Oct 22 2009
How to ruin your life
The other day…
Dude: Is [so-and-so] busy?
Me: Naw, he isn’t busy.
Dude: Really?
Me: Naw, man. Do you want to know how to ruin your life?
Dude: How?
Me: You get a girlfriend, that’s how.
Dude: Haha.
Me: [So-and-so] just spends way too much time with his girlfriend.
Dude: Yeah, having a girlfriend is like taking a 40 unit class.
The day following the other day…I run into the dude and his girlfriend.
Dude: Hey, how’s it going?
Me: Hey…
Apparently he didn’t take my advice because it was already too late. Shakes head.
UPDATE: It has come to my attention that I need to clarify what I am saying.
Getting a girlfriend in itself will not ruin your life. However, chances are that getting a girlfriend will ruin your life. Why? People often get a girlfriend for the sake of having a girlfriend. That is, to many people a girlfriend is a “trading position” and not a “buy-and-hold.” To them, a girlfriend is like the latest hot stock. Like any hot stock, holding onto a girlfriend for too long will end in tears.
If you can find yourself a girlfriend that is a “buy-and-hold” and not a “trading position,” then I congratulate you. But for the rest of you, I say that you are ruining your life. On balance, people who chase hot stocks will lose money.
I fully intend to find a girlfriend that is a “buy-and-hold.”
To illustrate my point about about the “trading position,” here’s a conversation I overheard today:
Girl #1: [So-and-so] broke up with her boyfriend again.
Girl #2: What? Again? Another one? How long as it been? Just a few months?
Girl #1: Yeah.
Girl #2: What happened?
Girl #1: He’s at Harvard and it’s a long distance relationship. She doesn’t want long distance.
Girl #2: So is she looking for another boyfriend?
Girl #1: I guess so.
Stupid hot stock chasers.
Your should write a book. You could address all of life’s issues from the perspective of investing. You might even have enough material just focusing on relationships. You could call it, “The Investor’s Guide to Managing Relationships.” It’d be a best seller. By dealing with the two things people in general worry about the most — money and relationships — you kill two birds with one stone.