homeward bound

that feelings beginning to sink in-- the one where im beginning to miss some old faces and the company of others. with my final on thursday, im eagerly ready to go home.

poor decision making resulted in a few regrets, specifically the lame excuses i came up with not to go to berkeley this past weekend. not that i didnt have fun. its been awhile since ive seen the berkeley folk and with davis only being 45 minutes away i pretty much squandered the opportunity i had here. and now im about to go home; hopefully theyll return to fresno soon. well i have no other choice anyway since i have a promise to fulfill for someone back home regarding returning here.

in dire need to return to my roots.

ill admit it, since summer school started ive been reading some of The Art of Seduction. sounds ridiculous doesnt it. and it was at first. a lot of it was self contradicting and sounded like itd been drafted by someone who graduated from the newspaper horoscope writing school. but the historical examples it opens each chapter up with make the book seem more like The Way People Work. if utilized properly, one could easily find this book as an indispensible social tool. sure that sounds really bad. how about some positive connotation then: its like putting on those hyped x-ray goggles you see advertised in old comic books, but this time they can really work. i seriously feel like my eyes have opened up a little bit wider and that i can read through some peoples motivations and behavior patterns. it teaches how to properly take advantage of the situation when it arises, and how to counter someone trying to turn the table. i have yet to "experiment". not that im going to drastically change my behavior. i think im just going to be a little be a little less naive in general now. when im reading this book i feel like im taking a crash course on persuasion from Catherine in East of Eden. a nice bonus is the schpiel at the end of every chapter on how politicians can utilize the lesson directly. this in itself is pretty neat if you want to understand some of the logic that can go on in a politicians mind. makes me wonder if law schools mandate this book along with poker strategy books.

heres a little excerpt, now you can all officially call me crazy:

"Anti-Seducers

The Suffocator:Suffocators fall in love with you before you are even half-aware of their existence... They cling to you until you are forced to pull back, whereupon they smother you with guilt...To be so admired may give a momentary boost to your ego, but deep inside you sense that their intense emotions are not related to anything you have done.

The Moralizer:...These are the people who follow fixed ideas and try to make you bend to their standards. They want to change you, to make you a better person, so they endlessly criticize and judge-- that is their pleasure in life.

The Bumbler. Bumblers are self-conscious, and their self-consciousness heigtens your own...Their worry is usually contagious: soon you are worrying too, about yourself."

pg.134-5