I suppose it’s wrong to post a “review” of sorts when you’re still 10 to 15 pages from the end of the book, but I want to write while it’s still fresh from reading on the train.

The Game plays out like a two-parter. The first half of the book is Neil Strauss as his psuedonym Style moving into the “secret society of Pickup artists (PUAs)”, and finding mastery, a timeline of roughly one and a half years. The second half of the book charts the next six months, presumably until just before he sat down to write the book (like I said, I haven’t finished reading). It is never a dating guide – no “Ok to pick up women you should do this and this and that.” It does describe some of the seminars and ‘training nights’ that he did to start learning and moving into this ‘secret society’, so I suppose you could pick up some tips by osmosis, as I guess I have, but there’s no way you could expect to pick up this book and turn into a pick up artist. It is first and foremost a memoir. It’s not a novel, but that’s not to say it comes across as non-fiction. It is a tightly written peice of work; it will keep you intrigued pretty much throughout – that is what makes either Strauss an excellent writer, and yet keeps me from completely believing it.

Spoilers ahead – they’re not so bad because it really is the process more so than the events that drive this book, but if you like to read spoiler free then avoid the rest.

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I’ve had rave reviews about this book; I’ve had people tell me it is the bible for the average guy trying to work out how to actually pick up women; I’ve got at least 3 friends sufficiently drawn into this book and its teachings that they are looking at taking it to the next level.

I finally picked it up Friday, on a bit of a whim and an overloaded wallet. I’m 200 pages through and it’s a blinder. Absolutely awesome read.

The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists isn’t so much a description of how to crack into the secret society, nor is it actually a guide to picking up women (at least not completely). It’s more of a narrative which incorporates those elements into Neil Strauss’s supposedly true story. I say supposedly because I’m not entirely certain how much to believe in this book – there are times when you just think “No way that’s real.” It hovers just on that knife edge that means you will continue to believe that it is real, but you occasionally are more comfortable with it being fiction than fact.

The techniques? I’m not a teacher, and I think you have to discover them and learn how to apply them yourself. Suffice to say however that my application of some of the guidelines have already – without practise – resulted in a 10 fold improvement in my ability to get talking to a stranger woman, and probably an similar improvement in the flirting rate. I like this book =)

It’s by no means a bible though. Still, check it out, if you’re a guy. Ladies… probably don’t want/shouldn’t read this :P

Ok so I’ll try to stop talking about the view (gorgeous), and the weather (similarly gorgeous) and starting talking about… well, stuff. That’s going on.

Have a friend (Simon) up from Melbourne already, which is pretty cool. I’m not entirely sure where to show him (and his friend) around, but the tourist spots (Manly, Bondi, Darling Harbour) are ticking their own boxes pretty nicely. The weekend however poses a problem, as I’ve realised that I have stuff to take care of (cleaning, washing clothes, cooking dinner for the week – such is the life) but chances are I’ll be out for most of it. Dad’s up on Sunday night too, so a bit of family time is going to be a change from getting home and finding no one else there. In a good way as opposed to unexpectedly finding someone there that you don’t know and think might not have the most honest intentions. So must work out how to manage the weekend.
Breaking news: the QEII has just left the harbour. It was almost as big as the Opera House. But I’m not to mention the view much…

Got my first paycheck! Much sweetness. I’ve worked out that I was actually earning more, hour for hour, back at uni – but that is due to me actually paying tax this time around. I suppose as a contributing member of society now I have some rights to demand (more) from the government.

We’ve met some of the more important people in the organisation, and had conversations prefaced with “This doesn’t leave this room, obviously…” Our second day here we’d been lectured that we’d be exposed to sensitive information that not family nor shrink should be told, so to actually hear things relevant to that lecturing is exciting in a way, and scary in some others. “What if I let slip?”, you ask yourself, and try to find a way to forget. Invariably however your memory finds a way to make exactly that fact prominent.

I’m blogging at work, yes. We’re in a test phase and that means a lot of time spent doing tedious tasks which vary very little. So I figure I’ll take some time out to blog, because at least that’ll keep me awake (although only just). I’ve got a good team of people here, but everyone does stay busy. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that I have 3 screens at work. Two are attached to a linux box, and the other to a Windows box, and it gets very confusing with the peripherals. Sometimes I need to adjust something on the Windows box while I’ve been working on the linux box, and the mouse ends up stopping short before I work out that I have to transfer hands. Same goes for keyboard and copy-pasting.

India’s won its one day series against Pakistan after narrowly loosing the Test series. Winning against Pakistan means as much if not more than the Ashes do to Australia, so we’ll take every win as a boon from the gods.
I’ve finally been writing more of the stuff I wanted to do on my wordpress.com blog. Highly political.
I’ve started exploring a redesign for pushing the sky, but it’s at least a month, probably two, away.

And planning, or at least brainstorming, begins on The Europe Trip. It’ll be at least October before we’re actually able to go on the trip, but already all the discussion amongst the grads is about who/what/when/where. Ideas welcome from anyone that’s been there. Also, being the “baby” of the group, younger than most by about 2 years, discussions are already underway about what to do in London 4 days after landing. It looks like I’ve got fun promised =)

All in all though, missing you peeps. Come on up, y’all.

Delicious, delicious irony on the train this morning:

• “It annoys me so much these days how all these people are reading all those kiddie novels right after the movie comes out, like Narnia or Harry Potter,” says man with Memoirs of a Geisha (Film Tie-in edition) on his lap.
• “…ok then Sandy, I’ll see you at work.” Woman hangs up, turns to her friend and says, “She’s such a bitchy slag, always talking about people behind their backs.”

The other day, after going sailing, I was thinking “yeah I’ll be comfortable in a ship with maybe 6 decks,” and lo and behold, yesterday morning the ‘Aurora’ was docked at the Circular Quay international dock, all 7 or 8 decks of it. I still don’t quite concieve how physics can let that thing float. It literally looks like a gigantic hotel that just so happens to be on the water.

Forget floating, I don’t get how that thing moves. With a jumbo jet, you can see the wide wings and gigantic engines, all 4 of them just waiting to get up to speed. It’s big, but it has suggestions of being able to move should there be demand for it. With the boat ship, there’s just a chimney, and cleverly disguised at that, so you’re never quite sure if it actually does. Evidence such as the fact that it isn’t there this morning suggests that clearly, it does move, but I think until I’m actually on a moving one I’ll not quite believe it.

It also made me think of the era when ships were the way to go. If the Aurora looks huge to me, how big was the Queen Mary II, one of the biggest ships out there? Gads, how much engineering goes into one of these things?

Anyway, just thought I’d share that with you.

edit: egads, what replaced it was no other than the QEII. Gigantic doesn’t begin to describe it.

So today’s the day that is officially designated for romancing and early-stage love (for whatever reasons; explore them further on Wikipedia). And I suppose the expected thing would be for guys to go find some lucky lady and proclaim their love, or somehow do it discretely in a manner that says “I love you (and I don’t want to tell you my name) (possibly from a distance) (please don’t take me to be a stalker)”.

Y’know, guys in Japan got this deal sorted the right way around. Valentine’s, the pressure is on the ladies. The lads simply await in passive contention for the chocolates that the ladies are to offer them. A month later, on “White Day”, if the lads are showing some significant interest in return, they get the ladies chocolates. It’s a very safe bet, I think, because for guys it’s clear as mud who is interested normally (i.e. not clear at all) and for the ladies to sort themselves out and express their interest first means the lads are quite clear as to what they have to live up to. Not to mention that if you don’t get anything, eh, you’re a guy, what are you gonna care.

At least, in theory/anime. I don’t know if Japan really works like that, I’ve just heard it and watched way too many anime. Regardless, I think it a good system that should apply the world over. Only in Japan though, I guess, because they’re quirky like that.

Anyway, I’m going to walk around all day humming Miss Independent by Kelly Clarkson because it is stuck in my head.

edit: Ok so Miss Independent isn’t hummable. The Girl From Ipanema it is.