ute "at your local pub
“Brushing” to her agenda.
“Brushing” occurs when I.
brush against a guy as if by ac
cident,” Mary explains. “Of
course, if it’s really crowded,
sometimes it truly is an
accident!”
Another popular game is
“Phone Call;*’ it is similar to
“Scenic Route” in that it re
quires a woman to maneuver
through a mass of men.
“I just go to the pay phone,
which is usually near the bar,
and call someone,” says
25-year-old health instructor
Kim. “I call my mother, the
operator, anybody; ’cause some
guy I’ve been staring at is
bound to ask who I’m calling
and start a conversation.”
“Hi There, You’re Great;
Now Introduce Me To Your
Friend” is the most widely used
game both men and women
engage in. The scenario is sim
ple: a beautiful girl, her unat
tractive girlfriend, and an in
timidated guy.
David, awed by Sherry’s stun
ning looks, couldn’t bring
himself to start a conversation
stress techniques
despread than most of us inl
ine because many victims
ticeal their condition. They
e ashamed of their fears and
ridicule by others for having
ise fears, so they often suffer
silence and hide their symp
ns from an unsympathetic
vironment.
“I’d be too embarrassed to
I my teacher I’m afraid of
dng tests,” John told me.
he’d just think I was trying
get special favors.”
And test anxiety is on the in
ease.
“In the last five years,” said
Krieger, “we have seen
ore cases of test anxiety in
e Counseling Center. This is
obably due to external
essures, decreasing job
arkets, and increased com
tition for employment.”
Adding to that, Beck said that
ere is a strong positive cor
lation with need achievement,
th competition needs, and
th need to excell and get
lead.
Research has shown, fairly
delusively, that test anxiety
be relieved through a corn
nation of different ap
oaches.
‘‘l use an eclectic approach,”
id Beck. “Essentially, I try to
!l P the student develop a
®style that allows him all the
nogs he feels he needs to do,
'd also study for tests. I try to
II the performance aspect of
s nfe into a comfortable
estyle.”
with her, so he gave her homely
friend, Beth, a line.
“You come here often?”
David said. “First time for us,
but we like it! “This is my
friend, Sherry.” “Hi Sherry,”
“Mary, a 21-year-old college junior, and her girlfriends always sit
at the table farthest from the ladies’ room to play the ‘scenic route.’
This positioning ensures synchronized walks through the herd of
men near the bar; which is indeed a scenic route!”
David said, “you want a
drink?”
While the ploys are effective,
the best, most successful
female pick-up trick requires
only a watch. The delightful,
yet deceptive, ritual is titled “I
Don’t Know Where They Are.”
Walking into a dark club,
Connie, a 22-year-old graduate
student, moves directly towards
the bar. Once in position, she
begins her vigil.
“I continually examine my
watch for the time and stretch
my neck searching for my late,
imaginary friend,” Connie says.
Within minutes, some guy will
begin a conversation with a line
like “No one should stand up a
good-looking girl!” The game
insures several prizes: a drink,
a dance, and of course, if some
one more desirable appears,
you have an excuse to leave.
“I like to go out and my
girlfriends usually cancel out,
so it (I Don’t Know Where They
Are) gives me something to do
at the bar until I’m comfor-
Pages 8/9
table,” explains Connie. Feeling
comfortable seems to be the
main reason why women
engage in bar rituals.
“Bar games, like other
games, are childish,” one
woman told me.
Are they? Experts have con
cluded that bar games, or
rituals, are healthy in that they
promote human interaction.
“Social rituals,” says Penn
State professor Dr. Simon Bron
ner, “compensate for the lack
of knowing everyone, especially
in the Harrisburg area. Bars
are spread out, unlike New
York or Philadelphia where
there are two bars on one cor
ner.
“Your chances of meeting a
lot of people in one night are
diminished due to the driving
distance,” Bronner says.
Therefore, to make the most of
meeting people, observe more
and watch for patterns.
So the next time you’re in a
bar, observe the scenic route,
’cause now you know where we
are!
Dr. Krieger said she en
courages students to practice
good health habits, such as
good nutrition and adequate ex
ercise. “The more fine-tuned
the body is,” she said, “the bet
ter able it is to withstand
pressure.”
She also recommends that
students learn some type of
stress management techniques,
and she said the Counseling
Center offers many.
Once these techniques are
learned, she said, it is good to
practice them in the location
where the test is to be taken.
“This helps replace the anxiety
response with a relaxation
response.”
Both Beck and Krieger say
that feedback from students us
ing these techniques has been
positive, and that there are
more and more students signing
up for workshops through the
Counseling Center.
Beck said that students
should realize that seeking help
for test anxiety is a “sign of
strength, rather than something
to hide from.”
He also said that at Capitol
Campus, many instructors pick
up test anxiety in their
students, and refer them to the
Counseling Center for help.
So for John, and students like
John, test taking need not be
debilitating. Help is only as far
away as the college counseling
center.