Thursday, February 02, 2006
Sidegames and the Puritan Ethic:
Or maybe it's the Protestant ethic. It's been years since I read Weber so I don't know if Sidegames is closer to the ethic Weber writes about or is more Puritan. On Wednesday, Sidegames and I took some some Nancy's Pizza (free miles from Rewards Network) and he strongly considered going on the trip. He even took out a ton of cash from the bank. After that, I picked up a printer I ordered from Circuit City and stopped at Starbucks. A lone wolf at Starbucks and another in Nordstrom must have thought I was using the lamest, BS pickup line when I opened them with the following, "If you had a paid ticket to Singapore and a hotel room, would you be debating whether or not you should go on the trip?" I opened these two girls just to practice opening, and to try to show Sidegames how stupid he was thinking.
We debated his situation and his argument for staying was really weak. Basically, it comes down to several factors. A reason he gave at the beginning was that everyone except me was telling him not to go. We had discussed that people in the program were probably jealous of his trip. As for his parents ,he said that he had told them that he stopped using substances, even though he was smoking trees again. He said he had told them that if he goes on any more trips, it means that he's using again. He said if he went to Singapore, they would suspect he was using again, and he didn't want to lie to them again b/c he actually was using again.
Okay... That made no sense, and I told him that. I said that if he stayed here in Chicago, he'd just smoke weed the whole weekend. If we went to Singapore, he wouldn't do any drugs, though he did admit that he probably would end up drinking the whole trip.
His bigger reason for not going on the trip ultimately relates to the title of this entry. I repeated my argument that he probably trades better when he takes occasional trips to clear his mind. He made great money after we came back from Hawaii, which supports this argument. Also, I pointed out that he's booked three trips now and has cancelled. Obviously, he wants to get away and if he wastes this trip, he'll just want to go again. If that didn't convince him, his big loss in Wednesday trading should have convinced him. Usually when he gets busted up, he wants to get away. That's how the London getaway that turned into a Buenos Aires ticket happened originally. I told him if he stays, he'll probably get busted up Thursday and Friday too.
He said that he doesn't agree with my premise. He believes that he should work nonstop and never take any trips. He honestly considers it "fucking up" to go on these trips, even though he traded better after Maui. I told him that he doesn't have to refrain from all pleasures and only focus on work. Granted, I overdo the pleasures myself, but I think reality is somewhere in between both of us.
I'm sitting here in LAX waiting for my LAX-NRT flight and Sidegames either ditched work, and is smoking weed, or he is at work. He wasted $900 on this trip that he didn't go on, which puts him over $2000 wasted this year on trips he planned and didn't go on. In keeping with my new optimism, I quickly realized the positives of going solo on this trip. I'm not going to let his flaking ruin my trips, but in many ways, I think the trip would have been better if he had come with.
Or maybe it's the Protestant ethic. It's been years since I read Weber so I don't know if Sidegames is closer to the ethic Weber writes about or is more Puritan. On Wednesday, Sidegames and I took some some Nancy's Pizza (free miles from Rewards Network) and he strongly considered going on the trip. He even took out a ton of cash from the bank. After that, I picked up a printer I ordered from Circuit City and stopped at Starbucks. A lone wolf at Starbucks and another in Nordstrom must have thought I was using the lamest, BS pickup line when I opened them with the following, "If you had a paid ticket to Singapore and a hotel room, would you be debating whether or not you should go on the trip?" I opened these two girls just to practice opening, and to try to show Sidegames how stupid he was thinking.
We debated his situation and his argument for staying was really weak. Basically, it comes down to several factors. A reason he gave at the beginning was that everyone except me was telling him not to go. We had discussed that people in the program were probably jealous of his trip. As for his parents ,he said that he had told them that he stopped using substances, even though he was smoking trees again. He said he had told them that if he goes on any more trips, it means that he's using again. He said if he went to Singapore, they would suspect he was using again, and he didn't want to lie to them again b/c he actually was using again.
Okay... That made no sense, and I told him that. I said that if he stayed here in Chicago, he'd just smoke weed the whole weekend. If we went to Singapore, he wouldn't do any drugs, though he did admit that he probably would end up drinking the whole trip.
His bigger reason for not going on the trip ultimately relates to the title of this entry. I repeated my argument that he probably trades better when he takes occasional trips to clear his mind. He made great money after we came back from Hawaii, which supports this argument. Also, I pointed out that he's booked three trips now and has cancelled. Obviously, he wants to get away and if he wastes this trip, he'll just want to go again. If that didn't convince him, his big loss in Wednesday trading should have convinced him. Usually when he gets busted up, he wants to get away. That's how the London getaway that turned into a Buenos Aires ticket happened originally. I told him if he stays, he'll probably get busted up Thursday and Friday too.
He said that he doesn't agree with my premise. He believes that he should work nonstop and never take any trips. He honestly considers it "fucking up" to go on these trips, even though he traded better after Maui. I told him that he doesn't have to refrain from all pleasures and only focus on work. Granted, I overdo the pleasures myself, but I think reality is somewhere in between both of us.
I'm sitting here in LAX waiting for my LAX-NRT flight and Sidegames either ditched work, and is smoking weed, or he is at work. He wasted $900 on this trip that he didn't go on, which puts him over $2000 wasted this year on trips he planned and didn't go on. In keeping with my new optimism, I quickly realized the positives of going solo on this trip. I'm not going to let his flaking ruin my trips, but in many ways, I think the trip would have been better if he had come with.
