So I know this is a little late. I've been busy, trying to find the time to sit down and assess the shenanigans of last weekend.

Friday

Ever since I started getting interested in Pickup, come Friday, I'm absolutely buzzing! I haven't had that feeling for YEARS! I really enjoy my work but its stressful. Emotionally, I stay at a certain baseline level; never too excited in the good times and never too down when things are bad. But I can't stop that Friday feeling! Woo!

I wasn't planning on hitting Bristol because everyone on the forum was off doing their own thing. I happened to mention in the office that I was thinking about it and before you know it, I'd recruited 8 people to go out! My excitement must be infectious!

Anyway... I was dealing with a lot of drunking, unsarging work mates but whenever I saw the opportunity I manage to get a few conversations going.

Last week, the Let's get Naked post and my Cheltenham report really gave me a lot of food for thought. My goal is to start as many conversations I can. I pushed my view out there that it doesn't matter if you open with canned material; all that matters is that you open! I thought about this a lot and came to the conclusion that I would attempt to open without canned material but if I was flapping and didn't know what to say, I would use it as a fallback (a fair trade I think.)

Back to Friday. I managed to open 3 sets. First was a 2 set by the cash point; great situational opener about cash machines giving out £5 notes. I got chatting for them for a bit about being a student, pressing her £200 button, where to go, etc. The conversation came to a natural conclusion and we wandered off in different directions. In hindsight, I should have asked where they were going! Doh!

I had a revelation about this kind of set and time delays; where you will get chatting to a girl/group of girls, have your funny, banterish conversation, leave (must be high energy), inject a short time delay and later on, meet up again; That time delay seems to amplify the familiarity between you. If you leave the set on a high energy eject (“OMG! I love this song! I going to shake my booty! Catch up later!”) it's easy to hook up later with a greater level of 'connection'.

If I asked the Cash Point girls where they were going and hooked up with them, I'm sure our connection would have amplify (“Hey! It's you! The crazy Cash Point girl! Are you ready for me to press that £200 button?” - or something like that!). And so the conversation would continue.

The main set I opened was a cute HB8 at some semi busy bar at the top end of Bristol. She was at the bar, and I got my usual nervous feeling. I was going to open up with a bit of Canned... when suddenly... I the words “Hey! How are you!” came flying out my mouth. (Did Kowalski take over my voice box?). We had a bit of a conversation at the bar.

Conversation aside, I was actually quite shocked how good a response I got from just opening normally! It was great! But thinking about it, I still have a few issues with this type of opener... The main one being the “Natural opener” Path to Nowhere; With a canned opener you have a line of conversation that you naturally follow, the same with a situational... but with a natural opener, I find myself chatting about where you've been, prices of drinks, the weather.... zzzzz. It almost feels like you have to have a conversation piece lined up to bring the energy up. K has linked me to an awesome book that had some great insights on being Social vs being Seductive which I'm sure will have some insights on this. I feel Natural Conversation is hard to shift into a Seduction gear... Maybe I need to bring my energy levels up on the initial open.... i.e. Covert's “What girls talking about” opener... hmmmmm... I need to think about this more.

Saturday

Sunny Saturday morning, one of my mates in Derby blows the Man Horn (that's a pretty bad phrase... need to change that) and before I know it, I'm chugging across the clogged archery of the UK motorway system (M42) and joining forces with my pals (think Power Rangers... okay... maybe more Captain Planet) for a good ol' blow out.

I've mentioned these guys before. They have great energy and we always have a good night talking to girls and busting some shapes on the dance floor! And I was on fire! Straight in, talking to any girl I could. But 2 particular sets stand out for me.

The first was when I got speaking to some crazy old guy (hold on, this isn't not the set!)... most people avoid/ignore the 'crazy' getting ratted at the end of the bar... but I don't. This guy is usually the most social guy in the bar – he has no Social boundaries; lost though many years of drink, talking to himself and generally a little bit mental. He'll go and talk to anyone. I knew it was a matter of time before the crazy dude attempts to chat to the hot girls (who become slightly awkward, looking for someone to save them). This is when I go in and speak to Mr Crazy who's ready to big me up because I spoke to him earlier on - Then, half way from the conversation, I point to the girl subtly then to Mr Crazy and say to her “So... is this your Dad?” Haaaaaa! The reactions get and follow up conversations are great fun. This time round I got a awesome response... but before I knew it... all my friends had ram-raided me; jumping all over my back and not giving me any time to push things further... nightmare.

The second was a dance floor set. I want to talk about this because CO was asking about it in his FR. The best (and easiest) dance floor sets (I find) are the ones that are high energy anyway; It's so easy to take your jacket off, swing it round your head, grab to the girl and crazy dance... grinding 'n' all. It's harder to get some girl going when she's 2-stepping with her mates in a group. Dave more or less gave the same advice I have but what I fail at every time is to take it to the next level. After I grind for a bit, spank her booty, “Time of your life” lift... I've realised there's nowhere else you can go with continuing dancing with her. Next time I'm going to try getting straight in for the kiss close... then isolating. What's your guys thoughts on that?

I had a great weekend and I ended up at some girls house who I picked up in Bristol with Pav about 3 weeks ago. I just so happened that she lived in Derby! Really cool girl that I got on with awesomely! Nice of her to let me in when I was aaaaaaabsssollutely steaming! Smooth!