Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Sidegames cancels Again:

I just got off the phone with Sidegames. It seems like he's getting his life in order, but he thinks that going to SIN for the weekend is somehow going to mess up his progress. I really don't understand this as SIN is far from being a drug haven. He's miss three days off work if he went to SIN and I truly believe he'd trade better after the trip. After Maui, he even said he traded better after having the rest.

Right now, I'm about 90% sure he's going to not go on the trip, though I hold out hope that I can convince him otherwise. This sucks as the trip is going to be a lot less fun since I'm going solo. I also have to pay for the hotel myself, though Sidegames hinted that he might pay part of his share. Another thing is that I originally was going to come back Tuesday if I were going to go alone, though that isn't a huge deal.

That makes it over $2000 that Sidegames has wasted on vacations that he's cancelled. I guess I should be happy that I get a free 370 miles for charging his ticket.

Saturday Sarging report:

I had a great experience on Saturday night. I met a girl, who I'll just call HB, through the female pivot that Seamas and I had gone out with earlier in the week. I feel awkward posting about this as this female pivot has read this blog and might be reading about it now.

I will say that though my early game is very good now, I can see that my late stage game needs a lot of work. Seamas and the pivot (if you're reading this, you never gave me a nickname so that's why I'm calling you that) wanted to watch "Rebel Without a Cause." After dinner, we went to Pivot's place but she didn't have the movie. Seamas and Pivot left to go out and rent the movie. HB and I were left alone (which was intentional) and we talked. At one point, we were just looking into each other's eyes and I sensed that I should make a move. I was thinking about using the Mystery line, "Would you like to kiss me?" Before I could get the courage to do so, HB asked me, "Are you going to sarge me?" She was familiar with some of the lingo b/c Seamas had gotten Pivot into the lingo. Naturally, Pivot shared some of the info with her best friend, HB.

I had an idea of what HB was thinking, but I wasn't 100% sure and I guess I feared rejection. I replied, "What do you mean?" HB said, "I think you know what I mean." I just sat there for a few seconds and then HB finally decided that she was going to have to make the move. She said, "I guess I'm going to have to sarge you." She then moved over and we started making out. What's funny is that I had my shirt off when Pivot and Seamas returned. I had to run to the bathroom so I could put my shirt on.

I'm not going to post any further details. I'll just say that I had a great time and I hope HB and will stay in touch. We had good chemistry and she had a fun, outgoing personality. She had this question book and I love answering open ended questions that stimulate your imagination. More than that, I think I'd have fun hanging out with her. It's just too bad that I didn't have more time to spend in FL.

Gainesville Bar report:

Before I left on this trip, I sent a PM through Flyertalk to someone that had gone to law school at University of Florida (UF). I asked about the nightlife there and he told me that it basically changes like every six months and he graduated three years ago. I promised him that I'd give him a report on what I learned as he's going there in March. I figure that I might as well post this info here.

The nightlife in Gainesville is similar to that of Maui in that you have to know which bar is the happening place for that day. For example, this place called Rue Bar (downtown) is packed on Thursdays, but it seemed dead on Friday. I had heard that the happening places usually attract a crowd through drink specials. I didn't really ask about drink specials as I didn't drink much on this trip. The bars all close at 2Am. What's interesting is that some places didn't get kicking until midnight, which is weird considering the closing time.

The "eye candy" is great. As it's a college town, there are a lot of young girls. There are way more good looking girls here than in Chicago as there seem to be an abundance of thin girls. Here in Chicago, it seeems like there are more overweight women. Men's Fitness did rate Chicago as the most obese city for the year so I shouldn' be surprised.

Mondays:
The Grog was the happening place on Monday. It's located on University Ave across from campus. It's located on the second floor. There was a good drink special. The one I remember was you got two bottled beers for the price of one. There were other specials, but I only bought beers so I don't remember what they were.

Swamp, which is down the street, was also packed. We didn't have time to check it out, though.
Tuesdays:
I didn't go out on Tuesday so I don't know what's hot on this night. I had heard from several people that this is a very slow day.

Wednesday:
Downtown was dead on Wednesday. Seamas had wanted to go downtown on Wednesday, but we quickly realized it wasn't happening. The few people we saw told us where the action was: Gator City. Gator city is located on University Ave, near Grog house. From a conversation with a bouncer, apparently, Gator City and the club next to it (the name is "Ex" or something) are really one bar. On Wednesdays, the club is split into two bars by closing the inner down that connects them. The line for both clubs is the same, and then splits off near the entrances. Apprentely, Gator City was already packed to capacity when we got there as we were only able to get into the club next to it.

Atlantis:
This had fewer college students and was a totally different atmosphere than any of the clubs we went to in Gainesville. It's located across the street from "The Top" retaurant downtown. It was packed when we got there at 1am. I didn't really like it as it was small, and it was so loud that I couldn't do any sarging.

Thursday:
We ended up going to Rue Bar downtown. :08 (A country music place downtown) also looked good as it had a line. I think the Grog area bars were also busy as we saw a lot of people walking around the area when we drove by at closing time.

Friday:
Most of the places seemed to be busy. If you want to be adventurous, you can just go into any place that has a line. Fat Tuesday's was dead the first Friday I was there. It was also dead the 2nd Friday and everyday we walked past it. Maybe it's busy on Tuesdays? Also, as I mentioned above, Rue Bar seemed slow on Fridays as well.

Market Street:
During a Starbucks sarge, a girl recommended Market Street to me. Seamas and I almost went in there the first Friday. Market Street is the biggest bar we went to during this trip. When you walk in, there's a dart and pool table area to the right. Straight ahead is a bar on the left. Right after that is a smaller bar to the right. In the back is a good sized dance floor. There's the main floor, and it is surrounded by a slightly higher balcony that is also a dance floor. If you walk to your left when you walk in, you find a large bar area. Music is played a lot softer here, so you can have a conversation. Fridays is 80's night so you don't like that music, then don't go.

Here is where I noticed the strange trend that I mentioned above: the place didn't get really packed until midnight. In the Chicago area, if a bar closes at 1-2am, it gets packed around 10:30PM. The only places that don't get busy until 12-1am are after hours places that close at 4am. Maybe people were treating Market Place as an "after hours" place. Even though it closes at 2am, people might be hitting other bars first and then hitting this at midnight. Honestly, I don't have enough data to know what's up as this was the only night that we actually got out early.

Saturday:
I didn't get to go out either Saturday that I was there. Some people had told me Market Street was also packed on Saturday. Saturday is a busy day so I'm sure most places that have a line are good.

Sunday:
No idea except that it's supposed to be a slow day.

Recovery Day & Monday trip review:

Today, I'm just recovering from my trip. I went to sleep at 2am today and woke up around 10am. I felt well rested at the time, but an hour later, I went back to sleep. I decided that I need to get as much sleep as I need and I need to avoid clubs for the next two days. I'm flying to SIN on Thursday and I want to do my best to avoid getting sick before the trip. I really can't miss that flight. First of all, I need to fly those miles so I can requalify for Premier before my current Premier membership expires at the end of February. Next, I'm flying on a special e-fare that doesn't have a 6 day minimum stay. I'm not even sure I could change the flight, and if I can, I definately would have to pay a few hundred more $'s. I would rather use the extra $'s on more flights so I can qualify for Premier Executive & 1K. Basically, if I'm sick, I'm going to fly anyway, which will make for a very miserable trip.

Monday Tour of airports:
I booked my return trip as a reverse of my outbound trip. GNV-CLT-PHL-IAD-ORD. The time passed pretty quickly and I had great seats on all but the GNV-CLT trip. For that leg, I flew on a Canadair Regional Jet, which is like the crappiest RJ you can fly on. I also flew that plane on the PHL-IAD leg but I had an open seat next to me. The GNV-CLT flight was only an hour so it really wasn't that uncomfortable. What follows is just some interesting highlights of the trip.

GNV: Gainesville Airport:

This is a small airport. The only other airport I've flown too that similar in size is ABE (Allentown, PA). Allentown has more flights and GNV is definately smaller. GNV is a great airport. I was aggravated Sunday night b/c my stepfather wanted to leave early to drop me off. Now, I wouldn't care as I found out GNV has free wireless access. I could spend 3 or 4 hours there and not care as I'd just surf the net.

CLT-PHL: Human Remains:

I snagged an exit row seat on the US Airbus and I had the middle seat empty. That made for a very pleasant flight. When we arrived in PHL, I happened to look out the window while waiting to deplane. I saw a casket sized white cardboard box that had the words "Extreme Care" on the side.. I knew that airlines transport remains often in the cargo hold, but I had never seen remains being loaded. I wrote a post on flyertalk about it (click here for link).

PHL-Found a jump drive:
I spent about three hours in PHL. I was supposed to spent 4 hours there, but the CLT-PHL flight had been delayed about a half hour. The gate agent had said that due to earlier weather in PHL, flights had been delayed there. The weather was now gone, but the backlog of flights that were affected had not yet cleared. We were held on the ground for a half hour until the backlog cleared. At PHL, I took down a Philly steak sandwhich at a place in terminal D. (I might be wrong on the exact terminal, but it's the one WN & UA fly out of. It currently has a paper weights exhibit at the far end.) I then sat down at this gate I saw on my way down to Florida. The gate obviously wasn't in service as no planes used it this trip nor the last trip. There's a good spot that has a power outlet. Someone had already been using one plug, but the other was free.

I watched "Four Brothers" on my laptop. In the middle of the movie, the guy that had been next to me left. A few minutes later, another guy plugged into the outlet. When the movie was finished, I went to unplug my power adapter, and stepped on something. It was a 256MB Lexar Jump Gate. I was in a rush b/c I wanted to mail my DVD and get to my gate so I didn't have time to look at the files. When I got home, I found out that the owner was affiliated with the Baptists for Life (BFL) group. I e-mailed them last night and got a reply today. I'll be mailing it tomorrow. I have to admit that I was tempted, at first, to keep the drive as I could use it, but I know that the right thing is to return it. I was only tempted for like 30 seconds. I know that I'd want my drive returned if I had been the one to lose it.

Not Sarging:

I'll admit that I did no sarging on Monday. I'm being a little hard on myself because there really is little point. The chances of successfully sarging someone at random airportsthat happens to live in Chicago is slim. Still, I feel that I should be sarging just for practice. I had several opportunities to do so. I saw an HB at GNV, and and HB in CLT that I should have sarged. In IAD, I saw two good looking flight attendants while waiting in the Wendy's line. On Flyertalk, there's an ongoing joke that there are hardly any attractive FA's on UA. There are more FA's that are near retirement age. I made eye contact with one of the FA's, but I didn't say anything. I realized after that I should have said, "Hi," and just BSed with them for a few minutes.

Friday, January 27, 2006

Sticking point obliterated:

St Augustine sarge:
Seamas and I took a day trip from Gainesville to St Augustine. In the early evening, we stopped at this coffee shop that we just happened to walk by. We saw two HB's sitting down. We soon realized that they worked there. On was an HB7 blonde and the other was an HB7 Hungarian girl. I decided to sarge them as they seemed like they were friendly, plus I knew talking to me would be more interesting than the conversation they were having. They were talking about work BS. The sarge went pretty well. I had them laughing and both girls were actively participating in the conversation. At one point, the sarge stalled, so I went to sit down with Seamas. He said that the HB7 blonde had body language that indicated she was interested in me. He pointed out that she was stroking her hair and kinoing her arm. I had noticed it too but I was in the wrong frame. Seamas then made an excellent point that her positive body language could mean only one of three things: 1) she was interested in me, 2) she was interested in him 3) she was interested in the Hungarian co-worker.

Clearly, the most likely answer was the first one. She probably wasn't interested in him considering he hadn't really been a part of the conversation. She didn't seem like a lesbian so three seemed unlikely, plus I was the one who had been steering the conversation. In addition, she had been keeping eye contact with me and not the Hungarian chick.

First Attempt at a # close:
Even though Seamas had convinced me that I had a chance of closing, I was still reluctant to try. This has been a huge sticking point for me, and I was actively planning to get past it on Wendesday. Part of me didn't want to do it b/c we were only on a day trip and it wouldn't lead to anything. That was dumb reasoning, though. I knew that I had to try to make a # close or I'd never get past the sticking point (SP). Just as we were about to leave3, I told her that I had enjoyed chatting with her. (I remembered reading on mASF that it's good to give a statement of interest when # closing). I said that we'd be back in town again and asked, "What steps can we take to make sure we can talk again (credit FS player guide)?"
Girl: I don't know.
Me: Why don't you give me your phone number?
Girl: Well, my husband has my cell phone.
Me: Oh. Okay, well it really was fun chatting with you. Enjoy your evening.

Analysis:
That wasn't so bad. I got rejected, but it felt good to have actually made an attempt. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted by actively trying to get past my SP. I felt almost like I did after I made my first few approach attempts on Ajay's birthday. I still believe I had done a good job with the sarge. I had both girls laughing and participating in the conversation. I definately felt like I had rapport. The husband stuff was legitimate as she did have a wedding ring. Also, the Hungarian girl had called a cab. As she was walking out, she checked on her co-worker and the blonde had replied that her husband was picking her out.

First # close:

I wore my silk Hawaiian shirt which helped me get into a socialable mood. I had also gotten adequate sleep so I was ready for action. I met up with Seamas at Starbucks on University & 13th street. When I walked in, I saw him sitting next to a guy. I figured that it was one of his students, but it turned out it was this guy he had met at Starbucks. The guy turned out to be pretty cool and we hung with him for a few hour afterwards. The goal for the day was to attend this wall event on the UF campus. This one student group had organized this wall event. Earlier in the week, students had decorated the various cement blocks with examples of stereotypes and racial slurs. The group then paid a contracter to assemble the blocks into a wall. (I found it funny that they had to pay someone to assemble the wall. The students that had been there earlier said that they weren't permitted to build it themselves.) Today, people would help pull down the wall as a symbol of how we were going to work at eliminating those stereotypes and judgements from our thinking.

We had planned on opening the girls we had sarged earlier at the wall. They were busy when we got there so I decided to just open random girls that were tanding around. First, I approached this HB7 with glasses who had a notebook and pen in her hands. I asked her if she were writing an article, and she said she was writing about the wall event, and was planning on submitting it to the newspaper. We chatted for a few minutes but I didn't feel a vibe, so I moved on.

Next to her, I saw a thin, HB7 brunette who was wearing a backpack. She had a half torn tag on her back. I knew it was one of those luggage name tags that you get at the airport, but I decided to open her by busting her on it.
Me: Hey, did you know you have a price tag on your backpack? How much are you asking for that backpack?
Girl: What? (She then looked at her backpack and saw I was pointing at the luggage tag.) That's not a price tag, that's a luggage tag. I had like eight of them there before.
Me: Oh cool. You sound like a world traveler. What's the most exciting place you visited?
Girl: I was in Europe. (I believe she then talked about how she spent a bunch of time in London.) She then asked me if I had ever been to Europe.
Me: Yeah, I came back from Amsterdam last week. (I then told her a brief story about Sidegames. I told her how he booked a ticket on a Monday for an ORD-EZE Argentina flight leaving on Tuesday. He then cancelled it right b/4 he got on the plane. I told her how he did the same for a Friday Amsterdam trip which I booked on Thursday of that week. I said I burned my miles to go to AMS for two days so I could stay in his prepaid hotel that he would otherwise be wasting.)
Girl: Do you have free long distance?
Me: Yeah. You can call anywhere in the US. It doesn't matter.
Girl: (She calls her phone and checks her voicemail.)
Me: You really should get that phone cancelled or people might call Europe for 3 hours. Why don't you write your e-mail and number on this paper?
Girl: You have my number in your phone now. (She then writes her e-mail on the sheet, but as she's doing that, she shit tests me about having a pen and notepad.) Do you do this often or something?
Me: (I'm not sure if I handled this right. I suppose I could have gone cocky funny and said, yeah, this is the 999 time today.) Instead I said: I keep this notepad around to write down any negative thoughts I have. (shout out to Raaf and his inner game post. I actually don't write any down, but I do try to do what he says in his post.) I've been trying to get rid of all my negative thoughts. Usually, I can just talk myself out of them, but if there's one that's sticking in my head, I write it down and analyse it later.

Since this was my first number close, I think I started to sound needy after I got the info. I told her that I'd call her, but then remembered she supposedly had lost her phoen. I then said I'd e-mail her and hoped we could grab some coffee on Saturday as I was leaving soon.

Analysis:
I did well for the most part. The only things I would have done different is that I would have closed earlier so I didn't have to risk her walking away. I also would have run the Mystery line and told her, "When I call, I don't want you to be like, 'Hi... Who is this? Oh yeah. Um. Hi.' I want you to say, 'Hi Ted, I'm so glad you called.'" I'm sure I'll do this in future sarges, but I felt really good to have successfully closed someone.

On fire:
After this, I was one fire. I opened girls left and right as we walked on campus. I did crappy sketch artist on a girl, but she supposedly had a boyfriend. I plowed through her initial mention of her BF, but she kept bringing him up, so I didn't try to close. As we walked around, I found myself in party-guy mode: I kept greeting people and saying funny comments to people.

#Close Number 2:

I saw this cute HB7.5 or 8 blonde sitting on a bench near the food court entrance. I started walking towards her and as I was on my way, Seamas pointed her out to me. I had been following the 3 secs rule since my first close, but he didn't know this yet. I walked up and ran the tent opener on her. I feel like I can do that when I approach immediately. If I stall and wait to long, I find myself using Crappy Sketch artist. On a sidenote, I'm not sure I'm congruent with the direct Sketch Artist opener. My body language and routines are calibrated right now to indirect game and maybe that's showing up as incongruent with direct game. I'll find out eventually as I'm going to keep trying that opener when appropriate.

We chatted for a good amount of time about topics stemming from the tent opener. I elicited values from her and did a little patterning. I then changed the topic to travel. She talked about skiing and she happened to mention that she was from Chicago. I had some topics planned, but I immediately talked about Chicago as I knew that would give us rapport. (I now realize that I could have used a good line on her. I should have asked her when she was there and then said that we could have crossed paths before and not even know it. Credit to an mASF post.) I asked her about places she'd like to visit, and she mentioned Hawaii. I then got to DHV by saying I had gone there in November.

I sensed I needed to close, so I ran my usual closing line.
HB: (She had mentioned that she doesn't go to school her. She reitereated that here.) I'm only here for the weekend and I'm going to spending all my time with my brother.
Me: I'm leaving on Monday, but I visit my parents often so I'll be down here again. (That's BS as I haven't been down here in 5 years. What is true is that I do plan on coming down more.)
HB: I go to school at FSU.
Me: What city is that in?
HB: Talahasse. That's like 3 hours from here.
Me: Well, just give me your e-mail and phone number and we'll talk. I had fun talking to you and I think we'd get along.

I whipped out my notepad and pen. I kind of qualified myself here by explaining why I had the pen & paper (the negative thoughts routine). I won't repeat that routine in future closes unless I get shit tested. She tries to dictate her number, but I want her to write it. I would rather have the girl's handwriting on the paper rather than my own. In addition, when I forgot the HB's name, like I did here, I know she'll write it down so I don't have to lose points there. Finally, someday, I want to be able to pull out an envelope filled with female written phone numbers like Style does in The Game.

Food Court:
The three of us take down a whole pizza in the food court. We decided to sit next to this HB6.5 and HB6. . As we sit down, I greet them. I didn't really want to run game, but I figured if I opened them immedately, I could go game them later and I woudln't feel awkward. When we were done eating, I threw out the pizza box and opened them again. I asked them about the club scene. I could tell they didn't go to clubs, so I asked them what they did for fun. I also ran best friends test. Basically, I kept them entertained for a good 5 minutes. They had traveled to Europe and I was again able to DHV by mentioned my trip to Amsterdam. I thought about closing them, but decided not to. The cuter HB had said she was going home to Ft. Myers for the weekend and that's the one I had wanted to close. I decided to just eject. I told them to have a good afternoon, and for the HB6.5 to enjoy her trip home. I then sat down next to my friends.

They got up about a minute later. As they walked by me, they said, "Bye." The HB6 also said, "Bye, Ted. Have a good afternoon." I realized that was a huge IOI that she addressed me by name like that. I also knew that I had done well with both of them.

Analysis:
I should have tried to # close both girls. I didn't want to close the HB6 b/c she wasn't that hot, but that was stupid. The two girls I lcosed earlier were hotter, but the logistics were bad. The one girl was from FSU and the other supposedly lost her phone, even though I had her number. The HB6, was going to be around this weekend for sure. I should have closed her just to do it. If I didn't want her, I didn't have to call. Since I didn't close, I keep thinking about how I should have. Maybe I could have boosted my confidence more by laying her. Oh well. The night is young...

Conclusions:
This number closing isn't that hard. I wish I had gotten past this SP earlier, but oh well. I feel great now and I think I can close more HB's tonight. Now, I just have to work on kiss closing or Fclosing. I also have to work on phone game and Day 2's. I'll probably be doing more of that in Chicago considering I'm leaving on Monday.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Daygame>Nightgame?

Just a week ago, I would have thought that it wasn't even close. I had only done one or two daygame approaches while I have done a few hundred club approaches. The past few days have opened up my day game. Though I initially felt down after the mass approaches on Friday, I now feel like it's given me more confidence to do daytime approaches.

Starbucks & Crappy Sketch Artist:


Seamas, a female friend (who needs a nickname), and I met up to go out Wednesday night. Since we were in the downtown area of Gainesville, we decided to stop at the Starbucks there. It is the biggest Starbucks in the area and it was full of people at 9:30PM when we rolled in. I sarged a girl that was in line but she wasn't responsive and I was just talking to warm up. After I ordered my drink (I have developed a taste for the unsweetened passion flavored ice tea), I saw the same girl waiting for her drinked so I asked her about the club scene. She seemed nervous and not knowledgeable to I didn't really care that she was ready to leave as soon as she got her drink. Just to maintain momentum, I asked the girl behind the counter about the bar scene. (Most of the responses I've gotten about the Wed night scene is that Gator City is the happening place.)

After we got a table, Seamas kept making eye contact with this blonde 2-set. While he was debating whether or not he should approach, I was focused on two lone wolves. One was a blonde HB7 that reminded me of my ex. Another was a redhead HB7.5. I decided that the redhead was cuter and seemed like she'd be more pleasant so I decided I would approach.

Crappy Sketch Artist:

The technique is explained here. In night game, I feel comfortable walking up to sets and using an opinion opener b/c I set it up so it looks like I'm just happening to walk by. Just as I'm walking by, I turn my head sideways and run the opener. At the Starbucks, I'd feel comfortable doing the same thing if the table is on the way from the washroom or the counter, or if the table is nearby. HBreadhead, though, was on the far side of the room and I was in the middle. To get to her table, I'd have to squeeze through a maze of seated people and tables. I figured I wouldn't be able to pull of indirect because it wouldn't make sense for me to weave through that maze just to ask her if she'd date a guy in a tent. I did feel comfortable running crappy sketch artist because I have run it two times already (with good reaction).

I walked up to HBred, gave her the folded paper, and said, "You have inspired me to high art." She opened it and giggled. I replied, "I'm glad to see you have a sense of humor. It's a highly abstract work of art with a touch of realism." She went along with it and said, 'I should keep this."
Me: It's going to be worth something.
HB: But it says I'm only semi-cute (I wrote on the paper: Semi-cute redhead at Starbucks, Ted, 2006).
Me: I didn't get a good look from far away. Besides, I think personality is more important that looks. Besides your sense of humor, what qualities do you have to offer?
HB: I don't know. Lots.
Me: (I realized I couldn't get her to qualify yet so I went into the tent opener.)
HBred gave an "It depends" answer and then asked if I lived in a tent.
Me: Yeah, I'm thinking about getting a tent on a beach in Maui. (In her tent response, she had said she'd base her decision on why the tent guy was living there. She said something like if he was living there to try out the LA scene, it would be different that if he were just vegging out there.) I decided to run "Are you Adventurous/Spontaneous?'
HBred: (to Adventurous?) Yes.
Me: Really? Tell me the most adventurous thing you've done. (Then my usual immediate reply of: Actually, I don't know how weird you are yet. Just tell me something that you've done that's a little adventurous.)
HBred: I don't know. You can just think up random stories like that.
Me: (I wanted to demonstrate a story but I felt it might be qualifying, so I asked her if she were spontaneous.)
HBred: Yes. (When prodded for an example, she immediately gave one. I don't remember the exact story.)
Me: See, it wasn't that hard to come up with a story. I'm glad that you're adventurous and spontaneous b/c I only hang out people who are adventuous. If you had said no to either of those questions, I would have to walk away.
HBred: Well, you get points for approaching me.
Me: (I was about to say that I give her a star for a sense of humor and being spontaneous. Then I was going to say that she need to get X (probalby 5 stars) to get a prize. Before I could do this, Seamas's friend, our pivot, came up to me.)
Pivot: We have to get going soon.

I knew she had come up b/c Seamas had said before that he was going to try to constrain me so I would be forced to close. I really think I was on my way to closing, but I wanted to game her a little more. Pivot's approach stalled the set as HBred said, "Well, I guess I should be getting back to my work." I felt like I hadn't ran enough game so I didn't want to close so I just walked away.

Analysis:
I think I was ready to close her as I had that goal in mind. Seamas was trying to be helpful, but it ended up blowing me out because I wasn't ready for it. Thinking back on it, I should have just tried to close HBred anyway. When she said she had to get back to her work, I could have said something like, "I have a feeling if we could talk without these constraints, we'd have a good time. What steps can we take to make sure we can talk again?"

I have to remember that ASF people say that number closing is easy. She probably would have given me her number, though she probably would have flaked since I didn't feel like I had built enough rapport. I know that getting numbers, even ones that will be flakes, is the way to get me past my SP. Still, I do feel like I'm ready to close. I found myself constantly evaluating when I should close. This is in contrast to all my sarges up to yesterday. There, I'd always be thinking on what routines or questions I could ask next and not when I should close. With the goal firmly in my head, I think I will close before I leave FL.

Street Approaches:
We had a successful street sarge after Starbucks. We talked to these HB6's for about 10 minutes. I was ready to close my target until she said she was married. People on ASF say that you should try to close those anyway, but I just don't feel like I'm good enough to game married girls. On top of that, I had been trying to pattern love and connection. On married girls, you have to try to build attraction and lust. With my patterns, I was sending out the signal that I was looking for a soulmate, which many girls probably would eat up, but if you're going to close married girls, you don't do it by trying to build a deep connection.

Club Game:

We went to the bar area near the UF campus as that's where people go on Wednesdays. We ended up at the club next to Gator City as GC was filled to capacity. I opened a few sets but only a few were worth talking about.

Drunk Girl:
There was this drunk HB6 that I had approached several times. I felt like I was doing pretty well but she kept walking away. It seemed like she was really fitting into that ADD party girl sterotype as she couldn't keep still at all, even when I wasn't talking to her. I even got a kino IOI from here when I busted her on her coughing. She happened to be getting a drink next to me one time, and I turned and asked her if she had avian bird flu. I said wanted to know b/c I didn't want to catch it. She giggled and then touched me in the way that shows that she was enjoying my teasing.

Seamas kept asking me to go back to her. I had approached her like 3-4 times, but she seemed too drunk to game. I was proven correct shortly after b/c she got booted from the club by the cops for being too drunk.

Pivot works:
Our pivot proved her worth by pulling a girl from the dance floor. Seamas talked to her briefly and seemed to be doing well. I then started talking to her. Seamas and our pivot walked away and left me isolated but I wasn't able to get anything going. She wouldn't do the ESP test and I couldn't get her to respond. She said she had to go look for her friends and would be back so I walked away. (You never wait for girls b/c they likely aren't coming back and you look like a tol if you are still standing there later. Of course, if you've run great game and she legitimately has to go to the washroom or something, you could stay, but this clearly wasn't the case here.)

Party guy:
I didn't feel like I was in total party mood like I've felt in Maui or at Alumni Club Schaumburg. That part of my personality did show a few times. I feel like I'm good with the one liners. I can make girls giggle with comments as I walk by but I haven't figured out how to actually run game after that. I guess the answer is that I just stop after I get a positive reaction and start running routines. Some examples:

-I saw a girl standing by the wall, playing with her cell phone. As I walked by, I said, "Did he call yet?" I learned that line from mASF and so far it works. She giggled after I said that, but I kept walking.

-When girls bump into me or make contact with me, I bust them for being drunk. I also have been saying, "Hey, watch it. I need at least a foot of personal space around me." I usually get a few laughs and I know I'm DHV by being a challenge. This is completely opposite of what AFC's would do. They would try to get felt up more or turn all sappy. Again, my problem is with the follow up. I think after I run the line, I'm going to say something like, "Well, if you're going to stand there, why don't you give me your opinion on something my buddy and I were discussing (then run tent opener)."

Did you grab my ass?

I actually could have used that opener last night, but didn't think of it until later. I was talking to Seamas when I felt someone invading my personal space. A had even brushed against my ass. I turned and saw some girl standing to close to me. I should have turned and said, "Did you grab my ass?" or "Hey, take it easy. It's $20 a touch here." Instead, I ran the personal space routine in the last paragraph. She then walked away b/c I didn't run any more game.

Comparisons:

I guess I didn't enjoy night game as much as I wasn't able to completely transform into total party guy mode. I think I need to take a nap in the afternoon so I'm better rested. A bigger factor might be that I'm getting used to being heard easily in day game. Club game seems more frustrating now as I have to almost yell to be heard. Also, you get unseen obstacles pulling targets away. In day game, there are more lone wolves so you get more time to run game.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Not Sarging at Starbucks:

I'm at a Starbucks near the UF campus in Gainesville. I'm messing around on my computer while Seamas conducts some meeting with a student of his. I should be sarging this whole place, but I'm hesistant to do so. I don't know why considering I did a few sarges here the other day.

If I learned anything, I need to be positive. I was fun and outgoing as we walked from campus to here. I even caused a few girls to smile.

Comped Refill:

IOI? Right before I finished the last sentence, I decided to get a free refill on my unsweeted passion ice tea. I believe these normally cost $0.56. For some reason, the girl working decided to give me a comped refill. Why would she do this? I didn't really sarge when I ordered the tea originally. While she was making the order, I just asked her about the bar scene. Maybe my body language and positive attitude has her attracted to me. I guess I'll try to feed off of this.

Reported a drunk:

I was driving up to Gainesville from my parents house in Citrus County. In front of me was a blue car with Florida plates that was swerving all over the road. At first, I thought the person was just distracted, but after it kept happening, I realized that this person had to be plastered. The woman was having a very hard time keeping the car in the lane. She'd start drifting towards the shoulder and then she'd correct it. A few times, one tire even went off the pavement.

Prior to today, I had seen drunk drivers before, but I have never actually reported one. One time I was with my friend "Jas" and I told him I wanted to report a driver. Jas didn't want me to and he said it was "bad karma." What he meant, though, was that it was bad to call in a drunk b/c it would mean that I would get busted when I was driving impaired. I told him that he didn't understand the concept of karma: if anything, good things would happen to me in the future as a result of me reporting a drunk. In any case, I don't believe in the concept so it wouldn't affect my decision. I also explained that if I were drunk enough to be reported or pulled over, then I probably deserve to get a DUI. I asked him how he would feel if he didn't report a drunk that he saw and then found out that the person had gotten into an accident and killed some people.

That reasoning is what convinced me to report this driver. This was the most swerving I've ever seen anyone do on the road. I've seen minor swerving, where the person is not staying steady in his lane or is just drifting a bit into the adjoining lane, but this was beyond that. I made the decision to call when I saw how much oncoming traffic there was. We were on SR-200 and there was one lane in each direction with just a yellow line diving the traffic. The speed limit was 55 so a head-on collision would most likely be deadly.

I dialed 911 and got no answer. I tried a second time and was connected with a Citrus County dispatcher. When I explained my location, he transfered me to Marion County as I was about to cross the border. I followed this woman for a good 10 minutes while on the phone with the dispatcher. I was supposed to go this direction anyway and the woman didn't make any terms. Just before she turned off, I was able to get a description of the woman and the tag number. The dispatcher said he'd send a unit, but I wonder if anything really happened. Part of me wishes I had followed the woman into the lot so I could make sure she got busted. She was that dangerous.

The funny part of the whole thing was that she turned off about one or two blocks away from the Sheriff station. If she had kept going up SR-200, I could have told the dispatcher that we just passed their office. Regardless of what ultimately happened to the woman (probably nothing), I should be proud that I did my civic duty of reporting this idiot. This woman needs to get help and not get drunk at 2:45PM. She probably is an alcoholic so I doubt she's going to stop drinking, but I would hope she would stop putting innocent people in danger.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Improvement clouded by poor frame:

Seamas and I opened a bunch of girls on the University of Florida campus. Before this all started, I would have never thought this possible. I started while I was waiting in the parking lot for Seamas. I opened her by saying "Hi," and then by asking if the cops issue tickets often in this parking lot. I made some small talk but I got bored when I asked her, "What do you do for fun?" She responded, "Nothing really. I watch TV." I knew I could have kept plodding, but I didn't feel like it. I was going to plod anyway, but Seamas called and we had to go return the rental car, so I left.

Later, we returned to campus. We walked around and greeted many people that we walked by. I still find this to be a great warm up. I find that it gets me in the social mood and it allows demonstrates how rejection doesn't matter. When you say, "Hi" to random people, the responses vary. Some greet you back, some smile, and some don't say anything.

Are you talking to me?

I saw how a girl's frame can be really messed up. Seamas was talking to someone he knew so I decided to say something to this Asian girl. She had her heads in her hands and seemed to be in a horrible mood. I decided to say, "Hey. Are you all right there? You seem to be having a bad day?" She responded, "Are you talking to me?" I replied, "Yeah. Cheer up." I think I got a smile out of her and then I just ejected.

The lesson to be learned here is the same lesson that I learn from girls who don't respond to my, "Hi" on the street. Some girls are in their own world and their frame might be so bad that they don't believe you could possible be talking to them. I guess I've been there myself.

Ejected again too soon:
I made this mistake of ejecting early. Seamas wanted me to open some girl and I saw a hotter blonde with nice legs walk out of a building nearby. She sat down at a table. Seamas was still trying to get me to approach and I decided just to go do it. I opened her by asking where the Starbucks is, even though Seamas knew. She told me it was right down the street. I then went into the tent opener and I asked her about the bar scene. I then ejected like a dumb ass.

I don't know why I don't follow Gunwitch's saying all the time. I blame it here on the fact that I needed to warm up. I wasn't getting negative signs from her. She was facing me and looking at my face (I couldn't really make eye contact as I was wearing sunglasses.) I think I just got nervous so I ejected. Dumb, but at least I opened her.

Starbucks:

Seamas opens:
Seamas opened a 2-set there while we were waiting for our drinks. I was impressed b/c I was the one who had done most of the opening in the past. I went and tried to occupy this chubby blonde obstacle, but I did a poor job.

3-sec rule:
I have to always make the comments/openers that I feel are right. Before Seamas had opened that set, I saw that the blonde girl had a pink backpack. Earlier, I had seen this cute stuffed, pink, bear for sale near the register. I had thought that it would be cool to suggest that the bear would match well with her backpack. I decided against approaching. About three minutes later, I see the blonde looking at the bear and obviously liking it. Obviously, it would have been money to have opened her about the bear, considering she noticed how much she liked it not too long after I thought about approaching.

I open a lone wolf:

At one point, Seamas had gone outside to talk to some girl that he knew. He had walked away. I sat there thinking about how I should open someone. Since we walked in, I had seen this blonde sititng at a table. I had wanted to open her, but hadn't. I knew I had waited too long, so I didn't want to go right up and do the tent opener. I decided to give crappy sketch artist a try. I drew up a stick figure and wrote "Semi-cute girl at Starbucks; Ted; 2006." I then went up to her and said, "I wanted you to know that you inspired me to high art."
She giggled and I replied, "I'm glad to see you have a sense of humor." I then went into the tent opener.
HB: It depends.
Me: Well, the actually story is that this guy and some friends were renting a place in Hollywood Hills...
HB: That sucks that they made him live out in a tent instead of sleeping on the couch.
Me: tent pattern. (by the way, I noticed that I rush through this. I now realize that I have to go through it slowly and in more detail. I know that I've been rushing it b/c I was afraid it was too lengthy. I realize now that if I go slowly, it will have a better effect, especially in a day game situation where the girl can hear what I'm saying."
HB: I guess I might date a tent guy if it were love at first sight. Do you live in a tent or something?
Me: Yeah, I live in a tent in Maui. (She knew this was BS b/c I had mentioned I was visiting from Chicago earlier in the sarge.)

In retrospect, I should have asked her if she's ever experienced love at first sight and/or had her describe what it feels like.

I later asked her about bars/clubs. She went into details but I didn't really pay attention as I had asked so many people about this.

At one point, she said something to the extent of, "Well, I hope you have fun here." I sensed that she was getting sick of me, so I was preparing to eject after that, but before I could she added, "It was nice meeting you."

Then she paused and said, "What's your name? I'm HBX."

I gave my name and then walked away b/c I figured I had been rejected. I started to read this newspaper that was on the table near me. About two minutes later, she had packed up her stuff. As she left, she said bye to me.

Analysis:

I should note that I made several more approaches after this. I was started to feel that I wasn't in the right mood when I couldn't hold this HB6.5 in a set. I knew it was because I let myself stall and didn't move into routines, but it was a sign of things to come. Later, Seamas wanted to do night game after I had taken a 2 hour nap. I didn't really feel like going but went out anyway. I think my messed up frame showed in my sarges. I wasn't feeling in the mood, so I made a half-assed attempt at sarging and I got the appropriate results. I couldn't hold this set that some cool guy had sarged into coming into the bar. I then ejected from a lone wolf that I had opened well:

She had bumped into me and I had busted her for being drunk. I then said, "I need to have a personal space of about one feet around me." I knew I was doing okay b/c she giggled and was facing me after I said this. Instead of proceeding, I went back to the stale set that the cool guy had brought into the bar. I obviously should have ran more game on that girl who ran into me.

Anyway...

Seamas and I discussed the Starbucks sarge. Immediately after it happened, I was confused about the situation. I'm considering posting it to mASF. I don't think I had the girl hooked, but I don't think I was doing that badly. I had maintained intermitent eye contact and she wasn't showing any of the negative signs. She didn't have closed body language, and she hadn't been looking around. She was focused on me and was answering my questions with sufficient detail. I think I let my frame mess me up. At the beginning of the sarge, she had said that she was almost ready to leave. At the time, I thought she was just saying that because she was afraid I was going to be boring.

When she said it was nice meeting me, I thought I had been rejected. The voice in my head said, "Here we go again. Other fuck-up. At least I opened. At least I lasted this long when she was getting ready to leave already because of me." It this had been true, then why did she bother asking for my name? That's supposed to be an IOI, especially when it's done that late in a sarge. Furthermore, if she had been completely annoyed by me, why did she bother saying anything to me when she walked out?

Control the frame:
I know the answer to my problems. I need to sarge more and just keep the right frame. I know my sarges didn't go that well because I wasn't putting in my full effort. I was letting some nonclosing situations and rejection bother me. Since I wasn't feeling in the zone, I basically went through some of the routines and motions of sarging, but didn't follow through quickly with more material. I also just wasn't being as outgoing as I can be, especially at the bar later.

I need to remember that I've had some good sarges and that I'll have more like that again.

Beat the sticking point:
I still have yet to close and Seamas closed several people. I have to get past my issue of fearing rejection. The guy on mASF was right when he told me that I need to try to close everytime so I can learn calibration . It sure is better to do that than to keep doing what I'm doing now. As they say, #clsoing isn't the end goal. Once you into the habit of doing that, it becomes easy. #closing is supposed to be easy. Dealing with the flakes and having success in phone game and Day 2's is the next step.

Remember progress & plow through setbacks:
As I've said in other entries, I have given up too many times in situations where I need to be determined. Part of me thinks this is all a waste of time. I focus on the failures and forgot that none of what happened today would have been possible before Ajay's Halloween outing. I need to be positive about my progress and learn from the setbacks instead of losing faith that my game will improve.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Off night on Friday:

Friday was an off-night. As I think back on the possible reasons, I realize that it was a combination of things. First, we didn't get much sleep b/c Seamas had to teach class in the morning. We had planned on taking a nap but other stuff ended up getting in the way. By the time we ended up going out, we were tired and the bars were set to close in about 1.5 hours. I was also not feeling that great and Seamas was in a bad mood so that didn't help things.

I can say that even on an off night, I did made a few attempts to approach. We went to this Fat Tuesday's place that was dead. There were one or two sets that I should have opened, but I was feeling major approach anxiety. The only sets that I ended up opening were girls that were in line. At one place, we waited in line. I chatted it up with some girls that were waiting too. I just asked general info about the club but nothing else. We ended up not going into that place. Later, we were thinking about waiting in another line. I saw a 2-set (two HB6's) already in line so I got in and asked them about the place. The girl who responded said they had never been there as they usually just go to house parties. I knew that I could have branched a conversation off of that or went into an opener, but I just wasn't feeling it. Also, Seamas wasn't ready to engage the other girl as he was just hanging back.

Lessons:
Raaf is correct in his inner game post that you cannot think about any negative things. That sort of stuff slowly starts to poison your mind and ruin your mood. I was thinking about stuff that was bothering Seamas and I was thinking about my own approach anxiety. I think I'll be more outgoing next time. I understand why I was anxious. Part of it were the factors that I described above. Another contributing factor was that I hadn't sarged since Wednesday of last week. A third reason was that Seamas was right about there being an abundance of hot girls. In Chicago, there are a ton of overweight girls and you usually only see a few hotties. Here in Gainesville, they are everywhere so I felt a little intimidated, even though deep down, I know that I have a lot to offer them

I did think of a good technique that should help me next time. I told Seamas that I need to go into the bar about five or ten minutes before him. That will force me to start talking to people and it should put me into party guy mode.

Forcing Seamas to open:
He still has issues with approach anxiety. Sometimes he approaches (it's very rare though), but lately I've been working on making him do more approaches. I decided that it wasn't fair that I have to be the one to initiate the majority of the approaches. Sometimes I just run out of energy and I need him to be able to push me through those doldrums. If he opens just a few times when I'm not feeling it, then I think we'd be unstopable.

I've also been trying to get him to be more social in general. I explained that you don't have to run game on every girl you see. Instead, you should make it a part of your everyday routine to be saying hi to people and engaging people in small talk. After you get that down, then you can make it a point to run game on every decent looking HB that you see.

Affirmation:
I think it'll help me a ton if I write a quick affirmation. Well, this will be more of a quick self-analysis also.

I know I'm feeling approach anxiety because I feel a little intimidated by the HB's as the average girl here is way better looking than in Chicago. I also know that I'm decent looking, but I still need a lot of work in that department. Of course, those are dumb reasons. I've talked to hotter girls than most of the ones I've seen here. I have to remind myself that I have a lot to offer these girls and my game is good. I can make them feel the emotions that they want to feel and I geniunely do think that I'd give them a great time. There are tons of AFC's here that have no game and I'll appear even better because I have more confidence then them and I won't do the lame shit that they do.

As for looks, while that's a huge factor in attraction for men, it isn't as high on the list for women. As they way on FS, unless you're a male supermodel or something, you're not going to make women doggy eyed by just your looks alone. Men on the other hand will get all crazy over any beautiful women. When I get in great shape again, I'll get more "auditions" but it will be my game that will help me get the women that I so desire. Having been in great shape two and a half years ago, I know that game is the most important thing. I didn't get anywhere with girls at the bars because I made few approaches and I did typical AFC stuff.

Speaking of approaches, another thing I have to remember is that I need to make a ton of approaches. There are so many women here. Even if I had zero game or if I opened with a total BS opener like telling every girl I met that she was beautiful or telling them that I just wanted sex, I'd eventually get a "fool's mate" lay. Of course, I have good game so my success rate will be higher than doing something lame like that, but I still should maximize my exposure. If I approach enough women, I'll get the fool's mate girls, and I'll pull a few more b/c of my game. I'll have poor results if I don't approach enough so if I really want to make something happen on this trip, I need to be an approach machine.

Every time that I start to feel negatively, I will purge the thoughts from my brain. If I'm worried I won't be able to game a set, I have to remember the many times that I've done stuff right. I have to remember that week Seamas and I went out between Christmas and New Year's. Just about every night I had a good set going that I could have closed. If I approach for like 3 hours in the day time, and 3 hours at night on this trip, I'm going to close some girls. Now I just have to start this all on Monday.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Amsterdam Trip Report:

This report is cross posted on the flyertalk forum. Click here.

I've just decided to post what I have, otherwise, I'll take forever to post my trip report. I'll be posting this same report on Flyertalk. This is a very long report. Some parts may be less interesting for some people. Each section and subsuction is in bold face so you can easily skip to a more interesting section. I describe my trip mostly in chronological order. I start with the "F" experience. Next, I write about a near theft on the train. On Sunday, I described walking through the Red Light District, a tram accident, and my visit to the Anne Frank House. On Monday, I write about my visit to the Rembrandt house. After that, I make a few observations about Amsterdam in general.

Introduction:

I might as well give a brief introduction for those that
haven't been following the Sidegames saga. My friend Sidegames had me book a trip to EZE last week. On Monday, we booked a Tuesday evening departure. I dropped him off to the airport and about forty minutes before his flight was to depart, he called me and told me he canceled the trip. I believe he can reschedule the trip within a year for $100, so the $800 fare isn't a total waste. Sidegames said his reasons for cancelling were that he didn't feel like sitting in E- for 12 hours and he was afraid he'd end up getting himself into trouble there. On Thursday, he was fed up with work and life again, so he asked me to book a trip to Amsterdam. He wanted to do a "last dance" of smoking weed and banging prostitutes. I was able to find him a $606 Swiss Air fare that left Friday. I was tempted to go with, but I didn't feel like spending the money on the hotel, plus I'd get 0 EQM's from UA. I'd get redeemable miles, but I figured I'd rather spend the money on a run that would get me EQM's.

I read Trip Advisor and found that The Grand Amsterdam Sofitel would suits his needs perfectly. One of the reviews there said that it was only two blocks from the Red Light District (RLD). Another report said that there were coffee shops nearby as well. I found a good internet rate that involved prepayment. As Sidegames had cancelled his other trip, I asked him several times if he was sure he wanted me to book the ticket and the nonrefundable hotel. He said he really wanted to go on this trip and wasn't going to cancel. I then made the booking as he requested.

I dropped him off at the airport on Friday two hours before his flight. Again, about 40 minutes before his flight was scheduled to leave, Sidegames called me up. He said he had decided not to go again. I thought he was joking at first, but he said he was serious. He said he was so embarrassed that he almost just took a cab home even though his car was parked at my place. I told him that the first time was funny, but this was really messed up. He said that he realized he had a problem.

Why waste it?

I told him that it was shame that he was wasting 200 Euros a night on that hotel. He asked if he could get it refunded but they said it was nonrefundable. I then joked that he should call them and tell him that his "assistant" (me) was going to fly ahead of him. I told him to check if he could have the hotel transfered to me. They said they could. I then decided to fly out the next day. The best airfare I could find out of ORD was a $994 ORD-PHL-AMS flight. I then checked MKE and found a $630 Continental flight. That was obviously a better deal, even though it involved a 1.5 hour drive to Milwaukee. I didn't like how I wouldn't get UA miles, though. I could add it to the 500 miles I have on NW but it seemed like a waste. I need UA EQM's, but paying $300 more for the US fare seemed like a bad deal too.

Just for the heck of it, I decided to check award tickets on UA come. The economy saver fares were gone so they wanted 80,000 miles for Economy. I checked C and found that I could redeem 80,000 miles for a C seat. Finally, I checked F and found availability for a 100,000 miles F seat. I decided if I were going to burn the miles, I might as well fly F. I had never flown international F before and have always wanted to have the experience. I knew Singapore Airlines' F was far better, but if I were going to try UA F, this would be the time to do it. I knew I would like it and I could still look forward to SQ F in the future. It would be worse to trip SQ F first and then try the lesser UA prodcut afterwards. After about thirty minutes of debate, I booked the trip.


I could get used to First Class:

I’m writing the beginning of this entry on Thursday, January 19, 2006, as I’m waiting for my ORD-IAD flight that is the first leg of my trip to Gainesville. I think I’m going to appreciate my First Class experience to Amsterdam even more today considering I’m back in E+. I’ll also be experiencing US’s E class which is like E- on UA. I have to say that my First class experience was fabulous. Flyertalk people would say that UA’s F doesn’t measure up to the competitors, but as I said in another entry, this is best time for me to experience UA F. I plan on make next award ticket a full experience on SQ & Thai Airways F. I was impressed by UA’s F and I’ll be even more impressed with the crazy service in those two Asian carriers.

I started my trip in the UA C concourse Red Carpet Club. Immediately upon entering, I could see why some people find it so appealing. When I was there, there weren’t that many people. I could also enjoy free fruits and some nonalcoholic beverages. I could have probably had two comped alcoholic drinks but I didn’t bother to try to get drink chits at the front desk. I remember grabbing some oranges and some drinks and camping out a table and chair need the food area. Another nice benefit is that you don’t have to go gate to gate searching for a power outlet. There are power outlets all over the place.

After trip report comment while waiting at ORD: As I think back on my RCC experience, I keep debating whether I should join it today for $400. I was very tempted as I know it would make flying 4 segments today less unpleasant and possibly even pleasant. Still, I think talking to Seamas helped me convince myself that it wasn’t worth it at this point in time. I might not use it enough if I don’t keep up my frantic flying pace for the rest of the year. The amenities are nice, but how hard is it really to find a laptop outlet. I found one in less than five minutes today in the gate across the hallway from my departure gate.

ORD-IAD on a 767.

I was lucky to have F on a 3 class plane ORD-IAD. The experience wouldn’t have been as nice on this Airbus 320 that I’m scheduled to fly in 40 minutes. I knew that I would get predeparture drink service but I ended up only ordering a Diet Coke b/c I didn’t really feel like drinking alcohol. There were two rows of F seats. The configuration was 2-1-2. The seats weren’t lie-flats like I had on the 777, but they were more than adequate for this less than 2 hour flight. My favorite features are include the like 3 feet of leg room and the extra seat width, of course, but I liked the movable foot rest best.

Food:
I finally got to try the warm nuts that people rave about on Flyertalk. They were quite tasty and went well with the red wine that I ordered. There were two choices for my meal. I don’t remember what the other choice was, but I ended up getting the Grilled Chicken Salad. I wasn’t used to eating on such short flights. Since I always fly E+, I’m used to having no meals even for a long OGG-KOA-ORD flight.

IAD Lounge:

I got off the plane and went into the first Red Carpet Club that I saw. Luckily, the lady told me I should go to the other location as it was closer to my gate. As I got nearer to the other RCC location, I found out that there was an International First Class Lounge near my gate. That was definately better than the RCC club. It had some fruits and other stuff for a buffet. (On my return trip, I saw they had some cut of meat in the buffet.) Most impressive was the free liquor available. I didn’t drink any but I did have a few sodas while watching the beginning of the Redskins-Seahawks game.

IAD-AMS 777

The seat was impressive on the 777. The seat configuration was 1-2-1 and there were three rows of seats. I had 3J which was the solo seat on the right side of the plane. The seat was a lie flat seat and I had a little work area in front of me. For the pre-departure drink, I decided to have a mimosa.

Food:
There were several appetizers that I could choose from. I don’t remember exactly what they were. For the main course, I had a filet, which was decent, but nothing special. For dessert, I was offered selections from a cheese and fruit plate. The best part of the meal, though, was the chocolate sundae dessert. Great stuff for airline food.

Return trip: IAD-ORD

On the way back home, I got a 777 for the short IAD-ORD leg, which was a pleasant surprise. I was tired, but I didn't even bother using the "bed" feature for such a short flight. The entree choice was between a chicken fajita wrap and a teriyaki salad. I chose the later.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 15, 2006

Attempted theft on the train:

In keeping with my adventurous spirit, I decided to take public transportation to The Grand Amsterdam Sofitel. A cab ride would have cost about 50 euros and I felt that was a waste considering I could take the train for just under 4 Euros. After arriving at the airport, I went down to the train area. I took me a few tries to actually buy a ticket as I couldn’t get it to accept my credit or debit card and then I was short 10 cents. It ending coughing up the ticket somehow. I don’t remember if I had put in the 10 cents and it took like 10 seconds to figure it out or whether it just comped me the 10 cents. I’m guessing that they might have it set to forgive a shortage like that b/c it’s in the airport.

I went down to platform 3 to wait for the train to Central Station. As I was waiting, I saw a hot looking blonde who was in her 40's. Even though she was 10+ years older than me, I couldn’t stop looking at her. Later, there were three girls, and one of them was wearing a short skirt with black panty hose. What is interesting here is not my wandering eye, but that these women ended up playing roles in this story.

I got on the train and chatted with some black guy. He said Central Station was 20 minutes away. I wasn’t sure if I’d figure it out so when we came to the first stop, I asked some guy standing next to me if it was Central Station. (The black guy had been on the phone.) He said that Central Station was the end of the line so I couldn’t miss it. Fast forward to about 10 minutes later. This scruffy looking guy walked by twice and I thought he looked suspicious. I guess I really can read people better (or I’m just learning to trust my reads) because he came by a third time, this time with a guy with a stripped red jacket. I was standing near the door and there were four benches to my left. On my right was a stairway that lead up to a larger seating area. The 40 year old blonde was up there chatting to some companion. I saw the two guys walk up upstairs. I was thinking about the mini skirt girl who is seated to my left when suddenly I heard the blonde yell, “My laptop!”

One guy came rushing by and I saw the woman grab her laptop case on the third step from the top. I was still confused about what had happened, but I later found out that the stripped jacket guy had dropped the laptop on the stairs when the woman noticed it was missing The scruffy looking guy, though, was just hanging out near me. Suddenly, the black guy says, “Hey man. You tried to steal that woman’s laptop.” The scruffy guy became all defensive and started to accuse the black guy of being crazy. The black guy then asked me if I had seen it. I really didn’t want to get involved as I had no idea if this scruffy guy would start stabbing people or something, but I did say that I had seen the woman retrieve her laptop. As the argument proceeded, the three other guys standing around started to question the scruffy guy. At one point, the black guy said, “Some one call the police. That guy tried to steal her laptop.”

During the exchange, I saw the mini-skirt girl and her friend move to the adjoining car. I remember thinking, “That’s a good idea. Who knows what might go down here?” I then decided to go sit down where the girls had been. That way, I wouldn’t be in the middle if a fight broke out and I had room to through my suitcase in front of a guy if he tried to attack me. I guess the girls had complained to someone as some woman walked in. At first, I thought she might be a cop, but then I realized she was just the conductor. The black guy said that someone in a red stripped jacket had tried to steal the laptop. The scruffy guy walked away after this. Before she left, the woman commented in frustration, “This type of thing is becoming more common here. There’s nothing we can dol.”

After the scruffy guy and the conductor left, I heard someone talking to the black guy. The black guy said that the scruffy guy was an accomplice or something b/c he was acting defensive and scared. I later saw the 40 year old blonde as we exited the train at Central Station. I asked her, “Did someone really try to steal your laptop?” She replied, “Yeah, isn’t that crazy.” Then she called out to her friend. Even though I’m on vacation, I do feel like I should be sarging, but obviously this wasn’t a good time to do it here.

Bad Directions/Bellboy:

This two guys from the train tried to help me out with directions. I had told them I where I was staying and one guy thought I had said The Grand Karasomething (it’s in Dam Square.) I told them that I knew the directions from Dam Square, but I head read that I should take a tram. The guys said that it was walking distance. The one guy told me to walk, “This way.” He seemed to be pointing straight but I got confused.. I should have realized that I should follow the tram tracks, but when I crossed the street, I ended up taking a left instead. I walked for like 15 minutes before I asked for directions and found out I had been walking the wrong way. Three guys who were doing construction told me to walk back to Central Station and take a left. They didn’t recognize my hotel when I named it but they did know the street when I showed them the name on phone. It was great that I had saved the street names as I can’t pronounce these Dutch names, much less memorize them.

I later found the hotel after asking five other tourists who had no clue, and a police man. It turns out the guy on the train had pointed in the right way. I guess I messed up b/c he hadn’t given me specific directions and I was tired. I remember that he had pointed at two towers as the location of Dam Square, and I realized he had pointed the right way when I finally got there.

The hotel is about 2 and a half blocks from Dam Square. It’s an easy walk to Central Station. When I got to the hotel, I checked in and I didn’t run into any problems. I kept imagining scenarios where they wouldn’t let me have the room Sidegames had paid for but none of my planning was necessary. After I checked in, I was asked if I need help with my bags. I said, “No.” I think that few people carry their own bags, especially in an good hotel. There was no way I was going to have a bellboy carry my bags and have to tip him after walking at least 3 miles with my bags on the way to the hotel.

The Grand Amsterdam, Sofitel:


This hotel is in a great location as it’s on a quiet canal street and it’s very close to Dam Square. All the tourist attractions are in walking distance. The room is big when you judge it by European standards. My room in Maui had been bigger, but that had two beds, and it was in the US. Seasoned travelers know that rooms can be small in Europe unless you pay big bucks. The room was very clean. It was so clean that I was willing to walk around in my bare feet which I usually don’t like doing. I didn't have to do that, though, as they provided comp slippers. The bathtub was huge and clean. The hallways were quiet and I even slept from 5PM Sunday to 1:30am and never was awakened by noise outside.

The hotel is also a great location for those looking to enjoy trees and the Red Light District. There is a coffee house right next to the hotel. For those that don’t know, marijuana and mushrooms are freely sold in coffee shops here in Amsterdam. At the time, I thought that it was great that there was one so close b/c if I decided to eat some brownies, I’ll be close to the hotel.

Red light District Walk Through:

After trip report: I guess I wasn’t as adventurous as I wanted to be. I didn’t end up seeing any prostitutes nor did I even set foot in a coffee shop. I think if Sidegames had come, I probably would have eaten some tree brownies. Since I was by myself, I felt it easy to just keep walking. I was afraid that I would get sick or just ruin the trip if I ate too much weed.

As I said in my previous blog, I was interested in the RLD so I spent the first hour or two walking around and checking it out. Anyone who goes to Amsterdam should at least walk through the area as it is quiet an experience. Anyway, what follows is my report and observations about the RLD:

Prostitution was tolerated here for a long time. When I came when I was around 14, the tour guide walked us through the RLD. Maybe that experience and watching adult movies along with biology are the reasons I have such a high sex drive even in my late 20's. Amsterdam was the last city on a 14 or 15 day tour of Europe my mother and I had taken through Trafalgar Tours. All that I remember of the RLD was that there were a bunch of porno shops, and I remember seeing these hot girls standing scantily clad in shop windows. As a virgin, I remember thinking how great it was that these beautiful women were on display.

My understanding is that prostitution was made officially legal in 2003. Legalization meant that the trade was now regulated and the girls pay taxes on their earnings. If my information is correct there are three RLD’s and this one near me is the main one. There used to be an area that catered to car clients. You could drive in that are and pick up licenses street hookers, but I read they did away with that recently.

Since I’ve lived in the US my whole life, I find the RLD to be a surreal experience. There are a few small “streets” (they are more like alleys or walkways b/c cars can’t fit there) where there are only street windows for girls. In contrast, on bigger streets, like the canal and street where The Grand Amsterdam is, there is a strange mixture of shops. You’ll see a normal bar with your normal looking crowd. Next to it might be a few windows of girls. After that might be a coffee shop or a restaurant. Later, you’d see a porno shop. One interesting thing that I saw happened when I turned this corner. On my left was a bar. A mixed four-set sitting there and one of them was an attractive blonde. She was looking out the window. On my right were three kamers (window fronts). One was closed. The other two had working girls standing inside. One was okay looking and another was a hot, petite blonde. I remember being tempted to go in, but just as the thought entered my head, I saw a guy look at her. As soon as his eyes came upon her, his body turned in amazement and he walked hurriedly to her door. She let him in and we can guess, with accuracy, what happened. The whole situation just seems unbelievable. You have a blonde hanging out with her friends and she sees the girls in the kamers across the street. Then she sees a john walk right in and she’ll see him walk out 10-20 minutes later and everyone knows he just finished having sex with the prostitute.

An even stranger sight was when I walked out of this one RLD street and I could see children playing not too far away. Two blocks from these kids are the RLD kamers and you know there are mostly johns walking around. I just wonder what parents say to the kids. In the USA, the parents would be uptight and would probably not know how to handle the issue. Here, I bet they just explain that the women in the shop windows are prostitutes. They have sex for money.

If you walk around the RLD, you’ll see mostly men, but you’ll also see some women. Usually, they are with a guy and the couple is just checking out the scene. The women also could be going to the normal bars. Also, they might be going to work. I find that intriguing b/c when you pass a woman, you’re not sure if she’ll soon be available for hire or not. I happened to see one girl going to work. She was walking, and I remember wondering if she was a prostitute. Next thing I know, she goes into one of those kamers and starts working.

I suppose all this seems crazy because I live in America. Americans are so uptight about sex in general. When people think about prostitution in the US, they probably think about johns picking up nasty street hookers in Cicero, IL or they think about high priced escorts that you can dial up from the phone bookl. I’ll minimize my libertarian rambling, but I will say that we handle prostitution in the wrong way. The sex trade is alive and well in Chicago but the government is almost completely cut out of it. The only place that is close to having things down right is Nevada. Prostiution is legal in almost all the counties except Clarke County, which contains Las Vegas, and the county that includes Reno. In the legal counties, you find prostitution in legalized brothels. The girls are licensed by the county and have health checks every week. They are segregated from the general public when they are working. The eat and sleep in the brothel for the one or two weeks that they work and then they usually take a week off. This is so that girls don’t go having unprotected sex when their off duty. The idea is that they might catch diseases from boyfriends or something which could mean they are infected with something even though they were just tested.


Learning to appreciate living: Tram crash & Anne Frank house:


Since I’m not depressed anymore and have been in a great mood like 95% of the time lately, I usually don’t need a reminder to appreciate life. Today, I learned to appreciate even more than I already do. After got sick of walking around the RLD district, I decided to go to see some real attractions. There are a ton of museums to see but many of them have to do with art. I’m not a big art fan. My ex would have loved it her as she loves art. Out of all the main attractions to see, the two that I am most interested in are the Rembrandt house and the Anne Frank house. I discovered to today that I wanted to see tour take a Heiniken tour (I’m not sure if it’s the brewery or what but it looks interesting.) Unfortunately, it’s closed Monday so I guess I’m going there on my next trip.

Tram:

Just west of Dam Square I saw a roped off area in an intersection. There were police cars and ambulances there. I felt compelled to look as it’s human nature to be intrigued by accidents. Maybe it’s because an accident is something out of the ordinary, but I think it might be because it reminds people (maybe just on an unconscious level) that our seemingly messed up lives can end or become even more messed up randomly like this. As I approached the police line, I could see two cops or accident investigators moving this little bicycle in front of the tram. I knew that they were trying to recreate the accident, but I didn’t know how long ago the accident actually happened. I decided to get closer as I had to walk past the accident anyway, and I was morbidly curious. I saw some scuff marks and then this pink pool of body fluids. I had seen blood before but this seemed like it was more than blood as it was pinkish. I kept wondering if it was brain or flesh or something. I have to ask Richa (my good friend’s wife, who is about to graduate from med school) what she thinks it might have been. Whatever it was, it was disgusting, and I kept thinking about brains. To my right was the ambulance. A technician kept opening and closing the door so I couldn’t get a good look. I could see a body and a big neck brace but I couldn’t tell anything more. At first I thought it might be a child b/c the bicycle was small, but who knows?

The ambulance didn’t seem like it was in a rush to get out of there. At the beginning, I thought the person had to be dead as they were just sitting there while they investigated the accident. I figured if the guy was alive they would get him out of there as soon as possible. I thought about what I figured would be a probable chain of evens. The accident happens. The emergency services then arrive. After that, I imagine the focus would be on helping the victim. Then, I think they would rush the victim away and then do an investigation. After about 3-4 minutes, though, the ambulance did race away so maybe the guy was alive. I don’t know.

During this, I asked a few people what had happened but the three people I talked to were not eyewitnesses. After the ambulance speed off, I told this older man who had also been observing the scene, “Well, I guess I’ll appreciate life a little better today. Take care.” I then walked away and I genuinely do appreciate my life a little more after this.

Scene of the crime:
After I finished the Anne Frank house tour, I walked back to the hotel. When I got to the site of the accident, I saw that it had been cleaned up and everything had returned to normal. I wanted to get closer to see where the pool of fluids had been. I was easily able to locate the spot as the scuff marks were still in the road. Where the fluids had been was now a wet spot. The crew had cleaned it up well so the spot just looked like a puddle of water. People were walking on it and they had no clue that someone’s brains or something had been there. I felt a need to walk around the spot even though it was clean and I had to push through people to do it. It just felt weird to step on that spot so soon after the accident.

Anne Frank House:

I probably should have written this after my visit there instead of the next day at 16:17. I had read an excerpt from the Anne Frank diary in grade school. If you had asked me about her before my visit, the only info I could have given was that I knew she was a Jew who had been hiding out in a house and she wrote a diary about the experience. Until I started reading about Amsterdam, I didn’t even know that the house was here. Now that I’ve visited the house, I think I’ll make an effort to read the diary as I can better picture the events she described. I can also imagine her sitting in her room writing this stuff. Both of those combined give me a better appreciation for the work. As I mention in my Rembrandt report, I felt similar after my visit to his house.

Since it’s been a day, I don’t feel like I can give as detailed a description of my visit here as I do with my Rembrandt entry that I made an hour ago. I will say that I think it was smart for the exhibit to have excerpts of the diary in each room you walk in. I felt like I could get a better feeling of the atmosphere of the room by reading an entry about it. Here are some memories I’ll have from the exhibit:

-I was struck by how big the hiding area was. Since I hadn’t read any part of the diary in probably 15 years or more, I pictured that they had been hiding in a little closet or something. I’m surprised that such a large secret area existed hidden in the building. Anne Frank’s room is about the size of my friend Jim’s room when he was growing up. The literature says she shared it with Frank Pfeffer. What makes the experience so miserable is not the space, but the circumstances of their hiding. They had to live in constant fear that they were going to be discovered. They couldn’t use the bathroom during business hours because the pipes ran directly downstairs to warehouse area. The food was scarce and they had to wear the same clothes for months. On top of that was guilt. One of the diary entries describes Anne feeling guilty that she can see other Jews walking outside and knowing that many Jews who couldn’t hide were being rounded up.

-On one wall, there were horizontal marks on the wall. The description said that these lines marked how much the children had grown during the time they were hiding. It’s a good reminder that they hadn’t been hiding for a few months, but for years. In one entry, Anne describes how her shirt barely fits, and exposes her belly because she had grown so much.

-Another thing that I’ll remember from the exhibit is the end of the exhibit. There are pictures of the eight people that were hiding and it explains what happened to them. Otto Frank, Anne’s father, was the only one to survive after they were rounded up. I found out that Anne had died in a camp about a month before the Allies rescued the camp. In this same room, there is a video of an old woman who had been friends with Anne. She was in a camp next to Anne’s. This woman was a Jew that had been granted citizen ship in Paraguay. The video said that Paraguayan Jews were giving special treatment because Hitler had made a pact with Paraguay. It would have looked bad to treat allied Jews in the same way as other Jews. Near the end of the war, the Paraguayan Jews were rounded up, but they were put in a special camp. The people in that camp were treated better and were even given supplies by the Red Cross. This woman’s camp was next to Anne. One day she was looking over at the other camp and was surprised to see Anne through the barbed wire. The woman said that Anne felt she had nothing to live for and that helped her illness finish her. The woman speculated that Anne might have lived if she had known her father had been alive.

Behind the portrait of Anne in that same room, there’s a video playing from one of the concentration camps. Of course, I know what happened in these camps, but I found it moving to see actual videos from the camps. You see emaciated bodies crouching next to dead bodies. In one scene, you see a mass grave filled with hundreds of bodies. It’s one thing to read that people that were exterminated, it’s another to see the bodies. I know that each of those people had their own story. The exhibit evens says that thanks to Anne Frank’s writings, we know her story and the stories of the seven other people living with her. We also know a little bit about the people who helped smuggle food to those that were hiding. We don’t know the stories of all those other people that died in the camps, but I know they had interesting lives. It’s incredible that so many people were just exterminated like rats for the sole reason of them being Jews.

As I said earlier, visiting the Anne Frank house helped me appreciate my life a little better. Even though I sometimes feel depressed about my life, I have to always remember that I’ve been lucky compared to the people in this house, the Jews in Nazi controlled Europe, and the poor person who got hit by the tram today. I need to draw on these memories in the future when I’m feeling down about something or another. I believe this stuff helps my inner game by forcing me to view everything that happens to me in a new frame.

MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 2006

Hotel Window:

I’m resting in my room for a few minutes. I’m probably going to check out the Amsterdam Historical Museum next. I’m currently fascinated by the window in my room. Yesterday, the room was really hot and in an attempt to cool it down, I think I made it even hotter by turning the fan on. I had tried to open a window yesterday, but the left windows don’t open. I had assumed that I couldn’t open any windows, but today I noticed that the right one opens. It really does open too: the window is about 4 feetX2 feet and it opens completely with no screen. I haven’t seen this in any of the hotels in the States. I guess that they have done away with these windows back home because of potential lawsuits. I could just picture some dumb ass falling out the window while drunk, or some kid playing around and falling to his doom. Somehow both incidents would be blamed on the hotel.

Bitch at the supermarket:

I went to buy a Coca-Cola Light at the store. On a side note, I’ve always been amused by the fact that they call it Coca-Cola Light here instead of Diet Coke. Anyway, the bill was 1 Euro and 15 cents. I had bills which I could have used to pay right away, but I wanted to get rid of these coins. The lady started to get pissed b/c I was taking too long. I guess the only reason this bothers me is b/c I didn’t say anything back. I remembered that she repeated the total 3 times while I was counting the coins. By the third time, I wanted to say that I understood what the total was, but I was trying to find the right coins with which to pay.

The correct way to handle a tourist like me is to do what the guy did for me at the Rembrandt House. The entrance fee was 7 Euros and 50 cents. I had pulled out a bunch of change b/c I wanted to get rid of it. The man could tell I wasn’t familiar with the coins b/c I had to study each one closely. He said, “Do you mind if I help you count those?” He then separated the right amount and then double checked his count by counting it off for me. That’s how you handle tourists. I don’t know what the wages are here, but perhaps that is the difference. The guy at the museum was an old man who probably was happy working there. This woman probably hated working at this supermarket. F her, anyway. .

Rembrandt House:

I wanted to see this house because Rembrandt actually lived there. My appreciation for art, in a general, is only a passing one. I wouldn’t have gone to see a Rembrandt museum, but I was drawn to his house. I took the Myers-Briggs test back in December. I don’t remember what my actual personality is from the test, but I do remember that it says I like to empathize with people. I believe I’m attracted to historical places because of that aspect of my personality. As I went through each room, I tried to picture what it was like to be there back in the day. As I stood in the living room, I imagined horses or carriages passing on the street. There was chair on an elevated platform near the window. The description said that visitors sitting there could watch the action on the street. I pictured myself sitting there and doing just that.

After you walk in to the house, (from the original entrance), there is a room to your left. In this room is where Rembrandt negotiated his sales. To the right of the room was a bed. The beds on display here are very different than the beds we have today. If the doors had been closed, the bed could have passed for a cabinet.. In fact, I think part of the bed actually was a cabinet, but I’m not certain. I remember being struck by how short the bed was. I’m slightly below average height and I think I would have found the bed uncomfortable. In another room, I commented to the guard how small the bed was. (On a side note, this is one of the benefits of my new personality. Since I’m more social, I made this comment, and I learned more about the bed. In the past, I might have been too shy to talk to the guy and I would have remained clueless.) The guard explained to me that people were shorter back in those days. This made sense as the people of 1600's didn’t understand proper nutrition and people who weren’t rich did get to eat all they could, unlike people of today. Another reason for the bed being so short is that the people didn’t sleep lying down like we do today. The guard said that due to some superstition about lying down while sleeping, people slept sititing up.

In between this back room, and the entrance room was a small hallway area with stairs leading to the second floor. Opposite the stairs was a workshop area. When I first got to the second floor, it was roped off, but later I found it open. Inside was Rembrandt etching studio. The man inside explained that there would be a presentation later. During the presentation, we learned about the different etching techniques. For those that don’t know (and I had never heard of etching until I saw a Rembrandt exhibit at the Art Institute with my ex last year), I will give a brief explanation of the technique. The artist creates a design on a copper plate. There are three techniques. I don’t remember the exact names, but one involves using charcoal or something to coat the plate. The artist then makes his design in the material but doesn’t scratch the surface of the plate. The surface is then treated with acid and that imprints the design into the plate. The two other techniques involve actually scratching the plate with tools. If I recall correctly, one technique involves heaving groves and another is lighter, and possibly involves just makes designs using small pricks.

After the artist makes his design, he runs it through a press. Our guide said that Rembrandt liked to run the press himself. Running the press is a multi-step process. I don’t remember all the steps. When I first heard about etchings, I imagined that you just put ink on the plate and run it through the machine. Of course, it’s not that simple. The ink has to be prepared by coming 3 ingredients or so (I don’t remember exactly). The final pressed image also can be modified by how the ink is left on or removed in certain areas of the plate.

On the next floor is Rembrandt’s studio. He painted many of his works here. As I stood there, I again let my imagination run wild and tried to picture myself watching Rembrandt and his assistance. Having visited his house, I think I’ll appreciate his work more when I see it.

Blogging:
My feet were tired from having walked over two hours in the morning. I am now going to miss seeing the Amsterdam Historical Museum. I could still walk over there, but it closes at 5Pm. I’d have like 50-55 minutes to see it. I don’t know how big it is but I’d rather not do a speed tour of the museum. I guess I’ll put that and the Heineken tour for my to-do list next time.

On Writing:

I’ve been sitting here for almost two hours writing my trip reports. I find myself writing about stuff that I didn’t even plan on writing about when I started. I seem to get some sort of pleasure in writing these entries. I guess it’s because it gives me a chance to reflect on my thoughts and feelings during the trip. I’d think these thoughts anyway, but it’s rewarding to actually formulate them into a coherent blog and to preserve the thoughts in writing.

Monday night:
It’s almost 6pm and my time is running out here. I think I won’t be doing brownies after all. The time to do them would be now, but I think I’d rather just try to take a nap.

Tuesday:
In my comments about bicycles, I said that I wondered what the bicyclists do when it rains. Be careful for what your wish for... On Tuesday, it rained all morning. I had to drag my suitcases in the rain. Also, my eyes had been red from keeping my contact lenses in too long on the flight over so I wore my glasses most of the trip. I had to put my contacts on my sore eyes to walk to the train station b/c it was raining too much.


RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:


Bicycles:

I had read in my brief research that bicycles are a popular form of transportation here. When I read that, I figured, “So what? I’ll see a few bicycles more than I’d see in Chicago.” I was surprised by what I did end up seeing. I imagine that the reason the bicycle is so popular here is because gas is so expensive here and the roads don’t really allow for a lot of traffic. I haven’t seen the entire city, but I’ve walked by some of the busier areas and you don’t see any wide streets like Michigan Ave back home. Instead of cars, you see tons of bicycles. You see more bicycles than cars at least on the majority of roads, where there isn’t heavy traffic. Contrast this picture with Chicago. There, you hardly see any bicycles except for under bike messengers and on the Lake Shore Drive trail. It’s winter here and back home, I wouldn’t even think about riding here. (Sidenote: I wonder if it snows here. I guess I’ll ask one of the hotel workers when I go out later.) Here, people ride all year round. I wish it would rain while I’m here so I could see the people riding in the rain. I’m sure they do, but I think it would be an experience to see a bunch of bicycles riding in the rain. They probably do it so often that it barely registers as out of the ordinary.

Urinals:
I thought it was odd in the Philippines that there were these urinals in the middle of the sidewalk. Well, it wasn’t as surprising there as there are signs all over the place that say, “Bawal umigi dito.” That might be spelled incorrectly but it’s Tagalog for “Don’t piss here” or “It’s forbidden to urinate here.” I remember being so surprised to see so many signs that say that because you would think that would be a given. Just like you would assume that bathing in the Makati Peninsula Hotel fountain is prohibited, but there’s a sign telling you not to do just that. Here in Amsterdam, I haven’t seen any signs warning you not to piss in the street, but I have seen signs that direct you to the nearest urinal. The urinal is basically a hole in the sidewalk that’s surrounded by a circular fence. The fence starts at about two feet off the ground and it ends just above my head. When you walk by one, you can see the guy’s piss hitting the ground. Also, you can’t miss the smell of the urine when you go by one of these things. I’m curious about the history of these urinals. I’m guessing that the city probably had a big problem with public urination so they decided they needed these quaint urinals to eliminate the problem.

Sidenote: Yesterday, next to one of these urinals, I saw a mound of feces. It didn’t look like dog feces, so I imagine it was human waste. I guess some guy decided he couldn’t hold it and just decided to take a crap near the urinal. I bet it must have happened between 2-5am as the area there was fairly busy, even at 1am because it’s in the RLD.

Bilingual Bums:

I’ve been asked for money three times since I’ve been here. Sidegames said he got approached by four bums every morning when he used to walk a mile to work in Chicago. He lived near Division and Sate and he walked about a mile south on Dearborne to get to work. Homeless people seem to be less of a problem here compared to Chicago and compared to Honolulu. At least that’s visible homeless people. I don’t know if there are other areas that have more bums or what the public housing and aid is like here in The Netherlands. One bum was pretty aggressive yesterday. It was tall black guy that began by speaking to me in Dutch. I was flattered that I could pass for a local. Even though I couldn’t understand him, I knew he was begging me for money. His outstretched hand gave away his intentions. I told him that I don’t speak Dutch, and he responded by asking me for change in English. Then he showed me some ashtray from the Bulldog hotel that he no doubt stole. He wanted me to either give him free money or give him money for the stolen ashtray. I kept walking without making eye contact. That’s what I do to bums in Chicago and they usually leave you alone. This guy kept following me, so I started to walk forward and to the left so I was moving away from him. I then looked him in the eye and said firmly, “I’m not giving you any money. Leave me alone.” To that, he finally did leave me alone.

I was a little surprised that he spoke English. He might just know how to beg for change, but I think he probably speaks English very well. This is an example of how Europeans usually know at least two languages. Back home, almost all the homeless people are uneducated. Even educated people can barely speak another language. In contrast, here, even a beggar can speak Dutch and English and for all I know, he even knows a third language.

Note after trip: When I walked around between 9 & 10PM on Monday, I saw a few more beggars. They seemed to appear more during prime time, which made sense. I remember this woman asking everyone she could, in an English accent, “Excuse me, can you spare one Euro?”

“Hard” drugs:
Sidegames was probably right to be wary about coming here. I think he’d enjoy himself if he limited himself to indulging in prostitutes and even trees. He’s probably right that he’d end up doing heroin or harder drugs. It’s not that hard to find. The tourist info that I read before the street says that you’ll get bothered by offers to buy it. I’ve been offered drugs at least four times since I’ve been here and I’ve passed guys that I’m pretty sure were in the same trade even though they didn’t verbally offer me stuff. The guys usually say, “Cocaina?” If hadn’t been brainwashed by the program, Sidegames would be fine here. He could practice moderation and just do trees or even mushrooms. As I’ve said before, he’s convinced he’s totally messing up his life when he can’t avoid doing marijuana, so he’d definitely ask for heroin. He’d figure that he’s messing up big with the so called moderation, so he might as well go all out and do heroin too.

Reuse your plate:

I ate at this crappy Chinese buffet today (Monday). After I had finished my first plate, I went to the buffet to get more food. I grabbed a new plate. The guy suddenly exclaimed, “Excuse me sir. You have to use the same plate.” He then came up to me and took this plate that I had already touched out of my hands. Fortunately, I had just put a shrimp chip on the plate. He said I’d have to pay again if I used another plate. If I had put real food on the plate and they tried to charge me again, I swear I would have just run out of there. Screw them anyway. I understand that I’m not back in the US, but I think it’s BS that they are so cheap like that. How much extra labor and supplies are they really using when you use two or three plates? Back in the States, you can’t even reuse your plate at most buffets because it’s against health regulations. Heck, even in the Philippines, I believe you can get a new plate when you return to the buffet area.

Traveling out of the country:
I do have a new appreciation for traveling outside the US. I haven’t been out of the country much in the last few years. The only place I went was the Philippines. Back when I was younger, things were the opposite. My mother and I hardly ever went anywhere in the US. Instead we went on tours. These tours were to places across the Atlantic ocean. The first trip was this European Whirl tour from Trafalgar. That is the trip that brought me to Amsterdam many years ago. Another year we went to Spain, Morocco, and Portugal. Another year, we hit Egypt. I believe we went to Egypt a year or two before the German tourists were killed by terrorists shooting up a tour bus. Our last tour was a land tour of Greece and a cruise of several Greek Islands, and Istanbul. On this Amsterdam tour, I foundnd that I really enjoy seeing the contrasts to life in US, specifically Chicago. I also enjoy hearing other languages and trying to figure out what they are speaking. I now think I can spot Dutch if I hear it in the future.

Traveling in the USA:
I think it was Sidegames who made a great point about what he liked about traveling in the US. When you travel in the US, even to somewhere as exotic as Hawaii, you know that you are still in the US. You have the same rights as you do back home and you have the familiarity of your own language. The traffic laws might have some slight variations but you know everything it almost the same in that department. Being here in Amsterdam, I now realize that another I like about traveling in the US is that I can still use my cell phone like I do at home. In the US, I’d be posting these blogs right after I finished them as I’d have internet wherever I have a cell phone signal. I didn’t realize how much I miss being connected until now because in the Philippines I had both services. I had dialup internet and I had use of a cell phone. I got a cheap sim card for the equivalent of about $3. I had a ton of free text messages. When you buy phone cards, you get X # of minutes or credits (for international calls) and you get 25 free messages. Since I was using my phone to call my ex, I had over 150 free text messages. When my unlocked tri-band GSM N-gage, I was able to keep in touch almost like I do back home. I suppose I could probably do the same here, for slightly more money, but I don’t have any local people who would tell me where to get the sim cards, and I don’t have the desire to take the time to figure it out.

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