2nd FR - Crawley
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What a night - probably one of the best nights I've had in a while. I definitely surprised myself; I made over 10 approaches, nearly got a n-close, and should have got a k-close on 3 separate occasions, far surpassing what I expected to do. This is how it went down:

I drive down with my mate or meet his other mates; tonight we are playing Pub Golf. Most of them are dressed in golfing attire (a couple, including myself, are not) so I already know the night is going to be interesting. I didn't participate because I was driving. So after starting at the Toby Carvery, off we go to the first venue.....

1. The Punchbowl

Get in there and it's nice and lively, good music going on, quite a few sets. Go to the bar to get drinks, then position ourselves near the dancefloor. Spot a mature HB6 on the dancefloor, we catch each other's eyes, I throw out the imaginary fishing rod and attempt to reel her in. Her friend beckons me over, I start dancing with the HB6. A little bit of push-pull, and suddenly we are up close and personal. She is looking at me intently; this, as I realise about 10 minutes later, was an opportunity to k-close. I was so surrprised by the speed of progression that it caught me completely unawares; kino is a powerful thing. So after missing the k-close, I then attempt to engage her in a bit of conversation. She says she is old enough to be my mother, to which I respond with 'I thought you were 18'. Doesn't really raise a laugh, I sense that she is offended by this. This is confirmed when I ask to take a picture with her and her daughter (HB6 as well), she points to my armpit and says that I smell!

This takes me by surprise; the neg has come out of nowhere, I try to laugh it off but any rapport is now dead in the water. (For the record, I always shower before going out). Despite this, I'm feeling nicely energised and ready for mroe action.

The Now or Never moment arrives; two mature HB6s standing near the bar (there were a lot of mature ladies in this venue). I take a deep breath, approach, then use the custard opener (sorry CovertOperation, needed a simple one to get me started):

SK: Ladies, let me ask your opinion on something. We've been having this debate for the last couple of minutes about custard - do you prefer it hot or cold?

(both HB6s smile, then say 'hot')

SK: Cool, a couple of people said they prefer it cold, I was looking at them like (pulls bemused face)

(HB6s laugh)

SK: I'm a bit of a tourist round here (which I was); where are the good places to go?

HB6: Bar Med is a good place to go after here...

SK: Are you going there?

At this point I thought they said 'no', to which I responded:

SK: You're recommending a club you're not even going to?! Thanks!

(HB6s laugh): No no, we said we were going.

SK: Good, I might see you in there then. You should be quite easy to spot from your top (gesture at HB6 with silver top, bith of them laugh). Enjoy your evening

And with that, I exited the set.

I was on a high for some 30 minutes after that, having successfully held conversation with a 2-set for 3-4 minutes. This high carried through to the next place, which was:

2. The Shade

Go in, get our drinks, settle in. I then spot 2 girls sat at a table; they're not great, a HB3 and HB4, but thought I could do with some practice. The conversation went like this:

(SK, sitting down): Sorry I'm late girls, my train got held up.

(looks of bemusement from both girls. Silence for a couple of seconds)

SK: What, don't you remember me from last week? We said we were going to meet here.

(HB4 starts to play along): Ah yes, I remember.....

At this point two guys come over with drinks. They are friends, or boyfriends. And they are much bigger than me. I said to the guys 'sorry, I'm in your seats', promptly got up, said it was a case of mistaken identity, and went back to my mates.

The girls couldn't quite believe what had happened, and I could hear them laughing for the next 5 minutes. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the HB4 occasionally glancing over.

I couldn't believe the audacity of what I had just done, and got an even bigger rush. This feels good!

I end up talking to another set (completely by accident), this time a mixed one - 2 women, and a AMOG. Turns out they are partners and their daughter. The mother is being slightly flirtatious, AMOG deals with this by slapping me on the shoulder when me and him end up bantering. I do not like this, and exit fairly quickly after that. That will probably be the embarassment that spurs me to go to the gym next week.

We leave, and head to the Wetherspoons. Again there are a few sets, but I do not open them as I'm engaged in some good conversation with my mates. So this was the rest period.

After 45 minutes, on we go to Bar Med. On the way I see two HB7s and go to high-five them. No return of the high-five, but they do ask me for directions to Liquid. We end up getting into a conversation about where they have been, they said they just came out of Bar Med. They ask if Liquid is going to be good, to which I respond 'it's what you make of it'. They then said they felt old in the last place, to which I respond 'aren't you 18?'. They both laugh, we get into a guessing game about my age. At this point my mates have disappeared, so I said:

SK: Right then ladies, how are we going to continue this conversation?
HB7s: Err, not sure
(SK pulls out phone): OK, put your number in here and we'll carry this on later

The question was aimed at both of them, I guess whichever one replied first. One said she had a child, so the other one started to put her number in. And then couldn't operate the phone!

Something strange then happened - we got on to Big Brother, I mentioned that Brian won and the HB7 with a child hit me in the chest with her bag! She said she had recorded it and didn't know the winner until now. Oops. Not a good vibe, they were a bit drunk as well so left them and headed to Bar Med (without the number).

3. Bar Med

Coming into the bar I had lots of energy, chatting to people in the queue about the 'Big Brother' incident. Once I was inside, it was on - plenty of women, loud music so switched to dancefloor game. There were 2 opportunities for k-closes:

1) I compliment a HB4.5 on a flower in her dress - I follow up by saying it gave her individualism (is that a word?). She then touches my hair.

SK: You're the first person who has done that tonight; I should give you a prize
HB4: Really, and what would that be?

There was a suggestive look from her, there was sustained eye contact, we were standing nearly face to face. I bailed out with:

SK: You'll have to give me 5 minutes

And that was that - no more chat for the rest of the night.

2) I spot the HB6 from the 1st bar walking towards me on the dancefloor. She spots me, I grab her hand, we then dance up close and personal. She looks at me in a way that says 'I'm yours for the taking'. That definitely should have been a k-close - I know that because she had her tongue down some guy's throat 5 minutes later! Ah well, I was happy enough with the night's progress anyway so wasn't that bothered.

So no numbers or k-closes, but in the space of a few hours I finally grew some balls and took the initiative. My mate's mates (who I didn't know that well at the start of the night) said they were glad I came down because I was fun. Some guys were definitely hating on me in the club, and I couldn't help but smile when someone complained that the girls weren't very receptive.

I didn't know how powerful kino escalation and eye contact were until tonight - nearly getting a k-close within minutes of meeting a girl is something that I've never done before, that I didn't think was possible.

Don't get me wrong, there were several blowouts but that didn't phase me at all, I just laughed it off and thought 'your loss, not mine'. There is so much more I can do better, so will continue working on these aspects. But for now I have done the most important thing - this weekend, I have taken the first steps on the journey.