Writing Sabbatical and Hiatus from Personal Coaching
April 16, 2009
‘Tis the season to be writing!
For almost a year now, I’ve had a couple of really important writing projects on the backburner, and it is about time that I got my priorities straight and finished them. The solitary, writing mode does not mix well with the outgoing, social mode.
So, I’m taking a sabbatical from extensive blog writing and personal coaching for a while to finish these books and other projects. I’m really psyched about this! The summer will also see me traveling a lot for research and writing, and it’s just gonna be awesome.
I’ve already pulled back from leading bootcamps and other such programs for some time now, a decision that I’ve been quite happy about, so this has been a gradual transition for me.
I’ll still be updating the blog in the meantime, so check back.
I’m also still happy to field your questions privately over email, so feel free to continue contacting me at asianrake “at” asianrake.com
Play on, The Asian Rake.
I have Facebook stalkers…
January 28, 2009
And they just keep popping up, lol.
Be vigilant with your privacy settings and don’t tag your photos unless you want jealous guys and creepy, psychologically disturbed community guys tracking down your girls, messaging them, and spreading malicious rumors about you, including false information about how you run your day 2s and who you are currently seeing (wow, a little too close for comfort).
Singaporeans don’t have paparazzi; they have the creepy lair guy… who writes ungrammatical English, lol
As you make a name for yourself, you’ll have to get used to this; it comes with the territory. It’s almost inevitable that some random creepy guys out there will be so ego-driven, simultaneously so full of pride and envy that they will obsess over you. You barely even know of their existence, but they spend every waking moment obsessing over you. LOL. It sounds scary, but it’s actually more pitiful than anything else.
Not all community guys are creepy, of course, but you never know who you are really dealing with… (cue scary music, lol).
Back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Play on, The Asian Rake.
New York City with Miss Model Behavior
January 5, 2009
When visiting friends and family in New York City over the holidays, I had the opportunity to hang out with Miss Model Behavior, who won me over a while back with her hilariously insightful post on promoters, nomoters, and fromoters. Her blog’s latest incarnation is a team-authored blog on life in NYC. I’ve linked her contributions on dating and relationships in my blogroll. Go check it out! Her delightful posts on such subjects as being friends with the ex, SMS relationships, and the intricacies of the intense NYC club scene, are not only thought-provoking but also charming and entertaining. I love showcasing the female perspective on dating, seduction, and relationships. MMB is as articulate and pretty in person as her writing suggests.
Play on!
Thought Leader Interview with Lance
December 29, 2008
You might remember when I mentioned that I was named, along with such guys as Sinn and Dave Wygant, as one of the top Thought Leaders in the community by Honey and Lance. Following up on that, Lance has been doing email interviews with each of the Thought Leaders, and he just posted his interview with me.
If you haven’t checked out Honey and Lance yet, do it now. You’ll thank me profusely afterwards. Their site is easily one of the most insightful, candid, and well-balanced forums on dating and relationships. Most notably, their probing analyses and entertaining writing have attracted several articulate and highly intelligent female bloggers who have been interacting with both Honey and Lance and generating great discussions.
Here’s the original post on the Thought Leaders.
Here’s my interview with Lance.
Happy Holidays!
Let’s follow each other
September 29, 2008
Have you signed up for twitter yet? It seems like it has reached its critical mass in the last few months. Basically, you use it to send out little life updates - they call it ‘microblogging’ - and other people can subscribe to them. Its a fun way to see what your friends are up to, tell everyone about a cool link you found, and brag about the girl you just met.
I’ve been using twitter for a while now, and I love following a few friends. So why don’t you sign up for a twitter account, follow me, and if you have some interesting things to say, I’ll follow you too? My twitter name - @AsianRake.
You can then get an app for your iphone (twitteriffic), blackberry (twitterberry) or just get text updates or whatever. Its just, well, fun!
Sign up for twitter at www.twitter.com
The Pickup Weirdo and Lairs…
September 14, 2008
I guess when you stand up, you’ll get noticed, and others will try to chop you down.
For those who don’t know, there are online forums of random guys who share tips and thoughts on getting better with women.
These forums are called “lairs.” There are at least three lairs in Singapore alone. These lairs organize meetings for these guys to meet other aspiring “pickup artists.”
My experience with lairs in several different countries has been largely disappointing. Over 90% of the lair members are downright creepy and have major psychological issues. Pickup weirdos.
This past weekend, I got sucker-punched by a new pickup weirdo who introduced himself to me outside a club. He was with a big gang of lair guys, a few of whom I know and count as friends.
When a friend introduces me to another guy, I’ll treat the guy like a friend. I’m friendly. I let my guard down. I let you into my circle. I’ll even introduce you to my girls.
The last thing you should do is to try to AMOG me (trying to assert your alpha-ness and social authority) in front of one of my girls.
Even while it’s happening, I give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe this is just the way you are. Maybe you’re new to the scene. Maybe you don’t know that you’re stepping on toes. Maybe you’re incredibly insecure and need to pee on the tree to feel like a man. So I throw you a bone.
But no. The air of superiority, and the naked assertion of ego is unmistakeable.
So you win the little AMOG battle. You pump up my girl’s buying temperature. She gets giddy, subconsciously feeling that two men are fighting over her. I learned something very important about this girl.
But more significantly, that pickup weirdo just lost a potential friend… for now, anyway.
Choose your battles wisely. Especially when there isn’t even a war.
Peace and love, The Asian Rake.
My Final Weekend in Beijing!
June 6, 2008
The exclamation mark in the title is not to express excitement. I’m going to really miss Beijing, especially my girls and my buddies here. But it’s time to move on… at least for several months. I’ll be in North America for a while and then moving to Singapore after that.
How am I going to close out my last weekend in Beijing, you ask? Well, I’m not even going to be in town. I’ve agreed to teach just one more bootcamp before I leave the country. I guess that’s as good a way to conclude things here as any.
I’ll still have the week to party!
Happy playin’, The Asian Rake.
PS. Look out for some major changes to this site in the coming months…
Say Hello to the New Site!
April 16, 2008
As you can see, I’ve made the switch from a blogger blog to a wordpress one. It’s taken me a while to figure things out on this, as blogger is a lot simpler to use, though I do appreciate the extra functionality that wordpress offers, which is why I switched.
Unfortunately, I’ve found out that a few people have had their emails returned. For a couple of days, I was trying to integrate my google apps email with wordpress, but changing the google MX took too long and was messing up, so I’ve opted out of it.
If your email to asianrake “at” asianrake.com gets bounced, then send your email to asianrake “at” gmail.com for now. The asianrake.com email should be up and running now, but just in case it’s not working for you, feel free to contact me at the gmail account.
Also, if you’ve sent me an email in the past few days, and I haven’t replied, then I probably didn’t get it. Please send it to asianrake “at” gmail.com instead. Thanks for understanding 
Peace out, The Asian Rake.
My Blog is Blocked in China!
December 11, 2007
It’s official. I’m wanted in China. Haha!
My blog is blocked in China… at least as of right now. Maybe the powers that be will see fit to unblock it by tomorrow morning.
To the Chinese censors: I’ve specifically avoided linking my site to China-based blogs and sites. My blog is written primarily for my friends back home in the West, so that they can keep up with my life. I really don’t think anyone but “foreigners” (waiguoren) are reading this (albeit, from all over the world). So no need to fear about me influencing the minds of susceptible young Chinese
Anyway, I’m interpreting this as a sign I’ve “arrived” 
I’m accessing it through a proxy site, but the blog writing features are all messed up using the proxy site. For example, I don’t have the option of posting photos when writing from the proxy site. Bummer.
This week has seen a lot of action, including a KTV date with a gorgeous 20 yo. actress-model and more visits with the new girl from Thursday.
Can’t wait for the Singapore trip with my girl and the bootcamp, which is going to be just awesome!
Happy playin’, The Asian Rake.
New Domain Name–Public Release!
November 5, 2007
On November 3, the Chinese government decided to unblock blogspot sites. I took advantage of this window to purchase this domain name. Hopefully, the Great Firewall of China will not extend to this humble site as well.
Until today, this blog had been restricted to about a group of about a dozen of my fellow adventurers. I am now releasing it to the public. Hope you enjoy following along and feel free to post comments.
Btw, if you see that this blog has not been updated in over a week, chances are good that the blog has been blocked in China.
