What a lovely night! My first F-close since getting back into my game. And I've gotta say, a first class piece of winging by one of the guys! This was a HB6 who I met a few weeks ago and n-closed. She was out with a friend last night. We met up with them later on, and got them back to my wings house. For a few hours my wing kept her friend busy whilst me and the HB6 had some fun. We then went back to my house, with my wing still taking care of her friend. I've gotta say this was top class stuff - without that winging, I wouldn't have got laid last night. I owe him one.

This was also my first sex in six months, since splitting up with my ex. It's good to have broken that duck - another little chunk of moving on out the way.

Elsewhere in general game, last night all round felt better for me. I opened sets a little easier, and I stayed in them. Now, this is now the bit where I'm going to court puaforum.co.uk criticism, but after a few nights of being frustrated, I stepped back and thought through my game. I spent yesterday reading through a few bits of literature. And in particular, I read parts of Juggler Method and Magic Bullets.

It struck me reading through both that my game for the last few weeks has lacked any structure. PUA is about self improvement, and becoming a person who can naturally recognise and predict social events. But to get to that stage, you need some help.

Previously, I had been using a canned opener, and then just floating aimlessly into conversations with girls. I was getting frustrated with this. It wasn't bearing results.

Juggler Method recommends the use of some structure to your game - having various stages you want to go through, and knowing when you're in each stage. Magic Bullets, of course, recommends routine. Now, I appreciate the problems with routines and canned stuff which people on this forum have. And quite right too - it isn't interacting with a girl, but just saying stuff to her.

Interacting with a girl involves listening to what she says, and then basing your reaction on what she says. In an interaction, the actions of one agent directly affects the actions of another agent.

From this point of view, a routine based approach isn't an interaction. The girl can react in any way she likes, and it doesn't affect what you're going to say or do next. You just move onto the next part of your routine.

Long term, this isn't a style of game I want to pursue. However... Right now, I have much to learn. At the moment, my natural style of game is not productive. I open, and then float into a conversation. I have noticed that in a conversation with a girl, I instinctively go way over the top taking the piss out of her. To the point almost where I tool her for everything she says. I need to learn new ways of talking to girls, I need to learn new modes to speak through.

So, last night, I made a decision: During my learning process, I am going to incorporate various pieces of routine into my game.

An analogy: I've played drums for 16 years, since the age of about 10. For a few years in my early twenties, I was a part time drum teacher, on a Sunday morning in my back room charging beginner drummers £6 for a half hour lesson (hopelessly cheap, but at my peak I had 8 students got me a good wedge for a Sunday morning of easy work!).

Now, after 16 years of drumming, I am obviously pretty good on the drums. I am in a band and play regularly. When we rehearse or even play live, at the beginning of every song, I only have a very rough idea of what I'm going to do through the song. I've reached a level of drumming where improvisation is natural for me. I just play and see what comes out - and usually (hopefully!) its pretty good.

But, that isn't how you learn drums. When a beginner sits down at a drum kit for the first time, I'll teach them a very simple beat, which is the staple of a standard rock beat. I'll make them sit and repeat it again, and again, and again. No variation is allowed. Anything which isn't precisely on-beat is worked on, and worked out until what is played is 100% correct to what I've written down. Then, we progress onto something slightly more complex, and repeat this process.

Then, we might decide to learn a song. We'll go through some CDs, and find a song which is simple enough that a beginner can learn it, but complex enough that he or she will learn from playing that song. And over the course of a few weeks we'll break the song down into small pieces of beats, fills, and anything else, until the whole song is learned. Then, we piece it together, and the drummer can play the whole song - but still only 100% as he or she has learned it.

Improvisation can only take place once these basic elements have been learned. Once a drummer becomes more advanced, they do away with drum music. It is restrictive, and stifles creative talent.

But my point (to this long and winding analogy!) is: when you learn something new, in the early stages, you need to have some script to work with. You need to have bits written down which you're going to use and practice with. You need to practice doing the same things over and over, until your muscle memory takes over and it becomes natural.

To bring this back to PUA - I've decided that I need to just begin to work with a few scripted bits myself. This is all part of my learning curve. And this is an important distinction to make. I am not going to learn routines in order that they can be deployed ruthlessly to the end of seducing women. I am going to use routines to practice talking to girls, to get used to the responses I get to various things, and to begin to understand the principles which underly them.

In time, I'll do away with the sheet music, and I'll begin to improvise. But for now, I need a little help.

Last night, I went out with a short routine ready to go. It was based on a canned opener (custard, of course!), followed by transitioning into a 'friends' test, followed by labelling the girls 'good', 'bad', 'dozy', 'grumpy', whatever. And from there, into conversation.

I managed to perform this routine once. And I was fine with it. I want to practice more over the next few weeks, installing variations on it each time I go out. But I have decided my game learning needs more structure, and as such, I need to make sure every time I go out I am going to try and learn something new.

There is such a long way for me to go. And the ultimate goal, of course, remains to become someone natural and direct. But these routines may just help me plot a course along the way.

...and I really don't know how I went 6 months without sex. Its such good fun!