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alexander kandiloros

15 November 2010

#320 Get paid to undress

A nice pose, and the money is in the pocket. The pants? Yes, they are on the floor.

A nice pose, and the money is in the pocket. The pants? Yes, they are on the floor.

Alexander Kandiloros continues to make you realize that life doesn’t need to be hard just because you’re poor and hate to work. He gives you 365 Bling - how every day of your life will be a day of celebration.

Money without working Lesson 4

Being a nude model is technically a job, but places high on the list anyway because it has a Palahniuk-feel, isn’t physically or mentally exhausting and it pays well. At a nice hourly wage, art students will sketch your naked body. Contact art schools in your area, and offer your services. Sometimes they want you to have experience, and it might be a good idea to have a friend or partner sketch you first, so you can try it and feel whether it is for you or not.

Required time: 
1 day or less
Cost: 
Free
Cons: 
It can be hard to strip naked the first time in front of people you do not know. Also, beware spontaneous erections.
Pros: 
You get a healthier self-image. You can see how others interpret your body at first sight. Chances are that you will be positively surprised. An increased appreciation for the human form.
Taggar: pose, nude, erection, croquis model, art schools, alexander kandiloros, 365-bling, 365 things you can do
6 November 2010

#311 Sell your unborn children

Alexander Kandiloros continues his series of 365 Bling.

Money without working lesson 2

You’re good right? I'm pretty good, or so I’d like to think. So let's make the world a better place and make money at the same time by helping infertile couples have a great kid.

It all began with the misconception that if you see it in movies or on television, it's for real. Ryan Phillipe has a monolog in Way of the Gun on how to get by from selling body fluids. In Road Trip and Senseless fertility clinics pay for semen by volume. That’s not the case, at least not in Sweden. Here it is, as expected, a more structured process.

In Gothenburg, you get in touch with Sahlgrenska University Hospital.

You are tested for HIV and leave a smaller semen sample for them to see if your swimmers can be frozen and thawed without losing their sting. Then you talk to a psychologist. She will ask questions, and assess if you are ready that children born from your seed may contact you when they grow up. You will be notified when a child has been born, but that’s all you can ever know. Your seed may give rise to a maximum of six children.

They give you a set of test tubes to take home. Then you do your thing while shedding a tear thinking how beautiful it is to bring new life into the world. After that you call to the Department of Gynecology, and let them know you’re on your way, then you get there with the tube in your armpit or between the pants and the waist - to keep the temperature right for your future progeny. You may donate up to eight times.

For women, it works in a different way, but it is possible to donate eggs to infertile couples. There’s an even greater demand for those than there is sperm, but you don’t make a lot more by doing it. In the US, on the other hand, couples will pay well for eggs coming from healthy Swedish women.

Required time: 
1 hour or less
Cost: 
Free, you actually make money.
Cons: 
You may never find out who your child is if they don’t contact you. To donate eggs hurts quite a bit.
Pros: 
You find out if you’re fertile. You spread your seed.
Taggar: tax-free, Sahlgrenska, egg, donor, donate sperm, bling, alexander kandiloros, 365 things you can do, 365
1 November 2010

#306 Be a test subject

Hello readers of 365. My name is Alexander Kandiloros, and some of you may recognize me from 365 TV or from my previous posts here.

Trying new things often costs money, and it always takes time. It is not easy being a dreamer and keeping a roof over your head without compromising often. Therefore, I regularly come up with practical tips on how to get the money to do things you would do if you were not forced to tread water in order make ends meet.

In the autumn of 2006, I worked 60 hours a week at two jobs, 35 days in a row, to save up for a trip with large T, lined with silica beaches and turquoise water. It went way too slowly. Despite all the hours and lack of social life and hygene (link?) the cash pile grew way too slowly. As someone who has little patience, and is fond of finding loopholes and alternative routes, I was determined to find how I could get the maximum amount of money for minimal effort.

Money without working lesson 1.

Several pharmaceutical companies in Sweden need volunteers for their clinical studies. A drug takes about eight years from idea to reality. After years of laboratory and animal tests they move on to the so-called Phase 1 trials. People. In Phase 1, they need healthy people, usually men, 20-45, to ensure that their products have no side effects and to see how the drug interacts with the body. Fertile women can’t participate because some side effects wouldn’t be noticed until they have children and it is not a risk they would take no matter how small it is.

It starts with you getting in touch with them and signing up for their registry. You will receive a questionnaire about your health to fill in. After that you get in touch with them and ask if they have something going on. When they are in need of the people they send out newsletters in the mail. But it is moving more towards checking what's going on online and then registering there. If something would go wrong, you have health insurance, you haven’t waivered your rights, the people performing the tests are still responsible if anything wer e to go wrong.

Required time: 
1 week or less
Cost: 
Free, you actually make money.
Cons: 
A number of needle pricks. You may not give blood for three months afterwards. It counts as work and is taxed accordingly. Mandatory drug tests. There is a small risk that something goes wrong.
Pros: 
You will receive comprehensive health check-ups and will never feel as healthy as afterwards. Peace and quiet to read, study, learn to knit, or look at TV-shows. Five meals a day. A nice holiday/camp feel with the others in there. You will help future patients to feel better.
Taggar: volunteers, student, poor, medical studies, make extra money, alexander kandiloros, 365 bling
13 September 2010

#257 Set deadlines

Stick to your schedule and you might avoid ulcers.

Stick to your schedule and you might avoid ulcers.

Alexander Kandiloros is not only awesome at thinking of things to do - he does them on time. Here he explains how.

It's amazing what we humans are capable of when we find ourselves in a tight spot. We've all heard about the woman who got super strength, and bare handedly lifted the car to spare her son from danger, but what is that compared to writing a paper the weekend before the deadline. It is to put a figurative gun to my temple and say "Perform! Or else…".

There are healthier ways to implement the same principle. Set mini-deads. A mini-dead is to divide the labor in a reasonable and realistic manner, into smaller parts. “Finish your novel before the end of the month” is a typical deadline. "Write three pages a day five days a week" is instead a mini-dead. Keep them! Punish yourself if you fail, and reward yourself when you’ve made it. If you have a friend or partner that can look at you all disappointed, shaking their head like parents sometimes do, they’re worth their weight in gold.

Required time: 
1 week or more
Cost: 
Free
Cons: 
You might have to stay at home instead of hanging out with your friends sometimes.
Pros: 
You get things done without the risk of ulcers. You have time to think between sessions and have more opportunities to polish your work.
Taggar: ulcers, stress, set deadlines, refine, plan, alexander kandiloros, 365 things
31 August 2010

#238 Take a class

Alexander Kandiloros has previously spoken about being tongue-tied in front of Regina Spektor, couch surfing and all the jeans that litter his house. Now for something completely different:

One of the things I like best is learning new things. Pattern recognition. Being able to keep up with conversations with very different people. There are those who know everything there is to know about a single subject, but as for myself, I've never been able to choose one area. I want to know everything! About everything! Which at best leads to me to know a little about a lot.

Introduction to Greek mythology, Biology of philosophers, argumentation analysis for beginners, Aesthetic History of Ideas, and Modern Hebrew are examples of evening courses taught at the University of Gothenburg. One evening a week; we can all fit that into our schedules. We will never be fully taught, we will never be finished. The brain is a muscle that needs to be exercised to become big and strong.

But you don’t even need to apply for a course to go to a lecture. All lectures are public - and free, and with one phone call or by Googling, you can find out where those interesting lectures are taking place. Get what an amazing country we live in!

At ABF, you can learn to bind books, paint with watercolors, cook, or why not accounting? There simply is something for everyone. Their courses often cost a bit but not much really. There are skills to develop and nurture, and there is money to be saved by repairing our own clothes, books and furniture, people to impress people by knowing a little about a lot.

Required time: 
1 week or more
Cost: 
Less than €50
Cons: 
You have one less night a week to waste watching TV.
Pros: 
You learn new things. Meet like-minded people. Understand more. Develop yourself. Learn to see things from other perspectives.
Taggar: university, tv, slötittande, read a course, knowledge, Hebrew, flaunt, alexander kandiloros, Adult Learning, 365 things
12 August 2010

#225 Get rid of unnecessary things

What was I thinking?

What was I thinking?

Alexander Kandiloros is the 365-editor with the fastest mouth. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of film and is the author of the book Movie Quotes II: With a Vengeance, that came out last fall.

You know that feeling when you’re moving, and critically go through everything you have to pack, and garbage bag after garbage bag is filled with things you don’t need; that feeling when you throw the bags away? Relief. Freedom.

It’s an approach that doesn’t have to and shouldn’t be used only when moving.

Clean your home as you would during a move, even if you’re not going anywhere. Look around at things; clothes and paper work. Ask yourself, when did I last use this? Will I use it again? Really? Put the things someone else might have use for in the staircase or in front of the house if you live in a house with "Go ahead!" written next to it. Or hide the things around town in true 365-spirit with a friendly post-it note on them. The rest you give to charity, but some of it you have to throw away. And shortly afterwards, it’ll burn up in a purifying garbage fire somewhere.

Required time: 
1 day or less.
Cost: 
Free.
Cons: 
None.
Pros: 
Less to pack the next time you move. Easier to find what you're looking for. Order.
Taggar: unnecessary things, move, hide gifts, clean, alexander kandiloros, 365 things
28 July 2010

#210 Give yourself a trip for chump change

There is one drawback to # 210 And it is quite big... A course in self-defense may be worth it before you start courchsurfing

There is one drawback to # 210 And it is quite big... A course in self-defense may be worth it before you start courchsurfing

Alexander Kandiloros continues his posts on the 365 things you can do. After telling us about Jianzi it’s time to learn how travel almost for free. And next week there’s his Regina Spektor story.

I was planning my 25th birthday party and needed obscene amounts of alcohol for the party. All the people with cars bailed, so I ended up taking the bus to Germany with two empty suitcases. Had a friend in Berlin so I took the opportunity to visit her instead of going straight back. How lucky I was for staying. A completely crazy, unexpected weekend of abandoned U.S. bases, reconnaissance and gay bars in the old factories followed. I got a much-needed slap in the back of the head that opened my eyes to that there is much more out there than what I saw every day. You need that kind of knock sometimes. Otherwise, you forget.

Book the cheapest Ryanair-weekend trip as far ahead as possible. Choose a place you've never been to. Preferably book really late at night so it’s half forgotten the day after. Once the date is approaching and the trip reminds you of its existence via SMS it’ll be like receiving a gift from yourself, using some type of time travel. Bratislava in August 2011, Wroclaw, one spring weekend April 2012, or perhaps a bit of Frankfurt, Glasgow, or London in the autumn. These flights are a penny each plus tax.

Bonus1 - Cheap hostels http://www.hostels.com/

Bonus2 - Free and more exciting homes http://www.couchsurfing.com/

Required time: 
1 week or more
Cost: 
More than €50
Cons: 
You can end up in the home of a weirdo. You could end up enjoying the place so much that you don’t like Sweden in the same way anymore.
Pros: 
You experience something new. You get perspective. Despite booking far ahead, it’s still rad and spontaneous. You could meet new wonderful people, or maybe find a new place to settle down in.
Taggar: Ryan Air, pittance, frankfurt, couch surfing, cheap, Bratislava, berlin, alexander kandiloros, 365 things
9 April 2010

#101 Trade knowledge with a friend

Required time: 
Anything from a minute to three months. Depends on what your friend wants to teach you.
Cost: 
Nothing, unless your friend is a cheap ass.
Cons: 
You might feel stupid and clumpsy when you can't walk on your hands while your friend does it with such ease. The Tom & Jerry-toy might break if you drop it on the ground.
Pros: 
You get nice arm muscles from walking on your hands. You and your friend become closer.
Taggar: sharing is caring, learning new skills, juggling, hand walking, alexander kandiloros
17 February 2010

#49 Make a piggy bank

Required time: 
A minute.
Cost: 
Use an old PET-bottle that's laying around or steal one from your Coke-drinking WOW-playing litte brother. Use a knife from the kitchen.
Cons: 
None.
Pros: 
You'll save up money without thinking about it. A crown here and and a crown there and all of a sudden you've got a €100 saved up and can buy lots of candy or a cheap digital camera.
Taggar: saving, piggy bank, alexander kandiloros