Mar 6, 2008

The look

One useful skill that any PLU guy should acquire is the look (aside from gaydar, of course, hehehe). I'm sure most of you know what I mean even though I haven't explained what it is yet, but for those you still clueless, the look is that repeated eye-to-eye contact you make with another guy in a public place to signify your interest in each other without being obvious about it to other people. This maneuver (heh) is often done in the mall, in the gym, on the streets, and even in gay-friendly places like clubs and saunas.

Doing the look is something that's quite hard to describe in writing and it's actually not something that somebody else teaches you—you learn it on your own. But for the sake of discussion, doing the look requires that you have eye-to-eye contact with the other guy and lock it for more than two seconds or so. (Nope, you don't need a stopwatch for this.) If the other guy is straight or is not interested, then the eye contact will be broken immediately. But, if the glance lingers, then the other guy is likely interested. It is only when this lingering eye contact repeats for a few more times that you can be sure that something beautiful might happen: you could gain a new friend or, maybe, a good romp in bed. Hehehe. :-)

In my experience, the look happens most often when you and the other guy approach each other (in the mall, on the street, or wherever). The first glance happens sometime right before you pass each other. When both you and the other guy are interested, turning back to look around happens a few moments after. Catching each other looking back is almost a sure sign of interest and at this point, you both may stop and pretend to be doing something (like pretending to text, hehehe) and also to steal more glances. A small smile is often given while looking to unambiguously show attraction. Whether anything further happens from this point on depends on your or the other guy's torpe-level. Hopefully, one of you is not shy enough to approach the other.

It goes without saying that if you're not interested in the other guy, don't look back! Any second or third glance might be misinterpreted as interest instead of curiosity and if the other guy is aggressive, you might be hard-pressed to evade him. This is especially true if you're in an enclosed place that you're not likely to get out of anytime soon. Like the gym.

Anyway, I got to exercise this skill last week as I was going home from work. I spotted this nice cute guy in a yellow shirt and we furtively looked at each other. Several more stolen glances later, we find ourselves exchanging numbers. It turns out that we both live in the same city and I'm likely to invite him out for coffee or dinner one of these days. :-)

So, do you have any experiences employing the look lately?

The model doing the look above is hunkalicious Mark Onir.

12 comments:

Paul wrote on March 7, 2008 at 11:17 AM:

This post is interesting and I have been telling some of my straight friends on how we can tell if someone is gay as well. Aside of course from our gayday. And sometimes, I feel sad from doing this especially if the guy is with his pseudo-girlfriend (if you know what I mean)...

Boohoo for the girl... blinded by the acting or just trying to pretend not to notice that her BF loves to sashay...

And good for you... after the stare-lock move, you will definitely get a good shag...

Proven effective.

 
Anonymous wrote on March 8, 2008 at 7:19 AM:

Exactly! I do use the same trick, the third time he glances I smile and if smile too then your up for the joy ride. When you spot a perfect catch but he doesnt reciprocate that means he is clueless or not into it but you should not loose hope, exert more effort. What I do is follow the guy and have the courage to converse , your talking points depends on the circumstances. My 3 previous relationship started that way and boy, they are gorgeous ! . If youre torpe then I'm sorry for you wont get it. There's no harm in trying, there's nothing to loose if they turn you down but if they take it you just hit a jackpot.

 
Vince (Discreet Manila) wrote on March 8, 2008 at 6:53 PM:

Paul: well, those PLU guys putting up a front is a pretty heady, but different, issue altogether. But it's interesting to see that they are susceptible to 'the look' as well. Hehehe.

Anon: I'm an admitted torpe. But I do get my share of nice catches. I'm learning to be more assertive now. Wow, 3 relationships just based on casual meetings? I'm in awe. :-)

 
daemon wrote on March 12, 2008 at 11:06 PM:

what if you get this alot from a guy who is straight (well he says he is, plus he has a gf)?

ive been getting myself in tangles over this guy...

 
Vince (Discreet Manila) wrote on March 13, 2008 at 7:45 AM:

Daemon, so you know this guy? If he says he's straight and has a girlfriend, then you should probably stick to that. It's hard to assume anything with just looks.
Anyway, almost always, "the look" is between two strangers.

 
closet case wrote on March 20, 2008 at 10:31 AM:

oh yes. the look. they also talk about a 3-second glance back. if the guy glances back within 3 seonds of the initial 'look', the guy is definitely interested!

 
Vince (Discreet Manila) wrote on March 24, 2008 at 10:44 PM:

CC, oh, so there's a 3-second glance back? I usually take 5 seconds or so before I look back. Hmmm...

 
A.Dimaano wrote on September 12, 2008 at 5:47 PM:

"So, do you have any experiences employing the look lately?"

Yes, very often. :P

 
demigod wrote on August 3, 2010 at 1:07 PM:

super later reply, lols...

just started exploring your blogs vince, and i must say i am learning tons of stuff...

how i wish i got 'balls' like you do (a li'l pun intended, lols)...

 
Vince (Discreet Manila) wrote on August 5, 2010 at 11:13 PM:

@demigod, hey, belated welcome to my blog and I hope you pick up lots of things from it. ;-)

 
Anonymous wrote on February 4, 2011 at 10:22 AM:

I love your blogs, very interesting. And hilarious in a way. Keep up the good work.. ^_^

 
Anonymous wrote on March 22, 2011 at 10:23 PM:

Daymn... Just had that kind of situation last Sunday... Torpe lang talaga... Sayang... x_x