I hadn't planned on sharing anything, but a PM from a friendly user brought me out of my shell. In response I told him about my first night sagging - figured I'd share with the group. Not much success so far but hopefully this journal will only get more interesting!

30 yr old recovering AFC in Austin with a disappointing dating life. I get plenty of dates but rarely get second dates or kisses. Not many relationships and those end badly. I now recognize that this is due to my pattern of insecure, needy behavior, including serial one-itis. Most especially, I have rarely used innuendo, banter, or kino, all of which I consider essential to the development of my Game. As you may imagine, I usually get friendzoned.

I'm self taught and basically I'm book-smart with no field experience. In the last few weeks I've read the Game, Mystery Method, and a bunch of stuff online, plus a few additional resources Style recommends (How to Win Friends and Influence People and I've been practicing the Alexander Method on posture). I've been trying to put a little more flirtiness into all my convos with women and trying a little text-style game on Tinder/Bumble/OKC but last week decided to really put things into practice by sarging in the field.

So I hit this fairly loud bar on 6th Street (Austin's main nightlife district) and just tried putting things into action. On the positive side, I had surprisingly limited approach anxiety (3 second rule helps). On the negative, I didn't get a single number. I can usually open well and had a decent understanding of set dynamics (befriending AMOGs, freezing AFC's out, aiming DHV's at secondary targets). But... my DHV's did not take well.

I ran Five Questions a few different times and had trouble getting women to finish the exercise before ejecting. I had even worse luck with the "orange kangaroos from Denmark" mindreading technique. In my most frustrating failure of the night, I approached this ginger who was giving me a smouldering pre-approach invitation gaze (after first ignoring her and making another loop). I put my hand on her shoulder and fluffed a bit... she's into it... moved my hand to her knee and she's still into it. At some point I started running the "orange kangaroos" bit and before I can finish the routine, she literally stands up and runs away across the room. Ouch!!!

I assume the problem here is incongruity and subconscious DLV's. Beyond this, I think maybe I need to learn some shorter and/or more natural DHV routines/stories for a loud bar environment. I've ordered books on storytelling, improv techniques, palm reading, cold reading, and "the art of small talk." Practicing posture and deep/slow speech with pauses (I'm naturally a high, fast talker who tends toward speaking too much). Hopefully this helps... but what I really need is a knowledgeable wing!

I've also got a date set up Jan. 4 with a girl who, if I were good at this, would be total relationship material. 37 years old (7 older than me and smoking), works in my field and is wildly successful, and we have many common friends. I'm doing everything I can to prep - writing up DHV stories, reviewing Youtube for cocky-funny comedy techniques like agree and amplify. Buuuut I'm nervous because I'm very into her, so I fear I'll probably blow it. Lame... but anyways it'll be a learning experience.

Soooo I guess that's where I'm at. Need to get better at A2 but not ready to call it a sticking point yet... I'm just generally inexperienced and need to keep at it. Very open to new ideas at the moment and plan to keep throwing myself into the mix.