Things I have done - WIP

Actions can define a person. What kind of a person are you? This is me...

A friend I haven't seen in years was going to have her son taken away from her by the state unless she could pay rent. I paid her rent twice.

I used to have a large tub, so heavy it takes two people to lift it when full. I would fill this with alcoholic drinks and take it whenever a friend was having a party. If I got hungry, I would also leave the party and return with hamburgers for everybody so the party had food.

When I moved to China, I sold a car for $2.00 to a friend who has been in a car accident, and did not have a reliable car.

I have sang for audiences of over two hundred people.

I have performed comedic performances in plays for hundreds of people.

A girlfriend broke up with me and was in the cast of a play. The night following the final performance, everybody had pizza, and we watched a tape of the performance. After this, anyone who wanted could borrow the tape, one at a time. - I walked three miles in the cold rain to bring her some leftover pizza, and the tape so she could see the performance at home. I knocked on her door and ran. I left a note with the pizza which had words left from everybody wishing her well. It also had our finger prints instead of signatures. (it was a murder mysery, and of course, it was a mystery to know who left the pizza).

I went in to a bank. One of the employees was crying. She was crying so hard that it was clear that someone may have died. I went to a Hallmark store nearby and got a card. I left a message wishing her well, and reminding her that people care. I went back to the bank, and requested the same teller I had previously. She was nervous that she had done something wrong. I stepped close and secretly gave her the card, then explained that I saw her coworker crying. I said, "Write something nice, sign it, pass it around." She understood instantly. I was late to work that because this was more important.

I met a girl who had lost a loved one to suicide. My brother was lost to suicide. I wrote her a poem explaining that she isn't alone. She didn't know how to comfort anyone else, the poem contained what I had learned about comforting people, and being comforted, after my brother died. The easiest way to be strong is to be strong for others. Once you start that, you will have untold strength from a source you didn't know existed.

Now, I'm just going to define myself by some less noble actions...

I had a flock of white racing pigeons. They return home when released. I ran a simple business. Give me $50, and pigeons will be released as part of your wedding ceremony.

I played a video game and found out how to work the market by reselling things. I began to sell for real money and paid for college. Later, I hosted a forum with advice and training about doing online sales. I wan invited to become a business partner with someone in China. I packed my life into a bag and left for China five years ago. We started a VC company together. Later, I was asked to join another company. I had an entry level position. My work improved their profit line by $250,000 per year.

I have hosted free house parties. This is a way for people to have fun, relax, and make friends. I have done this weekly for years. I am usually so busy taking care of people or answering simple questions like "why do you do this" that I have made very few friends from this. I still do it. I have spent thousands of dollars doing this, and I have given a good experience to over 1,000 people in total. I have invested in KTV equipment so people can sing and play their own music. (better than most house parties that only have beer and loud music.)

I have hosted free English corners so that Chinese people can learn English. I did this long before I wanted to be an English teacher. I have worked two jobs at once so that I can teach English on the weekends for a friend who needed a teacher who could be trusted to provide quality.

More about me...

I dated a girl for two years. I never held her hand or kissed her. She just needed a friend. I never pressured her for more. On her birthday, I bought her a ___read and find out______. When presenting the gift infront of an audience of friends, I announced that I got her a "BOOM BOX"... "But don't worry, it's an old one, and I got a good deal on it." She looked so embarrassed and mortified. Who gives a boom box as a gift, especially an old one? I then gave her the gift, which was small enough to fit in one hand. As she unwrapped it, she saw it was a wind-up music box that played the song "You've got a friend in me".

A flatmate who works at the same company got drunk. I stayed with her for over an hour until she was ready for a taxi. I bought a bowl in case the taxi made her puke. She followed me into my bedroom. I tucked her in. She followed me again. I tucked her in again, and stayed with her.

A girl that had a crush on me got drunk and wanted to have sex. She was on top of me and grinding. Everything inside of me said yes. I told her we would wait until she was sober to see if she felt the same way.  That's like saying yes later. She sobered up, felt embarrassed, and went home.

A girl I was dating and getting close to was going to have sex for the first time with me. Every man wants sex, most would say yes without ever questioning it. I knew that if I did this, she would become filled with emotions and would become very attached to me. I wasn't that attached to her, and I didn't want our relationship to be out of balance. In fact, I had been losing interest for the last few weeks. In the same way that a girl can be "not ready", I was not ready. If I was going to break up with her, I wasn't going to have sex first and then break her heart. I did what few other men would do. I told her and broke up with her, no sex. Who does that? Can you think of one man in your life who would have turned down sex because he cared about someone's feelings?

Still reading?

Things I enjoy
Sociology, psychology, philosophy, emergent technology, science fiction, nonfiction, music (any), entertainment (singing, acting, dancing, writing, stand-up performance, drama)

Things I don't enjoy

• When a person takes more than ten seconds to fully express a single thought that could (and should) be expressed in five of less. (When someone takes FOREVER to get to the point.)
• Lack of order, organization, logic, or efficiency.
• Improper formatting.
• People who fail to enjoy or understand art, or anything abstract.
• Forgetful people (especially if they refuse to write anything down)
• Repeating myself when forgetful people refuse to write anything down

Without going too much further, it's easy to see that I am kind of brainy. I'm not smart, I'm not knowledgeable, and not weird about it, just brainy. I.e. I like anything that relates to thinking. I like people who think and create.

Movies that girls can't shut up about

There's two movies that American girls can't shut up about, as two men they will forever (openly) fantasize about
'Dirty Dancing' (with Patrick Swayze) and Labyrinth (with the dude with the crazy hair).

That's what I told Hui. She'd never seen either of these, so tonight we started with Dirty Dancing.

Last week, we saw 'Citizen Kane' which had a 100% approval rating from 'Rotten Tomatoes' which aggregates movie reviews from the most widely known critics in the world. i.e. the likes of Siskel and Ebert. I refuse to say 'Siskel and Ropert', because... who the hell is Ropert? I grew up with Ebert, thank you very much. Well Citizen Kane had a 100% review rating, and the movie totally sucked balls. It represents what's wrong with artsy movies, as do directors like Stanley Kubrick. We recently saw this movie called, 'Sleeping Beauty', and it also sucked balls, and I was convinced I'd see 'Stanly Kubrick' in the credits, so I watched the credits and finally googled it. Don't watch either of these movies expecting that they'll get good later, they don't. 'Sleeping Beauty' had a 50% rating, when it should have been something TERRIBLE like a 10%.

From now on, I'm just going to watch movies according to what girls consider to be unforgettable and just can't shut up about.

So tomorrow, we're going to watch Labyrinth with David Bowie!

Feeling Lonely?

I have survived for up to a year at a time without feeling lonely. Then a moment comes where I'm in the same room with someone that has adorable behaviors and a shining personality...

It all comes at once, and I can suddenly feel that I've been lonely for a very long time.

One goes home in a classical style that matches movies. It's dark, cold, and raining. I want to forget that I'm lonley, but I can't. I also want to do something about it.... but...

Those amazing people aren't interested or were already taken, because they're amazing.
And then the whole game of meeting people with any intent at all, whether that intent be lust or true love... that's heavy and screws it up anyway, and I don't want to play that game.

Meeting people, impressing them, spending ridiculous amounts of time and money, or sending 1,000 emails in a single night because women on classifieds sites have a 1 to 1.5% response rate... It's all demeaning. I don't want to lower myself to crap like that. I'll stay single.

If I can keep myself busy, then in a few days I won't remember that I'm lonely, and maybe that crushing weight will disappear for another year at a time. In some ways, I don't like being around nice people. They remind me that I'm lonely, and that's kinda painful.