How y'all doing today people?
As I write this, thunder and lightning are crashing outside the café in which I am lounging and it's raining as hard as a summer day in the UK.
In these conditions, I feel that I should be writing in
a journal like Dr Frankenstein about an experiment to build a monster. In reality I am just crafting another monstrosity that is set to stagger into your weekend, that is in its own way as scary as that other horror creation.
You would not believe how many letters I get asking for my advice about the best way to meet people in our fair city. I will protect all the innocents by not revealing any names, but try in my own way to share my thoughts. I am a little surprised that so many of you out there think I have any expertise in this field, and if I do, I only know techniques that work for me... and I don't consider myself very "normal" in that regard.
Like I have expressed before, I really don't have the barriers that others seem to have, maybe it's because I am blessed with skin as thick as a rhinoceros'. I figure what's the worst that can happen? This reminds me of an occasion years ago when I was in London during my heavy night club years – I was styling at a big swanky emporium at the time. Suddenly I found myself standing behind a guy with the thickest neck you ever saw.
Being a huge boxing fan, I realised that the only guy that had a Gregory Peck (that's rhyming slang by the way!) like that was the recently crowned heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson. So I strolled up, introduced myself and declared myself a huge fan. As a 21-year-old Iron Mike turned to face me, I noticed all the bouncers and security goombahs start to bristle.
Mike coolly received my hand, thumped me on the shoulder and totally welcomed my approach, to the point where we actually sat down for about 20 minutes and shot the breeze about his fights and his plans. It was a moment!
If I think back a few sentences to my question of 'what's the worst that could happen' in that instance, a great deal of bad stuff could have happened but it didn't – so it was a case of He Who Dares Wins!
Anyway, back to the point. I think that the best way to get yourself out on the social scene is just that … you have to get yourself in the game! All of us prepare ourselves for this in different ways. But no matter how sharp our clothes and how good we smell smothered in expensive colognes and perfumes, the one thing that you have to put right out there is your personality and your true character. Just remember, we are all equipped with the same tools. You have to be approachable or be willing to make the first move. It's like a game of chess, nothing happens until the combatants begin to move pieces... and often it's the little pawns that set off first.
In social circles, it's always best to start off by offering smiles rather than cool grimaces and it's often the unspoken signals that work as the brightest green lights. A great English wordsmith once penned, "Nature is a language can't you read?" and if you read between the lines, it is so true. Our body language says more than we ever have to utter through words alone.
I will no doubt return to this theme in future columns but I hope that in the short quota of words that I am allowed week by week, I have given you some food for thought to at least get you started.
Planetary-ily Yours
