I don't know why, but for some reason I am a Mets fans (most of you are now thinking that this explains it all). The Mets are a perfect example of our current society and where our country in particular and the West in general are heading.
Apparantly the Mets, a professional baseball team in the biggest sports market in the world, managed to pretty much go bankrupt. They still are not admitting that they are bankrupt, since they are probably waiting for a bailout, or two.
This all started at the end of last year when the Wilpons wanted to see if anyone wanted to become a 25% owner with them, but not have any decision making control of the organization. After all the recent news that has come out they will be lucky if they can sell the Mets for the 800 million that Forbes says they are worth, considering the more than 400 million that the Times says the Mets are in debt.
The Wilpons somehow managed to HALOC the heck out of a professional sports team to a tune of more than a half billion dollar (pretty much like a large chunk of the population did with their houses). It is so bad that Citi (the one that needed tax dollars to not be closed down) now wants to take its name off the ballpark.
This has gone from ridiculous to preposterous, and I know that somehow the taxpayer will end up holding the bag in the end (remember that near 500 million dollars of tax-exempt and taxable bonds issued by the city's Industrial Development Agency were used and a few hundred million was additionally added by state and the city just to finish the stadium).
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Life in the City
I live in the metro New York City area and work in Manhattan, so this would mean I have a great source of women to choose from. That is what you would think, but like many in the City I feel like I am on an island surrounded by millions of other islands.
I mean, I am really the one to blame for that (my island feeling, not everyone else’s, that is Obama's fault...hey, everyone is blaming him for everything, I got to join in while I can). So I thought I would write down some of my attempts of getting off the island as part of the therapeutic purpose of this blog, or something like that.
Last week was pretty bad in terms of missed actually taking a step to get off. On Thursday, on my morning commute I was in an insanely packed 2 or 3 train, can't remember for sure right now, and this girl was leaning all over me. I mean there was no poll or railing she could grab easily, but there were like a pack of other people, but every time we stopped or started she was all over my shoulder and arm (I look good in a suit and tie, she probably couldn’t help it. What did I do about it? Nothing, that's what, not even any smart ass comment, which would have been what was needed.
I just froze up. I was going to be like, "You know what they say about grabbing on to other people?", or "A couple that leans on each other stays with each other?” However, I chickened out, probably for good reason, cause those lines suck, but that is what I need to do. I need to start getting over that fear of making a fool of myself or giving a damn what a bunch of strangers that I will never see again on the subway think about my corny attempt to talk to a cute girl.
Same thing happened in line for lunch a couple of times this week. I just pussied out from starting harmless conversations, just froze with anxiety. Surrounded by good looking girls and nothing to say. So if anyone has got any idea about how to get over this anxiety, be my guest.
I mean, I am really the one to blame for that (my island feeling, not everyone else’s, that is Obama's fault...hey, everyone is blaming him for everything, I got to join in while I can). So I thought I would write down some of my attempts of getting off the island as part of the therapeutic purpose of this blog, or something like that.
Last week was pretty bad in terms of missed actually taking a step to get off. On Thursday, on my morning commute I was in an insanely packed 2 or 3 train, can't remember for sure right now, and this girl was leaning all over me. I mean there was no poll or railing she could grab easily, but there were like a pack of other people, but every time we stopped or started she was all over my shoulder and arm (I look good in a suit and tie, she probably couldn’t help it. What did I do about it? Nothing, that's what, not even any smart ass comment, which would have been what was needed.
I just froze up. I was going to be like, "You know what they say about grabbing on to other people?", or "A couple that leans on each other stays with each other?” However, I chickened out, probably for good reason, cause those lines suck, but that is what I need to do. I need to start getting over that fear of making a fool of myself or giving a damn what a bunch of strangers that I will never see again on the subway think about my corny attempt to talk to a cute girl.
Same thing happened in line for lunch a couple of times this week. I just pussied out from starting harmless conversations, just froze with anxiety. Surrounded by good looking girls and nothing to say. So if anyone has got any idea about how to get over this anxiety, be my guest.
21st Century relations hit C-Span
For your viewing pleasure here is a clip of a guy trying to get back at his ex-girlfriend for cheating on him. Please remember that this is at a C-Span broadcast event about politics (First spotted by Roissy, and GameForOmegas):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BV_5m3nySo&feature=related
So what do we learn from this? Apparently, even the ultra intellectual get very bitter and resentful. Like Roissy said, this guy definitely is showing his hurt and his still apparent interest in a not so good looking lady. If I was in his spot I would probably do the same thing, which means my beta is showing, or more likely probably not said anything, but would have been steaming inside.
What he did was he chose a national cable channel to vent and that makes him look petty, which apparently is a big turnoff...who knew, I mean really? Seriously though, I just found it amusing and thought I'd share.
P.S. I will try to put up a post about my own failures and lack of triumphs from everyday life as soon as I am done posting this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BV_5m3nySo&feature=related
So what do we learn from this? Apparently, even the ultra intellectual get very bitter and resentful. Like Roissy said, this guy definitely is showing his hurt and his still apparent interest in a not so good looking lady. If I was in his spot I would probably do the same thing, which means my beta is showing, or more likely probably not said anything, but would have been steaming inside.
What he did was he chose a national cable channel to vent and that makes him look petty, which apparently is a big turnoff...who knew, I mean really? Seriously though, I just found it amusing and thought I'd share.
P.S. I will try to put up a post about my own failures and lack of triumphs from everyday life as soon as I am done posting this.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Sleep with one eye open
Think you are everything that a girl ever wanted in a long-term partner: caring, intelligent, thoughtful and hardworking; thought she loves you and loves spending time with you? Well that gets you jack and squat. Apparently being loved and everything she ever wanted is not enough to keep her interested or loyal. Here is a link to the Ask Amy article, where some girl asks a stupid question to which she gets an even worse answer:
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/104726584.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUHPYDiaK7DUiacyKUzyaP37D_MDua_eyD5PcOiUr
Here is Vox Day's commentary:
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2010/10/warning-hamster-at-work.html
Now go back to slaving away to try to impress that fantasy girl you think you will find.
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/104726584.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUHPYDiaK7DUiacyKUzyaP37D_MDua_eyD5PcOiUr
Here is Vox Day's commentary:
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2010/10/warning-hamster-at-work.html
Now go back to slaving away to try to impress that fantasy girl you think you will find.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
A Woman's Perspective
The below is a link to a great article from the Spearhead by one of their female readers.
http://www.the-spearhead.com/2010/10/10/the-modern-womans-self-deception/
She pretty much explains, from the female perspective, the issues that the nice guy (beta) has when trying to attract a woman he believes to be his equal.
Here is probably one of the best and most painful parts of her article:
Sometimes to believe something you actually need to hear it from the source. Regretfully, it is the loss of society’s mechanism to control these natural instincts in women and even in men (cheating) that has led to the good guys ending up on the losing end.
http://www.the-spearhead.com/2010/10/10/the-modern-womans-self-deception/
She pretty much explains, from the female perspective, the issues that the nice guy (beta) has when trying to attract a woman he believes to be his equal.
Here is probably one of the best and most painful parts of her article:
What we say we want means nothing; it’s what we do that counts. Women need to look at what (and who) they do in order to get a clear picture of what drives them, without rationalizing their “bad boy” complex. The ideal beta male most women describe as what they want is definitely practical, good for long term stability and so on, but they are in denial of their basic sexual natures if they claim to find that a major turn-on. For the good beta male, no doubt this can be very painful, probably more so than the tendency for men to have a wandering eye that can be painful to a decent woman, because it speaks to the core of who he is, not just his physical attractiveness.
Sometimes to believe something you actually need to hear it from the source. Regretfully, it is the loss of society’s mechanism to control these natural instincts in women and even in men (cheating) that has led to the good guys ending up on the losing end.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
The Great Fog
Wow, it has been a long time since my last rant. Let's see if we can change that around. I have re-read my previous post and have noticed how jumbled I am in my thoughts, but I don’t think that this will change in this post since I am just beginning my journey and am right now just caught up in a wilderness of mirrors and fog.
I mean after 25 years of listening to the same drivel about doing the right things to be happy and have a good life; I have come to learn that most of that has been bull. It is probably less than 25 years but it has taken me that long to just come to accept the truth that I deep down knew all along. I feel like a guy coming out of a decade’s long comma and seeing a world completely different from the one he knew. Let me tell you friends, this is a harsh and cold world, where the old truths no longer hold sway.
I've been pretty much kept busy reading Roissy, GameForOmegas, and VoxDay; regretfully that is some pretty depressing reading, especially for what would now be classified as a beta guy. I've wanted to say so much, but then the anger and frustration rise to such a high level that putting words together that don't end up long, confusing diatribes becomes pretty difficult.
It is reading these that I see why Nietzsche went crazy when he realized modern society killed G-d. However, instead of the long ago dead G-d it is women that have now been killed for me, or at least what I now realize was my romanticized fantasy of women. I used to be that beta that put women on a pedestal and thought that would let me get with the opposite sex, but now that I have seen the truth I am like a ship without a rudder. On the one hand I cannot go back, but I don't know how to go forward.
Hopefully, the last part will change with time, but I fear this is going to be a long and painful journey. Thus is life I guess.
I mean after 25 years of listening to the same drivel about doing the right things to be happy and have a good life; I have come to learn that most of that has been bull. It is probably less than 25 years but it has taken me that long to just come to accept the truth that I deep down knew all along. I feel like a guy coming out of a decade’s long comma and seeing a world completely different from the one he knew. Let me tell you friends, this is a harsh and cold world, where the old truths no longer hold sway.
I've been pretty much kept busy reading Roissy, GameForOmegas, and VoxDay; regretfully that is some pretty depressing reading, especially for what would now be classified as a beta guy. I've wanted to say so much, but then the anger and frustration rise to such a high level that putting words together that don't end up long, confusing diatribes becomes pretty difficult.
It is reading these that I see why Nietzsche went crazy when he realized modern society killed G-d. However, instead of the long ago dead G-d it is women that have now been killed for me, or at least what I now realize was my romanticized fantasy of women. I used to be that beta that put women on a pedestal and thought that would let me get with the opposite sex, but now that I have seen the truth I am like a ship without a rudder. On the one hand I cannot go back, but I don't know how to go forward.
Hopefully, the last part will change with time, but I fear this is going to be a long and painful journey. Thus is life I guess.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Mr. Nice Guy or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Being the Beta Guy
When I was in middle school and got into one of my usual school related trouble ( I don’t remember if I tried to cover up a bad grade and it backfired or I got one because I clearly did not study and it was found out, but I guess that is not the point), my parents, both of them mind you, told me, “you are a nice guy and everyone always says what a nice guy you are, but in life nice guys always finish last, and you cannot go through life just being a nice guy.” For a long time I could never understand what they meant by that. I thought I knew what they meant, but I just could not understand how parents could tell their son, their baby boy, that he should not be a nice guy. I mean, I know that they meant that I just cannot be a nice guy alone, but that in order to succeed in life I would also have to be smart, hard working, and skilled; though as I have grown up that particular piece of wisdom has never left that middle area of the mind and keeps popping up every once in a while.
The reason I bring this up is because as I have gotten older I have come to realize more and more how accurate and dead on my parents were. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has parents, knows parents, or have ever seen half decent parents in action. No matter how much you disagreed or disagree with them, in the end, or at least as you get older, you start to appreciate more and more just how right parents are about all those things you thought you knew better than them. The “nice guys finish last” is just one of those things that once again they were spot on about.
The problem with us nice guys is that we are really not that nice, and before people completely tune me out and disagree, just hear me out. Nice guys are not bad people, it is just the reason why we are so nice is not as completely altruistic as we would like to believe.
Most of us, and I can say us cause I am one of the guys, do it because we probably were not the biggest kids who could just physically impose our will on others and get what we wanted, nor the loudest or whiniest of the kids and complain or agitate our way to our goals, we were the ones that chose what at the time seemed like the path of least resistance to achieve our aim (that aim could be anything from getting attention to getting some reward). We learned from an early age that to avoid conflict (and most of us hate conflict), attain our targets praise and admiration, or just receive some approval all we had to be was nice and helpful and to put others needs ahead of our own. Now again, I am not saying that we don’t do nice things just because we want to help or be polite, it is just that the reason why we do it all the time is because we have conditioned ourselves to believe that this is how we can get what we want.
Have you ever walked along a street or subway and bumped into someone and then immediately said sorry as they snickered or looked like you just victimized them, but as soon as you with your head down were walking away thought to yourself, “why the hell did I just apologize when he/she were clearly in the wrong?” Well, that was being the nice guy to avoid conflict, and that is beta, my friends. Nothing wrong with it when you are a kid but a bigger and bigger problem as you get older.
The thing is that as you grow, life becomes more and more about respect and less and less about approval and likeability. This is especially evident in dealings with the opposite sex. No matter how many times women say that what they are looking for is a nice guy, what they really mean is that they want a guy who doesn’t give a damn and who cares about his needs before others, and then they want to try to turn him into a nice guy, but he will not let them because he is not a pushover and women will only love that more. To us nice guys that guy is known as the jerk and asshole.
That is where our problems begin because we hear that a girl wants the nice guy, but we see that she goes out with the jerk, and we get frustrated and angry. She says she wants a guy that listens, but the problem is that we hear what she says and not what she actually means. Of course like most problems in life there is also the other side, and on the other side the girl does not see the nice guy we are trying to project, all she sees is a guy who is a pushover and who if it came to conflict would put the needs of the challenger before his, and even more importantly her own. What she sees is a Beta male who thinks that what she is looking for is a nice guy, when in reality she is looking for an Alpha male (or for those of you not familiar with game theory the lead dog).
You might be asking yourself why am I even talking about this, you are more likely asking yourself why did I just read all that babble? Well that is where our journey begins. You, dear reader, are most likely in the same situation as I and have made the same observations, and are now asking yourself what is wrong with me and what am I to do? There is nothing wrong with you, it is just the society that we live in, but in order for us to survive and succeed we need to know more about our surrounding and more importantly more about ourselves, and only then can we go about trying to decide what to do. That is the hope, because I have no idea, hopefully one of you does and if not then with some luck maybe we will stumble on a clue or something, and soon.
The reason I bring this up is because as I have gotten older I have come to realize more and more how accurate and dead on my parents were. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has parents, knows parents, or have ever seen half decent parents in action. No matter how much you disagreed or disagree with them, in the end, or at least as you get older, you start to appreciate more and more just how right parents are about all those things you thought you knew better than them. The “nice guys finish last” is just one of those things that once again they were spot on about.
The problem with us nice guys is that we are really not that nice, and before people completely tune me out and disagree, just hear me out. Nice guys are not bad people, it is just the reason why we are so nice is not as completely altruistic as we would like to believe.
Most of us, and I can say us cause I am one of the guys, do it because we probably were not the biggest kids who could just physically impose our will on others and get what we wanted, nor the loudest or whiniest of the kids and complain or agitate our way to our goals, we were the ones that chose what at the time seemed like the path of least resistance to achieve our aim (that aim could be anything from getting attention to getting some reward). We learned from an early age that to avoid conflict (and most of us hate conflict), attain our targets praise and admiration, or just receive some approval all we had to be was nice and helpful and to put others needs ahead of our own. Now again, I am not saying that we don’t do nice things just because we want to help or be polite, it is just that the reason why we do it all the time is because we have conditioned ourselves to believe that this is how we can get what we want.
Have you ever walked along a street or subway and bumped into someone and then immediately said sorry as they snickered or looked like you just victimized them, but as soon as you with your head down were walking away thought to yourself, “why the hell did I just apologize when he/she were clearly in the wrong?” Well, that was being the nice guy to avoid conflict, and that is beta, my friends. Nothing wrong with it when you are a kid but a bigger and bigger problem as you get older.
The thing is that as you grow, life becomes more and more about respect and less and less about approval and likeability. This is especially evident in dealings with the opposite sex. No matter how many times women say that what they are looking for is a nice guy, what they really mean is that they want a guy who doesn’t give a damn and who cares about his needs before others, and then they want to try to turn him into a nice guy, but he will not let them because he is not a pushover and women will only love that more. To us nice guys that guy is known as the jerk and asshole.
That is where our problems begin because we hear that a girl wants the nice guy, but we see that she goes out with the jerk, and we get frustrated and angry. She says she wants a guy that listens, but the problem is that we hear what she says and not what she actually means. Of course like most problems in life there is also the other side, and on the other side the girl does not see the nice guy we are trying to project, all she sees is a guy who is a pushover and who if it came to conflict would put the needs of the challenger before his, and even more importantly her own. What she sees is a Beta male who thinks that what she is looking for is a nice guy, when in reality she is looking for an Alpha male (or for those of you not familiar with game theory the lead dog).
You might be asking yourself why am I even talking about this, you are more likely asking yourself why did I just read all that babble? Well that is where our journey begins. You, dear reader, are most likely in the same situation as I and have made the same observations, and are now asking yourself what is wrong with me and what am I to do? There is nothing wrong with you, it is just the society that we live in, but in order for us to survive and succeed we need to know more about our surrounding and more importantly more about ourselves, and only then can we go about trying to decide what to do. That is the hope, because I have no idea, hopefully one of you does and if not then with some luck maybe we will stumble on a clue or something, and soon.
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