Dating

So I've decided to try dating again. I have no idea what 'dating' really means. For me it means signing up on a bunch of different dating websites and waiting for the babes to flock to me. Well, the babes aren't flocking, must not be babe season.

After Action report:
I had one potential go nowhere. It was my fault. I think I appeared too eager. We emailed for a couple weeks, then a couple of phone calls and a date. Date was nice. I had zero positive non-verbal queues and a couple of positive verbal queues. Nothing negative though I suspected she was just being polite, I decided to take everything at face value (mistake 1). Called the next day (mistake 2) and expressed interest in another date, she said she had to check her schedule. She texted later asking if the following Saturday would be good, I said yes and the second date was set. A couple of texts and a phone call later and the date was off. She didn't feel any chemistry, she tried hard to like me, I'm a really nice guy, blah blah blah. At least she saved me a trip to Waco. I was disappointed for a couple of reasons. Firstly, that I wouldn't get to see her again, I actually liked her. Secondly, that I opted for the positive and let my gut and perceptiveness take a back seat, taking things at face value. I'm much sharper in my pessimistic self. Unfortunately, pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You are always right in situations where you wouldn't mind being wrong.

Conclusions:
1) Don't appear too eager. Show enough interest to keep them interested, indifference is endsville
2) Shut up and listen. I talk to much when i am nervous. I think I tried too hard to impress. I talked to much about myself and not enough about her. I'm too concerned with showing what a great guy I am that I forgot that girls don't care about what a great guy I am. They simply don't care. I'll keep it to witty quips and things to make her laugh. This will several purposes:
a) I won't divulge too much info.
b) makes me appear mysterious and intriguing.
c) inflate her ego.
d) leaves something to talk about later.
I would expand on these but it is pretty self-evident.
3) Dating is a game of manipulation. Girls, especially, are fond of saying they don't want to play games or anything. Girls are liars and the ones that say they don't like playing games are the biggest liars of all. It is a game of striking the right balance of communication. Show too much interest and you are suck, show too little interest and it's endsville. Strike the right balance, and you're golden. Prime example is the ex-fiance' but that is another story for another time. This last girl, I'm sure I came off as needy. Oh well.

So if I have another date, I'll post additional after action reports. In the meantime, back to work