Okay, so you followed the first post in this series pretty well, and you think you’re ready to do things right this time. Well, fellows, good luck with that. Here’s the cold and hard facts: you suck, and you always will. You have about ten thousand flaws, approximately a hundred of which are completely obvious to everyone but you. Trust me, your woman knows this before you know she knows it, which is when she tells you she knows it in a manner known as a “fight”, or if you’re the diplomatic sort, a “discussion”.

So you’re probably wondering, with all these flaws to get around, where are you ever going to find a girl that’s going to put up with all the crap? That’s the tricky part, but that’s why you’re listening to me and not watching Friends reruns. An aside: if you’re taking any cues from television about relationships and the show you’re watching isn’t “Homicide: Life on the Streets”, you’re about to have a shock along the lines of sticking your tongue in a toaster. So don’t do that, okay? Just trust me. The people that write TV shows have either been separated from reality for so long they wouldn’t understand it if it hit them with a skillet, or understand it perfectly and have some sadistic desire that you never do.

So you’re girl hunting. And you want to know what to look for, and how to look. I’m going to break this down into two sections. If, at this point, you’re really confused about what’s going on here, welcome to Hotel Bachelor and enjoy your long, long stay. Okay, for those of you still with me:

1. So you’re looking. The most important thing - and never underestimate this one - you can do while looking is look like you’re not looking. If women smell desparation, they run, except the ones equally desparate. And goodness knows you don’t want a desparate woman. Some of those would marry a dishrag if there was a diamond ring involved somewhere. The easiest way to not look desparate is pretty simple. Just don’t be desparate. If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen because you’re going to make it happen. You’re just not going to make it happen right away, because girls aren’t microwave dinners or pizzas. They don’t don’t get delivered to your door. In fact, they’re more like free-range quail. I won’t explain that analogy.

2. Be comfortable with yourself, but not too comfortable. That is to say, you like yourself, but you don’t have a crush on your mirror. Most girls like easygoing guys with an edge of danger and a certain hidden intensity to them, except for the girls that like dangerously intense guys that can be easygoing, or intense guys that are easygoing in a dangerous sort of way. You. Cannot. Be. Boring. Because:

3. Guys are a dime a dozen. Think you’re special? Wrong. You’re a New York taxi: the same colour as every other taxi out there. It’s the inside of the taxi that makes the deal work, not the fact that you’re a blue or red taxi. In fact, being a blue or red taxi makes a girl suspicious that maybe you’re not really a taxi after all, and reluctant to find out whether or not they’re right. So what do you do? Be different, but not too different. If “you” is punk rock, mohawks, and piercings, make sure that your peer group is also punk rock, mohawks, and piercings. Every once in a blue moon, this punk man will meet and fall in love with a pink-bunny-slipper-wearing girl with a crush on Ricky Martin or whoever it is that graces the cover of Grabbing My Crotch Whilst Singing magazine, but you’re not looking for once in a blue moon. You’re looking for reality, and trust me, clothes make a little man, but those wonderful secret little things about you are what makes the girls drool. You’re like a brand name - think, marketing genious, what differentiates you from every other guy on the planet? Find something. Nurture it. Grow it. Even if you never actually get a girl, it’ll be worth it anyways.

4. Be mysterious. But don’t be a giant question mark. Share up to a point - and then stop. It’s like saying A New Episode At The Same Time Next Week honey! Play your cards pretty close to the chest. Don’t be that blubbering girl-boy that practically pees his pants in public to get noticed. Keep your best features locked away somewhere, and show the teaser trailer every once in a while in some non-obvious way. You don’t need to show a girl how wonderful and special you are by landing the Goodyear Blimp on her house with you suspended beneath it playing “Feels Like Home” on a grand piano. If there’s any interest at all, she’ll wait for the next shot.

5. You’re not a supermodel, and only seven girls out of a hundred expect you to be one. Face it, girls are interested in things like Chequebooks, Power, Faithfulness, and Strength. Don’t apply if you’re a wimp. Of course, this is a generalization. Some girls are interested in the fact that you really love your work and are content making nearly no money at all. Some girls just love the fact that you have what they would call a “beautiful mind”. Some girls just want a nice guy. But let me tell you something, gentlemen (oh, there’s another thing they like), talk to girls who have some sense in their heads, and you’ll find that some of the most wonderful guys in the world are pretty darn average looking. That’s most likely you, too. You’re moderately attractive, and that’s enough, thank you. Guys “grow” on girls as they get to know them - your personality and a hundred other things will actually make you look better or worse in their eyes, and I mean visually. Don’t try to understand it. Women’s minds are attached to their emotions. It’s a wierd thing, but it explains why so many pretty ugly guys get those gorgeous babes. And that’s the last time in my life I ever use the word “gorgeous babe”.

And wow, that was long. I’ll have to write that second part another time, because gee whiz, I’m feeling like ten pounds of crap in a five pound bag. I feel like crap’s crap. Like I’ve blown six sinuses out my nose, and I’m pretty sure I don’t have that many.

No tag for this post.