Man this is an awesome thread, detailed and well written. It is clear that you are not one of the kids that are mostly around here, it would be even if you didn´t state your age at the beginning and I dig that very much. It´s no surprise I guess that I can relate to you, since we are roughly the same age and veterans of a long relationship (mine lasted 10 years and produced 2 beautiful sons, however I wasn´t married to the babymom

). I actually never was bad with women but could have been much better if I would have been braver and more aware of the impression I made on girls. I sometimes regret that I didn´t discover PU earlier, but then during the past year since I did discover it I realized that the sheer life experience of 4 decades puts me way ahead of the youngsters that started PU a year ago like me. I believe you might agree...
I wish I had the stamina to document my journey in as much detail as you did on such a regular basis. For monitoring my own advances just as being helpful for others. But I get lazy, today I submited my first post since many months (you might want to check it out I called it I BELIEVE THIS WAS TEXTBOOK GAME also in the field report section), but since I´m a freelance author and pen for hire (in german though lol) I write so much during the day that I can rarely be assed to spend my free time writing reports

...
Anyway, the last year has been the best time of my life so far and I´ve come a long way. I hope you don´t mind me giving you my general opinion on some of the many topics you mention in your great posts...
The age-thing... you say that being 41 is always in the back of your head. Well same with me, actually it´s often my main reason to hesitate approaching. Fact is that there is a certain percentage of younger women that will rule out dating you because they think you are too "old". But most of these girls think that way because they are simply still little immature girls in their heads, that unconciously perceive themselves as kids, while they perceive us as "grownups" in the way they perceive their mommys and daddys as grownups. Fact is that almost all young women that have truly left puberty behind in psychological terms see us as men, full stop. When we hit on them we actually validate their developing sense of being a "real " woman. I still struggle with this though, I admit

Regardless of the fact that 70% of the chicks I f-closed, k-closed or whatever-closed during the past year have been younger then 30, regardless of knowing that I don´t look like 43 (most people estimate I might be in my mid 30s - the younger the girls the younger they think I am, which is interesting). But as I said it´s something I really have to put behind me
The other thing that strikes me is that I personally think you aren´t aggressive enough. In the sense that I believe you could escalate much more in most of your interactions that you describe. You seem to do damn well with the ladies most of the time, getting loads of IOIs and the likes. Still I keep reading the words "next time" way to often for my taste! Well, you say yourself that you hate writing them, so you are obviously aware of the problem. Don´t get me wrong, patience is good, having the ability to stay cool and wait for the right time to make your move. However you should maybe work on identifying that moment, cause I believe you missed a few good opportunities here and there! And even if you misjudge the situation and strike too early? So what? It´s like many guys being afraid to go for a kiss even though everything has played out perfectly during an interaction because they are afraid they might creep the girl out, ruin the whole thing. I found out that it´s true what PU teaches us: Even if your attembt to close (kiss, number fuck doesn´t matter) it will still give you higher value with the girl if you display the boldness to go for it. You show that you have balls and that you know what you want! Your chances to succeed will almost always be better when you home in for the kill the next time, because women respect boldness and determination. The key, I found out, to not getting blown out for good after a failed attempt to close, is to maintain your frame and not get irritated. If you go for a kiss and the girl turns away jsut stay close to her face give her a big smile and back off after a couple of seconds. Let her feel that you are playing a game with her and that you´re enjoying yourself doing that, no matter what the outcome might be. You´ll see, that if there is attraction she´ll let you close her when you try the next time. It sure works for me!
Oh, and one more thing: Don´t hold back on gaming women you fancy just because you have an HB with you! You should actually cherish and utilize the preselection that comes with being accompanied by a hot chick. It actually works both ways, on the chicks you game AND on your date! Especially when your date is not your LTR but a fuckbuddy, like your #2
Keep up the good work man and keep posting! I enjoyed reading this immensly (read the entire thread in one go) and I think you are a great guy! If you should ever have a reason to come to Europe make sure you stop by Cologne! You can crash at my condo any time and I´d really enjoy winging up with you!!!
And last but certainly not least: All my best heartfelt wishes for your dear mom, I truly hope her health will be better in the future!
Peace love and respect brother!