Partly inspired by CovertOperation, I thought I'd start my own journal of my experiences in the field.

Been reading a lot of stuff over the last couple of weeks, and I'm hoping that this next year will answer questions I've been asking of myself. I've never been really bad with women, but at the same time I have never attracted anything over a HB6 at most. I knew something had to give when I started aiming lower than that, still getting blown out, and generally feeling shit after a night out.

What has been frustrating me is that as a teacher, I have to stand up in front of people day in and day out, and often have to 'win round' disaffected minds. So I feel like a complete failure when I cannot even approach a girl in a bar.

So that's a brief story of how I got here.

1st FIELD REPORT - Kingston & Sutton
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Not really much to write home about unfortunately. 4 of us (the other don't know anything about PUA) decided to go to Kingston, bit unplanned so arrived around 11pm. Head to the Wetherspoons first, bouncer initially says that we can't come in 'because we're a group of guys'. We are somewhat bemused by this. 5 minutes later he changes his mind and decides to let us in anyway, upon entry we are even more bemused becaused the pub is half-empty! Looking back, we probably shouldn't have even bothered going in.

Anyway, take a quick scan around - mostly HB5s and 6s, a few 7s, but that's about it. Went to the bar, couple of HB6s stood either side of some guys they didn't know. This possibly was the first mistake - not standing next to them. Get our drinks and we head towards the dancefloor. There is only a 2-set - one HB7, the other a HB4 who was fuller-figured but had a sexy dance. HB7 flashes a smile when she sees us, should have immediately gone to talk to her but AA kicked in. Meaning that I ended up standing there just watching these girls dance - not good, this was the second mistake of the night. DJ is playing good tunes and I'm getting into it, start dancing, HB4 suddenly backs up on me and I respond. I then realise she is only doing it to get the attention of other guy across the dancefloor, so I say to her with a smile 'you used and abused me' and leave it at that. She is still hovering around some 10 minutes later.

Go back to the bar to get another drink (only Coke because I'm driving). Turn around and spot a HB7.5, immediately asked her where was good to go besides Oceana. I have to repeat myself, I think she is foreign as she has an accent and doesn't quite understand what I'm saying. She recommends a club, but says no-one is there. I ask why she would send me to a club with no people in it, then jokily say 'you're not my friend any more' and walked off. Didn't bump into her again that night.

We go upstairs to sit down, there is a 4-set behind us and a 3-set in front of us but again AA sets in. One of the 3-set makes eye contact, I don't maintain it. Mistake No.3. We're having some good banter on the table though, decide to leave and try Oceana. Girls and couples only, and there are no girls outside to link up with.

So we head over to Sutton, get to Chicago's about 1am. It is not good - it is overpopulated with guys, my mates weren't feeling the vibe so we left after about 45 minutes.

So overall, a pretty lame night.

Positives - I realised that I didn't need to drink to get myself into a positive mood, and I approached one girl (even though nothing came of it).

However, I need to work on getting rid of the AA. I'm heading out again tonight to Crawley, we're starting out earlier so the Now or Never moment is going to happen sometime this evening!

Glad my thread has been of some use at least!!

I don't see what was lame about it necessarily. What were your goals when you went out? I'm assuming this was your first night playing the game. If it was, then at least you opened a few sets. Which can take some doing on your first outing.

The Now Or Never moment will happen countless times on every night you ever go out on. AA will try and drive you towards the 'never' end of the spectrum. Your goal is to fight back towards the 'now'.

Two ways to try and overcome AA:

1. Talk to everyone. Fat, thin, tall, short, young, old, male, female. Talk to them. See how they're doing. Talk about their night, about their friends, about their favourite cheeses, and about whether they prefer custard hot or co...... In fact leave that last one off. But talk to everyone around you, and take up a social frame. Then, when that thin, short, young female comes along, you're just talking to her like you've talked to everyone else.

2. The three second rule, well documented, and incredibly useful. Don't think about it. Just fucking do it.

But I think you're doing alright man, don't be so hard on yourself. Looking forward to reading this thread as it grows!

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.

You're doing pretty great SK - there's some ballsy stuff here! Considering these are supposed to be your first steps, you're already doing some pretty advanced stuff.

Don't worry about the closes, they'll come soon enough. If you open, then eventually you'll close. It doesn't take long. Even just starting to go for a number close as standard following a set, any set, will get you results. You're doing it the right way, insofar as there is a right way - just give your phone to her and tell her to put her number in it. Works for me from time to time.

Keep going though man. You're gonna be a super star before long.

Love this!!!

Thanks CO, your tip about talking to anyone and everyone really helped - approaching girls then didn't seem like a big deal. Just need to approach more HB6+s....seemed to be attracting a lot of mature women yesterday, which my mates also picked up on!

Aim high go for HB7 and above...!!

Most PU stuff works better on hotter girls anyways, with not so hot girls giving a compliment usually does the trick since they get flattered by the attention.

Was out in Clapham last night, which traditionally has been a difficult area for me. Not much to report on:
- Number closed a HB7 in the first bar we went to. She asked where I was heading later, I said I wasn't too sure (took this as an IOI).
- Later on we ended up in Infernos, she was in another bar nearby. Texted to let her know where we were, no reply. Got to Infernos at 1.15am, by this time it was a meat market - too many drunk people so called it a night there.

Kept thinking about DHV, and this really helped my mindset.

In relation to this, there was another turning point as well - whilst in mid-conversation with HB7, she gets out her phone and starts texting. In pre-PUA days I would have waited for her to finish, but something clicked and I thought 'no, my time is precious'. So turned back to my friends and carried on conversation. They were baffled ('why didn't you wait for her to finish?'). Went back to her 20 minutes later and got the number straight away.

Texted her later to say we should meet up soon, no reply again! So all in all that was a dead end. Oh well, at least it was good practice.

Small steps, but still progress nonetheless

I generally try to text a girl immediately following a number close. Like I'll walk away, and within 30 seconds will text something like 'Who was that outrageously cute guy you were just talking too? He was AMAZING!' or 'Shit shit shit, I forgot to ask something really important: If you had to choose, would you rather be a fish or a duck' or something.

Just gets her used to the idea that its ok for you to text her. After an hour or so, she might have been chatted up by someone else, she might have forgotten about me, whatever. The text just puts me in her world when I'm not there as well.

Just a suggestion

Other than that, you're doing well man. Keep opening and keep closing!

Been a while since the last FR, Romford tonight then Cardiff in a couple of weeks - looking forward to that one!

Been on a few dates with a girl that I met off Match.com shortly before closing my account, and it is progressing nicely. 1st date last week, 2nd date yesterday at a bar in Islington. Reading all the PUA stuff has definitely helped - we had a good night, and at one point there were 7-8 girls stood around where we were sat, some of whom seemed to be showing interest. Interesting how that always happens when you are on a date!

For the first time in a while, I'll be heading out tonight with no worries about what will happen. Romford here we come...