Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Interesting reward for dating advice

Let it be known that in my nicer (and younger) years, I used to be a dating coach. Between the creepy and often psychologically damaged clients, and the over saturated market in the late 2000's, it wasn't something I decided to stick with. Needless to say, I still find myself in the position of giving both men and women dating advice ("Dating advice" essentially translating to "information to expedite the process of getting the opposite sex into bed").

The thing was, even when the pay was good (and the clients not  irreparably damaged) there were no fringe benefits to being a pickup instructor. In fact, it was all fringe DISADVANTAGES - guys creeping out the girls you are talking to, girls boyfriends trying to punch them out, taking up time you could be spending with friends/girlfriend working, waking up at 2 pm every day from being out all night. The only positive was the ego gratification of helping people, which was often was not possible. Sounds fun, doesn't it?

So yesterday I find myself in a car with an older (Mid 40's) female friend of my families. We're talking about her kids (both roughly around my age), and the discussion turns to me and my lifestyle. So I proceed to tell her a bit about my multiple relationships, never getting married, and imminent vasectomy. She tells me how girls these days are crazy, and not fit for relationships, and agreeing that my lifestyle is currently the best option (her son is doing something similar). While I was smirking to myself about yet another female admitting females are predominantly mentally unstable and moral invalids, she drops the "What do you think I should do to find a man?" question.


What do I tell her? 40's dating is WAY beyond my scope  of experience. Should I unload feel goo platitudes, or crush her under the weight of rational hopelessness?

Doing a quick assessment of my options, words begin to flow out of my mouth uninvited - "What I look for in a woman of any age, is someone who is going to make our time together easy for me. No guy wants to be around a girl who gives him constant shit, and dumps her issues on him.When a woman is pleasant to be around, it becomes an easy transition adding her into his life - the easiest way for him to say yes is not give him any reasons to say no."

I think we were both pretty surprised by that. Certainly, she appeared to be thinking it over and came to some sort of internal agreement, thanking me. She dropped me off at the mechanics, and gave me the keys to her car. $500 for a 2000 Volvo S70 with 144,00 km. $600 for the safety. My ticket to getting the hell out of this redneck hole!

Note to self - be nice to women over 30. They have good jobs and are happy to reward the  kindness of younger men!

Friday, February 17, 2012

The needle and the damage done

There's a stigma to injection-users that just isn't there for the rest of us: the "junkie" is seen as the lowest of the recreational substance users. For the average person "hey, want to shoot this coke?" doesn't have quite the same ring as "hey, want to split a line?".  It's a shame, really, because injection (especially with proscription medication) is often the safest, most reliable and most efficient way to ingest a substance.

What gives?

Well, for one, injecting is much more complex - there is sterile procedure to follow. It is VERY  difficult in some states to acquire syringes without a proscription, let alone sterile water packets and filters. Many people are afraid of needles, or simply unaware of proper injection methods. The quality of the substances can cause major issues - tar Heroin is VERY bad for your veins, and who knows what it has been cut with or how many dirty hands touched it on it's way to you?

Lastly, the effects of injection (whether I.V or inter-muscular) are MUCH more intense, and often shorter and faster acting. It's  similar to snorting coke vs smoking crack, the risk of addiction or health complications rises the more of a substance goes into you, in a short amount of time. This leads people who are more susceptible to addiction on a slippy slope down if they choose this as an ingestion route. For some, cost is a factor - the bio availability of most opiates taken inter nasally is quite low. By choosing  I.V they can get the same effect with significantly less product. When you're a poor addict on the street, a $10 hit means a lot more in a needle than up your nose. Because of the desperation factor, junkies get much more public exposure than casual users and skew public perception.

For me, injection was one of my final frontiers - after doing most of what's commonly available, I started trying different routes of administration. Needless to say, regardless of the substance OR the method I choose to ingest it, I have NEVER been addicted. Opiates, stimulants, dissociatives, hallucinogens, whatever.

Some of my friends have been concerned, others curious. So far, I have yet for anyone to disown me or question my character - everyone knows I'm a stand up guy when it comes to money and safety. Some tell me to use the washroom, others want to watch or try. Most who have tried injecting have only done it the once and that was enough to know they didn't like it. A couple went on to use sporadically for a couple weeks or months, then decide it wasn't a good idea.

I am not an addict. No one I have come into contact with has become an addict. As with anything else - be safe, have fun, know your limits, and NEVER be afraid to ask for advice or help. Ignorance kills!