The Mandates Read Online Free Page A

You do not need the pressure of a gay cheerleading squad “rah-rahing” you on as you make your move. You are not Rocky. This isn’t about crowd pleasing.
    Cut your losses when it’s clear it’s going nowhere. Take Eric’s example as your paradigm; if, after the fourth house, “there ain’t nothing goin’ on but the rent,” quit stalking the poor guy and move on to greener pastures.
    Don’t use lines! To paraphrase advice my grandmother gave me, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up, use a tired, worn-out line on him, and remove all doubt.”
    Remember that the word desperation comes from an ancient Greek term that roughly translates to “you’ll never get laid.”
    Remember the first rule of business negotiations: be willing to walk away from the table. Nothing is ever as attractive to a man as a man who is interested and interesting without an agenda.
    The eyes have it! Once you make eye contact, you need to hold it for five seconds. Count it out in your head if this is really hard for you to do at first. But there’s no way you are going to pique a man’s interest by speedily averting your eyes as if you were caught cheating on an exam.
    When it comes to body language, imagine you are Baryshnikov without the leg warmers. Use body language to your best advantage by acting as if you are a dancer of the first order. Dancers put all their emotions, feelings, and desires into self-contained movement and body language. Every glance, posture, and gesture tells a story. So when confronted with the Antonio Sabato Jr. look-alike you want to meet, you decide if you want the story to be “I want you now, I will have you, and you will love it” or “I am a complete moron incapable of even cursory, nonshaking interaction, and by the way, I am probably this awkward in bed, too.” The attitude you choose is the one you’ll project.

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    ALWAYS GET THE CARD— DON’T GIVE THE CARD
    (Or: At Least Control Freaks Don’t Sit by the Phone Waiting)

    You meet a desirable guy and soon sense mutual attraction. You make it through enough introductory talk to realize he is someone you’d like to know better, but for whatever reason, one or both of you needs to end the conversation. At the point where it is time to exchange information, what do you do?
    There is always that awkward moment. Do you pull out a card and hand it over? Do you scribble your name on a matchbook with a pen borrowed from some bartender and slip it to your new friend before he leaves? At a party, do you write something provocative on a cocktail napkin and have it delivered by one of the caterers?
    It is always best in situations like these to get the card.
    Why? Three reasons:
    It gives you a sense of mystery. It shows interest in the other person, but it makes you seem more desirable, that you are in no rush to hand over information on yourself.
    You get the control. Were you a little buzzed at the time of the meeting? Want to decide hours later, after you have come to your senses, that Mr. Right was a martiniinduced mistake, not worth a follow-up? You can, as long as you haven’t given him license to find you via phone, fax, e-mail, and courier.
    No sitting by the phone! You don’t want to be, or even give off the perception of being, helplessly and passively waiting for anyone to call you.
    There are advantages to restraint. There are also advantages to control. It is a good tactic to be fresh out of cards when Mr. Obnoxious just won’t leave the party until he gets something, anything, with your handwriting or contact information on it. But when you are the one who wants Mr. Right’s telephone number, don’t put yourself in the position of waiting to be called by giving out your card.
    This means that you will be the one doing the asking. Once you achieve your goal and get his card, it really doesn’t matter if you give