The Science of Picking Up Girls

1. Select a Target
2. Approach and Open
3. Demonstrate Value
4. Disarm the Obstacles
5. Isolate the Target
6. Create an Emotional Connection
7. Extract to a Seduction Location
8. Pump Buying Temperature
9. Make a Physical Connection
10. Blast Last-minute Resistance
11. Manage Expectations
Strauss, 2005

Read steps 1-11, what do you think are they for? According to Neil Strauss, the author of the book, ‘The Game’, these are the steps in picking up women.

I was able to read some material about this subject and I found out that there is this community of people specializing in picking up girls. They are called pick up artists (PUA). The PUA community has been in existence for a very long time now. Neil Strauss’ The Game has been published September 2005 and in that book, he was already referring to a long existing community of PUAs and PUGs (Pick Up Gurus)

So do you agree boys and girls? Do you agree that if a guy follows these steps, they can score a date or successfully ‘pick up’ a girl? Do you agree that there’s a science in picking up girls? Or in a more conservative way, in trying to ask a girl out on a date or simply trying to get one person’s attention?

Maybe there is. Maybe if you follow these steps, you’ll be finally able to get to ask that girl out or you’ll finally have the guts to approach someone you really like at work or in school.

I’m no pick up artist, so I really don’t know how to work with these steps. But I do have my own way of approaching people, not just women. And as I was trying to see the relation of my way to Neil Strauss’ way, it’s pretty much the same, at least for the part where you’re just really after a good conversation.

1. Select a Target – I don’t consciously select a person I want to talk to but I’m sure I won’t talk to someone I’m not comfortable with even to a small degree. So I already did select a ‘target’

2. Approach and Open – I walk towards that person I want to talk to and say, ‘Hi, how u doin?’ hehe or if he’s a Filipino or understands the language, I say the ultimate pinoy one liner that can open hundreds of doors to millions of opportunities, ‘musta?’

3. Demonstrate Value – If I already know the person, I ask her how is she doing or what has she been up to lately then tell her about how I am doing. If I don’t know the person, I smile and ask her the first question that comes to my mind.

Steps 1-3 are basic. You are doing it every time you talk to someone. Steps 4-11 I think are more intimate and specific in being able to level up the conversation and you have to consciously decide to do it, not just talk.

So if we continue from steps 4-11, are we then considered a PUA? Maybe yes. I read that it’s not as easy as it looks and there are specific ways in learning these steps to master The Game, or in a more personal level, Your Game.

I can’t help but ask though. If there is really a science in picking up girls, why is not everyone hooking up? I mean, if there’s a proven science that the Game works, why is there still a chance that when I do steps 1-11 later at a club or at a bar, I can still get rejected?

I believe that it’s because ‘pick up science’ does not attract everyone.

Not every girl will approve to be ‘picked up’. Some of them are conservative and they won’t really entertain people they are not comfortable with. Some of them are not longing to be picked up. Being single and being in a bar does not automatically mean that you want to pick up or to be picked up. Sometimes you just want to hang out right? Some are in happy relationships and won’t do anything to taint that.

There may be a science to it. There are actually a lot of PUGs out there worldwide and I was surprised to find out that there is even a PUA community here in the Philippines, which is think is still conservative as compared to other countries.

That must mean the science works. It’s not just for everyone I guess.

Blogging For Fame and Fortune

Hello! I was reading some magazines before I went to a meeting yesterday. I found this:

(Picture from Entrepreneur Magazine)

It caught my attention because I really see blogging as a way to market things and knowing that a blog can get more than nine million page views per day just confirms this. It’s even more than marketing now, it can be a business itself. With that amount of people per day, companies would love to have their websites, banners, links, flash presentations and anything else to do with them advertised somewhere in your blog.

I checked out Perez Hilton (click the link if you love celebrity gossip hehe) and I saw ads from Google, McAfee, and other companies. These people pay to have their stuff advertised in the blog. Nice nice nice

But I guess you can’t just blog and expect nine million viewers per day after some years of blogging. As stated in the page I saw from the magazine (although it’s quite unclear from the picture), there are things you need to do if you want to attract millions to your blog. For me, it’s about creating a great web identity… an interesting one… an addicting one… a sexy one… a controversial one… and more and more and more.

The good thing about this is… it’s possible and if we want to take blogging to the next level, then why not?

Most Common Names On Facebook (I’m Not Common!) :)

With over 200 million users (info from TechCrunch), Facebook is undeniably a humongous slice from the Web pie.  If you think about it, it’s a great source of information about people around the globe. You can see pictures, notes, and videos of different people just by visiting their Facebook pages and of course, in the most basic sense, you can know their names.

But have you ever wondered what are the most common names in Facebook? We all know about common names like John, Mark, and Paul but how many Johns, Marks, and Pauls are out there in Facebook anyway?

An article by TechCrunch answers our question. If your first name is John, David, or Michael, you’re part of the top 3 first names in the Facebook world. Here’s the rest of the top ten first names:

First Name Count
1. John 1,037,972
2. David 966,439
3. Michael 798,212
4. Chris 647,966
5. Mike 535,065
6. Mark 526,198
7. Paul 511,504
8. Daniel 504,203
9. James 494,945
10. Maria 484,693

More than a million Johns? I wonder why. Hmmm should I name my future kid John? haha

TechCrunch also came out with the top ten last names. According to their article, the top last names give an idea about Facebook’s global reach and in 1st place is an American household name: Smith. Makes sense?

Last Name Count
1. Smith 1,049,158
2. Jones 520,943
3. Johnson 440,978
4. Lee 392,709
5. Brown 375,444
6. Williams 372,486
7. Rodriguez 328,984
8. Garcia 311,477
9. Gonzalez 277,987
10. Lopez 269,896

I know a lot of people with last names: Rodriguez, Garcia, Gonzales, and Lopez. Most of them are living in the Philippines. These names make up the top 7, 8, 9, and 10.  Hmmmm interesting…

Oh yeah, TechCrunch also came out with these:

Top 100 Most Common First Names On Facebook
Top 100 Most Common Last Names On Facebook
Top 100 Most Common Full Names On Facebook

I feel happy because my name is not included in the top ten lists. That means I’m not ‘common’! woohoo!

Wiki-PEE-dia

(picture from RunPee.com)

I think I have a problem with my bladder. I often go out of my routine to take a leak every 30 minutes or so, and sometimes I’m not drinking or eating anything. In movie houses, there are times when I get the urge to pee during the most important, exciting, and significant part of the movie. It’s irritating actually, but what can I do? When my bladder talks, I’m forced to listen.  Is that normal? Do I need to seek medical help? I don’t know but that’s not the point of this entry hehe.

I just discovered the perfect solution to my pee problems, specifically the ones while watching a movie: RunPee.com. What is it? It’s a web-based service and soon-to-be mobile app that helps you enjoy your movie experience and makes sure your bladder gets the attention it needs… at the same time!

In every movie, there are scenes that you can afford to miss. These are the parts that are not very critical to the plot; thus, missing it won’t affect your understanding and appreciation of the movie very much.

RunPee.com pinpoints these scenes by giving you clues like lines and descriptions before the less significant scenes start. You will also see a ‘Pee Time Time line’ so you would know the approximate time to get out of your seat and pee. Actually, you can do anything you like with the stated time. Go buy popcorn, make a phone call, or wash your face… It’s all up to you. But of course, the bladder is boss. Right? Right? Haha

Anyone can contribute in knowing the Pee Times for the movies thus making RunPee a Wiki-PEE-dia haha! I checked out their site. They have famous movies there with Pee Times available already.

Now we see another great innovation. A simple need developed into a great business concept… this is amazing. It may sound simple at first and you may not even think there’s a business opportunity connected to such need but if you go deeper and think in a more wild and crazy manner, why not right? Why not give moviegoers the time when the less significant scenes are flashed? I always wanted to know but I never imagined that it could be answered the RunPee way.

We must therefore remember that in business, no idea is crazy and wild enough. Keep an open mind… keep a wild, crazy, and curious mind!

Love Story (Taylor Swift) meets Viva La Vida (Coldplay)

I was in Starbucks around 2 weeks ago when a friend of a friend showed me a video in her Ipod. It was called “Love Story (Taylor Swift) meets Viva La Vida (Coldplay)”. The title made me curious so I checked it out. As soon as it started, time stopped as I was captured by the beautiful orchestration of a piano and cello playing the two songs. Beautiful. Enlightening. Inspiring. Awesome. I’m listening to it right now. You should check it out.

At the end of the video, the piano player explained why they thought of making such a thing. It was for her daughter

Political Cartoons

Hello! I love cartoons but when I was surfing around, I found these political cartoons from Time. What’s good about them is that they’re not just funny, they also make a whole lot of sense. And if you go deep down, you’ll realize a lot of stuff through these cartoons especially with regard to our current situation right now. I only selected the ones that hit me good but you could check out TIME.com for so much more. Enjoy!

If you just read articles about how Twitter is changing the way people communicate especially in other countries, you would agree. Well, at least I do.

I love peanut better hehe

Journalists, what do you think?

how true…

I love Elmo hehe

Does the saying ‘A business with no sign is a sign of no business’ still apply? :p

Personalized Virtual Gifts Sent Via Facebook

(picture from Greetbeatz)

There’s a new great way to send a personalized virtual gift and it is fully integrated in Facebook. Instead of sending an e card or any of those forwarded supposed to be funny/inspirational emails, why don’t you go to Greetbeatz and have a song commissioned for your friend, loved one, enemy, or anyone you want to share a smile with. The good thing about Greetbeatz is that you can commission a basic birthday song (good for 2min) for free. Rates starts to come in when you want to commission a song for any other occasion, $9.95 for a 1:00-:30 min song, and $49.95 for a song with any length. The catch is that for the free birthday song; you can only customize a few words like the celebrator’s name and your name. As for the ones where you pay, you can customize the whole song. They have forms where you fill in the details. It’s so specific, they even ask for the pronounciation of the names you want to include in the song. They have dedicated artists who would produce your song and it takes up to 5 days max. After this, the end result appears on the recipient’s Facebook wall to be enjoyed by everyone.

Cool huh? They actually have nice songs. The birthday song I was able to hear is so cool, a lot of rap going on. It’s also a great way to make fun of someone if you think about it hehe. But of course, use it for the good. But for some laughs, yeah why not.

Oh yeah, they are also looking for artists so if you’re one, just contact them. Details can be found in their website.

Supernatural

(Supernatural. Picture from here)

I never really had any addiction to TV shows. Well, I like Prisonbreak, Heroes, Friends but I’m not ‘hooked’ to these shows. I like them yes but I don’t mind if I miss an episode or if I don’t understand why Peter Petrelli is suddenly flying or why Hiro Nakamura suddenly knows how to swordfight.

But I guess there’s a first time for everything.

For the past weeks, I have gone through DVD marathons for the TV series Supernatural.

Well, it’s nothing like a normal TV show, in fact it’s so good it’s supernatural! (haha corny!) But yeah, it’s really exciting and it keeps you longing to watch the next epidose and the one after that and the one after that and… and… and… until you suddenly notice that it’s already 3am in the morning and you started watching around 12 noon haha.

Maybe it’s because I can relate to it a lot. Well, I neither see any supernatural stuff (and I don’t desire to) nor kill any vengeful spirits and burn their bones with salt, but I can relate to one of the lead characters there, Dean.

Well, for a short introduction (don’t worry I won’t spoil anything), the story is basically about two brothers hunting down the demon who killed their mom when they were kids. They go road tripping with their very cool macho Chevy car (a 1967 Chevrolet Impala) and kill other demons through their journey to kill the one they’re looking for. Of course, I’m just in season 2 so I’m sure there would be more twists and turns. In the process of killing these demons, they meet up with other ‘hunters’ who either help them or give them a harder time. Their dad is also involved; he’s the one who taught the brothers how to ‘hunt’, but his role is quite minimal, as far as the last episode I watched in season 2.

(Dean. Picture from here)

The older brother’s name is Dean, the younger one Sam. Going back to my point a while ago, I can relate a lot with Dean. The older brother tasked to take care of the younger one. Of course, my life is not as dramatic as the one portrayed in the movie but in some ways, I can really relate. Maybe because I’m the eldest among 5 and I’m always reminded that my brothers and sister really look up to me.  I’m really blessed with my siblings and I believe that through the blessing of God, I was given the strength and wisdom to be able to be a good older brother (I hope I am ).

If you watch the show, Dean and Sam are like friends more than being brothers. I mean, there’s more to their biological connection. They fight sometimes yes, but in spite of all the negative things between the two of them, at the end of the day, you’ll know they care for each other so much.

The same goes with my siblings. There’s more to our biological connection. We are like a group composed of 5 people with different personalities who are close to one another in a very special kind of way. Sometimes we don’t understand each other but at the end of each day, in spite of all negative things that happen among us, we know we care for one another so much.

So there, I guess that’s the greatest value I got from watching the TV series Supernatural. Of course, it’s very interesting as well. You don’t need to be hooked to vampire slaying or ghostbusting stuff to be able to appreciate the show. Try it

Reminiscing Through Gaming Consoles

We had our first gaming console when I was around 8 years old. It was called the Goodboy Family Computer. Games during those times were Street Fighter, the game where I first learned the foundation move of all fighting games, the down+up+button combination, haha! Rockman 3, my first ever encounter with the blue little robot that glows when you hold the fire button and changes color every time you beat a boss. Of course, Super Mario who looked like a red and blue combination of boxes who grows bigger when you eat the mushroom and becomes invincible when you get the star. Then after some years, my parents bought a Super Nintendo (SNES), it was much like our first gaming console, games were chips covered with rectangular plastic which you need to forcefully insert in the opening found at the console’s upper part. This gaming console introduced me to that big macho ape called Donkey Kong (I forgot the name of his assistant, the one with the hat).

(Rockman 3. Picture from here)

(SNES. Picture from here)

(Donkey Kong. Picture from here)

After some time, my uncle working abroad went home and brought us a Nintendo 64. Because of this console, I was able to play with Mario in a 3D environment and found out that Koopa is different from Bowser, I really thought they were one and the same haha.

(Nintendo 64. Picture from here)

(Mario 64. Picture from here)

Then, during my teenage years, my parents upgraded our Nintendo 64 to a Playstation 1. It was the best of its kind during this time, well at least in our house hehe. We had Megaman X4, Tomb Raider, Marvel Super Heroes, and of course, the only RPG game I was able to finish and the reason why I had to jump out of joy (serious) because I got a blue sword with a lion engraved in its handle, Final Fantasy VIII. Squall, Zell, Rinoa… Are these names familiar? For me, they were almost good as real people hehe.

(Playstation 1. Picture from here)

(The blue sword I was talking about. Picture from here)

Then we upgraded again, this time with a Playstation 2. During this time, gaming was not my thing anymore, so I let my brothers play most of the time. Of course, having 3 other brothers who love games as well, we have mini competitions with Marvel Vs. Capcom. There was a time that I took it seriously, so I play in ‘practice mode’ when my brothers were asleep.

(PlayStation 2. Picture from here)

(Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. Picture from here)

Then just a couple of years ago, my parents upgraded our Playstation 2 with a Nintendo Wii. Talk about interactivity. It’s the best gaming console I laid my hands on. Because it was so good, I went back to playing games again. I was having my training in Nestle during the time they bought the Wii so I had no assignments and exams for 3 months! Because of that, I spent every night playing boxing… I ended up enhancing my muscles haha.

(Nintendo Wii. Picture from here)

Then I stopped playing again until a couple of days ago when my brothers brought out the dusty Playstation 2 and challenged me for a battle in Marvel Vs. Capcom. Wow! I still know the moves and I can still do some combos.

So much happened since that day where I first played with our Goodboy till the day I finished Zelda in Nintendo Wii. But after everything… I’m back playing with my brothers again, with the same enthusiasm and competitiveness as I had before… as if nothing really happened.

Are You A Leader …. In Twitter?

(image from here)

I believe that in life, it’s easier to follow than to be followed. It’s easier to be the spectator rather than the one doing the show. It’s easier to listen to the music rather than the one spinning the discs. It’s easier to read the book rather than the one writing it. It’s easier to be the follower than to be the leader.

Why is this so? Because being the one who does the show means you still got to prepare, you still got to think, you still got to sweat. While if you’re the one merely watching, all you need to do is… watch… listen… follow.

This real life phenomenon is reflected in the social online tool Twitter. According to an article by TechCrunch, 80 percent out of seven million Twitter accounts have fewer than 10 followers and a good 30 percent have zero followers. More so, 63.6 percent of those active accounts follow more people than they have followers (2.8 percent have the same number of followers as followings).

It’s very interesting to know that this is happening in Twitter. It’s not really surprising though. Just like what I’ve said a while ago, it is really easier to follow… I guess Twitter won’t make an exception.

John C. Maxwell said that leadership is influence, nothing more and nothing less. So after everything I said, do you think you’re a leader…. in Twitter? Hehe

Check out your TweetGrade to find out