdays at local cafes and coffeeshops. I love this idea! With Skype and my laptop, I really do have no more need for a home office.
And, I learned quite a bit about Second Life, which David expects to be the next iteration of the internet. Time to look into that.
Your thoughts?