I ask this question because there has now been a few occasions over the last month or so where it's become apparent that I don't know what makes an IOI or how to read them. So now along with my approach anxiety, I recognise this as another huge weak point in my game. The 3 main occasions are these:

Occasion 1: There's a girl at work that I have been gaming but not with the intentions of closing. When I first read 'the game' I wanted to see if all the methods, theories etc actually worked and she was kind of like my guinea pig at the time. Since then I've continued using this stuff on her without thinking about it and it's now quite natural to me.

Recently she got a new boyfriend and I later found out from her friend that she liked me. I was totally suprised. There was nothing I can think of that would give me clues of this. IOI's or otherwise. Big opportunity missed.

Occasion 2: This was new years. We had a houseparty and invited loads of friends and family. I got absolutely legless and ended up f-closing one of my sisters friends. On one hand this felt great. This is now my second f-close since finding the community and since I was starting to doubt my skills, this was a massive boost for me.

But on the other hand I can't think of a time that she showed interest in me and therefore, like occasion 1, I failed to read any IOI's. At the end of the night it was just me and her awake in the dining room. She suggested we played poker and whoever lost the hand, drank. I kept losing so I turned the game to something else. I told her that if I pick out a king she drank, if not, I drank. Using controlled shuffles and fake shuffles I forced a king out every time. She drank. I went to the kitchen to get water before I went to sleep and she followed me. She hugged me but didn't let go. It wasn't until started kissing my neck that I actually realised she was in to me. I had no clue up until that point.

Occasion 3: Knowing I had a problem with reading IOI's I went out with my friends last weekend to a club. My aim was to look out for IOI's. Two girls my friends knew came up, I started to sarge the hb7. She touched her hair whilst talking to me. She laughed at my dumbest jokes. I used complience tests. When we were on the dancefloor, when I looked in her direction she was dancing like it was just for me, when I looked away she would dance normally and with less energy. I took these as IOI's. One of my friends could see what I was doing. before I could go for a close he told me she had a boyfriend and that they've been in a 5 year relationship. Correct me if I'm wrong but was she not giving me IOI's?



Do you guys have any suggestions/ opinions? is there any books/ articles that can help? Should I even be looking for IOI's? As well as AA, this is something I need to fix big time.