Went out in town tonight, pre-Poland. Marks out of 10 - I'd say 6 for tonight. It could have been better. But it could have been so much worse.

Met the Liverpool guys in town for another evening of sarging. I warmed up by just being sociable. Asking guys what band was playing in the bar we were in, just generally talking to people around me.

I opened pretty well, and actually opened using a few non-canned openers. I say non canned - I guess in a way one of them sort of was. One of the bars we went too has one of those 'Text your message here' screens. I noticed one of the messages read "Pierce Brosnan dead! Heart attack strikes again!"

So that became my opener for a while. Asking girls if it was true. A few had seen the same message on the screen, giving me an obvious root. Others needed explaining.

I opened a three set with this, jousting with the girls. After a few minutes, some guy smoking weed comes over, obviously part of their group. He butts in and mutters 'Are you doing her?', referring to me and the target, an HB8.

I put my arm around him, turned to the girls, and said 'This guy wants to know if I'm doing you. What should we tell him?'. A bit more friendly banter with the guy, and he was neutralised. Make guys your friend - this gives huge social value. Anyway, I number closed the HB8 after 15 minutes of fun conversation. Jordan her name was - and it turns out she's only 17. I'm 26. I guess that makes me a bad man... Although to be fair she looked much older.

We went to Bumper. I spotted a gorgeous 2 set sat on some sofas. I hesitated. I didn't want to open them, and went back into my head a little. After a minute or two, my wing asked 'Any sets around?'. I said 'Yeah, well there's a two set on that sofa down there.'

Immediately I regretted this. I knew my wing wouldn't let me not open them - he was doing his job well. 'Go on then, open' he said.

'What with?' I replied. Fucking stupid question. Before he could answer, I had realised what I was doing. Talking myself out of opening a high quality 2 set with any excuse I could find. I broke away from my wing, and walked past the girls, focussing on the back part of the club which was closed off. I turned and looked down at them.

'Hey girls... Is that bit of the club open yet, or is there a private party on there or something'. This led to a minute or two of chat, with me focussing on another HB8. They had to get off after a moment - they'd been waiting for their mate before going onto another bar, and when their mate arrived back she dragged them both away. But I was happy enough. I'd opened a potentially difficult set, and I'd done it without a canned opener. Excellent!

It got to 1am, and I had to leave my wings and go and meet my non-PUA mates. As much as I love sarging, I also love my friends. They've been good to me over the years, and I do tend to neglect them. So I headed off, assuming that was the end of the night for sarging.

Met my mates, and had a few drinks. After a while, it was just two of us left, back in Bumper. I was having a bit of a go at this lad. He told me how he's got off with some girl that another of my housemates really likes. I found this really shit, and I was (and am) angry with him for putting some girl ahead of one of his close friends. I told him as much, and I'll tell him again tomorrow, when we're both sober.

I asked him, why not meet some new girls? Why do you have to restrict yourself to the girls in our social circle? He responded with 'Ok then, go and talk to someone'.

I didn't give a shit anymore if he knew about my PUA activities or not (I tend to keep them to myself). We walked a few feet through the club, and I spied a 2 set, HB7 and HB8. I strode up to them, and opened, using the custard opener (some things never die!).

CO: Girls, I need a quick female opinion on something. Custard: Do you like it hot or cold?

HB7: Hot! Always hot!

HB8: Custard? I can't stand custard!

CO: [Grabs the HB8, spins her around so she's facing away from him, and pushes her away] That's just weird, you're not allowed to be in this conversation anymore. [Turns back to the HB7] So, hot custard. Tell me more...

They absolutely loved it! My housemate was stood there like a lemon (worst winging ever!), and was just watching amazed as I quickly began to make these girls laugh and enjoy the interaction. I turned and isolated with the HB7 (I'd have preferred the HB8, but the way we were standing made it difficult). We started to play around. We did funny dancing, I let her wear my scarf. It was so easy. So, so, so easy.

Now, kino was flowing by now. I had my hand on her back, pulling her into me, setting positive boundaries. Making sure she knew it was flirty. And she was reciprocating, pulling herself closer into me, pushing her body up against mine.

But... But... BUT... I didn't close. I could have leant in and kissed her at any point I wanted. But I didn't. Why the fuck didn't I do that? Why? I'm kicking myself now, I'd done the fucking hard work. This was the easy bit. If she wasn't interested, I'd have had IODs - Indicators of Disinterest. This is a new concept I am working with. Fuck IOIs. They're hard work to follow, and generally the rule for me is that as long as a girl is still talking to you and is responding to kino, then she's interested. You can assume attraction. If you have IODs - if she's acting distant, pulling away, blocking your kino, then you know to back off. IODs are much, much more helpful than IOIs, in my opinion.

Anyway, so yeah, I'd done everything right. To this point, it was a near-perfect pick up. The opener was only dwelled on for a second before ploughing into conversation. I was high energy, I was funny, I played around with her, I kept everything right, and she responded perfectly to everything I did. All I had to do was move in, and kiss her.

But I didn't.

A few minutes later, and the chance was gone. My mate, who had been chatting to the other girl, had run out of things to say, and as such the other girl was now essentially cock-blocking me. She stole the HB7 away for a few seconds, and suggested they go outside for a cigarette. My mate said he wanted a drink. So I said my goodbyes to the girls. I did try and number close her, but she said 'Just meet us outside in a minute for a cigarette'. So I left it. Maybe I should have ploughed on here, but I was conscious the moment had passed.

So obviously plenty of positives to take, but I have no idea why I didn't go for that kiss-close. Its like playing right back, getting the ball just by the corner flag in your own half, dribbling the length of the pitch around the opponent's strikers, midfields, Mascheranos, and defences, and then effortlessly rounding the keeper only to balloon the ball miles over an open goal. Argh!

We left shortly after this. Another of our mates had been refused entry to the club on account of how fucked he was (wise move on the bouncer's part, actually - he is fucked). And then my ex-girlfriend turned up. She came through the club door as we were circling around the bar. I was in a well charged social mood, and so grinned and waved at her. She looked terrified, and then blanked me, obviously out with some bloke and not knowing how to react. I didn't want to be around after this. Quite apart from having to watch her around the place with some other feller, I didn't want to open any sets thinking 'she might be watching'. I wouldn't have been focussed on the girl I was speaking too, but rather on the idea that my ex was watching, so I'd better not fuck it up. That isn't healthy. So we called it a night.

Thoughts

The ejected K-close is obviously the grand fuck up of the night. But there are positives to take none the less. I am moving away even from canned openers now. It felt great to be out in the field and just being sociable. And I opened a set with my non-PUA mate in tow. That's definitely worth noting progress.

I felt early on in the night, and especially while I was with proper PUA wings, that I could have done more to go kino in my sets. I didn't quite bounce early on like I usually do, and a few times I had to consciously try and drag my energy levels up. But then, I've now been up for almost 24 hours. Sometimes your energy levels do fall away a little.

Guys, I need a male opinion on something: Is it ok for a 26 year old to leer over a 17 year old?