The art of seduction

I started reading a book today because I had something interesting happen to me yesterday.

I was at a party hosted by a friend (a wedding/singles after party) for people to mingle and I was there just to meet people. I do what that should come naturally, meet and introduce yourself to the people around you. So it turns out that I met a very pretty Singaporean babe that just recently moved to Japan. Very out doorsy and we had lots to talk about. The conversation was great and we kicked it off really well.

While at the bar, there were some other guys hovering about, I didn't realize it at the time but I was being sized up as a competitor buy some English guys eager for my friend. Over the course of the night, I realized that I had already missed the last train home and casually asked if I could stay over till the morning, with obviously no ulterior motives. I generally don't like to be a "player" as a personal preference. One of the odd things about me is that sometimes I don't realize that I was subconsciously seducing this person since the conversation was going pretty well and some other guys were wanting in on the action. How they played me off was pretty slick but they couldn't separate the girl from me through out the entire evening.

One guy ran cover to try and get me into a conversation with him while the other guy tried to work the girl elsewhere. I caught on near the end and the ironic thing is that they got so completely desperate that after getting the girl's phone number to try and invite her after the party out for drinks. The ending was that I got double teamed by these guys and they confronted me to "get lost" in a subliminal way. I wasn't interested in bedding the girl, though she would have been fun to hang out with. I wasn't looking for a fight and buggered off and after replaying the events through out the evening in my head and everything clicked and I realized my mistake, I should have put up a fight and told them to screw off.

I decided to start reading a book today, called "The art of seduction" since I had a feeling that I might find something interesting about today's event, an analysis of the characters I bumped into today. I've only gotten through the preface and found this gem:

"Finally, seducers are completely amoral in their approach to life. It is all
a game, an arena for play. Knowing that the moralists, the crabbed repressed
types who croak about the evils of the seducer, secretly envy their power,
they do not concern themselves with other people's opinions."
-The Art of Seduction

Immediately the image of the two guys that worked me for the girl came to mind. I plan on reading through this book because it's a fascinating read to help me understand the games these people play and counter them. Feels like politics but it's a game that I am going to have to know how to play.

I might have lost this time around, but it was an interesting eye opener. Also as an aside, the event I went was filled with people in the financial world, all sorts of bankers and etc. The one thing that I felt was that many of them had the "seducer" archetype embedded in them in some manner. Power hungry, commanding, persuasive. As long as you're their friend you're fine, but if you're on the wrong side, all bets are off. It's a cut-throat world.