RAKtheUndead said:
Blah blah blah relationship problem blah blah blah.
Oh, wait. This is actually a problem I could hypothetically help with. I'm an expert at crushing emotion - although it's sometimes slipped past me with very disturbing effects. What I generally use are my own Rules of Romantic Interactions.
1) Unless explicitly proven otherwise, he/she already has a romantic partner.
1a) On the internet, unless explicitly proven otherwise, she is a man.
2) Even if they are not currently involved in a romantic relationship, they almost certainly are not interested in you.
3) Accentuate their negative traits. Talk to them, identify a feature which you find distasteful or annoying, and focus on that and how little you want to be associated with somebody with that trait.
4) If you cannot successfully identify a negative trait to focus on, accentuate your own negative traits. Find some feature of your own personality which is distasteful or annoying (but not vulgar or offensive) and accentuate that.
5) If you cannot bring it on yourself to act on Rule 4, it is not of critical importance; unless they're stalking you - in which case, you shouldn't have any moral quandries about acting on Rule 4 - they will have accentuated your negative traits for you and recognised that they are not interested in you.
If that doesn't work, there's somebody here who can give you genuine relationship advice. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.117161-Relationship-problem-thread]
That would be excellent advice, if that weren't pretty much what I always do. Like I said, I avoid emotions and I am a pessimist.
Some psychological background on me, if it'll help at all:
My dad was in the U.S. Air Force. I have never lived anywhere for more than two years, until now. I have lived in Florida for about four and a half years now. I hate it here. In case you don't know the general theme of this place, it is full of future prostitutes and gangsters. I wanted to get into law enforcement as soon as I got here because of all the crap these idiots get away with. These people being mostly idiots, not many of them appeal to me as friends, let alone anything more. I have had crushes before, but I have never been nearly this compelled.
Due to what used to be my drifter lifestyle, I keep small groups of friends, around 10 people or so, and rarely stay interested in a single person for more than a couple months, a group for 6-8 months, and then I can't wait to move and get a new crowd of thousands. Until the next relocation, I keep mostly self-contained.
Forgive my reiteration: I have lived here FOUR AND A HALF YEARS NOW. I have doubled my previous record for time in one place, and I haven't kept a close friend for more than a few months and I rarely keep in contact with anyone anymore. Those who I do keep in contact with, it's just because I feel like a dick when I blow people off when they still like staying connected with me because I know that's what most people are used to.
She is the first person who I have kept interest in for this long, which is probably about three or four more times than my average. I feel uncomfortable and disoriented. I can't decide whether I should cut ties to my only friend who's lasted this long or stick with it and get used to this kind of thing, so that, just maybe, I can have friends to last my minimum three years before I move out. If I'm lucky, maybe I'll get a chance at something better than a friend. And optimism is pretty much hypocriticism to me.
. Every knight gets a chance to prove himself! Every person gets extra chances and finds new choices. Oh, and don't be so pessimistic, it's bad for your health.
