My first car! July 18, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 3 commentsAfter days of searching on Craigslist, I have finally purchased my very first car!
Q: Hey Niels, what kind of car is it?
A: The $300 kind!
Q: You bought a car for $300?
A: Yes.
Q: Does it run?
A: For now.
Q: What does it look like?
A: It’s a blue and rust colored 1991 Geo Storm. More blue than rust, but not by much.
Q: Manual transmission?
A: Of course.
Q: How long before you’ll be willing to park it on the 30 degree hill outside your house?
A: Months, probably. Maybe years.
Beauty and the Geek is back! July 18, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Beauty and the Geek, Personal , 9 commentsApparently Season 3 of Beauty and the Geek is into reruns. Hello to any new viewers. I got bored writing about dating and social dynamics so now I mostly write about stuff I want to remember fifty years from now. So mostly I write about myself.
No naked photos here, either. But maybe you’ll get lucky next week. You should keep reading, just in case.
Your thoughts?Back in the saddle July 17, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal , add a commentBack on the bike after over a year off, I’m pretty damn wobbly. And living on a hill with a 30 degree slope doesn’t help. Seriously, I can’t even walk down my hill, I’m not about to try riding down it. Craig did, and bit it. I held off until we got back and decided to try making it up the hill. I made it about 10 feet before I knew I was going down - the only questions is - rocks or thorns? I had a split second to decide and decided to land in the stones on one side of the street rather than the blackberry brambles on the other.
Afterwards Craig and I stumbled back inside the house to plug our leaks and explore my variety of hemostasis products from my jiujitsu days. Neither of us warranted surgical superglue, so Craig went with spray-on oxidized cellulose (stings like a bitch, apparently), while I went with Band-Aid advanced formula bandages (not really working). In hindsight, the styptic pencil / New Skin liquid bandage combo was probably the way to go.
Your thoughts?I’m number one! July 16, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 2 commentsTop of the Google search for “niels” is now added to my list of dubious honors.
Your thoughts?Some thoughts on self-improvement July 13, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Other, Personal , 2 commentsCraig and I bought a new couch for our apartment a few days ago. It’s sweet. The couple I bought it from were also involved in personal development and some of the things we discussed really hit home. I mentioned my experience at Art of Seduction and how powerful it was for me to see men I’d helped a year ago and the incredible changes they’d made in their life. And the couple pointed out that it wasn’t just a man’s life I was changing, it was his, and his children’s, and their children’s children. The new skills I can give people will be passed down in their families. I’m not just helping individuals; my work changes entire branches of family trees.
It took a few minutes for that to really sink in. I love my job.
We also talked about people who fight the opportunity to change. “I’m fine the way I am.” “People who don’t like me as I am are just narrow-minded.” “If I change, I won’t be myself anymore.” I had a friend who once told me unhappily, “I’m shy and introverted. If I changed that, I wouldn’t be myself anymore.” How much more tragic can you get than weaving your own unhappiness into your identity? I told this to the girl I bought the couch from and she laughed. “When you got to kindergarten, you couldn’t read or write. No one says, ‘I won’t be myself anymore if I learn to read!’”
Your thoughts?