Monday, April 23, 2007

Basketball, Wings, and Trust

Last Thursday I was playing basketball at my gym. I love basketball. It's a great team-oriented sport. You can tell a person's personality by the way they play the game. I'll write more about this in the future. For now, I want to talk about that particular game on Thursday.

I was playing a 4 on 4 half court game that night. The fist two games were awful. I lost both of them :( Why? Many reasons. One of them was that our team didn't do a good job of passing and mainly because it's the first time we played together as a team. I tried very hard to help out my team to win. Whether doubling against their big guy, rotating on defense or shutting down my guy, we just could not get the job done. I wasn't frustrated. I've won and lost many times that it's just another game.

After that second loss, my friend Jeremy showed up and two of my teammates left. So we replaced them with Jeremy and some other guy. With Jeremy on my side, we won the next four games in a row. It was a blast! I haven't team up with Jeremy for a long time because our work schedules were always conflicting. So why did we win this time and with an amazing run of 4 winning games in a row? Consider this: Jeremy is not physically gifted. He's a forty something year old man (but still in good shape) playing against other twenty to thirty year olds during that night. Neither was that new guy. He doesn't know how to shoot and he's not even good at all.

The reason is trust. Jeremy and I have played countless times that I can trust him to do his part, whether it's defending his own guy, helping others to double team their guy, making his shots, or putting the trust in me to take that shot. Similarly, I trust Jeremy whenever we play together. We all know each other's weaknesses and strengths and share the same goal: To win the game. So throughout the night, we helped each other out on defense, we passed the ball to each other to make excellent plays, and we had a lot of fun. We played against other good teams but they didn't click well as a team compared to us. During these 4 games, I've scored around 3 to 4 points. For those of you unfamiliar with the scoring system, each basket is worth one point and the first team is get 7 points win. So during these games, I was pretty much the MVP. This would not happen if it wasn't for Jeremy. He makes me play better and more competitive because he knows my weaknesses and strengths and most importantly, we click as a team. Jeremy also scored like 2 to 3 points during these 4 games. Jeremy is like my wingman and I am also his wingman. :)

During the run of 4 games, we beat 3 different teams. One of them was Alan's team. Alan is another great friend of ours and you can also say I'm his wingman. He and I have also played countless times. I remember him always calling or emailing me to come play basketball with him every Tuesdays or Thursdays and to play on the SAME team. He says I'm a great wingman and help him make his life easier on the court. Similarly to me and Jeremy, Alan and I trust each other.

So where was I? Oh..on that Thursday night, Jeremy and I beat Alan's team very badly. The score was 7 to 1. Jeremy and I did not guard Alan because we all want to have fun and play a relaxing game. After that humiliating loss, I can tell Alan was not happy. After our 4th win, we played Alan's team again. This time Alan took the assignment of guarding me. I'm like "Why do you want to guard me? I thought I was your wingman?" So Alan goes "Yeah, but I want to win and you will have to work hard to score every point." So throughout the game, I was very nice to Alan. I was very passive and I didn't make him look bad by scoring although I should have made that lay-up when I blew by him. So how did he return the favor? Well..he played very rough and was very physical. I was knocked to the ground several times because of his rough play. Others would have gotten mad or retaliated. I didn't get mad or lose my cool. We played so many games together as a team that this didn't bother me.....much. In the end, Jeremy and I lost. One of the reasons was that I was too passive. If I played my usual game of scoring 3 to 4 points we would have won. Normally, I would play good defense on my guy and they would score at most 1 point on me. Alan scored 2 points on me. The final score was 5 to 7.

The moral of my story is that there are some people you can trust and some you need to be careful around. In basketball, I can trust both Jeremy and Alan when we're on the same team. We pass the ball to each other trusting and always helping each other out on defense. But when we're playing on different teams, I have to be careful around Alan. Alan wanted to win so badly that he showed no mercy to his fellow wing....ME...ahhaahah whereas I played very passive and had mercy on him. Jeremy, on the other hand, would not do what Alan had done. I've played against Jeremy many times and we guarded each other countless times and we ALWAYS had played 'nice' to each other because we all wanted each other to have fun playing basketball. Plus, each of us have won and lost many times before so it's just another basketball game. Now, I'm not saying that I don't trust Alan in real life outside of basketball. Alan's a good friend of mines and I will ALWAYS be his wingman and I'm sure he's my wingman whenever we play together on the same team.

This just to shows that when people want to achieve a certain goal, whether to win a basketball game, to win a girl over, or to achieve power or money, some people would not hesitate to take advantage of you. In real life, you can't always trust people 100% no matter how long you've known them (In case you're wondering, I've known both Jeremy and Alan a little over 5 years). Not all hope is lost. There will always be people like my friend Jeremy where you can count on. And if Alan is reading this....Watch out! No mercy from me next time :)

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Corn Soup Recipe

For those that have been reading my blog, I have a special treat for you all. I'm sharing with you my corn soup recipe. That's right! Corn soup. If you guys, also have your own corn soup recipes, please share them with me because I always strive to improve. Enjoy!


Ingredients:
3 cans of whole kernel corn (the ones from Safeway, could be cream style or whole corn)
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large tomato, peeled and seeded
1/4 cup coarsely chopped onion
1/2 tablespoon parsley, crushed
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
Green pepper strips
4 jalapeños

Directions:

Removed seeds from the jalapeños. Chop 2 jalapeñosinto small pieces. Combine corn (without the water from the can), broth, chopped jalapeñosand salt in 3 quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low.

Process tomato, onion, remaining 2 jalapeños, and parsley in blender until smooth. Heat butter over medium heat until hot; add tomato mixture. Cook and stir 4 to 5 minutes until thickened.

Add tomato mixture to corn mixture in saucepan, bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer uncovered, 5 minutes. Remove soup from heat, gradually stir in cream. Heat over very low heat 30 seconds or just until hot. Do not boil. Ladle into bowls. Garnish with reserved corn and green pepper.

Makes 4 servings.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

My review of the Seattle MM bootcamp - TenMagnet and Neo - November 2006.

I took a MM bootcamp back in November of 2006. I finally wrote one last week and posted it on the new Seattle lair forum. I did it so I can contribute something to the community. I hope this will convince those out there to take a bootcamp whether it's MM, Charisma, PU101, or etc. Taking a bootcamp will help improve your game dramatically! It helped mines.

Background:

Prior to the bootcamp, I have A LOT of approach anxiety. In addition, I’m a very shy and quiet guy. The only knowledge I had was reading The Game and skimming over the VAH and some DVD’s. Thus, my game was very weak. I think a lot of the other guys had the same problem but by the end of the weekend you could tell that none of the students had that anxiety anymore.

Classroom session:

The classroom session covers the topics in the VAH and many more not discussed in the handbook. The theory and detail of the seminars went beyond anything you could ever read in a book or pickup in a DVD.

Both TenMagnet and Neo were very knowledgeable in what they were teaching. I don’t want to go into any detail about what was taught at the seminar but I will say that everything was covered in great detail. Both instructors explained everything very well and went into great detail of not only explaining the theory but also explaining why the theory worked.

Infield Session – Day 1 – Friday night:

The in-field portion was super beneficial. The goal of the first night was to practice opening and eliminating approach anxiety. At the beginning of the in-field session, the instructors were the first to open sets. We witnessed TenMagnet and Neo opening sets using canned material. The instructors eventually ejected from their sets as their goal is to teach and watch us.

There were about 2 students for 1 instructor ratio. The students were then pushed to open sets. The first couple sets were very hard because of the approach anxiety and the feeling of awkwardness when reciting the openers. After about the third set, it got a little easier and more fun. The instructors were always nearby to observe us and to give us valuable feedback. At the end of the night, we went to a venue for dinner and the instructors debriefed us on what our strengths and weaknesses were.

Infield Session – Day 2 – Saturday night:

The goal of the second night is to practice our attraction, qualification, and comfort skills. This time the instructors intervened more while we worked the sets, so we could make progress beyond opening (better body language, turning into more comfortable position, isolating, etc).

The instructor to student ratio for that night was better. MellowYellow was there as an approach coach. Sometimes the instructor to student was 1 to 1. Throughout the night, we were being pushed into opening sets by either TenMagnet, Neo or MellowYellow. Also, they did a good job winging us and explaining to us after the set what we did wrong and how we could improve in future sets. Similar to the previous night, at the end, we went to a venue for dinner and the instructors debriefed us on what our strengths and weaknesses were.

Conclusion:

The bootcamp is no cakewalk. It’s a grueling and exhausting three-day experience. There were times that I wanted to quit because of the stress from it. You have to be mentally tough to survive the bootcamp. The things that make the bootcamps tough are dealing with approach anxiety, dealing with sets that blow you out, dealing with constructive criticism, and etc. It will push you beyond your comfort zone and can take a toll on one’s ego. Once you can get beyond that, the experience from the bootcamp is very rewarding.

The great thing about the bootcamp is that the instructors were very invested in their students. They ensure that every student were learning and got their moneys worth. They would observe every one of us and provide constructive criticism. They don’t sugar-coat their words and tell you bs. That’s not to say that they’re not friendly. Far from that. They are very friendly and normal guys that enjoy teaching this stuff. They make the in-field sessions fun and worthwhile. It’s like hanging out with the coolest guys in the club. At the end of the bootcamp, you develop a comrade-like relationship with the students and instructors. I missed those guys and I'll never forget them.

This bootcamp is not perfect. One area that they could have improved is more role-playing exercises. On the first classroom session, we did some role-playing exercises where each student would practice opening each other. It would have been more helpful if we had done more exercises.

Another complaint that I have is that the bootcamp is too short. There is so much info to cram into 3 classroom sessions.

This bootcamp has helped me tremendously with pick-up and also with human interactions in general. The Instructors involved in this bootcamp totally abolished every fear I had about pickup. I left this bootcamp a new man and I would recommend anyone to take a Mystery Method bootcamp.

Miscellaneous stuff:

I was the only student in the bootcamp who came from the Seattle lair.

On our first night in the field, one of the students (let’s call him J) made a record in number of approaches for the night (according to the instructors). His was about 21 sets. All the other students including me opened about 12 sets.

On the second night, J had several number closes, makeouts, and he could have fclosed one of the girls.

At one venue, while J was walking across the room, a hot chick was checking him out. While walking, J was also checking her out. Seconds later, J physically bumped into another guy. The hot chick cracked up. J is a moron for not approaching her. :)

On the second night, I got blown out in every way: Girls turning their backs, Girls ignoring your openers, Girls walking away, Girls telling me to fuck off, Getting Amogged out of a set.

In one memorable 2-set where TenMagnet was winging for me, one of the girls (hbBlonde) was acting really bitchy towards us and trying to blow us out. TenMagnet then yelled “Neg Neg”. I then negged her and her reaction was priceless. Her friend (hbGerman) smiled and gave me the thumbs up. Ever since I negged her, hbBlonde was very friendly throughout the whole time. Later, hbBlonde's boyfriend showed up and TenMagnet kept him occupied while I practiced gaming the two girls. After several more minutes, we ejected. Thinking back, I should have number closed or isolated hbGerman. Someone please kick me.

The venues in Capitol Hill are louder than the ones in Belltown.

A fight between two girls occurred outside one of the venues in Capitol Hill. Later, TenMagnet opened a group of girls nearby with the “Did you see the fight opener”. Then Neo came in to wing for him and within minutes they were connecting with the girls...priceless!

Imho, the girls in Belltown are hotter than the ones in Capitol Hill.

-Stealth

My first ever FR

I found this in the old seattle lair. This is my first ever FR I wrote back in September of 2006. Enjoy!

FR: Got busted running routine at Amber Hilarious night

This is a field report about my first time sarging at Amber and this happened on Friday night 9/8/2006.

At around 9pm, Snakebite calls me up to sarge with him and to meet him at Amber at 10pm. I call my friend, Shark, and picked him up from his apartment.

We arrived at Amber at around 10pm and I was overwhelmed with AA. I could feel the yellow stripe growing on my back. It was my first time ever in Amber and I was amazed at how crowded the place can be. I later spot Snakebite at Amber about 5 minutes later.

During the night, I had the pleasure of meeting Tom, Passion, and Momo, and others (sorry for not remembering your names, I'll try harder next time). It was certainly an eye-opener experience for me because I saw Snakebite, Passion, and Tom with so much high energy and opening sets without hesitation and moments later, seeing them run kino on the target.

Later on the night, Shark, and I went upstairs and saw a 3-set (HB6s).

Shark: Hey man. You should open them.
stealth: Yeah..I think I will.

Then Snakebite joins us.
Snakebite: What's going on guys?
stealth: Check out the 3-set behind you. I'm going to open them.
Snakebite: Then do it.

The 3-set was about 6 steps away from us. As I was walking toward them, the whole room became white and everything went to slow motion. I was overwhelmed with AA and my heart was beating extremely fast. Man...these were the longest 6 steps of my life. When I finally got to the set, I attempted to open them with the two-part kiss opener.

stealth: Hey guys, I need a female opinion on something.
HBTarget: Sure what is it?
stealth: two-part kiss opener

At first I was so nervous that I must have stuttered and spoke too fast. But as I kept talking, the set was still listening to me and did not blow me out. My confidence was slowly increasing and I spoke slower and louder as I delivered the opener. I was feeling good. After I delivered the opener, Snakebite comes in and I introduced him to the set. Snakebite took over the conversation and did a very good job of setting a good vibe.

The next sequence of events is where I f****ed up the whole set. I ran the C vs. U smile routine on the target. The target then gets her friend's attention and asks me about her friend's smile. I told her she has a U shape smile.

Now this is where her friend gets freaked out.

HBObstacle: Oh my god, is this a pickup line? I've heard that before. Somebody told me that I had U-shape smile. This is a pickup line isn't it?

I was busted and I was in utter shock. I kept thinking ignore and plow. I wanted to run a different routing and just plow but she kept going on and on about the Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera smiles. Apparently, somebody did a good job of running that routine on her.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, the freaked out HBTarget then points to Snakebite and says she recognizes him and swears he talked to her before. Then she talks about being picked up and stuff.

I have to admit Snakebite did a very good job of diffusing the situation. I was very impressed and relieved to have him there. Eventually, the vibe was gone and we were blown out. Sorry Snakebite...my bad.

That was the only set I opened. It felt good to get blown out because I wanted to be desensitized to it. It was definitely a good learning experience. I walked around the bar looking for Passion and others to tell them about that set. Later on I couldn't find Passion or Snakebite and I was still suffering a huge dose of AA so Shark and I went home.

My next goals are to:
1. Being bold, open more. Also 3 sec rule - I think some more time and a few more successes will help out a lot here.2. Need to work on what to do if I get busted again.3. Learn to progress past A1 (openers).

I'd really appreciate any input here, I'm working on changing my rAFC status with every bit of energy I have. Thanks all,

-stealth

Welcome to my blog

I'm Stealth. A little about me. I'm in my late twenties and and I enjoy the following :

1. Watching TV.
2. Playing video games
3. Playing basketball
4. Traveling.
5. Cooking and Eating
6. Chasing tail. ;)
7. Learning about Pickup

As for pickup, I got into this thing from reading The Game back in summer of 2006. I've already met some great people from the Seattle lair and so far it's been great. I am still learning the MM method.

This blog will keep track of my crazy (or boring) adventures in life. Welcome, and have fun!