There was a thing that Johnny said that stuck in my mind from Tuesday. He said if he had to sum up his game in one word it would be 'freedom'.

I'm realising a lot of this journey is about setting yourself free from ...well yourself, your conditioning, whatever has been holding you back.

There's no rules, you set them yourself. Once you really embrace that fact (take the pill if you like) it changes everything.

I was fascinated by this podcast on GLL. It's an open discussion from guys who set their own rules. I'm not saying this is right or wrong but it's worth a listen: https://soundcloud.com/#goodlookingl...ication-stages

It's also relevant what happened just before that. Mark had started talking to the girl from oz and her kiwi friend. He went to the bathroom and I said to the blonde oz one something like "so you're from oz and your friend is from new zealand?". She added "and you're a lucky guy".

So I'm a 'lucky guy' then soon after I'm told I'm not good enough for another girls friend after giving them both a compliment. I've just had it with drunk rude girls tbh. I'm not going to bother thinking of responses to that kind of shit, I'll just walk.

Friday 9 May

Was sitting outside the coffee shop this morning and needed a light for my ciggy. Asked two women sitting at another table for a light and one of them was quite chatty with me. It was kind of instant rapport.

I went back to my table and thought "If I don't try for the number I'm going to go back home feeling like shit about myself", so I went back pretending my ciggy had gone out (it had actually). We had another bit of banter and I said "he's a lucky guy". She said "who?". I said "your husband or boyfriend". She said "oh I got rid of him"...boom!

So I've got my first number from a cold approach. My heart was banging off my ribcage. It seems quite solid but we'll see. The main thing is it was outside my comfort zone and now I've done it.

Too right son, BOOM!

I could feel your adrenaline just reading your post.

You'll get addicted to that buzz soon enough.

So are you going to stop doing the creepy YAD stops now?

No I'll be doing them. And It's not creepy. Indirect approaches or approaches from behind can be creepy. With the yad all your really doing is getting in front of them so they can see you approach. You don't jump them. You get ahead then turn and speak to them. In cities like london everybody walks fast and doesn't stop for anything. She's past you before you can do anything. I've actually startled women by saying hi as they were passing. The yad is actually better unless you get plenty of space to stop before the pass.

If your single and the potential woman of your dreams is just about to dissapear into the distance and be gone forever, then you hjave to do something. I think it's actually quite old fashoned and romantic. I'm sure a lot of girls think that too.

jogging past a girl without acknowledging her and then turning to recite a particular line is oddball at best.

I'm not advocating inaction towards women you find attractive but the YAD stop reminds me of the mystery method of negging, DHVing etc. and behaving in an incongruous manner with ones personality.

It's easier with tourists because they tend to be just strolling so you just do an angled approach from the front. We're talking about women going to and from work or the shops and in a rush. I can't imagine me ever having to run after a tourist in London. You just need keen vision to pick them out in time.

But just on the practicalities of the yad, if you jog level with her shoulder say, while you are still outside her peripheral vision, and announce yourself at that point that's more likely to frighten her. Also she probably won't stop, she'll keep going or will speed up walking. If you then follow and talk they DO get creeped out. It's not so bad to do this with groups because they feel safer anyway.

The whole idea is to get a lone woman you want to meet to stop so you can speak to her, see what she's like and let her see that you're a normal guy just wanting to talk to her.

If there's attraction there I'm sure that they've forgotten about how you stopped them within a few seconds. All they know is you've appeared and there's an interaction happening. It's as if your both in a trance. She might test you to see if you're congruent but that's an automatic thing women do no matter where or how they meet a guy who they feel some attraction for.

I think it's much more practical than the other things you mentioned. I don't think negging is necessarry in DG. Verbally challenging, yes, but not negging. It's more a night club thing and I don't like it anyway.

Surely this is way over analytical.

Just go upto them and say "hi".

Pretty sure other guys who know nothing about PUA don't put this much thought into it and manage fine. Yad stops do sound creepy, end of the day its still a PUA method.

You're right. don't analyse just go out and do. Then form an opion.

Most of the time I do just go up and say hi.

yad stops 'sound' creepy. Try it then ask the girl and you might get a different opinion. PUA doesn't own any methods.

And like I've said before most underlying PUA theory is not wrong, it's the way it's put across and the lack of the practical context to fit it into (like making rules for things that can't be governed by rules) that's given it a bad name.

IMO ideally nobody should read any material before they've gone out and been talking to girls for at least a year.