The Adventures of Christopher Columbus

[ChristopherColumbus]

Deus Magnificat

The river’s running low today,
A trickle here and there.
The ducks are beached upon the banks,
And doze without a care,
And dream of deep-flowing dappled ponds,
Which echo what lies near.

A feral cat now stretches flat,
And lays its belly bare,
Catching the late afternoon rays,
While at the poultry stares…
Day dreams no doubt of evening meals
Of duck and pickled pear.

And there a gent surveys the scene,
With walking stick and hat,
Musing in meditative mood
On marbled rock where sat,
As if the Stoic responding
'Deus Magnificat!'

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

Taking a more laid-back lazy man approach these days, which seems to be paying some dividends. I got a booty call at 2am in the morning. Shame I was sick in bed with a bad flu.

Met a Chinese lady.. didn't rush to get her number. Bumped into her again, and she made sure to get my number, organize a coffee... and then we had lunch. Afterwards we visited each-other's apartments as she is thinking of moving. Some flirting, but nothing happened. There was a wooden cross on her wall, and she told me she was a Christian. That's OK as long as she is not a prude. I may give it a few days then ask her out.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

The Poetry of Flowers

The field flaunts its second flush of flowers,
Defying arrival of wintery night,
As if armed with inordinate powers
Arresting and charming a summer in flight.

And I think of the gay Romantics of old
Themselves resplendent in dazzling color,
With their embattled tales of enchantment told
[Also rear-guard as the world grew duller],

Who had heart-felt treasures to bequeath,
But not the armor to rescue amor,
Which retreated before the lust that seethed
With certainty in universal law.

From poetry, in a desperate hour,
The bards of beauty built their barricades
With what’s as fragile as autumn flowers.
The tale of what happens when dogmas fade.

Just so, these bold flowers won’t last long,
Yet wherein beauty's signature is writ;
An assurance that each summer throng
With flowers… that poetry do its bit.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

Well, I can't get these girls out for a civil drink, but I get texts at 2am and 3am in the morning. Too bad a was at home nursing a cold. Still, I can't really be bothered with that. What is wrong with these woman! Back to poetry... ha ha.

To Step into a Cafe

To step into a café escaping
An afternoon which to winter wanes,
And to look out on conspicuous trees,
Thread-bare but for a few straggling leaves,
And at the mercy of the next wind that blows.
Huddled for warmth, the conversation flows
On news of the day, and whatever may please,
In small-tabled groups away from the pane.
The din within crowds out the dismal day.

Transfixed are some with a ritual read,
And take their coffee as sacrament.
Me, I give my ‘Amis on Larkin’ a rest,
And while my mind is of bookish bent,
In a windowed seat, I chance a few lines.
The moment has presented some rhymes,
And since these also are transient as leaves,
Where from fickle memory they're bound to fly,
To paper they go like the leaves I once pressed.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

All in a Day's Work

On a clear, calm, crisp day
Dried leaves are raked and piled head-high
In ceremonious mounds.
No sooner has the work been plied
Than comes the playful sound
Of children in their guileless, carefree way.

Like lambs in spring they run and leap
Upon the crispy, airy, springy heaps
Demolishing the morning’s work,
Reduced now to the height of their knees,
To the chagrin - then grin and mirth,
The sight so pleased how could it irk -
Of the men who’d earned their cup of tea.

They leave it ‘til late afternoon
To strike the match, and start the burn,
And watch the scented smoke ascend,
Gently at first, and then in crackling billows
As from the raging flames it churned,
Where children are warned to stand afar,
Though soon the inferno reduces to char.
And to the ashes now rakes quietly attend,
And marsh-mellows are stuck on stick ends.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

Another exercise in sublimation.

Cymbals to my Ears

1984 it was,
When I first entered employment.
I sat transacting Numbers all day,
Not much in the way of enjoyment.

So off I went to university,
Where soon introduced to Ideas,
And studied there with the maddest men,
Who on a puny world glared.

Then back I went to a Brave New World,
In which one sunk, or learned to swim.
I clambered ‘board what drifted near,
Which comes to life lived on whims.

And so with the rest, I became useful
During the working hours of the week,
Though in my leisured quiet time,
Heard whispered that which speaks.

So I turned last to notice Words
Like cymbals to my ears,
Like emissaries from other shores,
Which spoke to all my cares.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

The Requirements of Desire

Loitering next to sweet-flowing streams,
There glitters and flashes,
Like glimpses of waking dreams,
What straight-away dashes.

With all my faculties now seized,
And thwarting desire
For open, placid, languid seas,
A passion has been fired.

The imagination races,
Nor is dull reason slow,
Bold scenarios it traces
Mellifluously so,

Gone is my equanimity,
My peace and fortitude.
Promising in proximity
Lies something else to sue.

Like a bear that muddies water,
I plunge this way and that,
And soon retreat in slow saunter…
Perhaps best be a cat.

Then there came another angle,
To keep me high and dry.
I’ll construct a line to dangle,
And lure with a fly!

And then let nature do the work,
Though mixed with subtle art,
With clumsy action gladly shirked,
Whilst I do my part.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

Untitled

'Oh Great Star to brave a winter sky,
Although your job is largely done
Mid a cold dreary day, you still try
To cheer us on your sinking run!'

Such I imagine Zarathustra to say
In slightly less egotistical mood
Should, that is, he emerge from his cave
To let Nature on his thought intrude.

The park lies empty at the end of the week
Having slid to shabby winter from autumn.
And though the leaves lie scattered on the ground,
They still manage to relieve boredom.

A flagging remnant still flies in the trees
Offering up a stubborn resistance,
In the breeze murmuring for all their worth
Of something far off in the distance.

Strange that it should sound like the surf of seas…
This affinity with infinity,
The sounds which so unconsciously please,
To sweeten the blandest routine.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

So haven't posted here on my 'gaming' adventures for a few months, and I found I was starting to just post poetry anyway... ha ha. I guess that reflects my own personal position where I see women not as a central concern but a peripheral one. But then I also think this ought to be the right approach to woman.

Previously, I ignored women, so for me looking at 'game' was a way of coming out of 'monk-mode'. Of course, I think the equal and opposite error of ignoring women is thinking about/ chasing them 24/7... making them the central concern. My reasons for reading and posting here is to find a healthy and moderate approach. As I posted on another thread:

Personally, what I am interested in is how to integrate my relations with women into my wider life. I am not interested in either ignoring them, or pedestalling them, i.e. making them my central concern. It is a matter of having perspective and a sense of proportion.

I guess a will post here from time to time. But I'm actually more interesting in the wider discussions we have around women, and the way in which we do, or should, relate to them than the tedious accounts we might want to give of particular dates.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

My time here, and studying game, has dissolved all anxiety I had toward approaching.

This is the positive aspect of game that some men may need to learn for one reason or another.

It was through the practice of cold approaching that I lost the anxiety. It was like a discipline of sorts, or a method, by which I could achieve a goal. The goal was achieved. And so I no longer needed the practice of cold approach.

I now take a much more normal and natural approach. I think in game vernacular it's called 'warm approach'; you are just going about the normal course of your day, you might happen to notice a woman, who you also notice has made herself noticeable to you. If you find her attractive enough, you might decide to respond. Organize a date. Simples.

 

[Roober]

My time here, and studying game, has dissolved all anxiety I had toward approaching.

This is the positive aspect of game that some men may need to learn for one reason or another.

It was through the practice of cold approaching that I lost the anxiety. It was like a discipline of sorts, or a method, by which I could achieve a goal. The goal was achieved. And so I no longer needed the practice of cold approach.

I now take a much more normal and natural approach. I think in game vernacular it's called 'warm approach'; you are just going about the normal course of your day, you might happen to notice a woman, who you also notice has made herself noticeable to you. If you find her attractive enough, you might decide to respond. Organize a date. Simples.

Great to hear! I am still working on it myself. got two last week with 1 number. Trying to go for at least 10 this week...

I believe warm approach is an employee somewhere, meaning they have to talk to/be nice to you

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

On the horizon low
A sun soft-burning glows
On twigs and branches full
Of intoxicated birds
As numerous as
The leaves once were

In a delirium
They give their requiem
Of rambunctious noise
On their fallen world
A protest of sorts
That yet retains a poise

And on the side-line stream
With thin slivered ice
Glistens the silvered sun
Telling of a dream
And thoughts that will entice
Which of the world outruns

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

The coffee shop, the bus-stop, and the bookshop women.

Met the first in Starbucks. Noticed her noticing me. On the way out, asked if she knew where a good bookshop was. She was eager to respond, we chatted, got her number. Had a coffee a week later, and fizzled from there.

At the bookshop, was genuinely looking for drawing pencils, when once again noticed the woman helping me standing a little close. Started chatted, and asked for the number. Texted back and forth a bit. Organized dinner, then re-organized to the following week. Still a work in progress.

The bus-stop. Cut woman engrossed on her phone. Asked her about which bus went where.. or something like that. We chatted, got on the same bus, sat next to her, we continuing chatting. Got the number. She responded, but wanted me to meet her with her friend. I said sure, and told her to let me know when. Haven't heard back, so assuming it's fizzled.

The fizzles I'll send one last text in a week or so, just when they suspect I have forgotten about them.

I am only going to the bars once a month or so now, so have joined up on-line [Badoo] just as another alternative. Getting the odd response, but am playing it pretty chilled as looking for someone I'm genuinely interested in.

 

[Roober]

The coffee shop, the bus-stop, and the bookshop women.

Met the first in Starbucks. Noticed her noticing me. On the way out, asked if she knew where a good bookshop was. She was eager to respond, we chatted, got her number. Had a coffee a week later, and fizzled from there.

At the bookshop, was genuinely looking for drawing pencils, when once again noticed the woman helping me standing a little close. Started chatted, and asked for the number. Texted back and forth a bit. Organized dinner, then re-organized to the following week. Still a work in progress.

The bus-stop. Cut woman engrossed on her phone. Asked her about which bus went where.. or something like that. We chatted, got on the same bus, sat next to her, we continuing chatting. Got the number. She responded, but wanted me to meet her with her friend. I said sure, and told her to let me know when. Haven't heard back, so assuming it's fizzled.

The fizzles I'll send one last text in a week or so, just when they suspect I have forgotten about them.

I am only going to the bars once a month or so now, so have joined up on-line [Badoo] just as another alternative. Getting the odd response, but am playing it pretty chilled as looking for someone I'm genuinely interested in.

Sounds great! Don't really go out of your way to game is a great way to start! Just make it part of your everyday routine if you see a cute girl at the grocery store, bus stop, etc.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

One stray Carthaginian ship less,
And the world would be anyone’s guess.
Yet how could we be other than we are,
Our destiny seems written in the stars.

In a past unfathomable once lurked fate,
That poured contempt on our loves and hates,
That made of romance the jest of a fool,
Where all would bow and follow the rule.

Not so for us thanks to love’s ardent quest,
Which strove after that which lay in our breast,
And sought a freedom to rival the gods,
Our heart was struck like the lightning rod.

And so we feel those courtly days of old
Course through our blood to never go cold,
And see in our love’s passion ever since
The push and pull of sweet Providence.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

Well, that was interesting. Just got back from a coffee date with a woman I met in the local bookshop. She was working there, and helped me with finding some drawing pencils. We got talking, and I soon got her number.

I feel I have now, after experimenting with game for a year or so, transitioned into a post-game mode of interaction. The date was very relaxed. I was not trying to do anything, but was just my normal self. I felt it was the best date I've been on for a while. When leaving I felt she definitely wanted to see me again, and we loosely arranged to meet the following weekend.

I had to speak in Korean most of the time as her English was very bad. There was an awkward moment when I told her I was off to watch a movie at home, and she was wondering whether I was inviting her back. I quickly clarified what I meant, but it was interesting the way she interpreted it. In my mind, there is no point in chancing it with the odds of blowing it. Best to continue to build up a connection between themselves, and let it run a more natural course. Go with the flow.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

Wander into the local Starbucks the other day. Set up my laptop at a communal bench near where customers wait for their coffee. Struck up conversation with two woman who loitered nearby, and got two numbers.

Chain of Desire

Nature too advertises some days,
To turn, and flirt and flaunt like poetry,
As if sounding a promissory note.
It too casts a sudden spell on our longings
In the demure and subtle glimpses
To some unknowable attraction,
To put our passions in perspective
As if there stretched a great chain of desire
Earthward from the heavens.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

What a waste of time OLD is when you can walk into a book-store coffee shop and strike up a conversation with an intelligent and sexy bookworm.

Tonight I've organized a boy's night out. I thought I'd kill some time in the afternoon doing a little 'daygame'. Not much was happening in the local Starbucks, so decided to check out the bookstore. Wandered around, nothing was happening [I do not go out of my way to make something happen, i.e. pester girls]. So check out the coffee shop there and noticed a lovely lady reading by herself. Ordered my coffee, sat near her, and straight away started conversation when she looked up and made eye contact... something like 'You look busy...'

Had a very nice conversation for around 30 minutes, she gave me the puppy dog eyes, lovely smiles, and was even laughing, all good signs. She wrote her number on a small postcard she selected from a tin of them, which she seemed to have for this very purpose. Lives alone, likes the same hobbies, wants me to call her soon.

So why bother with OLD?

Oh, and the book she was reading... 'Norwegian Wood' by Haruki Murakami. I have this book. It is a very sexy if depressing short novel... and she is reading it for the second time!

 

[l_e_g_e_n_d]

So why bother with OLD?

To schedule five dates over a weekend with hot women, while you are having lunch delivered to your office.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

To schedule five dates over a weekend with hot women, while you are having lunch delivered to your office.

Sure, but some of us are not so.... photogenic. And I know this girl is interesting and quality as well as sexy.