Dinner ran three hours. She laughed at everything. You walked her to her car thinking this one's locked in.
Then: nothing. Two texts. No reply. What happened?
You did what most men do on a great date. You filled every silence, answered every question, and left her with nothing to wonder about. No mystery. Nothing to sit with when she got home.
Rule 3 of the "22 Rules" changes the ending: tell her a little, hold back the rest, and let her imagination do the chasing. The ghosting stops too.
She calls you when her car breaks down. When she needs help moving. When some guy she's actually dating treats her badly.
You're the listener. The reliable one. The guy who would treat her so much better, if she'd just open her eyes.
She won't. You trained her to see you as the low-effort option — the friend who requires zero risk and zero investment. Every favor dug the hole deeper.
The "22 Rules" break the pattern. You'll stop auditioning for a role she already cast and become the man she chases instead. It starts with Rule 1.
Very cynical Bible. I disagree.Bible_Belt said:The NRA has won so many political battles that it is now getting desperate for new reasons to solicit donations. Now that they have concealed carry in every state except Illinois I think, they have to go after the restrictions on the concealed carry laws, which are places like college campuses and school buses, because obviously, if we could just get more guns on school buses, then we could really get this country turned around.
And the idea that your ar-15 is going to save you from a government that wants to oppress you is another creation of the NRA. Until you get your own aircraft carrier and nuclear subs, the US government would squash you like a bug, regardless of how many guns you have. If you're talking about resisting a militarily powerful foreign invader, yes it has been done on rare occasions in places like Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, but in those places, especially the latter two, improvised explosives are the weapon of choice. Until they make farming illegal, diesel fuel and fertilizer will always be everywhere. Every farmer has a barn full of both. Here's a picture of the OKC bombing, showing what a truck full of those two things do when combined: http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2010/oklahoma_city/oklahoma_city_01.jpg
That's why we could never win in Iraq, and that's also why an "armed citizenry" is completely irrelevant to resisting fascism, communism, space invaders, or any other boogeyman the NRA creates to get your money.
WinnerDanger said:The argument of many anti-gun zealots is that one could never muster the power to face the Government. And they are correct, if one only considers a conservative approach to battle.
When faced with the prospect of battling ANYTHING, I would much rather have a gun, than to not have one.
I am honestly shocked at how many people want to remove gun-ownershiop despite the second ammendment right to own one. It's as if people cannot connect the dots enough to realize that removing one right makes the rest fair game for removal.
And yes, one of the first things that dictators do when seizing power is to remove the ability for individuals to defend themselves. All of course, with nothing but the noblest of "good intentions". It truly is awful how people with such a glaring lack of vision have the power to significantly affect our lives by voting for, and supporting such ignorance.
You've replayed it a hundred times. She stood three feet away, scrolling her phone. You had an opening. You composed the perfect line — after she was gone.
For all you know, she's married now. To some guy who said something. Anything.
Openers are cheap. Almost any sentence works when it's delivered within three seconds. The expensive part is the standing there, drafting and deleting, while the window quietly closes.
The "22 Rules" stripped out my hesitation. What to open with, how to keep it alive, and the one habit that costs guys more women than anything else: waiting for perfect.
She calls you when her car breaks down. When she needs help moving. When some guy she's actually dating treats her badly.
You're the listener. The reliable one. The guy who would treat her so much better, if she'd just open her eyes.
She won't. You trained her to see you as the low-effort option — the friend who requires zero risk and zero investment. Every favor dug the hole deeper.
The "22 Rules" break the pattern. You'll stop auditioning for a role she already cast and become the man she chases instead. It starts with Rule 1.