Advent, in case you’re not familiar with the term, is the name for the four weeks leading up to Christmas. It’s derived from the Latin adventus, meaning “arrival”.
One traditional arising from Advent is the Advent calendar, used for counting down the days from December 1st until Christmas. They’re typically boxes with 24 pieces of chocolate, each piece placed its own compartment, with one compartment for each day leading to December 25th. When I was younger (and not worrying so much about my sugar-and-carb intake), an Advent calendar was one of the delights of the Christmas season.
In the spirit of the season, The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century, will feature an “Advent Calendar” entry every day from now until the 24th. Each of these entries will feature some kind of downloadable goodie that I think you’ll find interesting or amusing.
The fun won’t stop on the 24th. The 25th marks the first night of Chanukah. I started celebrating it last year with Wendy and her family and ate enough latkes to make the baby Atkins cry. This year, we’re kicking it up a notch chez deVilla — Wendy and I picked up a menorah for our place (her usual one’s in storage back in Boston) and Mom’s picking one up for the 1st annual extended family Chrismukkah party on the 27th. Hopefully Wendy’s parents will be able to fly up for this bash, a rather Norman Rockwell-ish affair complete with group singing — not just karaoke (mom has two karaoke machines) but with real live instruments with Mom and cousin Anna on piano, Uncle Jorge on guitar, cousin Kara on her flute and me playing you-know-what.
All that is a preamble for this simple statement: for the eight nights of Chanukah, I’ll also post some kind of downloadable goodie.
(Attention British readers: I believe the equivalent slang term for “picking up” is “pulling”.)
The first Advent goodie is inspired by a couple of things.
The first is Tel Aviv is a Really, Really Small Town, an entry in Lisa’s blog, On the Face.
The entry talks about a pick-up artist in Tel Aviv who has seduced her and a number of her friends, using the same “script” each time.
The second is a handful of emails I’ve received over the past few months, the gist of all being “Hi Joey, I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and thought you might have an answer to this: how can I get a wife?” Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to this question and as far as I can tell, they don’t hand you some kind of answer key to dating when you get married.
(Here a hint, though: there is a difference between being nice and being too nice. Respect is a part of love, and you can’t respect a doormat.)
So here’s the goodie: a handful of ebooks explaining pick-up techniques [511KB, .zip archive of PDF documents]. They are:
These books come without endorsement from Yours Truly. Having skimmed them, I can say that there are some gems of truth in them; there are also some suggestions that I would say are silly and some that I would strongly advise against. No guarantee or warranty is implied in my posting these. Feel free to discuss the content of these books in the comments.
Super bonus fun: Read these books right after watching Magnolia for that extra-special feeling.
Respect the magnificent pork sword!
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I don't think there really is any way for finding a girl. I mean you can read all the book that you want, but I believe that many times, you will find that girl when you're not even trying. If you try too hard and focus on the task of finding a girl, you will end up in disappointment. Let it naturally come to you, if she's meant to be, then God will make it happen.
A girl will like you for who you are, some tactics in the book may work, but everyone is unique, and they have to find their own way and comfortable way around finding that special girl.
Hey, GadgetMan!
The guidebooks I posted were posted more for their value as entertainment than information.
As for "trying too hard", I think that can be applied to just about any endeavour. Oftentimes people who try too hard are focused too much on failure than success.
Lastly, there's the matter of the will of God. I'll cite the parable of the talents, in which we are told to exercise, improve and invest in the abilities given to us by divine providence. I think that one of the messages in that parable is "you've got to do some of the work". After all, nobody teaches that you needn't worry about boning up on your job skills because God will cover the rent somehow, and I don't think that He'll provide the "love connection" without any effort on one's part.
Hey Joey,
I am not trying to say that you don't do anything and just let everything up to God. Of course you have to invest the time and energy to do whatever task you are doing, but like you said it's the will of God, He provides the inspiration and the way.
Btw, I know that the guidebooks that you posted were for entertainment purposes. What I am trying to say is that you have take things with a grain of salt, so those books may be an inspiration but they should not be taken at face value. Just basing on my experience :)