My goals are money, power, and romance. Some good news on all three, finally!
Money. I’m bankrolling my buddy in a high stakes poker game. He’s highly skilled but rather risk-averse, so we negotiated the following deal: I provide his buy-ins, he gives me 40% of his winnings and keeps the rest. It’s been a great year so far, netting me about a year’s worth of living expenses for basically zero time investment. As an unexpected side effect, by talking over hands and general strategic concepts with him, I’ve absorbed some of his poker skills, which I’ve tested in a few high stakes games this year to good success. I have no desire to play professionally, though.
Power. I’ve decided to strike out on my own, career-wise. I’ve got a lot of ideas for software products that I’d like to take the time to develop more fully. My side business is two years old and has filled over 3,500 orders and could probably support me if I did it full-time. I have a lot of leverage at my current job so I talked to my boss about it. He offered me a raise which I turned down, then he said that he’d hire me as a founding CTO of his new business if I wanted the position; I said I’d think about it. They’re amenable to hiring me on a consulting basis: I think I can get hired back at around 4x my current salary for short-term engagements, which would a fantastic deal for me and a pretty good deal for them, too.
Romance. After another disastrous attempt to hit on girls last New Year’s Eve, I gave up pursuing women. The days were cold and dark and I couldn’t deal with the rejection, so in order to live with myself I made a resolution to stop trying. The effects on my mood were phenomenal, and by April I’d look in the mirror and actually like what I saw. Then a couple months ago I met a girl at a cookout, and I thought she was giving me the goo-goo eyes, so I took her aside and kissed her and she liked it and we’ve been dating since then, my first regular girlfriend and it’s awesome; I’m her first boyfriend too so we’re learning everything together.
My goals are money, power, and romance. Some good news on all three, finally!
Money. I’m bankrolling my buddy in a high stakes poker game. He’s highly skilled but rather risk-averse, so we negotiated the following deal: I provide his buy-ins, he gives me 40% of his winnings and keeps the rest. It’s been a great year so far, netting me about a year’s worth of living expenses for basically zero time investment. As an unexpected side effect, by talking over hands and general strategic concepts with him, I’ve absorbed some of his poker skills, which I’ve tested in a few high stakes games this year to good success. I have no desire to play professionally, though.
Power. I’ve decided to strike out on my own, career-wise. I’ve got a lot of ideas for software products that I’d like to take the time to develop more fully. My side business is two years old and has filled over 3,500 orders and could probably support me if I did it full-time. I have a lot of leverage at my current job so I talked to my boss about it. He offered me a raise which I turned down, then he said that he’d hire me as a founding CTO of his new business if I wanted the position; I said I’d think about it. They’re amenable to hiring me on a consulting basis: I think I can get hired back at around 4x my current salary for short-term engagements, which would a fantastic deal for me and a pretty good deal for them, too.
Romance. After another disastrous attempt to hit on girls last New Year’s Eve, I gave up pursuing women. The days were cold and dark and I couldn’t deal with the rejection, so in order to live with myself I made a resolution to stop trying. The effects on my mood were phenomenal, and by April I’d look in the mirror and actually like what I saw. Then a couple months ago I met a girl at a cookout, and I thought she was giving me the goo-goo eyes, so I took her aside and kissed her and she liked it and we’ve been dating since then, my first regular girlfriend and it’s awesome; I’m her first boyfriend too so we’re learning everything together.