Three Types of People...

A week or two ago, I was sitting in my back yard when some visitors were over and I overheard a conversation they had where one guy was thanking another for an email sent some time back.

Apparently, the email discussed three types of people that you find yourself working with: those that truly support you and help both of you succeed, those that say they are against you from the very beginning, and those that swear up and down that they support you and always make sure to tell you such. You are supposed to keep two of them close and hold another away from you. Can you guess which one?

If you picked the one who says he is against you to hold at arm's length, you are wrong because at least you know where they stand. The correct answer is the person who always talks about having your back. In reality, they will be the first to betray you.

I spent the last 24 hours looking online for something written about this, so I could relay the exact wording, but I couldn't find anything. The closest I came was calling this third person a "flatterer" and said that the reason they will bring your downfall is because their flattering will give us a big ego. Regardless, we can call these brown-nosers dangerous because the end is always the same: devastation.

So, I'm in a situation right now where one of my former "supporters" has decided to wage war against me. He is taking events too personally and is actually plotting to overthrow me. The funny thing is that the people he thinks are his supporters are actually against him and he will fall on his face. He's not the first to try something like this and fail and, unfortunately, will likely not be the last. Satan likes to use situations like these to destroy our testimonies and our credibility and it is up to us to stand above reproach so those around us are unable to believe the accusations.

You know, for some reason, this reminds me of something that happened in an episode of Star Trek. (Right about now, your geek-dar is blaring loudly.) The great Klingon warrior, Kahless, told a story about a fierce storm that was coming. As the entire city closed their windows and doors to brace the winds and rain, a lone warrior stood outside, unmoved. Kahless went out and begged the warrior to come into safety, but he puffed out his chest and proclaimed that he was a great warrior and not afraid of the wind. And so, the next morning, after the storm had passed, the city began looking for the warrior, but there was no trace of him.

The moral of the story: do not fight the wind. I am the wind and I am not a pushover, as many have mistaken me for. Fight me... fight me and you will perish.


Blogged from my iPhone 3G.

Sometimes They Write Back...

I love Facebook. I think we all love Facebook. Let's forget the fact that I'm really a social networking whore and focus on the matter at hand here.

Today, I'm on Facebook on my laptop for the first time in nearly a week. Yes, I can get on via the iPhone app (and readily do so), but there are obvious features you can only get in the full browser. Most notably is the "People You May Know" tool, that shows you friends of friends (usually only if you have more than one mutual friend in common).

I'm going through the list, hitting the little "X" boxes to close names I don't remember and I come across a picture that I couldn't pass up. It was a beautiful, blond, Australian model and actress. I was enchanted.

So, I shoot off a text message to Devon, who is listed as a mutual friend.

"Hey, who is this Tania girl on your Facebook? She's hot."

"I don't know her," she said. "She must have added me because I'm a casting director. You should email her."

Now, I've tried cold-contacting girls in the past and it usually doesn't go over to well, but I decided to try it here. Besides, what's the worst that can happen?

"Hello there," I began. "We have some mutual friends in common and I ran across your profile and just wanted to let you know that I think you are very beautiful and probably just as talented an actress."

It was short. It was simple. It was non-threatening (for both of us). And it was gutsy.

And what do you know? She wrote me back. We had a pleasant conversation via email and, with any luck, she will be back in Los Angeles (from Perth, Australia) sometime soon and I will get to meet her in person. God, I love being impulsive.


Blogged from my iPhone 3G.

Hero Of The Day vs. Not My Day...

Sunday was a day for heroics. First, one of my roommates needed a ride to the mall to buy some black cross-trainers. I had decided to sleep in, so I had some time to kill before Media Fellowship, with my only necessity being laundry. Immediately after getting back from that trip, another roommate called me and needed me to save her as she was out of gas just a few blocks down the road. I just smiled and thought that I should show up in a cape, but I doubt she would understand. I ended the day with lunch and flirting with a pretty girl I met at the laundromat (alas, she had a boyfriend) before going to MFI and getting to emcee the first portion of introductions and prayer requests.

Today, a Tuesday, was something less of heroics and just simply not my day. During lunch, I was leaning back and reading a message on my iPhone when my napkin blew all the way across the patio! I guess I didn't need a napkin. I begin eating my Caesar salad and one of the prongs on my fork broke off! Now, this wasn't a flimsy plastic fork, but a heavy-duty variety and I haven't had problems with it at this place before. A few more bites later and not only does another prong break off in my mouth, but I bite that prong in half and spend the next twenty seconds digging the plastic out without being disgusting with my food. To make matters worse, both prongs were the middle prongs on the fork! Luckily, I was still able to eat my lunch (carefully) without too much of a problem.

Too Tired to Blog...

Okay, so I've been a bad blogger. I don't mean to be, really. It's just that... I'm not attracted to you the way I used to be. I used to love all of the little things about you, but now it's all of those little things that annoy me.

Heh heh heh... sorry about that. I'm not really disillusioned with blogging, I've just been extremely busy and tired. The last couple of weeks, I've been working on-site for a major ad agency, building out XML files for a client's product website. All of my other clients have gotten the push back as well, not to mention my own projects. What kind of freelancer would I be if I blogged instead of coding? Probably a more sane one, but that is beside the point.

It's not like nothing has been happening in my life, either. I've had lots of things that I've wanted to blog about. From the miserable MTV VMA party that I went to a couple of weeks ago, to a rebuttal towards comments made in a previous blog. I promise that I'll get to that last one, but in the meantime, here are a couple of short blogs that should whet your appetite and make up for lost time.

It's A Small World...

Nine days. In a period of just nine days, I have had two "this never happens in real life" events happen to me. What the frak is up with that?!?

The first event was the night of my ten-year high school reunion. After the official festivities had ended, several of us walked down to another hotel, The W, to their club on the second-level with white sand everywhere called Beach. At one point in the evening, I needed some water to help a friend who had fallen on the stairs, so I walked up to the bar and submitted my request.

In order to get the full grasp of the situation that I'm about to tell you, I must explain how I was dressed. It was my standard "red carpet" attire: pinstripe suit, black shirt, tie, fedora (the $140 leather Stetson, not the worn-in rabbit fur fedora that I staple with my daily wear), and tan trenchcoat that used to belong to my grandfather. As Thierrion says, I "am the man" in this suit. Hehe.

Okay, back on track: As I am waiting for my water, I feel the sensation of a woman grind-dancing against my back. I try to look behind me and see which of my alumni had a little too much to drink. When she finally stepped to the side, I got a quizzical look on my face.

"I don't know you, do I?" I asked.

"Hi," she responded with a smile and an accent. I could tell that she had been drinking a bit and she looked like she had gotten a lot of sun earlier in the day. "I'm Kim. I'm from Sweden and I go to SDSU. I really like your trenchcoat and hat."

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Kim." I said, trying to get myself out of this potentially dangerous situation for someone who is saving himself for someone amazing. "I have to go play the hero and use this water to clean up a friend's wound. I'll see you around."

It wasn't until later that I stopped to think just how surreal that was. It never happens in real life! At least it's not supposed to. Especially not to me.

Fast forward to today. Insert swooshy flashback visual to bring us back to the present (a la Wayne's World).

For the past couple of weeks, James and I had planned to spend Labor Day at Disneyland. Since it was just the two of us and we have season passports, we were able to approach the day with leisure and calmness. We started at noon and didn't rush ourselves at any part of the day.

As we were finishing at Disney's California Adventure and the park prepared to close, James remembered that I had never eaten a funnel cake and made it his mission to procure one for me. We began searching. He looked high and I looked low, but we couldn't find anything in that park.

"I bet that we can find one in the boxcar dessert place," I told him.

"You think so, huh?" James responded. "Well, customer service is right here, so I am going to ask them."

"Okay. You ask them and I'm going to go check out --" I stopped speaking as soon as I saw the person behind the counter of the information booth. "Nevermind, I'm going to go with you to the customer service counter to hear what they say."

James couldn't help himself as he chuckled at my reaction before turning his attention to the attractive, young woman behind the counter. One of the first things I noticed was her name. It was very unique and beautiful. Let's just call her "Autumn-Daisy" as I'm not comfortable putting her real name here (but she will know it is her if she reads this).

"This young man has never had funnel cake and we are on a mission to find some," he explained.

"You really like funnel cake?" Autumn-Daisy asked as she began a dialogue with us. "I never cared for it myself."

"Well, we figure that he should eat 'deep-fried dough, sprinkled with powdered sugar' at least once in his life." James responded, again with a chuckle.

A little bit of additional banter with Autumn-Daisy and we were on our way back to Disneyland with my sweet treasure within our grasp. Sure enough, the funnel cake was soon mine and we sat as I consumed.

"She was right," I blurted out between bites. "I don't care much for this. I'm glad I have had it once, but I'm not sure that I'll ever order a funnel cake again."

And then an odd thought entered my head: I should write a "thank you" note on the back of my business card and see if they will give it to Autumn-Daisy.

I borrowed a pen from James and quickly scribbled the following:

"Autumn-Daisy,

You were right. I didn't like the funnel cake, either. I'm glad that I at least tried it once.

Thank you, -Aaron"

We approached the Disneyland Town Hall, where I stood in line for about ten minutes and pondered ways I could over-complicate the letter. In the end, I kept the short and simple message intact (thanks to James, who wouldn't even let me re-write the note because my "Y" didn't look like the way I normally write it).

Mind you, I have no expectation of hearing from Autumn-Daisy. Yeah, the note is a form of flirting, but I was doing this more to put a smile on her face. Granted that I would never see said smile, but that was my intention. What happened next, however, would blow my mind and might tip the odds of a phone call in my favor.

I approach the blonde behind the counter and begin, "we met an extremely helpful person over at Disney's California Adventure and I was hoping that I could leave a thank you note for them."

She began to explain that they wouldn't give her my note, but that I could tell her what happened verbally and she would write it down and her supervisor would share it with her.

I was uncharacteristically at a loss for words. I hadn't predicted this snafu and I suddenly could get little more out than "she was... quite helpful... and... helpful... with... pleasant conversation..."

"Go ahead and show her the card and the note that you wrote," James interjected. I complied. Immediately, her eyes were drawn to the name across the top.

"Oh, my God!" she exclaimed. "Autumn-Daisy is my roommate!"

"Are you serious?" I asked. "Theoretically, you could just give this note to her when you see her tonight."

Her eyes lit up. "I could," she said as she slipped the card into her blouse and continued to fill out the commendation form.

With our mission accomplished, James and I walked out the door and simply looked at each other once we were out of sight. And then we began to laugh. Situations like these may be the stuff of movies, but to have two events happen within two weeks time frame... How insane is that?


Blogged from my iPhone 3G.