Bowling for Dollars (and Chicks)

I was in the Philippines this summer, and right now I'm back and finishing up my master's degree. (Yes, at last.)

I studied the Filipino martial arts with a grandmaster of a close fighting style, and I met an incredible girl. I met her via Date in Asia.com. She was young with a great set of breasts (even though I'm much more interested in spiritual beauty, ha ha).

Date in Asia is a free dating site. Before going I lined up a bunch of women, maybe 10 or so, and got phone numbers. I think this is key number one, to line up a bunch of women. Earlier I wrote about an acquaintance of mine (and I could choke him for not consulting me) whose single biggest mistake was focusing everything on a single woman. I arrived in the Philippines with several prospects.

Plan A is not enough. Have plans B-Z.

As soon as I arrived I had an Australian friend and his girlfriend who were looking to set me up with a single girl they knew. A Filipino gentleman approached me and offered to set me up with a girl he knew. A girl walked up to me in Ayala Mall and started flirting with me. Things didn't go very far when I told her I was there to meet my girlfriend. These opportunities fell into my lap, not because I'm a Brad Pitt look alike, but simply because I got on a plane, dressed reasonably well, and come across as a decent guy.


The Scammer, and a Date at the Bowling Alley

So as soon as I arrived I texted Anne and a couple of other girls to try to set up a date. I got a reply from an unknown number and set up a meet in SM Mall. I assumed the girl was Gladys from Cordova.

When we met at SM Mall, the girl was not the one in the picture. I started to get upset. I was close to chewing her out for being a scammer and using fake photos, and so on. But I thought, "Screw it. I'm on vacation and here to have fun."

So the girl Gladys, her friend Marcela, and I agreed to go bowling. By the way, this is a great date idea in Cebu City. Neither of the girls had been bowling before, and anything new creates excitement. I paid about 300 pesos for an hour of unlimited bowling, and I had to buy the girls socks, for about forty pesos each. In all, I spent about 12-15 bucks.

I really didn't care at that point if the date led anywhere; I was just having fun. The girls' socks had American flags on them, so I told them they were "lucky American socks."

We bowled and the girls were horrible. I wasn't much better. Gradually Marcela went from getting gutter balls to scoring the occasional strike. And I started to notice Marcela. She was cute, with a fun-loving, easy going way about her.

But how could I make a move on Marcela without offending Gladys? Of course, in my mind Gladys was just a scammer and deserved whatever she got. But still, it wasn't in me to be rude to Gladys.

The date ended and we said good-bye. I chalked up Marcela as the one that got away. And I had fun. What the hell, I was on vacation, with no bills, no work, no hassles, in a tropical paradise packed to the rafters with beautiful women. Hey, life was great.


Plan B

So I got back on the phone and texted Anne again. "Let's meet," I suggested.

"We already met," she replied.

"What?" My mind was racing.

"I'm 'Marcela,'" she explained.

I was floored. I didn't recognize her from her picture online, but now I could see the resemblance. When I had texted her, Marcela (Anne is her middle name.) had used her friend Gladys as a screen. This way she could observe the guy she was interested in without the pressure of going out on a date. She could be the "fly on the wall" carefully observing if this guy was the type of guy she was looking for.

The desperate kind of guy who would settle for anybody would wind up with her friend Gladys. Which was good for Gladys and good for Anne, as it saved her from the desperate loser types out there.

The Importance of Plans B-Z

Anne was my girlfriend all this summer, and she still writes me. She was dynamite in bed, in addition to being the most easy-going, easy to like woman I've ever met.

Many times I've looked back and realized just how close I was to blowing it. If I had yelled at Gladys "the scammer" and stormed off, I would have missed the opportunity of a lifetime. But because I had multiple women lined up and confidence in my ability to find one (or several), I was able to play the hand I was dealt --which looked like an online scammer and her tag along friend out for a free lunch-- and win with it.

The importance of Plan B is not just to give you a back up option of Plan A fails, but to help you win with Plan A. Knowing you have Plan B, as well as Plans C, D, E, etc. means that you come across as relaxed. You are not trying to force the situation out of desperation.