Bad stratgey

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.

My aim is true

Picked up Elvis Costello's first album, My Aim is True, today at HMV. I have this on cassette, but rarely ever play those anymore.

I love this album though. It may well be one of my 10 favorites. Gotta love any album with a song like Mystery Dance that has the chorus:

Why don't you tell me 'bout the mystery dance.
I wanna know about the mystery dance.
Why don't you show me,
'cause I've tried and I've tried,
and I'm still mystified
I can't do anymore and I'm not satisfied.

Quote of the Day

Work beats talent unless talent works.
Ted Barton, Skate Canada, in an interview on Sounds like Canada

"Passion lives here"

If you watched the Olympics over the last couple of weeks, like I did, then you likely didn't get much else done. But you also likely saw the phrase "Passion lives here" all over the Olympic venues - including on the podiums.

That's not a translation from the Italian. "Passion lives here" - three English words - were all over the Olympics in northern Italy. I'm not sure why it wasn't Italian. I know the announcements at the Games were done in Italian, French and English.

I know that there were be a big hoo-hah in Canada if Vancouver has only "Passion lives here" or any other English words splayed over their Olympic venues. Because there has to be French there also. In fact, what was done in Turin would likely be illegal in Quebec because of the language laws there.

C'est la vie.

Olympics are over

Well, the Olympics are effectively over for Canada, as the men's hockey lost in the quarter finals to Russia. No need to do any hand wringing about that here.

Now Canadians can just move on to other parts of their lives, and ignore the rest of the Olympics, because Canadians don't care about sports.

Hockey is an exception to Canadians general sports attitude, but it's not that much of an exception.

Question for the Great One

Mr. Gretzky, you gambled on selecting this team of players for the Olympics, and they haven't scored a goal in over two games. What do you wager are their chances now to win gold?

Questions du jour

When did I last receive a Valentine?

When did l last send a Valentine?

I remember there were Valentine exchanges in elementary school. One year - grade 1? 2? - I gave Valentines to everyone in class but didn't sign those I gave to the girls, and a couple of guys that I wasn't that fond of.

No one figured out it was me who did that. And I recall being surprised that no one could figure out it was me who sent the anonymous cards. I thought it was obvious, and you'd have to be stupid not to figure it out.

Ahhhhh, egocentrism.