Three seconds. That's how long it took. Your shoes. Your posture. The way you held your drink. Whether you looked at the floor or looked at her.
She already filed you away. Interesting. Boring. Safe. Bold. Before you even opened your mouth.
Everything you say after that is just her confirming what she already decided.
So stop rehearsing lines. Fix the first three seconds. Stand tall. Look up. Smile like you mean it. Walk like you belong wherever you're standing.
The words come later. The impression comes first.
www.navytimes.com
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.
ICU was at 97% capacity in los angeles county as of a day or two ago.
I remember that. That was such a huge waste of tax payer's dollars and also further reflects government's poor judgement. One of the ships supposedly had 800 personnel to arrange and operate the whole thing to only treat 77 patients in total the time they were docked. This was for the Mercy ship in LA. The other ones weren't too much better. LOL
Navy hospital ships are available for them.
I live in LA, I can absolutely promise you nobody is falling for the fear-mongering...... kids are out playing and lighting fireworks and firecrackers like they do every year.....
That sentence contains at least five follow-up questions she WANTS you to ask. Where in Florida? What brought you here? How long have you been in the area? What do you miss? How does it compare to here?
She handed them to you on a silver platter. And you said, "Oh cool. I come here every week. I love this band. Ummm... pretty crowded tonight."
She smiled politely. Nodded. And never texted you back.
I was that guy for years. Talking too much. Listening too little. Panicking about my next sentence while she was literally feeding me the answers.
Then I found 22 rules that fixed the whole thing. Rule number one: shut up and listen. She'll tell you exactly what to say.
The problem with this whole thing is increases in testing will automatically spike the coronavirus reporting up naturally as it will uncover more. At the same time all the fear mongering will see people prematurely or unneccesarily checking themselves into the hospitals at even the slightest sign of symptoms. I see some flaws in that.
It was a precautionary measure that ended up not being needed. To say it was a waste of money is like saying nuclear missiles are a waste of money since we haven't nuked anybody.
Are you suggesting that COVID-19 is over?
It definitely was a waste of money. You don't need an Economics degree to see that. There were a LOT more effective grassroots efforts made that did way more with way less than deploying these ships. Precautionary? You had overloaded hospitals at the time where the ships could've taken on way more load to help out.
Oh no it's not over at all. There are as many new cases being reported as you want there to be. Google even says so, look:
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.
What is Google telling us if we can search for any number of "new cases" and get a hit? You tell me.
What does Google have to do with COVID-19?
Dissemination of information to the public.
so.. nothing to do with the actual virus?
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.
You tell me, are numbers we are being told about the virus about the "actual virus"? You tell me..
The confirmed cases are way too low for sure. Half my office had it already in April but couldn’t get an official covid test.
How many people from your office died or suffered permanent damage?
None immediate, one removed. Coworker next to me lost his father to covid. He still won’t wear a mask.
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.
