You replay the conversation at 2 a.m. She texted back fast yesterday. Today, nothing. Was that smile friendly or flirty? What did the shoulder touch mean?
Every hour you spend decoding her signals drains your confidence and hands her the controls. Women can sense that insecurity from across the room — and it repels them.
One of the "22 Rules" kills the obsession on the spot: assume she likes you, and act accordingly. Sounds too simple. Works anyway.
Her interest tends to rise to meet your expectations. Psychologists call it a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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.
there are a lot of lies that are unacceptable. in fact, id argue that very few lies are acceptable. one of the areas that i accept that people are going to lie about, especially women, is their sexual past.Danger said:Joekerr,
I agree about bringing up the past and I also agree about snooping. I see your point about a "pact", with the exception that if that COULD be, wtf would she write it in a diary?
I've been burned enough by girls that lied that it just leaves a very sour taste for me.
Your buddy Dave has been single for three years and thinks "hey u up" is a valid strategy. Your other buddy Mike just got dumped and told you to "just be yourself."
You showed them her text. You asked them to decode the emoji. You drafted four responses and sent the screenshot to the group chat for a vote.
She's been waiting forty minutes.
Put the phone down. Stop crowdsourcing your love life. Type something that sounds like you. Hit send. Then go do literally anything else with your evening.
STR8UP said:Everyone lies.
EVERYONE.
There's a difference between lying to keep your ass out of hot water when you've done something wrong and lying to protect someone's feelings.
Lexie said:If you read my entire post, you can see that I said this might be a good thing to say IF he ended up having to talk to her, and IF she was going to find out, it would be better for him to come forward with the info instead of having her pull it on him. I wasn't stating that he should run up to her and apologize.
She asks it casually, mid-sip. And you feel the floor open up, because the honest answer is work, gym, and a couple shows you're half-watching.
Women rarely say this out loud, but a man with a life is attractive before he says a word. The guy who spent Saturday deep-sea fishing and came back with photos and a story — he walks in already interesting.
The "22 Rules" pushed me to build a life worth talking about. Turns out the fastest way to be interesting to women is to be interested in your own life first.
-Lexie said:Thanks sugarplum.![]()
And no, it's not all women who post here, it's all women everywhere.
ketostix said:So he should deny reading the diary just like she denied having sex with that guy. Why don't they just call it even lol? This is actually a good defense for reading her diary.
But seriously i'm not so sure I would deny reading the diary if pressed, but I definitely would first reframe it into a positive thing, I would never apologize first and do what Lexie said. You would be making it into a big deal.
You seem to be more cynic leaning than realist... but that's besides the point. As a general principle jophil is right about the 'anything goes' mentality.STR8UP said:As a proud realist, I will take that as a compliment. But since you weren't complimenting me- :moon:
Str8up I gotta disagree with you here. What he said to her was reeking of insecurity, but if someone asks a question like that they deserve a straight answer.STR8UP said:A little while back a chick tried that sh!t with me. We were talking about another girl I know, and she blurts out "You haven't slept with her, have you?"
Well, if someone's gonna ask me such a stupid, immature, INSECURE question like that, they deserve to be LIED TO. And that's exactly what she got. And I didn't feel a damn bit guilty about it. SHE DESERVED IT. She put me on the spot and asked a question that was none of her business.
Too bad cause the OP put the nail in the coffin by getting into her sh!t.
I could talk to any woman I wasn't attracted to. Charming, funny, relaxed. Then a gorgeous woman looked my way and I'd become a sweating, babbling mess.
The fix took me years to find and ten minutes to learn. Nervousness and excitement are the same physical state — pounding heart, adrenaline, flushed face. Your brain just picks the label. And you can pick a better one.
Rule 16 shows you how. You feel the nerves, relabel them as excitement, and let that energy pour out as enthusiasm. Women notice the guy radiating it. They always do.
And deal with the ramifications of the truth? No thanks. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.Colossus said:But to say someone 'deserves' to be lied to is a slippery slope. By lying to her you actually told her what she wants to hear, that no, you didnt sleep with her. If you told her the truth and made no bones about it, then you just slapped her with that cold trout of truth. Let her deal. She would probably either leave (which would be a gift) or not ask you that question again. Everyone wins.
joekerr31 said:haha. you know, personally i think this guy is f*cked no matter how you slice it.
i think she's going to figure out he read her diary whether he does anything from here on in or not. its not that hard to figure to be honest.
second, when he gets caught, whether he confesses or not, he's going to look like an AFC. if she keeps him around he's going to have to put his balls away in the drawer for a long time.
i just had a thought.... you know what he should do... he should start his own diary. then he should hide it in a place where she will find it. i guarantee you she will read it also.
he should fill it up with all kind of bullsh*t about her. how he loves her and shes the best woman ever and he loves it when she can't get enough sex, etc.
man, now that i think about this i should do that.
if i ever get married im going to keep a fake diary 'hidden' from my wife. and ill fill it up with sh*t about how much i love her and how some girl at work hit on me but i turned her away because i love my wife so much blah blah blah...
when my wife finds my fake diary and reads it she'll be making me 7 course dinners every night of the week because she'll think im the best guy in the whole world.
then one day when we are 85 and dying i'll reveal to her that my diary was a fake.
once we die they will make a movie out of it called "The Fake Diary - A tale of true love and deception"
ohhh and theoretically she can't get upset with me for the fake diary, since she shoudln't be reading my diary in the first place!!!!!
man you gotta love the paradoxes diaries create.
This gets my vote.aliasguy said:Is it "even"? Does he owe it to her to let her know what he knows? I dunno, but if I were him, I'd keep my mouth shut, and keep my eyes wide open.
Fair enough. I could see why you might do that in some situations, to bypass any crap afterwards.STR8UP said:And deal with the ramifications of the truth? No thanks. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
Incidentally I had no commitment with this woman whatsoever.
She was a hypocrite. She wanted to have her cake and eat it too. Yes, she did deserve to be lied to because she had no right asking a question that she had no business asking and that if answered "incorrectly" she would have held it against me UNFAIRLY for awhile. I don't ask ANY woman about her sexual past. And I don't expect to be interrogated about mine either.
Next Monday you'll feel more confident. After the gym you'll feel more confident. After one more drink you'll feel more confident. After you get a better haircut, a better jacket, a better job.
You've been "getting ready" for two years.
She's standing ten feet away right now. She'll be gone in four minutes. No amount of preparation will manufacture the courage that only comes from moving your feet.
Walk over. Stumble through the first sentence. Let it be clumsy. Let it be imperfect. You will feel more alive in those ten seconds than you have all month.