I've recently read "Self made man" by Norah Vincent, who dresses up as a man to investigate what it's like to be a guy (in the US). She, or rather Ned her alterego, goes to various male only places to see what men do when the womenfolk aren't around.
One of the interesting bits was her going on dates. One of the things of interest to me was that apparently you have to express interest - somehow, in some way - in a woman immediately upon meeting them, or perhaps at least during that initial encounter. No let's wait and see what the person is like the next time or two kind of attitude is going to work apparently.
Some women friends have confirmed that this is the way it works, or the way they generally feel about encounters with men. The sad thing for me is that second strategy has generally been my modus operandi. This may explain a few things.
It makes me think that the right strategy (read best-strategey-to-produce-optimal-yield) is to express interest in every woman you meet and then figure out if you are really interested in them later. But that seems so insincere, and maybe that's why I've never had that attitude, because sincerity is very imporant to me.
Standard joke about sincerity: sincerity is the key to acting; once you can fake sincerity, you've got it made.
