Hooking up is hard on the knees

MANILA, Philippines - Today, hormones are definitely up more than ever and we’ve become quite candid about it. On Valentine’s Day, I was driving home when I came across the Boys Night Out show on local radio and the hilarious trio of DJs Tony, Slick and Sam were throwing their usual green remarks at “hot” female celebrities and bombshell starlets. In fact, the subject of conversation was about dating and hooking up etiquette. “Stop rubbing your nose on the girl’s ear (if you just met the girl in a club)!” one of the hosts said in disgust. Apparently, some men like to pretend that they need to whisper something and end up trying to kiss the girl’s ear. One caller, on the other hand, asked for some advice on “How to really get the girl.” Sam YG, “the love guru” that he is, unabashedly said that we all have our own kiliti (ticklish part) and that every girl has her own weakness. “Find out what her weakness is. She could come from a broken family and you could be that fatherly figure. But that’s just one case,” he added. In other words, be what the person needs. That might just be the 21st-century secret to getting someone interested in you, or simply “hooking up.”

I remember last week at a good friend’s bachelors’ night out, two nights before his wedding day, we were having one of those spontaneous conversations. One of our single friends quipped, “Do you want to know how I pick up girls?” Everyone pretended not to listen. “I make her feel that I’m really interested in knowing her. That I’m not trying to take her home. I say things that she wants to here. And then you get her drinks... whatever she wants. Make her feel really special,” he added. It sounded like what I heard on the radio on Monday. We then headed to a popular bar in Makati that a lot of college girls are known to frequent on Thursday nights. Of course, typically the good-looking guy gets all the attention, but you’d be surprised at all the action going on in a club. Everyone has his own strategy. And the smartass brings home the bacon (or lettuce). There are guys who try to get a girl’s name, there are girls who want to get noticed but end up snubbing every guy who approaches her, and there are successful exchanges of numbers, Facebook accounts and BBMs. For some reason, I was always the wing man, which got me used to all the tactics both my male and female friends would deploy on their “preys.” I’ve seen guys getting other guys drunk, vulnerable and gullible. I’ve heard a guy say “I love you” to someone on the night he met her. Is he really a hopeless romantic or was that his plan of action?

The social network: How do you get a person interested in you? jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I often hear single people complaining that they’re “getting tired of clubbing,” but how else could they “throw themselves out there”? “It’s the quickest way to get noticed and find someone,” a gay friend admitted. “How do you meet someone who’s as open as you? At the bookstore or the airport? When you’re jogging at the park? I met all my exes in a club or a bar. Although I remember hooking up with someone on the bus, it wasn’t that fancy. But if you’re just in it for the sex, then why not, right?” he added. Although we might think we’ve become liberated and people might even condemn this seemingly dominating point of view, there are still those individuals who have high hopes of finding love. You might have made a mistake once by sleeping with someone days after hanging out with him and then you realize that he only appears in the picture every other week; but now that you know that, there’s no need to give it all away. Actually, if you look around you, you might be surprised to know that people go out to find that one true connection. They might not look like they’re looking for something that strong, but if you pay attention, everyone remains a hopeless romantic.