6 weeks on, and this seems to remain true.

I was out last night with the Liverpool lads. I opened a few sets. A seated three set, a standing two set, a two set at the bar, a three set who sat in the seat where I'd left my jacket. Opening is fine now.

However, I still have a problem with persisting with my sets. In all sets last night, I ejected as soon as I felt slightly uncomfortable or felt as if I didn't have anything else to say. I didn't drive onwards.

I am still using some opinion openers, and I actually feel as if this is starting to work against me. I go over, get their opinions on guys wearing Ugg boots. They tell me, one way or another. And I say 'Great, thanks. Bye then' and I eject.

The next step is to plough on with conversation. This is the hump I need to get over now. When I stay on after an opener, I know I'm proving that the 'Guys, I need a quick 30 second opinion...' bit of the opener was just a lie.

So I think partly its because I want to eject before they've had the chance to reject. But also partly because I'm finding it difficult to switch between canned and natrual stuff.

Solutions for this:

1. Was it DeAngelo that said: Make the ho say no? Whoever it was, I could do with some of that. I need to talk to girls until they make it 100% clear that they're done talking to me - by walking away, asking me to leave, making an excuse, whatever else. I need to just force myself to stay in set, until it becomes natural to do.

2. Get away from canned opinion openers. These are easy to do - that's why I do them. But at some point, you need to move on from that canned opinion, which is the point when they think 'Shit, he's not going away yet' and you think 'Shit, they're thinking "Shit, he's not going away yet"'. Juggler says its ok to admit 'Ok, so look I just wanted to ask you guys that so I had an excuse to come talk to you'. State intent, theres nothing wrong with it.

But either way, I need to work out how to stay in set longer, and to do it constantly. 30 second conversations are easy now. I can do them with anyone. Its the 15 minute conversations which stand out.

More tonight...