I found this quote on someones Facebook and it made me pause in thought for a moment. as I debated the truth of the statement in my head. Recently someone gave me a lecture over my Facebook status messages. I posted things like "I'm the most anti-cock blocking person you can meet" (which is true, I feel compelled to wing for even strangers.) This person then sent me 3-4 paragraphs on my wall about how "once you ruin your reputation its very hard to fix" and warnings about future employment and what not.
Unknown to this acquaintance at the time, I don't have a good reputation to begin with. Everyone who is a part of the night life industry can't get away with a squeaky clean image because 1) All our activities are at night. 2) There is copious amounts of alcohol involved. 3) Sex sells the industry 4) Automatic judgments against the night life types.
Since I kind of just fell into The Life when I first heard the rumors floating around about me I went through a mini self identity crisis. I was very young at the time, under 21, and somehow oblivious to how most people viewed what I was doing as a promoter. Since I've been involved with events my entire adult life going back to being just 17 I thought everything I did wasn't a big deal.
I'm known for making private events better than any club you've been to.
Overtime I stopped fighting against the preconceived notions people had about me and staged things to boost my notoriety. I embraced parts of the bad boy archetype that I easily identified with. I started attracting women who were recently single or want to be single as part of my entourage. The culmination of going down this road was this summer of nonstop bottle service.
Do I enjoy The Life? Sure bet I do, otherwise I would have given up every time I've burnt out on the scene or stay settled with my desk job. Am I more free with my sullied reputation? In some ways it lets me get into hedonistic things without concern. I'm not worried about future employers snooping around my Facebook or the people in my inner circle looking down on me for going out all the time. I like how my professional and personal goals include out doing my own spectacles.
On the other hand I've become "the awesome friend that the rest of your friends find questionable." This year I've discovered that everyone close to me has at least friend that asks "why would you hang out with that guy?". While I'm defensible and all, its a little unsettling to know you have to be defended in the first place. Sometimes I end up winning them over but sometimes I don't get the chance. I'll always have this problem of friends of friends who buy into the disinformation floating around about me and adding their own second hand accounts into the mix.
While the title of this blog sounds awesome, it really seems like a defense of one of the people of ill reputation like myself. You've got to decide if you go down this path or not!
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