G'day mates!

Yep, this post is coming to you from sunny Melbourne.

Been away since the 18th and am slowly adjusting to the backpacking lifestyle. Rather than bore you, I'll give a quick summary of where I've been and what I've seen before moving onto the observations about humanity

1)Beijing 4 days: Was quite cold compared to our mild winter at home so spent a lot of the time in the cold. Got really bad jet-lag and slept till 2pm after going to bed at 9 the previous night, therefore loosing a day. Ate a lot of duck, was dragged into several global foodchains by my travelling companion, felt ill, did all the touristy things bar the Great Wall because for some reason, 2 foreign girls weren't allowed to get on the normal bus, we had to get on the tour bus to Badaling which was 50 yuan instead of 2 yuan AND didn't take us to where we wanted to go!

All in all then an experience.

2)Sydney: great city, warm, nice people, menus that didn't include duck, result!

3)Oz Experience to Melbourne (where I am now): Strained with a tour guide who was convinced he was the worlds funniest, coolest dude when in fact he was about average and rather insipid people who hiked at a speed that frankly defies physics.

And so here I am in Melbourne, sat in a distinctly grubby hostel which has little flies constantly buzzing around the kitchen (nice) and questionably stained sheets. Best not dwelled on really

But the main topic of the day is going to be flirting, the ways and means so to speak.
I love watching people flirt, it's such an amusing pastime. As a detached individiual, you can see so much more than the people involved in the frisson can. EG: He like her loads but shes got one eye on him and one on the waiter, you know? That sort of thing. I like trying to figure out people's stories like that.

I have had an extended opportunity now to watch and study my travel buddy Nikki and am collecting enough data for an extended thesis on the subject.

She is a natural flirt. Actually, natural is not the right word, I don't think anyone can do what and as much as she does naturally, takes too much energy. She is a flirt, full stop.
She's a girl who lights up whenevr there's a guy around and is absolutely miserable when there aren't any. So Beijing was fun for me, guess who got the brunt of the flirt's bad mood?

Before I continue I should say, yes, this girl is my friend and that is why I'm sharing this with you people. It's catahatic for me and may be entertaining for you and stops me bitching to our mutual friends, so everybody wins. I believe these observations apply to all flirts, my subject of close study, aka Nikki, will be referred to as an example alone.

So the natural flirt is morose and sluggish when not surronded by people of an attractive gender or nature. This state of affairs does not last long however as they are not very discriminatory in their choices of flirting partners.

They are incredibly tactile in their flirting and will basically (if not really) climb into their flirting partner/victims lap.

Usually, the flirt is quite enetertaing but things take a sinister and sour turn as soon as the Flirt has lost attention for more than a minute. These individuals like to not only dominate attention and conversation but anything else for that matter, so that they remian the centre of focus. In circumstances where a loss of attention does occur, the Flirt will stop at nothing to get attention back, focused on them. For example, they will interrupt conversations, physically turn someone back towards them by grabbing their hands etc and generally freze out the person who has gained the attention of whoever it is the Flirt is trying to flirt with, which is generally the person in the room who isn't paying the Flirt immideate attention. The Flirt in other words, likes a challenge.

My case in point, Nikki has openly said to me 'It'd would be nice if I saw you being chatted up at a bar instead of me for once.' (Now you see why I don't feel guilty about posting all this online?)I really had to struggle to keep a straight face and bite my tongue because on this trip that is never going to happen whilst she's around.
I like the next person, am perfectly capable of flirting and being flirted with. And since we've been away, it has happened frequently. I, on the other hand, do not find it acceptable to clamber over anyone who is there to get the attention of someone I've just met who is already talking to my friend or anyone else for that matter in a blatant and frankly desperate attempt to get as many guys to like me as possible. So the above scenario is osmething I've expereinced on quite a few occasions. And by like I mean give me their attention, which in my book is not one and the same thing.

Because it seems from my close observation that the Flirt is suffering from a genuine lack of confidence in themselves, even though they seem to be suffering in abundance. I don't judge my self worth based upon getting a guy's attention away from someone who is having a genuine conversation and interesting another person without grabbing their hands every two seconds, or sitting on them, or leaning on them or hugging them like a small child geting their mother's attention, but the Flirt obviously does. They are only genuinely happy in the few post euphoric hours immediatley after a 'conquest' of sorts and always, looking for the next one.

I think it shows a lack of inner peace and stability. It's constantly measuring self worth by how long and even intense a first conversation can be, and that can't be good. After all, when you've only met someone for a few hours, why should you care how much attention they give you really? It's fine if you just want a chat and a flirt, but The Flirt seems to need it to confirm that yes, they are genuine, likeable people. It just makes me wonder what they think about themselves late at night if they constantly need the buzz of new interactions to feel good. It can't be a good place, alone at night, if you think like that.

More from the frontline soon