Nicholas Aretakis spoke to more than 200 students this past Tuesday night in the Student Center Auditorium about his latest book, “Ditching Mr. Wrong.”
The nearly packed auditorium enjoyed personal stories from Aretakis and the sage advice he offered the many young women in attendance concerning their dating lives. The message he wanted women to walk away with was the right selection of a lifelong partner is one of, if not the, most important decision they will ever make. However, some of the women merely walked away from the speaking engagement glaring at the male audience members in attendance and vowing vengeance on the men waiting for them at home.
Attendees were met with a repetitive R & B song that looped the words “happily ever after” within the chorus as they sporadically filed into the auditorium. This caused some women to openly mock the crooning, thought the message of the song was clear: This lecture was going to help them meet Mr. Right.
Introduced by Gregg Costanzo of Campus Life, Nicholas Aretakis had the frame and look of chameleon actor Gary Oldman. With an easygoing voice he opened the lecture with a story about his friend, Kelly.
To summarize, Kelly was duped by a conman who took her, and her family, to the bank before hightailing it out of her life. Aretakis did not want that to happen anymore to the women in his life, so he wrote a cautionary book to prevent it. Using his analytical savviness, with intermittent popular movie clips, Aretakis broke down five important steps for finding the right man and ditching that slob that embarrasses you.
The first step to finding Mr. Right begins with the woman, which makes sense. It has been said for one to find love they must first find a way to love themselves.
Aretakis took it a step further than love, an immeasurable emotion, by introducing the top mistakes women make in a relationship. Naturally, fewer than 20 men in attendance shifted uncomfortably as they prepared for the backlash Aretakis would undoubtedly receive. However, the ladies merely leaned forward slightly and eagerly accepted such truths as “don’t expect to change him, guys don’t change” and “do not lose your independence in a relationship.”
Aretakis received more than one chuckle as he presented his second step to finding Mr. Right. Women should start early with him and treat dates like job interviews and prospects as interviewees. Women should be asking themselves if the man they are dating is forthright, married or in relationship, what is his livelihood and the common sense question: Is my potential new boyfriend a convicted felon? Surprisingly, women were not always searching for the answers to these questions.
The lecturer’s final three steps included ways to measure and profile dating prospects (visit ditchingmrwrong.com to test your man!), how to finally say goodbye to Mr. Wrong (either by text, email, phone or in person – just do it!) and how to attract Mr. Right (don’t carry your past relationship experiences with you and do not be too clingy!).
As the lecture began to wind down, some of the women had been worked into frenzy. They encouraged one another to go home and end relations with their no-good boyfriends. The men in the audience were, for the most part, silently and cautiously smiling.
One young man had been dragged there by his two female friends who claimed he was a “slut.” Another, when asked why he attended the lecture, explained that “some of the things [Aretakis] were saying in there applied to both men and women. If she’s a [convicted felon] I ain’t gonna waste my time on her!”
The majority of the women surrounding the young man laughed but more than a few gave him a sympathetic look.
Aretakis gave away some copies of his book in the lobby and signed others, all the while patiently listening to stories being told to him and offering advice. While some women in the lobby grew excited to practice what they had learned, others were on their cell phones, calling today’s ex-boyfriends.
Even the women that were not rushing home to ditch their Mr. Wrong walked away with something new to think about. The bottom lines were: Be careful and be
choosy when dating and follow the same advice you would give a friend—ditch him!