Field report #1 - Blind no more - Warning - Long Post - Part 1


May 4th 2019
Location: Preston, Lancashire
With: My best mate/wing


Too long didn’t read: I go out sober for the first time ever with my friend, we are out from 8pm-6am – which is 10 hours on the sarge…. end up with a k-close after 7 opens a ton, talked a lot of filth with women and generally a good night with lots of big learning experiences.

Since the split with my ex I have prepping for my first night out and I had been focusing on how I would be sure to be proactive and not pussy out or fail horrendously so quick. I watched a lot of RSD and Todd V in the past few weeks as well as YouTube complications of Patrice O’Neal and Bill Burr and their philosophy on women and dating, highly recommended. I have also been working out daily and eating healthy and generally feeling great. I had hit up my best friend and planned to come over to England for a weekend of hanging out and playing music (both studied music together at university). He is the only friend who knows about game and who I talk to about game with regularly. When we were in university, he was much more proactive and successful with game than I, oftentimes I was a obstacle in his game as I would get too drunk and wouldn’t be of any help. As we’ve been friends for a long time and have gone out a lot before he said that when we go out, we shouldn’t drink.

I agreed with him despite the fact I knew that it would be extremely difficult. The plan was as such: I would arrive on the Friday night and we would go out and game and then the Saturday we would repeat. When it came to it Friday’s plans altered somewhat due to his girlfriend’s plans affecting our own. The night was not one spent gaming and so is not worth discussing. The day after, the 4th we played music in the day and at 6pm we set off to go bowling and get something to eat. We bowled and ate and then set off to our first venue to begin the gaming. The reason the gaming didn’t start there is purely because there were no sets, it was mainly people watching the football or on dates. My friend and I are constantly goofing around and having fun and have a good friendship going back 7 years, this is important as he is a solid wingman and without his company, I am unsure what the night could have resulted in.

We hit the first venue which I choose as it has a lot of gimmicks that are good for opening sets. There’s a pool table, big smoking area and two Xbox consoles set up with FIFA and Mario Kart. When we arrive it is relatively quiet, there’s a few groups in sat in booths and a few other groups sat tables. Preston is a place heavily populated by students, it was clear that 95% in this venue were students. When we entered the venue, I was sure to greet the bouncer and immediately go over to the pool table and ask the lads playing if they wanted to do doubles. Often time in venues it’s men that I find difficult to deal with, I’m 5.6 and find myself in my head when confronted with a lot of men. When I approached the table the blokes were towering above me and were well built, I asked them clearly and confidently about doubles and was surprised when they turned out to be shy and nervous. They said no and I said to let us know if they change their mind, as they left one of them turned and said, “I might be back mate, I’ll see where the girlfriend is first”. As minor as this seems it was good for me to have this interaction. My friend and I played pool, and both scanned the room in between turns while sipping our cokes. It was clear that any opening in the room was going to be tricky, especially for a first open, as all the sets where 4+ people. After the pool ended I asked my friend that we go to the smoking area as there might be a few people out there, we get there and there are two women having a cigarette on one of the benches, their backs are turned to us and they seem rather old (mid 30s?) we sit across from them and I begin to overthink, the 3 second rule falls away and we don’t open. I immediately feel a sense of regret and frustration, so much so that my friend’s conversation wavers in the air in front of me and I struggle to listen.

Set 1 - 4 girls

At this point a group of four girls sits down on the bench next to us, I look over and spot one has a slushee with her.

Me: What is that?
Girl with the slushee: it’s a slushee!

At this point the 4 girls are looking at me and my friend has turned to them, I think he was caught off guard by my open as he didn’t say anything. The one I opened with the slushee was a 4 and the others sat further way I didn’t even look at.

Me: where did you get that?

At this point one of the girls, clearly the mother hen responds in a harsh tone:

“It’s on the menu...”

She’s about a 4 also.

I had expected a shit test but not so quickly and not from somebody I wasn’t directly talking to. I didn’t particularly respond to her as she appeared rude but she seemed to recognize this as she didn’t peruse it further. I can’t recall the rest of the conversation with the girl with he slushee as it was pretty boring, she talked about her favourite drink or something and the set died shortly after as two of their friends joined them and absorbed the attention of their group. It was fine, I had done what I wanted, I had opened. I spoke to my friend and they went inside a few minutes after.

Once they left my friend congratulated me and said that it was a good open as he wouldn’t have clocked it. We went back inside and over to the Xbox consoles to try and use that, but the free console didn’t work. We agreed that this venue was not working and moved on. We walked up to a nearby venue which we thought would be more open to sets. Sadly, it wasn’t so, we knew that there was a pool table though so hopefully could get some doubles going with some people. We arrived and found that it was similar to the first place in the fact that it was mainly students in big groups who were in enclaves or booths that would be extremely difficult to open. We then found the pool table was no longer there... we went outside to the smoking area.

Set 2 - 3 girls
All around 3-4s

We walked outside and scanned the area, there was one table of three girls who were sat in the left-hand corner of the smoking area, we walked out, turned around and looked at them and then turned our backs and spoke about opening. My friend wanted to open. We turned around and he walked over with me trailing behind.

Wing: hey girls is there pool table here?

At this point the mother hen of the group responds:

Mother Hen: there’s some upstairs, so you can go up there now, ok, bye thanks, go! flee!

This was jarring and there was a moment where my friend and I just stood there slightly in shock.

Wing: are there many people up there do you know?

Mother Hen: I’m sure there’s lots of girls for you to pick up, girls, boys, whatever you want, so go and chat them up!

We looked at her, again baffled, her two friends at this point both in union said to mother hen that she was being a bit mean and when they said this, she turned back quick us.

Mother Hen: you look like Julien Barret!

My friend was quick on his feet here, he pulled his phone out and quickly tapped something in.

Wing: well you look like her!
He showed her a picture of Katie Hopkins.
Mother Hen: yeah, I’m a big fascist
Wing: anyway, thanks girls, see you
Mother Hen: yes, I’m sure we’ll bump into you again...

We both walked inside both a bit stifled and unsure what that was about. It was embarrassing but she also was pretty rude. Her tone and manner were very dismissive and aggressive. We both found it funny though as in our heads they were merely there warm up and weren’t at all girls we wanted, we found ourselves in good humour still. My wing at this point was naming venues we should go to, I said I wanted to go to a particular place
as it plays a range of music, has three floors and has a large smoking area that lends itself well to opening. We didn’t finish the cokes we had bought, instead we
set off. It was about 10.30pm at this point as the venue in question had just opened. As we arrived a guy commented to us that he liked our coats, we both have decent smart trench coats. We had a bit of banter with them and they were friendly. As we queued, I spoke to the bouncers, one of them was stood across the road stood under a street lamp texting, it looked like a Edward Hopper painting. The other bouncers were clearly talking about the fact he was texting so I said “he’s in love is he? Either that or he’s in trouble!” One of the bouncers responded well and just commented about the fact his colleague should be working not texting. It felt good to have that interaction. We get inside and I go to put my coat in the cloakroom upstairs. We go to the toilet for a leak and while pissing I make a comment about a poster they have on the wall which is talking about the music they play on one of the floors, it listed Catfish and Bottlemen before Bowie and I noted how weird that was, some random guy behind me laughed at my comment and I smiled and we briefly spoke about that. I told him to have a good night and we left. We went to the second floor firstly where there was a fairly high amount of girls dancing. My friend is good with dancing game, he goes on and dances and come on and try to get out of my head and let loose. Without booze it’s hard...I self-amuse by screaming loudly Elliot Hulse style and while it’s fun I still don’t know what to do with myself. I get some water and I explain to my wing that I want to go outside as I’m not sure how to do anything on the dance floor. We spend a bit more time there and then go out to the smoking area. The venue has filled up a bit now and there is a fair few in the smoking area. This place has benches that are against the wall of the smoking area.