I've gone Speed Dating multiple times on my own (and my "results" have got better - a Yes & 2 friend requests is better than every girl just marking no), I've purposley gone out with the whole intention of "gaming". I've walked up to plenty women and just started talking to them. The last few months I haven't posted up EVERYTHING I've been doing because it didn't warrant posting, but stuff like in the last few pages like the emo girl who's number I got at the pizza counter (who i never ended up meeting), the student who's number I got but she had no social life, the scarf girl from the club who even Kowalski said wanted a piece of me - these are things I would NEVER have done before.

I was at a private bar function on Friday & ended up getting completely wasted & was too busy enjoying myself with friends I'd not seen in over 2 months to think about women. On Saturday I attended a wedding where there were only 2 single women in the whole place one of whom was shit faced drunk and the other I didnt like. I spent a week at a wedding in Italy where NONE of the 20 + women in the party were single.

Overall I'm a lot happier and a better person than I was a year ago. I've developed hobbies such as meditating, reading, walking & got back into poker a bit when previously I had no substance to my being.

My new job is time consuming, 60+ hour weeks and a lot of trips away lately doesn't give much time. I won't go into it a lot, but I still live with my Mum, she hasn't worked since she was pregnant with me and won't work again. She also has anxiety, flirts with depression on a weekly basis and she's probably bi-polar. I've tried my best to support her financially & emotionally since my Dad died 8 years ago; I've almost got a deposit ready to buy a house next year, but this isn't easy when trying to save for one house & pay everything for another at the same time.

These things aren't easy & can make life hard. Perhaps I use them as excuses at times? Maybe - but they are also big parts of my life.

But yes, I have dropped off in the last few months. Because I'm not overly bothered about it, I'm enjoying other things & just having fun, maybe lost a bit of interest, a combination of the above. In the last 2 months I've barely been in the country for 2 weeks, I'm due offshore again for a bit next week, home briefly then away again the week after which doesn't give me much free time.

Shah is right, I do admittedly need to do a bit more. It's admittedly a bit saddening flicking back over this thread to see how much more interactions I was having a while back compared to now & I might even re-read this thread & my first ever thread as there was a lot of good advice in it. So I'll make a point of trying more when the oppportunity arises, but I'm certainly not going to be hell fire & brimstone about it. I know he's trying to help, but I think his obsession with getting laid is a bit misguided, its not a good yardstick to go by (IMO).

I could write so much more and there's loads I thought of then forgot but I think 3 posts is more than enough.

He's still right, I still don't fully "have what it takes" & I'm still not quite a man yet. But I'm definitly no longer a pathetic excuse of a person, and I'm a lot more of a man, and a lot happier than i was a year or so ago.