Other random notes:
I re-read The Story of the Stone, by Barry Hughart. It's better than I remember, and I think I'll remember the details of it better this time.
I saw The Italian Job a bit back with some friends. It was pretty good, though it was very much the genre it appeared to be.
Something I came up with, and I'm considering how well I like: "Be yourself. It doesn't attract the people it should attract, but it repels the people it should repel." The corollary is that for maximum effect, you should alternate with other techniques that attract the people they should attract. In other words, alternate false-positive techniques with false-negative techniques.