The weekend in Bury St. Edmund was really great. It was relaxing. I was hanging out with an old friend in a quite town in England. Sometimes I think, "Tom, you are in a foreign country, see everything! Don't waste time!." But a part of me realized over time that when you are traveling for months on end, you want to stop feeling like a tourist and feel more at home sometimes. This weekend was great for that. I could have gone out and done more, visited more towns, etc, but instead Chris and I just hung out and it was great. We even joked about how it felt like old times....but we are in England.
During the day we walked around the city, Chris showing me the historical parts of the city. Mainly the ruins of an ancient church that you can walk around in. After that he needed to stop by his military base to pick a few things up. I joined him on his journey. It is about 30 minutes from where he lives. The base is shared between US Airforce and the Royal Airforce.
It was fun to go on base and see how things operated. We went to a local food joint and I got a real, American cheeseburger. Dang that sucker was good.
After that we went back to his place, hung out, had a few beers, dinner, etc. Then we decided to hit the pubs that night. We hopped from one to another enjoying some English beer along the way.
The highlight of the night was my social experiment involving women. So, I am not an unattractive guy, but I am pretty average. Height, looks, build etc. I am happy with it, but I am not the type of guy that girls see at a bar and think, "I want that guy to come hit on me." I am the type where you have a good conversation and two or three times of hanging out you see my attractiveness (or never want to see me again, goes either way).
I decided to try something different tonight in my approach. Chris and I meet a few English girls, all teachers near by, around our age. We are chatting, they are fairly disinterested, but enjoying the conversation. Problem was, more of them than of us (6-2 ratio). You may think that good, but it makes it harder to break them away.
Now when people ask me what I do I usually explain I left my job to back pack Europe. I worked in advertising and marketing for a software company before. This time around I phrased it differently. I said, "Oh I am just back packing around Europe for 3 months. Back home I had a software company that I helped turn profit and it was finally time to relax after too many 80 hour work weeks." From here the two girls I was talking to became extremely interested in everything I had to say. Why? Because they assumed I owned a company and was rich, which allowed me to travel.
The change in demeanor was incredible. They stopped talking to each other and only focused on me. I even tried to sabotage my self and it failed. I talked about "advantages of being a nerd," and they responded with, "Oh nerds are awesome, so cool!?" I said things like, "but software is really boring so.." and they would respond with, "No, I think it's all so interesting." It just blew my mind the completely different reaction it all had. I was both amused and saddened. Do I really need money to make people that much more interested in me?
After awhile a guy Chris and I were talking to came up and joined in. I used that as an excuse to talk to him and then Chris and I bailed on the group and went home.
I learned something that night. I need to get rich, fast! No, no, just kidding. I learned that if I am ever rich, when I meet girls (if still single) I am not going to tell them I am rich. I don't like how the attitude towards me changed. I knew that it was true, but had never personally experienced it my self before.
There is a famous saying on the Internet, almost the motto of the nerd.
"Disregard women, acquire currency." The first will always follow the second.
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