Marshall's Notes on Being Social

Observations On Interacting With Others In Social Contexts

When you strike a foe, it is difficult to moderate the exact amount of force you should use. Too little, and your enemy continues fighting, his attention more-likely-than-not focused upon you; his spirits renewed from the notion that you cannot harm him. Too much, and you risk dealing undue damage to yourself, to your equipment, or simply courting exhaustion.
In this way, socializing is similar to fighting. You often cannot be entirely sure if the amount of effort you put in is too much, or too little, but a decision must be made, and some amount of hope must accompany every gesture.
In this way, and this way alone, socializing is similar to fighting. For the truth is, they could not be more dissimilar, even if one was made to be the other's opposite. I shall not entertain fantasies that this may be the case in this document. Instead, I would direct the duly-curious reader to Entry no. 417 of Field Marshall Janet T. Blauefaust's Tome of Fantasy-Flights for that, as well as to CMTOA Document Omega-Hospice-Garland-Osmosis-D033, 'Documenting In An Orderly Fashion By Duke Vollmündung' for an explanation as to why one would omit such speculation from this page.
Returning to the topic at hand, combat, especially of a personal nature, is rife with additional chances with which one might assault the same target, in hopes of achieving the same result. As an example: when a punch is blocked, you may swiftly punch with the other hand, or perhaps use a kick, or even transition the blocked blow into a grappling technique. Socializing, on the other hand, is rather reliant on first impressions. Experiments 11-24, documented in Janet T. Blauefaust's Journey To Social Grace demonstrate this handily, though only 13, 14 and 22 were designed to explore the possibility in anything greater than a tertiary capacity.
Furthermore, when a battle is over, the results are plain and beyond argument. The force who lies dead, stands imprisoned, or kneels in newfound servitude has been defeated, and the other force reaps the benefits. Socially, things are vague and malleable virtually all the time, with definitive conclusions coming rarely if at all. Were this a treatise on my own emotions, I would confess here that I find it frustrating, though not in a wholly-objectionable sort of way. Since it is not, I will not. The reader is encouraged to disregard the fact that I just did.
In fact, the reader is encouraged to be Field Marshall Janet T. Blauefaust, since these notes are for my own, exclusive use, and reading them while being someone other than me is thus a breach of my privacy. I encourage you to be honest about having done this, lest I discover it for myself and explain further points of battle to you in a number of more direct fashions.
Of course, if you are me, then I sincerely hope you've gotten better at this crap since writing this.

- Field Marshall Janet T. Blauefaust, 14/51/30-alpha-14