“Picking up girls can be as easy as opening a beer!” February 29, 2008
Posted by Niels in : Links, Other , add a commentWell, it’s terribly manipulative and teaches you to lie to women, but I do want to know “how to get a pretty stranger at a beach to put suntan oil on you”. The Pick-Up System No Girl Can Resist
Use its techniques and you will later HAVE SEX WITH HUMAN BEINGS.
*Results not guaranteed
Your thoughts?Munich, Day 4: European Personal Development Conference and man-tards November 10, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Other, Personal , add a commentToday was the last day of the European Art of Seduction and Personal Development conference, and my last day to try to reclaim the money for my plane flight.
I woke up still feeling exhausted. I thought about just calling the conference organizer, but I knew the only way anything was going to get negotiated was if I went down to the conference in person.
I was feeling pretty negative. All I could really hope for at this point was finding Eddie, tricking him into giving me his last name, and then threatening him with a lawsuit/police action for fraud. Not fun, and considering the language and geographic obstacles, probably not even possible.
And of course, Eddie never did appear, so I was left just talking to the head guy.
It took all morning, but eventually we negotiated that I would be paid for half my flight in exchange for speaking at the conference. (Not saying anything = great negotiating tactic)
Originally it looked like Cortez (from Badboy Lifestyle) wasn’t going to show, so I was asked if I could speak on five minutes notice.
Ummm… I guess so.
Fortunate, Cortez did show up, so I ended up with about three hours. Three hours to prepare a speech that would be given to 800 people and immortalized on a DVD.
I was asked to talk about rapport, so I did, but the audience of community guys was exhausted and received the talk really, really, really badly. Part of the problem is that it’s hard to do a really entertaining talk on rapport. From here on out, I’m sticking to high-energy, fun topics when I speak.
I brought up a couple guys to do a demo onstage, basically a before and after display, but I got cut off ten minutes early (out of 40 minutes) so all the audience saw was the “before”. And they didn’t give me time to do a sales close, so there’s just some footage of me yelling out a website as I walk offstage.
I’m pretty disappointed with how everything went down. So much wasted potential.
On the bright side, on my way home I passed a store that sold man-tards (They’re not gay, they’re just European. OK, perhaps they’re gay and European.) and ate dinner at an Indian restaurant with the tackiest chandelier ever.
Reality TV star gets suckerpunched, exaggerates blog headline October 1, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Other, Personal , 5 commentsI got hit in the face last Friday. Some drunk guy had been mouthing off to one of my friends all night. Later on, still in the bar, my group was standing together and he and his friends came by and tried to pick a fight with all of us. And later still, while I was walking through the bar alone, he and one of his friends stopped me and started yelling in my face.
The slightly less drunk friend got inches away from my face and stared me down trying to intimidate me, and while I stared back his friend sucker-punched me.
To be fair, it was less of a sucker punch and more of an open-handed push, just to the face. It did knock my glasses off. If I ever had a chance to beat the crap out of two fat Indian guys, that was it.
I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t, but honestly, it would have been really hard for me to argue after the fact that I felt my life was in any kind of danger. After I got hit (pushed?) in the face, my first instinct wasn’t “Protect myself!” but rather “Yikes! Gotta find my glasses before someone steps on them!”
So I convinced the less drunk chubby Indian guy to help me find my glasses, following which I went to talk to security.
The interesting thing about all of this is that it really doesn’t bother me that much. So a couple drunken jerks messed with me, even pushed me around a little - there’s no long term effect and I’m still in my happy place. Compare that to a year ago when I had a guy try to pick a fight with me by messing up my hair. It didn’t go anywhere, but I was still steaming mad for a few days afterwards.
Something’s happened to me in the past year. For some reason, it’s really easy to let the little stuff go. Maybe things are in perspective now, or maybe I’m just happy enough with myself that even someone being an extreme douchebag to me isn’t an issue. Whatever it is, I’m happy with it.
That said, I’m going to go ahead and get contacts now. I’ve been considering it for a while, and I’m not sure if someone who truly wanted to throwdown would really let me crawl around looking for my glasses first.
Your thoughts?Positively delightful September 21, 2007
Posted by Niels in : How to, Life, the universe, and everything, Other , 1 comment so farOne of the most powerful tips for self-improvement is also one of the simplest. Be positive. Learn to relate to the world in a positive light. “This heatwave is great! It’s given me a whole new appreciation for ice cream!”
It’s so easy to fall back on negativity to drive a conversation. Everyone can relate to being frustrated, or sleep-deprived, or depressed. But these topics are a conversational crutch.
Stay positive. Be the optimist who pulls any group up and people will fight for your company.
Your thoughts?How to become a leader September 18, 2007
Posted by Niels in : How to, Other, Personal , 1 comment so farEmployers consistently name leadership as one of the top qualities they look for in job applicants. The ability to lead is important in relationships, too. Everyone’s had this conversation: “What should we do tonight?” “I don’t know, whatever you want to do.” “Well, I’m flexible. What do you want to do?”
Each partner means well, but they’re missing the big picture: that what their partner really wants is for someone to make a decision.
So if you’ve never been a leader, how do you become one?
Anytime you have a goal that seems daunting, begin by taking small steps. There are plenty of small opportunities for leadership in your every day life. Next time you’re out to dinner with friends, take the lead. Pick the place, herd everyone out the door, split up the check. Once you’re used to that, organize the dinner yourself. Craig and I have an at-least-monthly potluck at our place.
Take initiative. Pick a movie that you want to see and invite friends along. Or host a video night. Or a games night. Remember, you choose the game.
Teach your friends something. If you learn something interesting, chances are, they’ll find it interesting, too.
Tell your supervisor at work that you want to start a side project. Excel at it with minimal supervision. Take even more initiative next time.
Stick your neck out. Make leadership a habit.
Your thoughts?