05/17/2007, 11 p.m.

I’m sitting with him in the hills above the 405, staring out into the deep dark night.  Across from us, the bright lights of the Getty Museum compete with the sparkling stars in the sky.  I stare at the magnificent view.  My friend, a successful commercial real estate broker/agent, speaks to me with a confident modest smile.  He describes to me the immense amount of work it took him to renovate the house.  I try to imagine it, but I can’t.  No matter what he tells me, I can only picture the beautiful sleek and modern home that he proudly owns now.

As I listen to him, feelings of respect and admiration enter my mind.  For being my age, he has achieved so much.  There is a certain nonchalance to his success that I like in him.  Unlike some of the more colorful characters who lurks the streets of Hollywood, he shows no pretentiousness.  So I ask:  “What is one quality that you could attribute your success to?”  To which he says:

“Khiem… you got to be bold!  If you want to attract the guys who hold millions of dollars every day in their hands, you got to be bold… almost to the point of becoming a maniac!!!  They have to see the fire in your eyes so that they can trust you with their money.  That’s what I learned.”

I looked out and suddenly, I felt a certain fire reignite in me.

The Unofficial Juggler and Charisma Forums for which I am an Admin for is taking a new direction and has recently been renamed as the Natural Game Forums.  Anthony “MyBirthdayPony” and I felt the change reflects more accurately the vibe that is being fostered there as members discuss openly the application of the Juggler Method, theApproach‘s VAC model, Vin DiCarlo‘s Dating Diablo and any other natural/direct game concepts.  If you like natural methods, you may also enjoy the compilation of articles that Direct Natural Game offers.

Last week, Jonathan Christian Hudson joined theApproach.  I find the move very interesting considering that he used to be the Business Manager for Charisma Arts.  I can only see this as a positive development for theApproach.  Here is the official announcement:

Announcement: Jonathan Christian Hudson Joins theApproach
New York, NY
May 8th, 2007 

Jonathan Christian Hudson, Co-Founder and former business manager at Charisma Arts, has became the Consigliere of theApproach.  Jonathan will be advising and refining our content, approach, andbusiness operations.  He was the genius behind the elevation ofCharisma Arts into an empire, and it’s truly a coup to have himadvising and working with the theApproach.

Dan Rose from the Sex God Method (formerly known as the Sex Revolution Blog) is having a free 1-hour conference call tonight on “Sexual Confidence”:  Wednesday, May 16 @ 10:30 p.m. EST/9:30 p.m. CST/7:30 p.m. PST.  He will most likely talk about the power of psychological stimulation over physical stimulation and may explain his DEVI (Dominance, Emotion, Variety, Immersion) method more in depth.  Vin DiCarlo will be on call to answer any pick-up related questions.  If interested, go register now.  Once you register, you’ll receive an email with the conference dial-in number and conference code.

Vin DiCarlo from DiCarlo DiClassified is also having a free coaching call on: Thursday, May 17 @ 9:30 p.m. EST/8:30 p.m. CST/6:30 p.m. PST.  He will talk about “How to sleep with a girl in 2-4 hour, every time!” and give away his ultimate escalation tactic.  Go register here.

As I was browsing the internet, I came across this blog post on what being a Synthesist means.  Maybe I am completely full of myself, but I think it describes me pretty well :)  I feel that this is what I do ALL THE TIME.  What do you think?

A Synthesist is a person who embodies these characteristics:  He (I’m going to use the male pronoun for simplicity) takes disparate bits of information and weaves them to create something new. His role is to streamline and to simplify; to remove the cruft and clutter so that the end product is easily absorbable by the target human group.

The Synthesist’s role is to be a translator.

A few friends of mine have been recommending that I read Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini.  I have never gotten around to it because I never knew what the book was about.  I have other books I want to read first, but out of coincidence, I found a video of Robert Cialdini’s presentation at a Stanford Breakfast Meeting (you need to buy it if you want to watch it).  It’s actually quite good!  It talks about common concepts that are well known in the Seduction Community such as:  reciprocation, consistency (“yes” ladder), consensus (social proof/validation), liking/friendship, authority, and scarcity.  Cialdini calls compliance the desire for someone to say “yes” to you.  To me, that sounds awfully similar to the Compliance concept in the VAC model of attraction.  After a little bit of search (thanks Google), I found this blog which describes the use of “influence triggers” in the political realm.  If you don’t feel like reading the book itself, check the blog out.  It really did a good job at summarizing Cialdini’s major points.

While on the topics of books, I’ve discovered a website that provides a reading list if you wanted to gain a better understanding of business without attending an MBA school.  It’s called The Personal MBA.  Beyond the book list, it tries to give you a forum on which you can discuss the content of the books with peers.  This is a really interesting concept because I’ve always wanted to attend an MBA program but sometimes, I wonder about the cost-benefit of going back to school.  If I was to listen to Guy Kawasaki, an MBA program isn’t really worth it if I was trying to be an entrepreneur, but I do foresee the value of becoming part a business network if I wanted to follow the consulting route.

The funny thing is my buddy Darren/rev7 sent me an autographed copy of “The Art of the Start” by Guy Kawasaki.   In the front page, it now says:  “Khiem, kick butt!”  I’m definitely looking forward to finishing that book.  In the meantime, Darren has a fun post on how you can use random material to turn your old jeans into expensive designer looking ones.  This summer, he’s willing to do an internship in the L.A. or San Diego area until mid August.  If you are one of those lucky companies in marketing, print media or web design and need a talented graphic designer, please contact him at DarrenM [at] bgsu . edu.

If you like innovation and entrepeneurship , I think you’ll also enjoy iinnovate, a podcast by Matt and Julio, students from the Stanford Business and Design schools.  I’ve watched the interview of Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google and I just love it.  I think I’ll have to keep up with these podcasts from now on.

If you prefer psychology, PsyBlog is something you should subscribe to.  When I get really bored and want to get a headache figuring out how our mind works, that’s where I go 🙂

OK, I want to end today’s post on an inspirational note.  I usually don’t like commercials very much, but this was very well done by Liberty Mutual.  I don’t know if you guys believe in the idea of karma but J. Brad Hicks had a lot to say about it.  My favorite part of his post was: 

Whenever you do something cruel, the people around you see that the world contains cruelty, that cruelty is within the realm of normal behavior. Whenever you do something selfish or negligent, people learn to expect selfishness and negligence. But when you do the right thing, you create a world in which other people learn that they can expect other people to do the right thing.

Business:

Microsoft is hosting their 2nd annual Small Business Summit this week.  I’ve spent a few hours today watching and listening to their keynote speakers online and it’s all great stuff!  So go check it out if you have the time.  It’s free and you can watch the presentations again within 72 hours if you missed the original time slot.

Sciences and Psychology:

I just read 2 articles that describe how body language, and more specifically how walking patterns play a role in what people find attractive in the opposite sex.  These just confirm that if you have bad body language, FIX IT!  The 2 articles have little videos that demonstrate what constitute an attractive walking pattern.

• How Body Shapes Up Takes More Than a Good Build from the Scientific American
• Secret of Attraction?  It’s All Due to the Wiggle from the Telegraph newspaper in the UK

The next article talks about polyamorous relationships.  Surprisingly, it appears that most people in polyamorous relationships “reported ‘love’ or ‘connection’ as important reasons for staying together” unlike people in monogamous relationships who “often list external factors such as religion or family as major reasons for remaining committed.”

• Love Unlimited:  The Polyamorists from New Scientist

Psychology Today has a couple of interesting articles as well.  The first one debates the role of female orgasms in reproductive functions.

• The Orgasm Wars.  The conclusions are pretty astounding: 
  • A woman’s capacity for orgasm depends not on her partner’s sexual skill but on her subconscious evaluation of his genetic merits.
  • Women’s orgasm has little to do with love. Or experience.
  • Good men are indeed hard to find.
  • The men with the best genes make the worst mates.
  • Women are no more built for monogamy than men are. They are designed to keep their options open.
  • Women fake orgasm to divert a partner’s attention from their infidelities.

The second one talks about social anxiety.  As I wrote before, overcoming approach anxiety and becoming socially confident is a learned skill. 

• Confidence:  Stepping Out.  Here’s an excerpt:

  • Mastering social skills requires tuning in to your self-esteem. But instead of being self-conscious and fixating on your anxiety, work on creating positive interactions that make the people around you feel engaged and happy. Focusing less on yourself and more on others will yield big payoffs in expanded social opportunities.

Seduction Community News:

Not long ago, Erik “Mystery” Von Markovik split from Mystery Method to create his new home at Venusian Arts.  Today, it seems that Vin “Woodhaven” DiCarlo is no longer affiliated with theApproach as he is not listed on theApproach’s homepage anymore.  Instead, he now has his own website called DiCarlo Diclassified that is currently selling an audio program with workbook.  Dan “Spirit Fingers” Rose, the author of the “Sex Revolution Handbook” and owner of the Sex Revolution Blog, also seem to have parted ways with theApproach to follow Vin DiCarlo.

I have  edited my previous post about how the Seduction Community is divided to reflect the change.  In any case, from having read the “Sex Revolution Handbook” myself and from having met Vin DiCarlo before, I can recommend any of their products with confidence to anyone interested in learning “Natural Structured Game.”

I guess the fact that the Community is reproducing itself is good, right?  The Seduction Community is creating more babies! 🙂 LOL

EDIT 03/20/07:  From a recent theApproach’s newsletter, Vin wrote:

Hi Friend - 

I’ve gotten a lot of questions in the last 24 hours about DiCarlo
DiClassified. Thanks for everyone who bought Dating Diablo and who
registered for my special private list. This list is only for my
personal friends and biggest supporters, so definitely tune in to
get exclusive new content from me and perhaps a few friends.

About theApproach: I still train, write, and develop new content for
theApproach. It’s still my baby, and we’re still the best way to get
your game handled completely naturally. Thanks for all your support
of my personal projects and of theApproach.

Vin