sam and the city

Second place is the first loser

Good day faithful readers. In my family I am the oldest child. I was the first one born, I was the first one to come into this world. This strikes me as being very ironic because sometimes I feel like its the only time that I've finished first in anything, and that I've spent the rest of my life coming second!

When I was younger and used to race go-karts I can still vividly remember proudly hanging the flags that I had won on my wall. I had red and green (second and third) flags coming out of my ears, but there was only ever one blue (first) flag.

It's not just sporting events though, it applies to all sorts of things... relationships for instance. I've gone out with my fair share of women, but never have I retained top spot in any of their hearts, I've always taken one of the minor placings. I've even gone out with women who have gone on to get married in the next relationship that they've had! Now if that is not coming second I don't know what is!

Lately I've been looking for a new apartment to live in here in London. Having looked at many a place and discovering that they expect me to pay a fortune for the privilege of living like a battery hen, I was amazed when I found a place on the weekend that didn't expect me to pay much more than what I currently do for a beautiful, near new apartment in a great location. "Would I be interested?" she ask me. "Umm, yeah, sure", I said, trying to conceal the fact that I would consider paying double what she was asking. "I'll give you a call tomorrow then after I had a chance to think about it". Sure enough, I received the call the following day... "sorry, I was going to let you move in, but then one of my friends said that they would like to have the room"!

Over the last couple of weeks I've been to a two pub quizzes. The first time was with a really good team, where we expected to do reasonably well. The second time was with a... not so academically blessed team. On the first occasion we were leading the entire way, streets ahead of the second place team, only to be pipped at the post by a team which scored nearly full marks in the music round (which accounted for 30% of the marks). The second time the roles were reversed, with us lagging behind all the way, only to make a surge to the finish... and finish one point behind the winner! Two quizzes, two second places!

This sort of carrot dangling is about enough to send a guy insane. It's just as well I'm gracious in defeat, that's all I can say!

posted by sam @ 10:21 pm