kinesics.

this subject matter has come up quite a few times recently w/ different people, and of course now i'm going to blab about it.. i had to remind chris* that smiling and nice conversations constitute as "flirting" for about the first 30 minutes of making eye contact with one another (not so much in those words, but in retrospect - this is what i should have said). that should be a decent amount of time for you to determine whether or not you care to pursue building on this foundation (it makes me laugh everytime i use that word now, and only one other person would get why -- and they don't read my stuff)... i think.

so you're marking things off your check-list...

... physically attractive (check.)
... mentally attractive (check.)
... curiosity grows, you're interested (check.)

[friends episode moment: "passport, check! camera, check! traveller's checks, check!"]

you want to inform the other person how you feel w/o giving up too much, but still making it known. see, this is where just "smiling and saying funny things" stops working. what next? body language. an example i used for chris (which only works from guys to girls), when you're going thru doors - of course, open it for her (a gentleman always holds open a door for a lady, date or non-date)... as she passes, gently guide her w/ your hand at the small of her back. don't push her (altho that'd be funny to see) or even put any pressure - just kinda, rest it there. it's cute - at least for me. i actually started to compile a list of "appropriate first few dates body language" - but then i came off sounding like relationship expert - [delete!] - i am sooo the opposite of such.

but i digress.

body language is MAJOR when you want to tell somebody something... w/o actually having to tell them (i like sneaky tactics, but i hate games). one of my biggest pet peeves are when people can't tell when you're trying to say, "i'm sorry, i'm not interested"... for example, when i'm walking away profusely rolling my eyes while scoffing and flipping you the bird... that usually means, "please, go away." but what do i know? i'm no expert.

...body language (check.) :)

* i've mentioned chris in here enough times that he can simply go by his name w/o any background information. you are now officially a character in my blog world. =)