The Game (Part 2)

After making the point that the pickup game is something to be reckoned with, Neil Strauss finds himself in the middle of a power struggle in this underground community. These men have discovered ways to convince women to want them, now they are trying to profit off this skill set. To reap the benefits of their ability, the best pickup artists come together under one roof with the idea that they will work together to get more skilled and so as to start a business of teaching this ability on a larger scale. As the community comes together a subtle power struggle starts. These people slowly realize that what they have been learning not only applies to getting laid but much more. This understanding of a how to control and manipulate social situations gives the pickup artist power. They are more aware of the flow of situations and they perceive it as a threat if they are not in control because that must mean that they are being controlled. Therefore they seek to control every social situation that they are in and everyday interactions turn into mini social battles.

Neil sees all of this spiraling out of control. He is taken aback because all he wanted was to get some help with the ladies at the beginning but it has turned into people legitimately trying to control one another. Now this happens everyday in all situations to varying degrees but usually it slips under everyone’s radar and is dismissed as being simply the happenings of the day. But to the person who has an understanding of social dynamics these interactions and situations are viewed as successes or failures depending on who got what they wanted out of the situation. Neil becomes disenfranchised with the pickup community and states that to win in the game of pickup you must leave the game.

Neil ends up leaving the community with a girl who he could never imagine he would be with, yet he didn’t use any pickup on her. I imagine that Neil has a newfound appreciation for how situations take shape. Instead of trying to control situations he lets them develop naturally. Giving people the free will to act without the little tricks is honesty which is how people generally will be without delving into the pickup game. However, the understanding of inequality in relationships and ability to confront bullshit quests for power is a thing to be learned through the pickup game. If you want to learn more I say read the book, but just know it is akin to taking a bite from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The Game

What if you could walk into a room of crowded people you don’t know and within an hour have the room captivated with everything that you are doing. What if within this crowded room you had every woman wanting to be with you and have every guy wanting to be you? Before you entered the room the people were quietly socializing in little groups each separated by discussion topics, attractiveness, class, and race. However after you entered, you drew everyone to together and united the groups around the spectacle that is you. The people who can do this are called “pickup artists”

I have been learning about social dynamics recently. Specifically how to pick up girls. I have been reading a book called “The Game,” written by Neil Strauss. It dives into a story about this guy trying to pick up girls and his journey from a novice to pickup artist. Clearly defined a pick up artist is someone who can enter a social gathering, choose an attractive girl and get her to like him so much that she gives him her phone number, has a one night stand with him or even dates him. This is an incredible feat despite how immoral or sleazy it sounds. Basically as the book goes on it explains how many of these pickup artists change and move on from just wanting to get laid to wanting deeply and holistically become a better person.

In the pickup community people learn how to get girls. They learn tactics and techniques for how to talk to girls. They grasp social situations to a better degree than most people which allows them to control and manipulate the dynamics to get what they want. Furthermore they understand how attraction works. Most people think they know what kinds of people they are attracted to, however a pickup artist knows that attraction, contrary to popular belief, is not subjective. Regardless of the girl, to a certain degree a pickup artist can make any girl want them.

This outlandish skill set leads pickup artists to a tipping point. Though they can attract girls to them, they realize that they need to become a great person worthy of getting amazing women. They go from wanting to get girls to wanting to become better people. Though the pickup community is largely underground, it is becoming commercialized through seminars all around the country and the world. People are learning how to pick up girls and then get caught asking themselves “what is next?”

Part 1 of 2

Coming Home

It has been 10 months since I was last home. What stands in the time gap of me being home was a deployment to Afghanistan. The deployment wasn’t brutal or dangerous compared to what I had expected. I didn’t have that magical moment where I felt myself changing and becoming a man. What happened was more of a monotonous grind where my perspective slowly changed. I came to see that there are some harsh realities that are not affected by any amount of optimism. There are people who live in perpetual desolation far away from charismatic concern who don’t hope for a better life. They are encircled by danger from natural elements and their own neighbors who have no regard for anything but themselves. I am speaking of the Afghan people but another harsh reality is happened upon when I compare them to my social circle. Its as if there is a great chasm between the two worlds that no one can cross, at least willingly. When talking about priorities, in my social circle they revolve around going to the gym, eating healthy, getting the new cell phone, buying a car, getting a good job, getting a hot girlfriend who is cool and will fit in around my friends. When talking about the Afghans, their priorities revolve around making enough bread, getting water to drink, getting water for their crops, praying and following their religion. These differences were disturbing and made me angry at how insignificant my social circle’s priorities were. My social circle’s thoughts revolved around living a life of luxury when the afghan’s priorities revolved around surviving day to day.

Fast forward to tonight as I am writing this. I have been hitting the gym hard recently and am in the best shape of my life. Two nights ago I went to the store bought a bunch of steaks and grilled out with some buddies and drank. Last night I ordered 2 pizzas and watched a romantic movie about aliens and humans learning to love each other. Today I came in first in a work out and felt really good about myself. I went to the chow hall two times and stuffed myself. I also went swimming today and took a snapchat to let all my friends know that I am having fun in California and am looking good. I then went back to my room and played video games till I got bored. Its so easy to forget what is happening in the world. I fell right back into my life of luxury and haven’t thought about the Afghans for a while even though while on deployment I was so pissed when I looked at Facebook and saw everyone so out of touch with the world. I hate that so many are suffering and that I can not alleviate the pain in the world right now.

I head home in a few days and yes I am excited but I am also very tired emotionally. What awaits me at home is a bunch of people who I haven’t seen in a long time who are so loving and who I care so much about. Yet I am cold, I feel cold. I feel aggressive, jaded, rigid, and impatient. I am not some hero with war stories. I am not the poster boy for a christian kid though I know that is how some of them see me. I don’t want to hear about their petty woes because I am too consumed with mine, and I know that is selfish. I don’t think I will be able to reciprocate their love.

Then there is my dad. My dad is dieing. He has been fighting cancer for over 5 years and it is getting to him. I talked to him many times over the deployment and he has progressively gotten worse. He is bed ridden and I am told the cancer might be getting into his brain because he seems a little slower witted and has a hard time talking. I just want to go home and sit next to him and cry. I want to cry with my mom, my brother and my sister who have had to suffer with him from day to day. I want to just let it all out and be with them in this sad time. I want to talk to my dad but I don’t know what to say. I want to comfort my mom and sister and encourage my brother, but I myself need comfort too. I want to be strong for them. I want God to be merciful. I want God to be near us and save us from this suffering. I want God to cleanse me and rejuvenate me. I need God to bring me home and give me rest.

New Beginnings

I have decided I want to start blogging again. Much has changed both in my life and in me as a person. For one I am four years older since my post, “sorry,” and I can not remember what that was all about, but I am sure it made perfect sense back then. I probably did something stupid and that was my clever way of guilting someone into forgiving me. Anyway since that post I graduated high school, piddled around in community college, dated, worked out, joined the marines, and for the past nine months have been in training to become a badass (more on that later). So it is time to start writing stuff down so that I may not forget, because these sorts of things I have to say are hopefully worth remembering (and if that sounded redundant it is only because I wanted to stress the point).

“Sorry”

Saying “I am sorry” doesn’t make things better.  It doesn’t make the one hearing it more satisfied or the one saying it less guilty. The one saying it is simply recognizing that something he did was wrong. One doesn’t improve his status in anyway by saying “I am sorry.” Only the actions that follow have the power to change things. With that being said I am sorry.

Favorite poem

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: –
A poet could not but be gay
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -and gazed -but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.

by – William Wordsworth

Question of the Week

This is actually sort of a poll.

What is one thing about the world you would want to change?

What is one item that if everyone had, the world would be a better place with?

What is one characteristic/value that if everyone in the world had it, the world would be a better place?