7:11 PM
25/8/08
I woke up at 7:30 for my first day of school -- school starts at 8:45 every day, which is a change from my old school, which started at 7:45 -- feeling fully refreshed from nine hours of sleep. After showering, messing with my hair a bit, and picking an outfit out I had 20 minutes left so I just got into a chill state with some music.
Eventually it was time to go so I had my dad drive me over to school and the day began. I was surprised by the sheer size of my new school. I'd seen it from the outside, but this place is huge! I was going from a graduating class of 250 to 400, so I guess it's to be expected, right? I got there at 8:30, but since I had to look for my first hour, I didn't have much time to dawdle. Eventually I found it and saw a bunch of upperclassmen -- apparently this is a sort of English lab since I failed my last nine weeks. Whatever, I figured, I walked in with a powerful presence, looked around, and said, "This English?" Everyone just looked at me and one girl responded, "I think so." So much for a welcoming group. I picked a spot in the corner between two guys who looked like they were in a similar social circle, since unfortunately there were no targets over a 5 in the whole class. Might as well make a few guy friends.
I shot the shit for a little bit and found out they were both older than me, but I'd already won their respect at that point. One of them was some sort of piano virtuoso with good style, the other was a kind of metalhead type. I fit in pretty well with the skater/rocker group, so these will probably end up being my main contacts in this class. Although the gangster group (which takes up the rest of the class) isn't my thing, I still did well commanding my presence, said my "What's ups" and I'm pretty sure I've established a solid identity in this class.
The teacher went over the same first day of school bullshit that they always do so I mostly just tuned out, kept solid, laid-back posture and practiced holding eye contact, nodding/smiling around the room. He had us do some sort of scavenger hunt thing where you're supposed to find someone whose favorite color is blue, someone who went on vacation this summer, whatever. I went around and asked everybody, introduced myself with the handshake thing (not sure how to describe it -- like a handshake, slide to release, then squeeze with your fingers) thing, and eventually the class was over. I'm pretty sure I did pretty well with first impressions.
However, in high school you can be a champ in one class and a chump in the other, and since this class has virtually no targets, it was kind of a letdown. I walked upstairs to my second class, saw that there were only a few people there, and decided to come back in a few so I can get a better idea of where the HBs were sitting. After getting a drink I came back and saw two HBs sitting together, an empty seat, and then a nerdy kid who had sat at the end deliberately leaving the empty seat between himself and the girls. Knowing a perfect opportunity when I see one, I walked in casually, pulled out the chair, dropped my bag on the ground and sat down, announcing my presence through a strong vibe. After sitting down I looked over at the HBs -- one was a 6ish, the other a solid 9.
"Suuuup?" One of my favorite openers for classroom situations is just an exaggerated cool-guy "Suuuup?" with an exaggerated nod. They both looked at me weirdly, not used to such an entrance, I'm guessing. I flashed a big smile and said, "Pfft. It's alright, I'm not THAT scary. *wink*" I extended my hand to the HB6, introduced myself as "Blues the Great" (I don't use PUA names in real life, this is to protect my identity.
), and went from handshake to thumb-war. After she ended up cheating, I moved on to the HB9 and I was basically locked in. HB6 said a joke I'd heard a hundred times before in an attempt to impress me (she was already sending IOIs at this point -- uh-oh) and I think I just smiled and decided to start talking to the nerdy kid who was sitting on my right. I introduced myself and befriended him -- it doesn't matter who they are, having more friends is always a DHV. I gave a few DHV stories about my first impressions of Texas, and after talking to them for a bit longer, I finally got an IOI from the HB9 -- "Oh my god! Your eyes are so blue!" I thanked her politely and decided to pay attention to what the teacher was saying for a bit.
Things were going pretty well until the end of class -- I was getting quite a few IOIs from them both, them complimenting me on my glasses and begging to see my schedule, so I started to get into some rapport. I brought up some childhood TV show that everyone remembers once you say it, and I don't remember what I said in response, exactly, but it was miscalibrated because IOIs started turning to IODs. I think I was a bit too high energy because one of them asked if I had ADD. "Haha, no, I don't -- what kind of question is that? I should be offended!" "Nooo! My little brother has ADD it's okay, blah blah blah."
Not an epic success, but I learned to stop being so high energy, even if this is how I am naturally. Third hour is a class filled with ALL freshmen, which sucks because this is the class before lunch, so I was hoping to meet a few people I'd be able to eat with. Whatever, I figured meeting people in the lunch room would be pretty fun anyways. Class was very uneventful -- the HBs sit in front of me, and I don't want to get a bad name with the teacher on the first day by talking too much. I presented a good frame and sang songs in my head until the hour was up.
Finally it was lunch time! I waited for the crowd exiting lunch to dissipate by going to the bathroom and checking out my beautification -- good, as always
. Unfortunately by the time I got back seats were filling up quick, so I figured I should get my lunch quickly and find a decent place to sit. I wasn't too sure of my battle plan at this point -- the ideal spot would be a place with guys and girls in my grade and in a similar tribe to start out with. At first my plan was to just go table to table having a good time, but in high school this could either make me a legend or ruin me. I decided not to risk it, so I went in line, and opened the girl in front of me by introducing myself and asking if she'd ever been a new kid before. I commented on how different Texas was from Michigan, made fun of her accent playfully, and said it was "cute -- with the Southern accent I always feel like I'm in a movie!
" She introduced me to her friend, and I introduced myself with way over-the-top enthusiasm, since I was in state at this point and I didn't really give a fuck. She echoed with more enthusiasm, and sensing this was a good opportunity for a hug, I opened my arms and she smiled into my grasp. She told me that "she could already tell she was going to love me." I decided these two were as good of people as any, so I told them that they get to have the pleasure of hosting the new kid at their table for today. They said "Yay!" and ushered me to their table, which was FILLED with women.
I thought to myself, "This is almost too easy," and soon found out WHY it was so easy, exactly. I found out in the middle of my conversation with one of their friends at the table that they were all freshman. Oh, joy -- I figured that the value of sitting at an all girl table evened out the DLV of sitting with freshman (I'm a sophomore), so whatever, they were pretty cool. I #closed the cutest one by sneaking my phone under the table and winking. We only have 30 minutes for lunch so I ejected in time for me to find my next class.
Next class was pretty uneventful as well. I got in too early to find a seat next to the HBs, so I just sat next to the kid who looked like he was in the same kind of skater tribe and the teacher split us up into partner-work for the whole class. Lame.
Overall I had a pretty damn good day -- unfortunately, the class I did the worst in, I think, was 2nd hour with the HB9. I'll have to work on that later.
Peace, love, and rock & roll,
Blues
CHAT
