Ok, so I hit the town last night with DeanoC. After a very frustrating night out on Friday, surrounded by my non-PUA mates and making all sorts of excuses not to open anyone, I was determined to kick on last night and make amends.

It was also my first ever night out sarging with a wing, so I knew we'd be ok once we got going. I also made sure I wasn't putting too much expectation on myself. I thought of last night as my debut in the field, so I was stretching my legs, and just seeing how I got on.

A quick run through of last night then, before some brief thoughts and action points. We went to Korova first and had a drink. Deano opened a set on the table next to us, asking for opinions on tattoos. The girls seemed to hook in, but then their boyfriends came and sat on the table behind them. We made a swift exit.

It was now my turn to open. I spotted two girls at the bar. Again, this bit represents huge progress from me from a month ago - I didn't have a hint of AA, and swooped straight in with a canned opinion opener ('Is it still cheating when your girlfriend goes out and kisses other girls'). However the interaction was low energy, and I didn't know how to transition into other stuff. After a minute we ejected again, and left the bar, re-evaluating along the way.

One thing that occurred to me was that opinion openers such as this are hopelessly unsuited to night game. I thought I might get some more joy if the opener was more fun - after all, girls were out to have fun, they weren't out to have in depth conversations helping me solve an imaginary problem for my imaginary friend!

Dean and I headed for Heebie Jeebies. We circled around the place, looking for a set to open. But this is where we went into a bit of a lull. For whatever reason, we just couldn't open! We came up with all sorts of excuses, saying they weren't my type or whatever. But looking back, I think these were just poor excuses for not taking action.

We went to the side of the bar, and took stock. This wasn't good enough. Fuck it, we said, we're not going to be the people who can't even open! So we headed back across the courtyard area of the bar, resolved to open the next set we saw, no matter what.

I spied a two set - HB6 and HB5 - standing looking sort of bored. I strode up to them, energetic and confident. As I did, I remembered an opener which was more fun than other stuff I'd been trying, and which had the backing of some highly experienced people:

"Hey guys. Quick question: Custard. Do you prefer it hot or cold?"

They both said cold, I said that's disgusting, we rolled on into a conversation, and chatted away to them both for about 15 minutes. I was working the HB6, going kino and negging and so on. And it went well.

From there, opening sets suddenly became really easy to do, and we opened several more. I used the Custard opener to death, but once the set was open, I didn't use any more routine or anything. Just me, talking to girls.

We left Heebies and headed for the Raz - a shitty student club, but packed with women. At this point, my game deflated a little. I was absolutely fucked, having been out until 5am the night before and up at 8am for work, and becoming increasingly drunk. We opened a few more sets and chatted away. It was fun.

All in all, a really good night! Points to take from it:

1. That period in Heebies when we couldn't open anyone wasn't acceptable. I will say this openly and frankly, I was intimidated by beautiful women. I didn't feel as if I had permission to open them. The only way to conquer this is to push into these sets in the future, and to begin to find it normal to speak to good looking girls. They won't bite!

2. Openers: I found the custard opener worked really well, and might work this into an opening routine of short questions which can lead into cold reads (Custard, hot or cold? Orange juice, bits or no bits? Coffee, black or white? etc). But once sets were open, I wasn't using any routine, and was just being myself talking to the girls. I found that worked fine.

3. Closing: I didn't attempt to close anyone, again, which I should at least have tried too. What was remarkable last night was the number of girls we spoke too who had boyfriends already. I didn't realise it'd be so many! Either way, the HB6, I should have tried to number close at the very least. If only for practice.

4. Winged night game: On Friday night, I didn't open a single set. I was with my mates, who are non-PUA, and found it difficult (if not impossible) to open sets. Ridiculous. I do feel as if I am allowing it to become too much of a comfort zone, that I can only open when I am winged. Last night was great, and I was much more confident, especially after we'd opened a few sets.

5. Drinking: I probably drank too much in the end, and by the end of the night I was finding it difficult to keep up with conversations. I'm not an energetic chatty drunk - I'm a drowsy, sleepy drunk (as a rule of thumb, from when I start drinking, I've got 6 hours until I need to go to bed!). Next time, perhaps I'll drink a little less, and get more sleep!

With my game, I will always see the negatives, because these are the things which need focussing on and changing. But I should also just give myself a little break! Last night, I did things I wouldn't have been able to do a month ago. So as much as there are things to take away and learn from, and as much as there are frustrating sticking points throughout my game which I will address, there are other parts of my game where there has been drastic improvement. Last night was just my debut, and I've got a few games to play yet before I start to work it all out. Only I can do that. Its in my hands and no-one elses.

We woke up this morning (Dean was staying at my place) hungover and messy. We headed out to a cafe for some scrambled egg on toast before driving Dean back to the station. We must have looked a state, puffy eyes, greasy messy hair, probably still a little drunk, me in my crusty old hoodie, Dean still in the same stuff he wore last night.

We finished breakfast, and went to pay. I noticed the girl serving was quite pretty. I scanned her up and down - HB7. Dark hair, slim, tights and shorts, and bright blue nail varnish.

"Cool nail varnish" I grinned at her.

"Thanks. I think it makes me look like a mermaid though."

Game on...