• Trimming my armpit hair. I’ve read that the odor comes from bacteria on the hair, but taking it off only marginally helped.
• Aluminum based deodorants. I sweat so profusely that the aluminum barely puts a dent on the river-like flow.
• Deodorant stones. Two applications a day definitely helped, but the odor stubbornly remained.
• Direct application of 70-90% isopropyl alcohol. I got this idea from working in a laboratory where we used alcohol as a sterilizer. If I washed my armpits twice a day and sprayed afterwards, the smell was greatly reduced, but it was too labor intensive.

I normally shower at night so thankfully I don’t put out an odor during my night-time approach sessions, but by the following afternoon I reek. Sometimes I’m lucky to have 6-8 solid hours of smelling okay until the odor returns.

One day I was searching through natural remedies for a sinus infection on a site called Earth Clinic. I browsed around the ailments page and noticed body odor. Their top solution was baking soda. I figured it’d be worth a try.

I went to the grocery store (I was in Copenhagen at the time), and paid $1.50 for a small container. That night I showered, dipped two wet fingers in the baking soda, and rubbed it into my pits. I figured that it would take a few days to see a noticeable effect, like was the case with the deodorant stone.

The next afternoon I stuck my nose under each arm and couldn’t pick out a smell. Later that night, a full 24 hours after initial application (at a time when I would be a biohazard), there was absolutely no smell. For the two months I’ve been putting baking soda in my pits I’ve forgotten how it’s like to have odor. I repeat, I am no longer odorous.

For a minute I wondered if my armpit odor was a key to my sexual success. Was my odor releasing arousing pheromones in the environment? Would I get laid less if I smelled nice? This has not turned out to be the case. I’m ready to conclude that body odor is not an attractant, and if it’s something that chips at your confidence like it did to mine, you’d be best served getting rid of it.

For many years I stuck with commercial chemicals that didn’t work and merely masked the odor, so I’m amazed that such a common household product has the potential to wipe out the world’s body odor problem (other guys on my forum also can’t believe it works). I’m so excited at this development that I’ve become a baking soda evangelist. I’ll tell anyone who wants to listen how to be odor-free and proud.

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My second trip to South America lasted 13 months, and during that time I traveled with a duffel bag of about 40 books (many were Spanish and Portuguese learning materials). While it was a pain to carry around, I was able to keep up my reading while on the road. I didn’t want to deal with the duffel bag system for my current European fuck tour, so when the Kindle reduced in price to $139, I decided to try it out. The duffel bag was replaced with this:

I’m one of those “I like the feel of paper” guys. Nothing can take away from the sight of real ink printed on real paper. That took about one week to get over. Due to the dim background, reading on the Kindle is actually easier on the eyes than reading on white paper, and not at all like reading on a regular computer screen. I noticed that not only was I reading faster but my sessions were longer. Since I’ve written five installments of book reviews here on the blog, I can actually calculate my reading speed in four separate periods.

August 2007 – March 2009: 1.1 books/month
March 2009 – May 2010 (Duffel bag period): 1.3 books/month
May 2010 – December 2010: 1.1 books/month
December 2010 – February 2011 (Kindle period): 5 books/month

From August ’07 to December ’10, my reading pace was 1.2 books per month. After getting a Kindle, that jumped over four times to 5 books/month. I know that the Kindle sample size is small, but even if it settles to a mere 2.4 books a month that is double my normal pace.

The kicker is that the latest batch included a couple of paperbacks. I’d go slow on those, then knock out a Kindle book in under five days, something I rarely do to dead-tree versions. I found myself planted in front of it for marathon sessions, with a result that I stopped watching movies (goodbye Netflix Instant subscription). What the Kindle did for me was make reading a book more enjoyable than on paper.

There are a few drawbacks, though, which are worth noting:

1. Reading PDFs can be a pain because either the typeface is too big or too small (it’s only bearable if you rotate the type orientation by 90 degrees). Instead of dealing with that I let Amazon’s email service convert the book to the .azw format, but some formatting is lost.

2. You can’t easily flip back to an earlier section. To do so you have to bookmark your current page, find the earlier page, then go back to your bookmarks screen and click around to your current place in the book. While the Kindle remembers where you last left off after turning off the device or going to the home screen, it offers no easy solution to quickly refer to other passages.

3. Books heavy in images aren’t suited for the Kindle. I tried to read Jay Z’s Decoded but the formatting was so bad I eventually requested a refund. Charts and tables usually show up fine, but it all depends on how much care the publisher put into their Kindle format.

4. No epub format support (sometimes you’ll find a depository of free older books that are in the epub format). In that case I use the bulky program Calibre to convert to mobi format, which is readable by the Kindle.

5. You accumulate books there’s no hope for you to read and feel overwhelmed with so many choices. This isn’t entirely a bad problem, but with a Kindle I really feel like I’ll never be able to “catch up.”

Recently I read a review where a user said it “re-kindled” their love of reading. As corny as that sounds, that is what the Kindle does. Whatever pace you read at now, you’ll read more with a Kindle. Don’t buy the device to save money because you’ll be spending more on books than you ever have.

Here’s a little in-home demonstration:

With my own positive experience using it, I’m hitching my wagon to the Kindle. Call me a fanboy but I believe e-reader devices are the future of books. While no one is predicting a 100% market penetration with e-readers (people still do buy CDs after all), it will shrink the paper book market. Book stores and publishers must adapt to this change to stay relevant, yet I’m skeptical they’ll let go of their existing model (I still see Kindle versions that are more expensive than the paperback edition). Guys like Joe Konrath show that the publishing houses are especially in for a world of hurt.

Here are recent Kindle sales of my books:

They went from nothing to nearly 200 copies after just eight months (it’s on pace to pass that for March). To put things in perspective, it took me 26 months after publishing Bang to sell over 200 copies/month for both ebook and paperback. Even though only a tiny minority of book readers own a Kindle, they read so many books that just a minor uptick in Kindle sales will move a large volume of copies. So while the Kindle sales rank for Bang has remained steady (around 9,000), each month I’m selling more because of all those new Kindles. Therefore in a year or two that modest rank of 9,000 can translate to something like 20-30 book sales a day. You won’t need to be famous or published to earn a fair income that enables you to write more books.

As for which version to buy, I have the wifi-only version (unless you don’t have wifi at home I see no point in paying extra for the 3G version). Even when I return to the States I can’t imagine putting away my Kindle and going back to paper. If I had a choice of paying a couple dollars extra to read it on the Kindle than to have the paperback, I’d go with the Kindle version, which I can easily slip into my jacket pocket to read anywhere. As you can see, I’ve become quite a Kindle groupie, and believe that within ten years they’ll be more people reading on them than on paper.

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Well I have some good news: I am offering to anonymously mail the following postcard on behalf of one lucky reader to anyone in the world…

Icelandic flag

The winner can tell me the words to write on the postcard or give me a general idea of what he’s trying to accomplish. Yes, an author of books (me) will write your postcard. I’m also able to write in foreign languages (specifically Spanish and Portuguese). My handwriting is legible and rather handsome, so rest assured your message will be deciphered.

Your postcard will be mailed with an Icelandic stamp from Reykjavik, capital city of a tiny little country that is barely noticeable on a world map. Your target will have no idea that it was you who is responsible for the postcard, unless you want them to be. If you’re an international player, feel free to use this as an opportunity to confirm an alibi that you went to Iceland to hike on glaciers instead of the Soviet Union to visit your mistress. The only guideline is no death threats or anything else that may get me in trouble with Icelandic authorities.

The Contest:

The person with the correct answer to the following question gains control of the anonymous postcard.

How many days in Iceland did it take for me to get my Icelandic flag? I arrived on January 12, so if you think I got the flag on January 31, that would be day 19.

Tiebreaker Question: How many minutes did it take from meeting the girl to demolishing her vagina? It was a one-night stand.

Put your answers in the comments field below.

Hints:

1. Look at a calendar for days that a one-night stand would typically occur.
2. Put some thought into the tiebreaker question, since it will likely come down to that.

Rules:

1. Leave your email address in your response so that I can contact you if you win.
2. Only one guess per email and IP address.
3. I will accept answers until Monday at 9pm (eastern standard time). Check back at this post after that time to see the winner.

We Have A Winner!

I got the flag on day 10. Three guys got it right:

• Spank (201 minutes)
• Docsedated (240 minutes)
• Anonymous #50 (55 minutes)

The estimated time it took me from meet to bang was approximately 45-60 minutes. For the sake of the contest I decided the correct time was 60 minutes. Anonymous wins!

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Here are my ten favorite blog posts of 2010, with director commentary for each…

10. The Most Epic Email I Have Ever Received In My Life. I debated putting this email up because I knew that it would encourage my stalker even more (it did), but I just couldn’t resist sitting on something so incredibly hate-filled and awesome. If I ever write an autobiography, I’m going to open it with this email. I’d give it a title along the lines of “Game Works On Every Woman.”

9. The Totem Pole Of Race Attractiveness. After some eye-opening experiences in Brazil, I felt like it was my duty to inform you how you may want to account for your race when selecting which country to visit. Unfortunately not all men are seen as equal in the eyes of women, and being aware of that can maximize your poon pullability. That said, I’ve never selected a country based on how I think I’ll be received, and don’t think you should either unless you only have two weeks of vacation time a year.

8. 30 Types Of Pussy. I was originally going to post the pussy picture and write about my favorite pussy type, but I thought that would be lazy. Then I thought, How about if you write a description of each of the thirty pussies?! This post took the most amount of creative energy of anything else I’ve ever done, and I must’ve looked at the pussy image for over three hours, staring at the individual pussy types while patiently waiting until something popped in my brain. It was a frustrating experience, but I’m very satisfied with the result.

7. The Brazilian Movie Actress. I wanted to take a seemingly simple situation—”Guy meets girl in airport”— and turn it into a story, showing how complex an innocent meeting can be, especially when it’s happening between people of different backgrounds. This experience affected me, not necessarily because of the girl, but because it made me realize how difficult it is to meet someone you’re truly compatible with. Let’s say tomorrow you see a beautiful girl you like with the odds stacked wholly against you—what are you going to do about it? Make your attempt and hope for the best.

6. What’s Wrong With America. I had a lot of conversations with my Danish roommate about America, and wanted to piece them together so I’d have a place to send people when they ask me a question like, “Don’t you have pride for your country?” Obviously I’ve long since given up the idea of settling down in America. Now the problem is more about deciding where to expatiate.

5. The Future Of Game. Here I just wanted to share some game trends I think will firmly take hold. It is gloomy—I admit—and hopefully I’m wrong, but I still believe everything I wrote will indeed happen. As many guys have noted, it’s already happening.

4. The Medellin Diaries. When I went to Colombia, I started a daily journal to give me the option of developing another memoir. After a couple months I realized that my previous trip, which I wrote about in A Dead Bat In Paraguay, was special and unique. The newer trip would have resulted in a lesser book, so I stopped updating the journal and focused on doing Bang Colombia instead. A year later I opened up the journal and read through it for nostalgia’s sake, laughing at all the entries with Karl the Swede. I picked those out, added some more detail, and then called it The Medellin Diaries. It’s not so much a story but a little slice of two gringos living in Medellin.

3. The Bright Side Of Traveling. I originally planned one April Fools joke, but after spending some time in colonial Brazilian towns, I got the idea for a story about having sex with a sheep. I can’t say it was well-received, but it was one of my favorite posts of the year. I really tried to put myself in the story to make the sheep encounter as realistic as possible. I feel that I’ve captured the true essence of interspecies sex.

2. Just Keep Going. I received the most positive feedback on this post than any other, and lots of guys tell me they go back to search for it when they hit a tough patch. I wrote it as I was settling in Rio, when I had to start all over yet again after spending a good amount of time in Colombia. I remember last New Years Eve when I went out alone to the beach of Copacabana with no friends and no girls, with not even a decent prospect I could look forward to. I approached that night in my all-white outfit, got nothing, and then forced myself to go out the night after, when I met a girl that helped turn the tide. I wrote this post as a way to remind myself that no matter how tough things get… just keep going.

1. The United States Of Broken Women. The idea for this post came about at the end of summer, when all the foreign girls left the city and all that was left were scraps. They were turning me off from women completely, so I wanted to share how I felt about them, especially before I left the country (I leave for Iceland in eight days). It took me about a month to finish it.

You can see my other posts for the year at the archives page.

I want to leave you with something motivational for the new year. It’s an excerpt from the NLP book Frogs Into Princes, which I first read almost ten years ago.

Carlos Castenada is a whacko with an Indian friend. There’s a section in book two or three in which Don Juan gives a piece of advice to Carlos. We would not give this piece of advice to any of you, but we will repeat it for whatever it’s worth.

You see, what Juan wanted to do to Carlos—which we wouldn’t of course, want to do to you—was to find some way of motivating him to be congruent and expressive in his behavior at all times, as creative as he could be as a human being. He wanted to mobilize his resources so that each act that Carlos performed would be a full representation of all the potential that was available to him—all the personal power that he had that was available to him at any moment in time.

Specifically what Juan told Carlos was “At any moment that you find yourself hesitating, or if at any moment you find yourself putting off until tomorrow trying some new piece of behavior that you could do today, or doing something you’ve done before, then all you need to do is glance over your left shoulder and there will be a fleeting shadow. That shadow represents your death, and at any moment it might step forward, place its hand on your shoulder and take you. So that the act that you are presently engaged in might be your very last act and therefore fully representative of you as your last act on this planet.”

One of the ways you can use this constructively is to understand that it is indulgent to hesitate. When you hesitate, you are acting as though you are immortal. And you, ladies and gentlemen, are not. You don’t even know the place and the hour of your death.

And so one thing you can do… to remind yourself not to bother to hesitate… is to just suddenly glance over your left shoulder and remember that death is standing there, and make death your advisor. He or she will always tell you to do something representative of your full potential as a person. You can afford no less.

Happy New Year.

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One night I popped into the living room to see him watching television with a rolled-up piece of paper in his hand. It was cream-colored and a bit large, like a small poster. I asked him what he was doing.

“Nothing, just watching T.V.”

“Cool,” I said.

My 14-year-old brother was on the couch with his laptop. I’m pretty sure he surfs porn on it, but I have no proof, and don’t actually care. As long as he’s not gay.

I started to leave the room when I thought, “Wait, where did the little guy get a poster?” I turned back around.

“What are you playing with?” I asked him.

“I don’t know it’s nothing. I found it downstairs.” He was putting it on his mouth like it was a blow horn, and using it to knock down his Hot Wheel cars from the coffee table. The edges were slightly crumpled.

“Mind if I take a look?”

“Okay but I want it back. It’s mine because I found it first.”

I grabbed the rolled-up paper. It was of thick stock, and didn’t have a glossy coating that most posters have. I slowly opened it up and saw my name spelled out in a calligraphy font. It can’t be. Right below my name were the words “Bachelors of Science” and then “Microbiology.” It was my college diploma.

I flashed a dirty look to my other brother. “You idiot while you were digging for books you must have left my diploma out. Now it has drool on it, thanks.”

He started laughing and said, “That’s so funny!” I gave him a stone-faced stare and then he made a conscious effort to hold back his laughter. “Hey it wasn’t my fault! You know him—he touches everything!”

“Can I have it back now?” the little guy said.

“No you cannot have it back. This is not a toy, this is my college diploma. I spent four years and twenty thousand dollars to get this.”

“What is a diplomo?”

“A diploma is something you get because your parents tell you that’s what you should do, and then you wake up one day and realize that you change your mind and…” I trailed off when I saw him furrowing his brows. I pride myself on always being honest to my little brothers, but I don’t want to confuse them with my existential speeches. “It’s just something that says you finished a lot of school and can now get a job.”

My dad came into the room to see what the commotion was. I told him the story and he scolded the little guy until his upper lip started trembling, a sign that he’s about to cry. I looked at my dad and said, “Pops, it’s really okay. It’s not like I’m going to use it again anyway.”

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I recently saw a bus ad for Iceland Air. It said something about being a layover for other European sites. Your question made me think of that bus billboard.

I picked Iceland for one main reason: it’s the polar opposite of my South American experience. Everything about it is different: climate, culture, food, language, and women. Yes, I know that it doesn’t have the prettiest Scandinavian girls compared to Sweden or Finland. I know the people are “weird,” and I know it’s going to be cold with only four hours of sunlight a day, but I’m not looking for a vacation. I want an interesting experience, and as the only tourist dumb/smart enough to go to Iceland in winter, I have a feeling I’ll get it. (As for the weather, it’s just a little colder than Washington DC’s winter.)

My plan is to stay there for a month before moving on to the European mainland. Here’s a list of countries I’m most interested in (as of today):

• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• Hungary
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Romania
• Russia
• Sweden
• Ukraine

I’m going to narrow this list down by at least half so that I’m spending more time in fewer countries—I have little interest in racking up more than a handful of countries and flags. Instead I want to dig deep with these new countries like I did in Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia, and that’s hard to do that while backpacking in hostels. In fact, I’ve ditched the backpack—I bought a huge piece of luggage with wheels to hold both summer and winter clothing. My former Danish roommate said Scandinavian guys have ten times more style than American guys so I’ll need the extra space to pack a collared shirt or two.

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2. “Don’t you see that a man’s whole personality is bound up with his income? His personality is his income. How can you be attractive to a girl when you’ve got not money? You can’t wear decent clothes, you can’t take her out to dinner or to the theatre or away for weekends, you can’t carry a cheery, interesting atmosphere with you. And it’s rot to say that kind of thing doesn’t matter. It does.”
—Keep The Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell

3. “I am afriad that women appreciate cruelty, downright cruelty, more than anything else. They have wonderfully primitive instincts. We have emancipated them, but they remain slaves looking for their masters, all the same. They love being dominated.”
—The Picture Of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

4. “The curious little talent that I happen to possess—the ability to hypnotize a woman with words—very seldom lets me down. It is not, of course, done only with words. The words themselves, the innocuous, superficial words, are spoken only by the mouth, whereas the real message, the improper and exciting promise, comes from all the limbs and organs of the body, and is transmitted through the eyes. More than that I cannot honestly tell you about how it is done. The point is that it works. It works like cantharides. I believe that I could sit down opposite the Pope’s wife, if he had one, and within fifteen minutes, were I to try hard enough, she would be leaning toward me over the table with her lips apart and her eyes glazed with desire. It is a minor talent, not a great one, but I am nonetheless thankful to have had it bestowed upon me, and I have done my best at all times to see that it has not been wasted.”
—The Visitor by Roald Dahl

5. “At the time, I often thought that if I had had to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but look up at the sky flowering overhead, little by little I would have gotten used to it. I would have waited for birds to fly by or clouds to mingle, just as here I waited to see my lawyer’s ties and just as, in another world, I used to wait patiently until Saturday to hold Marie’s body in my arms. Now, as I think back on it, I wasn’t in a hollow tree trunk. There were others worse off than me. Anyway, it is one of Maman’s ideas, and she often repeated it, that after a while you could get used to anything.”
—The Stranger by Albert Camus

6. “Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish. And yet it also pleases me and seems right that what is of value and wisdom to one man seems nonsense to another.”
—Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

7. “It happens quite easily that he only sees the thing that he is seeking; that he is unable to find anything, unable to absorb anything, because he is only thinking of the thing he is seeking, because he has a goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal.”
—Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

8. “I am, as you may have gathered, a fairly resilient fellow. I explode when provoked, but I never brood about it afterwards. I scrub it out. There’s always another day. What’s more, nothing stimulates my mind so much as a whopping disaster. In the aftermath, in that period of deadly calm and absolute silence that follows the tempest, my brain becomes exceedingly active. As I sat drinking my whiskey during that terrible evening amidst the ruins, I was already beginning to ponder and plan my future all over again.”
—My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl

9. “Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like an Alp on the brains of the living.”
—Karl Marx

10. “The only way a woman can ever reform a man is by boring him so completely that he loses all possible interest in life.”
—The Picture Of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

11. “And beneath his pessimism, his bleak conviction that all the machinery was rigged against him, at the bottom of his soul was a faith that he was going to outwit it, that by carefully watching the signs he was going to know when to dodge and be spared. It was fatalism with a loophole, and all you had to do to make it work was never miss a sign. Survival by coordination, as it were. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to those who can see it coming and jump aside. Like a frog evading a shillelagh in a midnight marsh.”
—The Rum Diaries by Hunter S. Thompson

12. “Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.”
—The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

13. “Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there. It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.”
—Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

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I recently saw Broken English, a movie centered around an American woman named Nora who is panicking because she’s in her 30′s and has no hope of finding a man. Even though her best friend is extremely unhappy in her relationship, Nora becomes desperate to settle down. (Fittingly, she had a chance at her friend’s man years ago but passed on him). Written by a woman, the movie nails a lot of the American female qualities which I have been beating here to death lately:

-plain clothing
-not sexy
-oversized sunglasses
-anxious
-overly logical
-not well-traveled
-slutty but unaffectionate
-neurotic and jittery
-snarky
-doped up on pharmaceuticals
-unable to control alcohol consumption
-distorted view of the relationship between sex and attraction

Nora reminds me of about 20 girls I’ve dated. She’s played by Parker Posey, your stereotypical pretty American girl (before the obesity epidemic). She’s reasonably cute, someone who you wouldn’t be ashamed walking down the street with. Wrinkles are starting to show on her face, but most men would sleep with her if given the chance (I would). With the right hairstyle and outfit she could be classified as extremely attractive.

As she wonders “What happened?” to the past ten years of her life, so does the viewer. How many guys did she pass on while in her physical prime? How many “actors” did she date until she realized they were no good for her? Why didn’t she take her mother’s advice sooner, who was at least successful enough in love to bear her? The movie doesn’t explore her past, just her current dating mishaps of getting pumped and dumped and going out with a man who has serious baggage. She becomes bitter and jaded, closing off her mind to potential suitors.

Approaching the depths of loneliness, she reluctantly attends a party thrown by a coworker. There she meets an artistic Frenchman who has classic direct game more common with his Spanish and Italian counterparts. American women are taken off-guard by this game at first (Nora calls his approach “intense”), but commonly break down to the persistent charm and affections of these men. (Sorry, a European accent or some otherwise exotic quality is needed to run this particular style of game. Trevor with the striped shirt would be laughed out the bar if he went around telling girls he wanted to kiss them.)

The Frenchman’s direct game is world class, and it doesn’t take him long to dismantle her bitter shield and get right down to business. We would expect a pump and dump in this case, but no—he’s smitten and spontaneously asks her to return to France with him. She says that she can’t because of her oh-so-important event planner job, among other logistical reasons, but we know it’s because she’s deathly afraid of being disappointed yet again.

The film falls apart after that, which is probably why you’ve never heard of it before. It could have been the spinster manifesto up there with Sex and the City, but instead gets tossed into the indie yarn stack behind Chasing Amy. Nonetheless, if you like my blog, you’ll like the movie. The game performance by the Frenchman is alone worth a viewing (note his body language, his devastating use of silence, and his tonality). Completely ignore the fact that in real life a handsome Frenchman wouldn’t fall for an aging spinster who, frankly, was a bitch to him for most of their time together, and enjoy a pretty accurate take on American hook-up culture from a woman’s perspective. It makes me almost feel bad for them.

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For my second trip to South America I put 30 books in a duffel bag. One of them was The Essential Epicurus, a collection of works by the Greek philosopher. From Epicurus.net:

Epicurus (341–270 B.C.) founded one of the major philosophies of ancient Greece, helping to lay the intellectual foundations for modern science and for secular individualism. Many aspects of his thought are still highly relevant some twenty-three centuries after they were first taught in his school in Athens, called “the Garden.”

Epicurus’s philosophy combines a physics based on an atomistic materialism with a rational hedonistic ethics that emphasizes moderation of desires and cultivation of friendships. His world-view is an optimistic one that stresses that philosophy can liberate one from fears of death and the supernatural, and can teach us how to find happiness in almost any situation. His practical insights into human psychology, as well as his science-friendly world-view, gives Epicureanism great contemporary significance as well as a venerable role in the intellectual development of Western Civilization.

While reading the book I’ll admit that I dozed off while going through his explanations on clouds…

Clouds may be produced and take shape as the result of the compression of air by the forcing together of winds and as the result of the interlacing of atoms that grip one another and are suitable to bringing about this result…

earthquakes…

Earthquakes may result both from the imprisonment of wind inside the earth, and from the earth’s shifting in small masses and its constant movement, which produces the quaking.

and falling stars…

What are called falling stars may be produced partly by the stars’ rubbing against each other and by the falling out of their fragments where a blast of wind occurs…

But I stuck in there and was rewarded in the end was very nice quotes that do provide a blueprint for living. Here are my favorites:

The man who alleges that he is not yet ready for philosophy or that the time for it has passed him by, is like the man who says that he is either too young or too old for happiness.

For there is nothing dreadful in life for the man who has truly comprehended that there is nothing terrible in not living.

Becoming accustomed, therefore, to simple and not luxurious fare is productive of health and makes humankind resolved to perform the necessary business of life.

[The wise man] thinks that it is preferable to remain prudent and suffer ill fortune than to enjoy good luck while acting foolishly.

No pleasure is evil in itself; but the means of obtaining some pleasures bring in theire wake troubles many times greater than the pleasures.

If every pleasure were [maximized] and existed for a long time throughout the entire organism of its most important parts, pleasures would never differ from one another.

Of all the things that wisdom provides for living one’s entire life in happiness, the greatest by far is the possession of friendship.

We do not need the help of our friends so much as the confidence that our friends will help us.

Speaking frankly, I would prefer, when discoursing on nature, to utter useful things, like oracles, to humankind, even if no one should understand them, than to agree with popular opinion and enjoy the constant accolades offered by the crowd.

Some men spend their whole life furnishing for themselves the things proper to life without relaizing that at our birth each of us was poured a mortal brew to drink.

The voice of the flesh cries, “Keep me from hunger, thirst, and cold!” The man who has these sureties and who expects he always will would rival even Zeus for happiness.

The wise man who has accustomed himself to the bare necessities knows how to give rather than to receive. So great is the treasure house of self-sufficiency he has discovered.

There is also a limit to frugality. The man unable to consider this suffers a similar end as the man who indulges in excess.

You ought to do nothing in your life that will make you afraid if it becomes known to your neighbor.

The following method of inquiry must be applied to every desire: What will happen to me if what I long for is accomplished? What will happen if it is not accomplished?

If the gods listened to the prayer of men, all human-kind would quickly perish since they constantly pray for many evils to befall one another.

No fool is satisfied with what he has, but instead grieves for what he does not possess.

He who is not satisfied with a little, is satisfied with nothing.

Know that what passes for good and evil among the throng if ephermeral, and that wisdom shares nothing in common with fortune.

Many men who acquire wealth do not find deliverance from evils but an exchange of their present evils for greater ones.

My take on his philosophy: peace of mind and confidence can only come from knowledge based on facts, and it’s the prudent application of knowledge that leads to a happy, social life where being poor but wise is preferable to being rich and lucky.

You can read his works for free at Epicurus.net.

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I talked to 3rd graders first and was very impressed with their zombie-like state. Even though they probably didn’t care about what I was saying, they appeared to be paying close attention. They stared at the front of the class while remaining completely still. They obediently raised their hands when I asked for participation, and no one spoke unless I called on them. They read questions from a worksheet given out by the teacher.

The environment was robbing them of creativity and spontaneous excitement. Whenever a kid got distracted and started doodling or going through things in his desk, the teacher interrupted me to snap at him. This happened even more in the 1st grade class because they were not fully “trained.” I felt bad for them. They were being ordered around like soldiers.

I have overcome the brainwashing of public schooling and my mom’s constant nagging to do what I’m doing today, which if you’re reading this on Sunday afternoon is riding an eight-hour bus.

In the next post I share my tips for making it through a day at the office.

Put your back to your cubicle entrance and practice falling asleep with one hand on the keyboard and the other on the mouse. (Make sure you have a work-related document open on the screen.) This is easy to do if you have a chair that has a high back. There are two things to watch out for: (1) Your screensaver may activate while you nap, and (2) Your hand may smash some keys, making people who pass by you wonder why you have a screen full of G’s. When someone knocks on the frame of your cubicle entrance, waking you up, they will confuse your tired haze with deep and creative thought.

I respect people who are doing what they can to make a living, but that office shit was unbearable to me.

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Here is a sampling of the topics I took notes on:

• The Four Noble Truths
• The Five Aggregates
• The Noble Eightfold Path
• Anatta (Concept of No Soul)
• Meditation
• Five Hindrances to Clear Understanding
• Seven Factors Of Enlightenment

Download my notes in a PDF file (the nested lists would take forever to format for the blog). I reread them myself every month.

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The first post is Womanly Advice. I offer reasons why you should never listen to a woman when it comes to getting laid.

When you ask a woman for advice, she doesn’t tell you what works in a world based on reality; instead, she tells you what would work in a perfect, harmonius world where attention is free and plentiful, where no one hurts each other and no one plays any games. She tells you what would work if no one got punished for expressing feelings and interest. She tells you advice that always seems to work in television and movies where the beta always gets the beautiful girl. (Not suprisingly, most mainstream movies are written by beta white guys.)

In the other post I lament about my failure to bed Russian Girls..

My Russian roommate, an expert on matters such as this, says the cold attitude of these non-Americanized Russians is not so much snobbiness as it is insecurity, “They are intimidated by Americans and don’t feel confident when having to talk in English.” It has to be cultural because I’ve spoken to many other girls where there was a language barrier and I didn’t get this feeling that hacking away at permafrost in Siberia would be more interesting.

Roissy was the most helpful with sharing tips in comments 23 and 32.

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The English idiom “I need to sleep on it” translates to “Tengo que consultarlo con la almohada.” If you translate that back to English it means, “I have to consult with the pillow.” It’s a great idiom.

I went to a street market to buy some lemons, which in Colombia are green like limes and share the same name. To clarify: both lemons and limes in Colombia are green, and they are both called lemons, but different types of lemons. Lemons are called limon and limes are called limon tahiti, suggesting that they are both members of the same family. If you ask a vendor for a lima, what most gringos think of as the Spanish word for lime, you won’t be understood.

American lemons are larger than limes, but in Colombia the lemons are smaller and look almost exactly like American limes.

Yet there’s more…

Oranges in Colombia are green, like American limes. Again, the oranges are green. They’re still called naranja, which is Spanish for orange. What really fucks with your head is cutting open a Colombian lemon or orange to see bright yellow or orange pulp inside a green shell.

Back to the story. At the market the vendor knew I was gringo and quoted me $0.75 for two green lemons, an outrageous sum. In my plain clothing I don’t understand how he pegged me for a very wealthy man.

I got him down to $0.50, then said, “Tengo que consultarlo con la almohada” and walked away. Score! The look on his face said, “Who the fuck is this interesting gringo?”

Down the street I found a place that sold me four lemons for $0.20. This short series of events worked out really great for me.

Or so I thought, because when I went home I actually bought limes. Now if I come across a recipe that calls for a lemon or lime, I look for another recipe.

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Since I brought some extra medium t-shirts with me to Colombia one of the first things I did when I arrived in Medellín was ask around for a gym. Sure I want to stay in shape but my goal is part vanity: I remember all the times that girls came up to you and started touching your body like it was a piece of meat and I wouldn’t mind that happening to me. Plus your recent post on gym game got me motivated.

Medellín has a chain of excellent gyms called Body Tech but the membership price is outrageous, something like $120 a month. My meathead dreams dashed, I decided to stick to my normal routine of pushups, pullups, and then a brisk run. (There is a childrens playground two blocks from my place where I can do pullups.)

I went to the stadium for my first run. Each lap around it is 0.44 miles (I measured it using Google Maps), so 7 laps got me to about 3 miles. Afterwards I started walking to the subway station when a shirtless man inside a park off the sidewalk caught my eye. He was doing bench presses. Curious, I walked closer and there it was—a free outdoor gym.

There were two jungle gym apparatuses in the middle for doing pull ups and four concrete benches for chest, two flat and two incline. There were parallel bars for dips and other bars for doing abs. The weights were not weights that you are used to but concrete blocks permanently attached to the bars. Plastic buckets were used as molding and in most cases they’re still attached to the concrete. There are no numbers on them so I have no idea how much they weigh (it’s a matter of feeling them out to see if it’s the proper weight). Most of the bars are long but a couple are shorter for doing bicep curls or chest flys.

I started working out immediately. Alongside me were five other guys who I wouldn’t want to be caught with in a dark alley at night. They had menacing looks and wouldn’t stop staring at my obvious gringo appearance, and I’m sure they wondered why I didn’t go to a real gym since I’m probably rich. Little do they know I’m in the same boat as them.

I’m so used to proper machines that besides the most basic exercises I didn’t know what to do. So I watched the guys, who were very creative with how to use the equipment. I didn’t know there were so many different ways of doing pull ups. You would probably laugh at their technique though—actually they had no technique because they’d do one set of something, then they do something completely different, and then something different. They were mixing chest and back exercises. But they were cut as fuck. Not really huge like you but extremely ripped. I copied them.

This past Sunday was my fourth visit.

The ground is dirt and since May is the rainiest month in Medellín there is mud in certain spots. There is no water fountain obviously but an old guy comes every half-hour to sell small bags of water for a quarter. During sporting events at the stadium a third of the gym doubles as a parking lot. One time I worked on the incline about four feet from a Peugot while this guy’s dog was rubbing up against my leg. Some of the lifting bars are bent and without soft padding I can see callouses develop in real time. It feels like working out in a prison gym. I’m out in the yard keeping my eye out for the the guy who wants shank me in the ribs. I haven’t been shanked but I have had my water bottle stolen twice.

When I do chest flys I have to breathe through my nose because when I tap the bars at the top dirt falls right down on my mouth. Have you done bench presses on a concrete bench before? It fucks up your clavicles. I have two red spots on my back that don’t seem to be going away. Nonetheless I feel like a man. I wish you were with me in this gym so you could feel more manlier than normal as well.

When I come back I’m going to be so strong that I will want to start fights in the bars with the nerds who accidentally bump into me. I’ll only do it when you’re right there though so you can get my back. Thanks bro.

Sincerely,

Roosh

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74.1% Learn new cultures
72.4% Sight-see
46.2% Meet exotic women or men
68.2% To de-compress, relax
80.2% To get away

Write-in responses:

I like going to horrible places like war zones or places like Auschwitz or Jonestown. I just returned from Sudan a few hours ago, for example. I still haven’t really come up with a good answer for when people ask me why.

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conversations and friendship with other travellers

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To find the meaning of life.

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There’s a quote by R.L. Stephenson, that sums up my travel philosophy perfectly: “For my part I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. The great affair is to move.” (something like that)

What is the most important thing you’ve learned in your life so far?

There were 430 write-ins. If yours isn’t here that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. Don’t be hurt.

I think the realization that most of what we’re told is rubbish. And by this I am referring to statements about things such as how things or people are in a certain place, what women want or value, what constitutes “responsible” behavior, what should make me happy (marriage, a mortgage, 2.5 kids, etc.), what sort of art we’re supposed to value, etc. I have to throw this one in as well: If you’re not happy with your life – change it. Fuck the critics that tell you that you’re making a mistake by walking away from a good job or a nice girl or a nice city. They’re not living your life and since I’m an atheist, I think you only get one. Do what makes you happy, not others happy. Be selfish.

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it’s possible to rewrite your life story.

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Sometimes, just acting like you have authority is enough. People respond when you seem like you’re in charge, whether or not you actually are.

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Where there is no desire there is no fear.

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The stuff you think is so important as a teenager/young adult really doesn’t matter at all in the real world after age 25.

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1) If you want it that bad you can probably get it, if you’re not trying then you don’t want it that bad. 2) You can make yourself sombody else if you’re willing to commit.

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Personality goes a lot farther than skill or intelligence.

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When you get pissed (drunk) in a New Country make sure you can make your way back to your bed, as sleeping in a hedge isn’t fun when it’s Cactus. also Camels & Arabs haven’t a much of a sense of humour

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The goal in life is to figure out what makes you happiest (e.g. what releases the most pleasure inducing chemicals in your brain most consistently and most sustainably) and then doing that as much as possible. No one can tell you what this will be, and this will likely change over long periods of time.

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The police will fuck you even if you have done nothing wrong… so hire a decent lawyer

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If you don’t choose how to live your life, others will choose for you

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Sex is easy. Especially since I am gay. Straight people have it so complicated, plus deal with the boobies. eww.

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1) Be thankful of the opportunities you have been given. I could have easily have been born in another country where I wouldn’t have had access to education or survived passed twenty five. Make the best of what has been given to you and never feel like you’re entitled to it. 2) Not to judge a person you don’t know. Everybody has reasons for what they do, just because you don’t know them doesn’t give you the right to pass judgement. 3) Lately, and with a lot of influence from yours and Roissy’s blogs I’ve learned that most girls are pretty stupid. I’m not sure how I feel about that right now, it’s great to know but I wish I feel like a dumbass for putting them on such a pedestal until now.

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Your life is yours alone, don’t spend it trying to make other people happy. If you’ve got a 9-5 occupation, that is considered making someone else happy.

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People who say they’re trying to “find themselves” are dipshits. What makes your character is what is outside you, wrought by your hands and words not inside you with mincing thoughts and empty words, and anyone who surrenders to some such excuse such as “it was my upbringing” or “it’s in my genes” isn’t strong enough to shape the clay of their lives. Oh Roosh, you really, really really need to read Zorba the Greek. I don’t know why I didn’t post that on the book thread.

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life is way too short, and people chase after the wrong things their whole life, i think your idea of not being married to a career and experiencing as many women as you can is the right track. on your death bed, you will probably only remember the women you have had, and who made your life better, not what you did at a cubicle for 45 years

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Fuck content, it’s all about style

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No woman will ever love me just for who I am or what I can do for her. I must be able to prove my value in a social context outside our relationship, preferably by making her jealous of my other options. In fact, each of the women I have loved has told me as she finally broke up with me that she would probably be attracted to me again if I would have an affair. But I don’t know how to have an affair, so I lost them.

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Nobody gives a shit about your problems.

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Never associate with people that have nothing going for them.

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The taint is the male g-spot.

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99.99% of people are sleep walking through life, and I don’t want to be one of them.

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The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.

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That it’s important to have male friends, and you should not let go of them.

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Contrary to what “society” said, doing well professionally isn’t the key to getting hot chicks

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You will always lose money chasing women but you’ll never lose women chasing money.

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Most of the little shit people get wound up about resolves itself if you give it time to do so.

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inflammable really means flammable!

Do you have any additional comments about how to improve my blog?

Not to improve the blog, but the question about soulmates was odd – why assume women believe in soulmates at all? I don’t, but am in a happy relationship, so I selected “already found him.” Would have been nice to have another option.

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You admit to, and others accuse you of, being a hater of women, in the line of your “Dark side” post. You seem to regard it inevitable. If you could transcend ,and grow a heart back, your readership would triple.

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Even though you are broke at the moment. More info on being successful and making money…

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It seems like your style has gone from naturally inflammatory to purposefully inflammatory. I’d say keep giving advice you’d actually take and quit trying to go extreme just to incense the haters – though it is pretty fucking funny occasionally.

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Your blog is drenched in ego and I think it makes for an entertaining read, plus it makes me not feel bad about occasionally hating you. The Roosh haters should just give up their cause because your blog wouldn’t be fun if you weren’t such a bastard.

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More pictures and videos that you take/make. Also really miss the great old MS Paint diagrams you used to make.

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DO NOT, under any circumstances, write more about politics or economics. Game, women and more game please.

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I think when you figure out what you’re doing with your life next, it will get better. I think you’re past the whole picking up chicks thing. You’re getting too old for it.

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Less endless rambling about pathetic beta men and how awesome alpha men are. It gets old after a while.

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Yes, I think you banned me for awhile (linked me to some spanish youtube video) because I made a comment dissing your worldview. Stop being such a pussy and let the haters like myself make our stance heard. You don’t need to read it or take it to heart, but show some balls and stop looking for all your comments to be that of adulation.

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No. You’ve been doing this long enough that it can’t be expected to get any better. Most blogs reach full potential quite early, and after that it’s only a matter of whether the writer can be bothered to keep doing it. I would be satisfied to see you maintain your current standard.

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Your writing is amazing. Self-deprecating, hilarious, and insightful. Your videos, generally, have not been as impressive. Your “how to blog” video is great, but I think it’s because it’s the only video you had that was semi-scripted beforehand. What the fuck is wrong with you? Based on your content and your ability to write, you should be in the thousands of RSS readers. You should have a huge following, but you don’t. Are you just an awful marketer? Why don’t you get word about your blog a bit more? Your writing should appeal to about 90% of all young males, but somehow, no one knows about you. Start marketing yourself.

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i like the comparison of different cultures like the argentine vs brazilian girls…i started dating brazilian girls because of you, am learning portuguese, and plan on going to brazil in the next year. best advice i’ve ever gotten, thanks, roosh

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Two approaches, go personal or go polemic/personal I hate polemics but as you can tell it has been good for Roissy’s numbers. You have flirted with both of those extremes, personal stuff about you, your life and stuff and polemics about the male/female dynamics/politics/econ. But I imagine it must suck to have people think they know you from reading about you. Whatever you decide to do, I think that people respond not just to ideas but to the personal stuffbehind the idea. The best of the idiot box tv, radio, or writing has elements of the personal. The power of your ideas may capture people but they stay for the personality – the man underneath the idea. Whether you go travel and chicks or vision quest in Ethiopia for orphans and chicks or your libertarian strain and chicks, the story you are telling is of a guy making his way in the world, his way. I read you because although I disagree on econ and politics and probably many aspects of life, I think there is something interesting in your story. I like that you are working it out while we watch. And I get to relive my youth reading about your exploits so keep that stuff up too.

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I feel like you hold back a lot of experiences that we could all learn from. And I would like to hear more of your opinions about current events, but your real opinions and not just BS as if your trying to get a rise out of people. But I’ll read the blog either way, I’m a fan and I appreciate your work.

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You seem to have a very negative and detrimental outlook on life. But its funny to read.

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I’ve read your blog for a while now. I think the blog is beginning to bore you. Your posts are shorter and less frequent. I realize you’re writing a book, the newsletter etc. This is an outsider opinion, so I could be totally off base, but I’d take a little time off. My favorite ‘era’ of this blog was around the time when you and BigHeadDC used to feud. Your victory was swift and complete. Something’s different between then and now. It’s still a go-to blog for me and I enjoy it very much. Lastly, I want to reiterate how much Bang has helped me. Thank you.

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topics lately are boring, miss the DCbachelor days. More interested in travel and getting laid. Also looking forward to another book.

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Please, I beg you – no more wikipedia based economic theories. As an economist, they are both obvious, and painful to get through.

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Not only do I love your blog, I’ve recommended it to several friends, both male and female. My single female friends NEED your blog, so they can understand the alpha male mind. Conversely, many of my male friends are betas, and they are the ones who read you, yet despise you and disagree with you. They continue to retain the false hope that there’s a woman out there who appreciates a sensitive guy. My man’s an alpha, btw. He’s you, 10 years ago.

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I’m really tired of all the women / bang posts. I think you should be beyond that as a person and a writer. It’s just a pussy, get over it. Of course I understand if that what 80 percent of your writers are interested in reading…but again, I think it’s a waste of you mental energy and creativity and time.

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In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play (Nietzsche). I think there was a more personable aspect to your original blog dcbachelor that you’ve drifted away from. In a sense I got the impression you thought the end game was more feasable then, but at this stage, in this reality, and from what you have seen and experienced, you’re somewhat pessimistic in your view of women and finding an ideal partner in what has become a sea of filth. I agree with you on the instant gratification, the cynicism, the fickle mentality, the selfish and illogical behavior. All this energy invested for a fuck…and as you said…it’s just wasted time. At the same time one must move forward in life, that was then, this is now…you must evolve, not remain stagnant so take the blog in the direction you want. I guess at the least you should bring back the stick figure cartoons….those were classic and added some fun imagery to go with the content.

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I know you’re getting tired of blogging, but I’d love to see more consistent posting again. Daily might be too much, but just regular, maybe set certain days of the week. Otherwise, keep doing what you’re doing – I very much appreciate it.

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the best thing you could do to improve this blog is to not take any of your fucking retarded readers’ advice. if any of us had any good ideas for a blog, you would be reading our blog, not the other way around. keep it up

It was fun reading the suggestions from people who don’t normally comment on the blog. The only thing that I will probably change is to promote my book a little more. Only 30% of my readers buying my book seems pretty low.

P.S. I'm huge on Twitter, with over 1 billion followers. Click here to check out my feed.

30.4% Yes
69.6% No

I don’t believe my blog is an untapped market for my book.

FOR THOSE WHO READ BANG. Do you think Bang was worth the money you spent on it?

92.2% Yes
7.8% No

FOR THOSE WHO READ BANG. Have you tried any techniques or lines from Bang?

77.0% Yes
23.0% No

FOR THOSE WHO READ BANG. In your mind, what do you think is holding you back from being more successful with women? Check all that apply.

15.1% My appearance
19.6% My personality
14.5% Another one of my personal attributes
12.3% Money
33.5% My current situation (e.g. where I live)
55.3% Fear or lack of confidence
70.4% Laziness
25.1% Free, high-quality porn

I’m pretty shocked by the laziness number, which I’m sure goes hand-in-hand with the high-quality porn option.

Some write-in comments:

More material on day game is requested. my voice is relatively soft and less captivating, so I have much less presence than people with worse game, humor, etc. I also have a more witty cheeky type of humor, that may escape the grasp of some girls. Information on ditz game, or how to make one’s humor better understood would be appreciated. sometimes it’s a language barrier thing, sometimes it’s not. eg when asked where I’m from, sometimes I’ll say, “Los Angeles, I’m kind of shallow and superficial.” btw, you have an excellent deadpan in your video.

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Lack of quality women. Getting revved up about a simple bang just doesn’t seem as big a deal when I generally get dissatisfied with the chic after a few dates anyway.

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I find most women to be tiresome, dull, and basically empty shells of what used to be a human being. After one realizes he can sleep with basically anyone he wants, he tends to find better shit to do. When I work a girl now it’s because she has substance, and merits my attention. Otherwise it’s alot of work for a pussy assisted jerk. Fuck that.

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Living in Southern California and having not grown up here. DC is so the minor leagues. I get laid almost every time I visit my family. There is zero competition from lawyers, consultants, and programmers. SoCol has lots of competent naturals and a premuim is placed on physical attractiveness. In essence the competition starts at a much higher level. Similar to the shock you felt when you went to Argentina. At the end of the day you have to work twice as hard but if you go on some business trip to Cleveland you know you have the battle tested skills to bang 3 random in 10 hours.

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Feelings of shame and inhibition from a Catholic upbringing.

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I am one of your best friends inSOMnia

Thanks Insomnia.

FOR THOSE WHO READ BANG. Do you have any other comments about Bang?

A dozen comments about day game. I get it!

Bang is dope. I like most the straightforward way you differentiate between alpha and beta males. And between confident and non-confident people. The line that resonates with me is the one that goes.. “confident people dive into situations that are critical to their goals, regardless of their perceived chance of failure”. Nice work.

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I loved how it made me feel like you were taking the journey from beta to alpha with the reader. You didn’t come off as some pretentious douche.

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Far too short.

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I think it was a great book on the fundamentals on game. Just to give you background, I’m a beginner/intermediate player- I can get laid with moderate frequency, but still not on command with whom I want or with consistency every night I go out. I think the only way to improve ony our book would be to go in depth on certain areas- as an Expat in Asia (I’m also Asian), I’d be interested to hear your stories and how you had to adjust your game while overseas, something I think you have a fair amount of experience in.

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Great book. Lots of useful information. I always use the XXXXXX technique now to guarantee getting in.

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I tried the strawberry story, it’s good stuff. Unrelated to Bang, The cost per notch analysis is a great idea.

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I bought your book for two reasons: – I saw in your blog that you give realsitic and straightforward advice – personally i think you are the only pickup expert that has a likable personality: the other seem to have a personal philosophy that blends the worst aspects of self-help and selfiness in a (from a european point of view) very yuppie-american way.

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A story telling approach might have worked very well in a few places. Walk us through a few successes and failures from start to finish.

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I thought it was useful and practical. In a very few cases, it could have been better edited, but overall an inspirational and solid guide.

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The sections on The Vibe and Inner Game are some of the best self-improvement advice I’ve ever read – extends way beyond just trying to get laid. Thank you.

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the structure needs to be improved and more openers/ routines would be nice. overall it was a good read and learned some stuff and it covered the majority of subjects but i felt like with some topics ,a bit more in depth information would have been nice.

FOR THOSE WHO DIDN’T READ BANG. Why haven’t you bought Bang? Check all that apply.

18.8% I’m a girl
1.8% I’m gay
2.8% I hate you
5.9% I think you are a fraud and/or a phony
8.5% Too expensive
32.6% Unsure of its quality
18.3% I have no money (if you can’t swing $20 then you got more to worry about than your game)
16.2% I don’t care for picking up girls
20.1% I’m in a happy relationship
35.7% I’m lazy
20.3% Not sure

Write-in comments:

I don’t read books on how to pick up girls written by homo’s

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Think over analyzing the going out experience would tarnish it for me. I always have a ton of fun when I go out.

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I’m gay but I’m interested in a straight dick’s perception of a pussy. It’s weird. I don’t like you at all because you are sexist, homophobic, mcp etc, but who cares, its not like I have to sleep with you. To be clearer, I pity your personality, but what you write is generally informative – things that you don’t hear in person.

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Live at home and don’t want my mom to see

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you wouldn’t let me

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Plenty of seduction material abound….maybe you could convince me more?

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I used to buy into that stuff all the time. I quit caring about studying the dynamics of pickup about four years ago. Now I just spend all my money on booze and get laid being a loser drunk. It works for me. I like going out alone because I am a prowler.

Lots of guys said they have too much pick-up material and don’t see how an additional book will help.

How do you feel about my decision to visit Ethiopia to feed starving African children?

16.9% It’s great!
8.6% It’s forced / trite
19.4% Whatever, not exactly my cup of tea
46.5% I don’t think you are really going to Ethiopia
8.6% Other

Have you left the United States in the past two years for leisurely travel?

69.7% Yes
30.3% No

How long was your last international vacation?

9.4% 1-5 days
25.5% About a week
28.3% Two weeks
12.0% 3-4 weeks
24.8% Over a month

Surprised at the large number who escaped for over a month.

Did you get the diarrhea?

21.4% Yes
78.6% No

I voted Yes.

Have you picked (or will you pick) a travel location based mostly on the men or women?

33.0% Yes (39.5% guys answered yes while 8.7% of girls did)
67.0% No

Have you gotten laid in a foreign country with someone you didn’t already know before you arrived?

46.2% Yes (47.5% guys said yes while 40.9% of girls did)
53.8% No

Continued…

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What is your age?

0.9% Under 18
8.7% 18-21
30.4% 22-25
42.6% 26-32
13.0% 33-40
4.3% 41 or older

I thought readership would be a little younger but I’m not surprised that the bulk of you are close to my age.

What is the highest education level you have completed?

32.3% of you have a masters degree or greater.

Do you live in the Washington DC metropolitan area?

25.5% said yes. This figure used to be around 75%.

How did you find out about my blog?

More than half of you found me through another web site.

How long have you known about my blog?

11.8% Pretty recently
22.3% 3-6 months
22.9% 7-12 months
26.5% 1-2 years
12.9% 3-4 years
3.6% Over 4 years

This result suggests a lot of churn-and-burn in readership. People stick around for a year or two, lose interest in the topic matter, and go onto new things. For many guys, picking up girls is a flash-in-the-pan sort of thing.

What topics do you want to see more of? Check all that apply.

60.9% Straight-up how to get laid advice
91.1% Male/female observations, analysis, and commentary
40.2% Travel
55.0% Travel mixed with girls
51.2% Philosophical ramblings about life and existence
26.5% Self-deprecation
20.8% Politics / economics
25.9% Pictures
12.7% Video

I’m pretty surprised that politics garnered so few votes, though I’m encouraged at the showing made by philosophical ramblings.

Are you subscribed to my email newsletter?

42.4% Yes

Have I inspired you to take action in some area of your life?

53.1% Yes
46.9% No

I change lives.

Do you eagerly await my blog postings like a newborn boy awaits milk from his mother’s breast?

52.4% Yes
47.6% Yes

A whopping 100% of you said yes. This is incredible data right here.

Do you have an active blog (WordPress, Blogger, Movable Type, Tumblr, etc.)?

21.2% of you said yes. Nerds.

Do you comment on my blog?

1.0% Yes, regularly
8.0% Occasionally
29.5% Sometimes or rarely
61.4% Never

This is a question I added after the first day. 90% of you don’t regularly comment. This result has made it easier for me to pull commenting as an experiment.

Would you say your job is fulfilling?

43.8% of you said yes. Possible follow-up: If yes, are you on an anti-depressant?

You’re at a coffee shop. Coffee or tea?

67.9% Coffee
32.1% Tea

Tea made a good showing probably thanks to international readers, who I accidentally threw under the bus with this America-centric survey.

Do you believe in God?

47.1% Yes
52.9% No

Godless heathens.

What is your gender?

82.7% Male
17.3% Female

I don’t know what those women are doing here. If there was a way to ban only women I would.

FOR GIRLS. How many sexual partners have you had? Estimate if necessary.

4.8% 0
20.2% 1-3
37.5% 4-8
22.1% 9-15
8.7% 16-25
4.8% 26-50
1.0% 51-99
1.0% Over 100

I was sharing this result with Roissy and he reminded me about using a multiplier. We settled on two, so double these results to get the true numbers. For the one girl who admitted to banging over 100 guys, can you email me so I can anonymously interview you for the blog. I’m curious about how that number was racked up, and if some sort of gangbang was involved. I won’t judge you.

FOR GIRLS. Has my writing ever made you feel upset, sad, or depressed?

8.3% Yes, on many occasions
47.2% It has at least once
44.4% No not at all

I’ve failed as a man with that low 8.3% number.

FOR GIRLS. Why do you read my blog? Check all that apply.

22.4% I like you
53.3% To learn about guys
24.3% To learn about girls
41.1% Curious about this idea of game
32.7% Good writing
81.3% Entertaining and/or funny
42.1% Boredom

Almost half of girls read my blog to alleviate boredom. Guys I want you to keep that in mind whenever a girl tells you how her life is busy and great.

Three write-ins to share:

Many, many times your perspective has resonated with me. I particularly enjoyed this past Halloween episode, in which you likened your Jesus experience to the Hot Girl experience.

—

I hate your view of women, but I’m impressed with your attention to the intricacies of interpersonal relations. And you’re funny. You make an occasional grammar mistake, but overall the writing is above average and entertaining. And don’t take this the wrong way, but as a woman, I read your blog, kind of to keep my guard up, know-your-enemy kind of research. But still, you are very entertaining.

—

I’m a girl, but I find the whole idea of game interesting. It’s just a neat perspective into the interactions of men and women, who may or may not have different hopes surrounding outcomes.

FOR GIRLS. Have you given up hope finding your soulmate?

11.8% Yes
60.8% No
27.5% Already found him

Lots of girls got mad because they don’t believe in the idea of soulmates. Overall though the result shows females to be (unrealistically) optimistic. The 11.8% know what’s up.

FOR GIRLS. Are you a feminist?

22.6% Yes
53.8% No
23.6% Not sure

How can you not be sure?

FOR GIRLS. Do you own or have you owned a cat?

Let’s take a look at the result from two angles. First, from girls who said Yes to being a feminist:

37.5% Yes, owned or own a cat

Next, from girls who said No to the feminist question:

31.6% Yes, owned or own a cat

We’re seeing triangulation here with what we’d expect in the real world. In other words, if you are a feminist then you have a 15.7% increased chance of being a cat lady. The data doesn’t lie. Feel free to cite this figure in your academic papers.

FOR GIRLS. Would you have sex with Jesus if he were alive today, you were single, and he hit on you?

38.5% Yes
61.5% No

I look like Jesus, so….

FOR GIRLS. Have we banged, kissed, or went out on a date?

6.1% Yes
93.9% No

I know a lot of girls lied on this one. Should be 10%.

Now onto guys…

FOR GUYS. How many sexual partners have you had? Estimate if needed.

5.9% 0
17.6% 1-3
27.5% 4-8
20.8% 9-15
12.8% 16-25
7.6% 26-50
5.2% 51-99
2.7% Over 100

If you bang 26 girls, you’re in 75th percentile of all men. Bang 51 girls and you’re 92nd percentile. You know what to do.

FOR GUYS. How would you rate your game?

49.7% Beginner (occasional phone number or date)
42.4% Intermediate
7.9% Advanced (getting laid regularly with pretty girls)

FOR GUYS. Have you ever had a one night stand?

71.3% Yes
28.7% No

I posed this same question to the girls and the result was just about the same.

FOR GUYS. How would you describe your condom usage overall?

23.5% 100% compliance
38.4% Consistent
19.1% Sometimes
9.6% Rarely.. I’m a dirty boy
9.4% N/A – I don’t have much sex

I wish I asked “Have you ever had an STD?” to triangulate with notch count and condom usage.

FOR GUYS. Do you refer to yourself as a “guy” or as a “man”?

45.3% Guy
54.7% Man

I’m a real man.

FOR GUYS. How often do you jerk?

6.2% Multiple times daily
24.3% Daily
34.8% Several times a week
22.2% A couple times a week
6.2% Several times a month
6.2% Not very often

I used to be daily.

FOR GUYS. What was the last time you made an adult woman cry (that you weren’t related to) through the power of your words?

For this result I cross-tabulated the answers with number of sexual partners.

33.9% of guys who made a girl cry within the past month has banged over 15 girls
17% of guys who hasn’t made a girl cry in the past year has banged over 15 girls

Approximately how many books have you read in the past year?

1.9% 0
16.9% 1-3
22.9% 4-6
18.0% 7-10
12.5% 11-15
7.7% 16-20
20.2% Over 20

Girls are voracious readers. 34.2% of them have read over 20 books in the past year, while 17.3% of men have.

Continued…

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Tour Itinerary

12:00pm: You arrive at my Dad’s house. My stepmother will let you in. Go straight downstairs and into my room. I’ll be snuggled deep in my toasty bed, waiting for you (not like that).

12:15: Time for breakfast. We will dine on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat, my favorite food, and a crispy apple. Then we read the paper for half-an-hour, shaking our heads at government incompetence and abuse of power. This meal is included in the workshop.

1:00: We will lay out newspapers on the floor and sink of my bathroom and do what I call “hair management.” Depending on growth, the following areas will be trimmed: underarm, beard, back of neck, sideburns, nose hair, ear hair, and pubes.

1:15: Shower, but body only. I have to be in the right mood to wash my hair.

1:30: Ride bikes to nearest Starbucks a half-mile away. If you didn’t bring a bike then you can use my little brother’s. It has a horn. At Starbucks we will get a drink and then sit down at my favorite table. You will watch me write and I will encourage you to do the same. If you don’t have a laptop then I can give you pen and paper. Three hours in we will take a snack break. I recommend the multi-grain bagel which only costs a buck. Your Starbucks purchases are NOT included in the workshop.

7:00: Dinner time at the house. You will enjoy Persian homecooking and real hospitality. My brothers will annoy you but you will find them cute. All silence once Seinfeld comes on at 7:30.

8:00: Time to wind down with a book in the living room. We will sit and read for two hours.

10:00: Movie time. We will watch a foreign and/or independent movie. None of that Hollywood garbage. Even if the movie is in English I will still leave on the subtitles because I don’t want to miss anything. I believe many people don’t understand the movies that they watch because they miss intricacies present in the dialogue.

12:00am: Internet time. You get to watch me schedule a mediocre post for the future, and listen to me whine about how I’ve lost the passion to blog. I’ll put on some Brazilian music and you’ll feel worldly.

2:00: Jerk time. You watch me jerk off to porn. Right now I’m heavily into black on blondes but I’m feeling a transition soon to legal teens who look like minors. You can join me if you want, but none of that gay touching shit.

I’m pricing this tour at only $69, and that includes complete Roosh access to ask me whatever you want. I won’t be in the basement forever, so email roosh@rooshv.com with “reality” in the subject line if you’re interested. Add $10 if you want me to provide you with a fresh cum rag. This workshop is open to guys and girls.

POSTSCRIPT: Slots for the next six Mondays are fully booked. I’ll post again when space opens up.

POSTSCRIPT 2: Jeez people this is a joke. Please stop emailing me if I have a spot open.

P.S. I'm huge on Twitter, with over 1 billion followers. Click here to check out my feed.

They used to get automatic respect. Now they get none. That’s what happens little niches become mainstream.

A true photographer is happy to use this…

While the amateur “needs” this…

P.S. I'm huge on Twitter, with over 1 billion followers. Click here to check out my feed.

It started the second I stepped foot in the Metro.

“Holy shit, it’s Jesus!”

“Jesus Christ!!”

“Look, that nigga Jesus!!”

A Muslim-looking man wanted to have his picture taken with me. I gave a serious look, like Jesus would, and made sure my large-print bible was in the frame of the photo.

On the Metro car a girl dressed up as a devil asked to take a picture with me as well. All the way down the car a group of teenage girls yelled my name (Jesus) and then rushed up to take photos with their camera phones. A girl dressed up as a referee, blowing her whistle loudly every two minutes, was next to ask for a picture. She was rather petite and I wrapped my arm around her so we’d be nice and close for the photo. Sober guys next to me gave me their respect with nods of compliment.

On my walk to the bar I had about four or five cars honk their horns. Guys hung halfway out the window yelling Jesus. I’d raise my arm to recognize their efforts to get my attention. A group of white people partying on a patio gave me a round of applause, and I blessed them with a hand motion that I practiced earlier in front of the mirror.

About a dozen or so photos were taken of me in the bar. I believe at one point a line developed. A girl I didn’t know bought me a beer, but didn’t want to talk. She just went to the bar, got my drink, and then left back to her friends. Countless Jews walked up to me, apologizing. The only time I was upstaged was when this asshole showed up in a robot costume with yellow lights and 80′s music blaring from his box head. He did breakdance moves and a crowd formed around him. I cried foul.

The attention got old pretty quick. I was just a cheap gimmick judged by my appearance and nothing else. People lost interest in talking to me if I stepped out of character.

At the next bar I gave off forced smiles with each Jesus yell. A group who wanted my photo made a demand that I pose with a thumbs-up sign. I declined. They kept demanding and I kept saying no. They made negative remarks out of earshot. Eventually I barely looked when drunk people came up to me with “JESUS.” I was much more receptive with calmer approaches like “Hey man I really like your costume. Is your hair real?”

Approaches fell into two categories: those that increased the likelihood of a conversation developing and those that decreased it. The parallel to game here was obvious to me.

I hesitated going home because I knew I’d have to walk through a sea of drunk people. The gauntlet. The attention from cars and and walking drunks was relentless. I wished I could take the costume off, or that I at least brought a band to put my hair back and be less Jesus-like. I kept my head down and avoided eye contact so I wouldn’t encourage anyone, but I still got a lot of “Hey Come here!” When I didn’t do what people wanted they got annoyed. “Jesus is drunk,” they’d say.

On the subway ride back I fell asleep, but people still tried to get my attention.

“Hey look it’s Jesus. He’s sleeping.”

There is such a thing as too much attention, especially when the attention is identical. You get numb to it, and only respond to something original or different.

Postscript: Take a look at How It Feels To Be A Fat Chick by Virgle Kent, my wingman of the night.

P.S. I'm huge on Twitter, with over 1 billion followers. Click here to check out my feed.