12/27/10Filed under: Pickup

What a year. One word: wow.

2010 started in Melbourne, Australia. 10 countries, 25+ cities, and many new friends later, it is soon coming to a close.

I remember back in June I was already toying with the idea of writing an end of the year reflective post – it had already been that good of a year. Since then, things have only gotten better, and I have never been more excited at the prospect of what the future holds. Here’s how 2010 played out:

Act 1: Globetrotting

2010 kicked off with a backpacking trip around the world. After handing in my last university final in December 2009, I embarked on a 2-month tour around the world with a close friend, “M”. Looking back, I realize traveling grows and expands you as a person in ways few other things really can.

A few months before my trip, I had made the decision to dive deeply into “game.” My trip would start in Hong Kong, swing through Southeast Asia and Australia, and then rope around to the UK and Norway for a bootcamp with Mr. M. I was definitely curious to see what a guy with an eerily similar background to myself had to offer.

In a nutshell, December and January consisted of: surfing in Bali, scuba diving in Gilli, playing with tigers and riding elephants in Chang Mai, a “ping pong” show in Bangkok, breaking into an abandoned house in Sydney, partying on the MeKong, 25+ hour bus rides, Sensation White in Melbourne, Tubing in Vang Vieng, and a wedding in Malaysia, to name a few.

In Norway, the bootcamp rocked my world. Paradigms were shifted, limiting beliefs were worked against, but more importantly, I felt as though I had reached in and utilized my masculine core for the first time. It was liberating… and addicting. I was definitively shown the light: that a guy like me could have the exact girls I wanted, with no compromise. Thanks, Mr. M – I will be forever grateful for that weekend.

I must have done something right, for Mr. M put in a rec to Savoy for me, and when I returned to LA, I interviewed and accepted a full-time internship with Love Systems, which would carry me into June. This is when things got interesting.

Act 2: Webspinning

From February to June, I spent my days working in the LS office, my nights out in Hollywood, and weekends out on bootcamp. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. As the weeks came and went, I came to know and befriend most of the instructors in the company. Once the knowledge began to sink deeply, I took any and all opportunities to add value, which started out as quick feedback during debrief, and quickly evolved into teaching entire fundamental portions of seminar.

Flying to a different city each weekend was great. The experience of meeting so many interesting people, instructors and students alike was amazing. To this day, I stand by the statement that the most successful people I have ever met are comprised of former Love Systems students. And that’s saying a lot.

Come June, through sheer exposure (and hundreds of hours in-field), it became clear to me that I would get very good with this. Moreover, through being around so many of the various different perspectives, I had developed a truly consolidated understanding of Love Systems and its many teachings.

And such marked the end of my time in Los Angeles, and in California for that matter. Next up: New York City.

Act 3: The hard yards

NYC marked the final segment of my year, and spanned from July to present. Moving to a new city – Manhattan of all places – settling into a new job, and forging a new circle of friends = exciting times.

In the months to come, NYC proved to be an amazing way to close out the second half of an already epic year. I became close friends with my house mate and partner in crime “Trigger,” talked to a legion of girls, and broke through what can kindly be described as the “frustratingly frustrating” portions of game. As summer progressed into fall, together with Trigger, through many hours of back-and-forth discussion, and 30+ consecutive weekends out, our collective understanding of advanced game theory reached an all-time high.

And then we hit consistency. It had reached a point where given an environment with a decent amount of girls, it was almost certain that we could get at least one, if not more, cute girls to “like” us on any given night. Bad nights became more a function of logistics and poor venues than it was an issue with our game. As I’ve stated in previous posts, game took a turn, and for lack of a better word, became more “natural.”

But while game has played a disproportionately big part of my time in NYC so far, really, it is so many others things which have made my time here so much fun: tearing into 9000+ calories of kimchi jaeyook cheese ddaebokki with Future, Trigger and co. after countless nights of reigning hell on clownettes, laying down the Brooklyn Bridge with Bullet, dying laughing watching Big Business perform stand-up, various bootcamp weekends, a week long Halloween shitshow with Mr. M and Soul visiting, Super Fancy Dinner Club meetings on the reg, SantaCon!!!, sneaking away to Super Conference, etc… etc… etc…

Speaking of Super Conference. That was the shit! There was nothing like seeing all the people I had come to know so well all in one place… then tearing it up at TAO, Pure and Surrender. Company provided bottle service helps . Looking forward to SC 2011 for sure.

The Aftermath

With only a few days left on the calendar, 2010 is coming to a close. I am almost convinced that there will be no other year which will be as monumental in defining the person I ultimately become as much as this one. Words can’t even begin to describe the ways in which I’ve grown, in terms of game, and every other facet.

The series of events and conditions leading up to the outcome of this year could not have been planned for, had I even tried. Yet, having a positive attitude, a hunger to “get better,” and endless tenacity to do whatever it takes, in combination with being in the right places at the right times made it all possible.

And in consistent measure with finishing strong, getting certified as an official instructor has been the cherry on top of a mountain of monumental experiences. Game is no longer a tool I use to think about women. Instead, it is effectively the only way I am able to comprehend any male/female interaction. And for this, I am thankful.

There’s not much left to do this year other than enjoy the holidays, spend time with family, hang out with old and new friends, torment some clownettes, and to gear up for what will inevitably be a challenging, though exciting, 2011.

Happy Holidays,
Sterling

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