Keyboard cat RULES!! lol..............
With that set, I interpreted it as them wanting us to accompany us to the bar, rather than buy them a drink...I would have just ordered a water anyway.....a way we could have played it was to get them to buy us drinks...give them the cash...that would have locked them into us...so slight misunderstanding...but you live and learn ....
Thanks for your hospitality CO! I enjoyed the Asda pizza

Quality! I've been beating myself up recently because I just simply don't approach enough. This statement resonates through me because this is exactly where I am. Something that I will elaborate in my post later. I need (NEED NEED NEED!) to over come. Procrastination is a plauge of the AFC and I need to destroy it!

It's great that we're at the same place on path Covert! Soz I couldn't get up to Liverpool this weekend mate... literally spent a god damn fortune this month! Haa! Maybe next month mate!

Thanks for having us Co - I had a really good night and - you rock.

Its win win baby, the Manchester guys taught me good. You're all awesome and you know it. x

A few points if I may Sir.... open ended openers are great, but you do need chicks with a certain intelligence/maturity level to have the conversation work. I wouldn't use them on every girl on a night out. You also need a certain low level of noise that Heebie Jeebies definately had - in which case - they're bang on the money. x

Disclaimer - I dont tell people its their set as a habit, its not what I usually do. But to keep the momentum on a night out you need to be talking to people, the set could just have equally been two guys, but the set you opened was awesome, open ended and social. Masterfully done. x



P.s - YouTube - Keyboard Cat: True Internet Story

An absolute pleasure mate! I’m also starting the Official CovertOperation Liverpool Tour Guide Company, following our successful walking tour of the city centre!

We’re all on the same path mate. Everyone in pick up is at a different stage of development, with different abilities and different experience. The difference between us and a lot of others is, we’ve got the tenacity to stick with it. A lot of people will go ‘this is too hard, fuck it’.

Not us! I’m right there with you mate, I’m sure we’ll wing in Manchester again soon enough.

In fact I can’t wait!

Indeed I didn’t intend to suggest you do tell people it is their set. Although as I say, I’m utterly grateful that you did as I wasn’t really thinking of opening any sets at that point. I needed a kick up the backside, and I am pissed off at myself for needing the kick up the backside.

I am, however, grateful to you for providing it!

You’re right of course about using open ended openers in certain situations. As ever with pick up, rules are fluid. In some situations, certain rules apply, in others, different rules apply. You just need to be on your toes enough to apply the right principles at the right moment, and to do it without consciously thinking about doing it. Which isn’t a lot to ask!!!


Elsewhere, I just wanted to mention something else. Last night I sat down to write a typically lengthy diary entry (I’ve kept a diary on my computer since the age of 16. I’m 26 now, and have 10 years of entries to look back, covering over a million words and 3,025 pages. I’m well rehearsed at writing too much stuff about stuff!!), where I sought to plan my life over the next few months and years.

Some of you will know that recently I have decided to no longer pursue a job, owing to the time commitment needed, and that commitment not being feasible against other commitments I wish to pursue elsewhere in my life. Since taking that decision, I have felt myself somewhat rudderless, lacking in direction, and in need of a new plan.

I sat down for a few hours last night and set myself a series of targets and goals, covering the immediate short term, the short term, the medium term (the 2 years beyond that) and the long term (the 2 or 3 years beyond that).

My new over arching goal in life is to travel. At some point before I’m 30 (so, in the next 4 years) I want to spend 6 months or longer travelling the world, visiting places and learning about cultures other than my own. As I travel, I want to become involved in helping and having a positive impact on the places I visit. I want to leave every place in a better way than I found it – or at minimum, have had some lasting positive effect on it. I want to save up a few thousand pounds, enough to sustain me for a good few months. I will save money wherever possible, and avoid unnecessary expenses. When I have enough money, I will plan my trip, leave my job, and see where the wind takes me.

I also have other goals in the mid-term. They are: to get fit (I am hopelessly unhealthy); to learn to cook (something other than super noodles); to learn at least one foreign language; and to learn the art of pick up, to the point that I am a naturally sociable person, comfortable and confident in myself.

If I can achieve all of these things, and if I end up travelling the world, I will be a more rounded, more experienced person. My world view will be broader, my opinions better informed, my perspective more thorough.

After writing last night’s diary entry, I felt at ease with the world and with myself in a way I haven’t for a few weeks. Having direction to your life is important – knowing where you’re going, what you’re working towards. I felt like a weight had been lifted after writing these things down and setting them in stone.

And it started today! Usually in the morning, my alarm goes off at 7.30am. I snooze for 30 minutes, before dragging myself out of bed and through the shower, on the bus for 8.30am, in work for 9am where I spend the first hour of the day trying to wake myself up, munching on a sausage and egg buttie and generally not being much use to anyone.

I want this to change. I want to arrive at work ready to work. I want to use my mornings, and waste less time snoozing. So, I set my alarm an hour earlier today. As soon as it went off, I was out of bed. I made myself breakfast – an omelette with potato waffles – and then at 7am I was in the car driving off to the gym, where I swam for half an hour.

I can achieve all of my goals if I make them happen. You all have the power to make anything happen in your life. Be clear what your goals are, be clear how to achieve them, and then set about achieving them with energy as soon as you feasibly can.

Take action, and make things happen.

Love,
Co x

I'd only kick someone I was comfortable with and - You're most welcome!! Its important to remember on a night out to a large extent we're in control over how much fun and social momentum we have.

That's great mate, simply great.

Just got home from another night with the Manchester clan, in Manc. A quick review of the night as I saw it...

I made progress tonight I felt. Not bags, but little bits and pieces are coming together, which is nice. The first set was a number close in Wetherspoons. Roody opened a seated two set, and I went in to wing, sitting next to a frankly gorgeous dark haired girl. It turned out these girls were from Grimsby, and were in Manchester for the night for the X Factor auditions tomorrow. This gave us a pretty obvious topic of conversation, and it was all pretty easy.

After being in set for a while, Adam came over to say the group was leaving soon. So, we wished the girls all the best and left. Back with the group, Dave asked if I had closed. I said I hadn't, but honestly couldn't say why. He suggested going back in for a number close. So, as we left, I went back over to the girls and asked them where they were going next, intending to use this as the basis of 'well give me your number, lets catch up later'. But they said they were heading back to the hotel for an early night ahead of being grilled by Cowell and co. Not to be deterred, I sat down next to the girl I'd been speaking too and handed her my phone. 'Ok, well put your number in there. I'm totally excited by the showbiz of everything with you guys, I need to know how it goes.' She punched her digits into my phone, helpfully telling me her name which I'd forgotten by this point.

I should have number closed before I left the set, and this is something to bear in mind for the future. Where there's a chance of a close, go for it. Whats the worst that can happen? Either way, I was pretty chuffed to get a number close so early in the night.

We headed onto Black Dog (I'm told thats what its called). We went straight for the dancefloor, and started to make shapes. As we did, and as Dave pointed out, a few sets seemed to gravitate towards us. I guess this was 'warm part of the pool' theory in action.

I was keeping an eye open for sets to open, with last week's FR in mind where I said I needed to take action and open more sets. To the side of the dance floor I had spied a two set, one of whom was giving me eyes (how could she not - I dance like Travolta on e's!). But... I hesitated. I turned away, and kept dancing. I looked back, and she was still giving me eyes. But again, I turned away. Fuck!

I had to stand myself up for a second and think it through. I told myself very consciously to just fucking go and open them. Fortunately after another few seconds, my feet began to move towards the set, and I opened them asking 'what are you guys talking about? It looks pretty interesting, I can't not know what you're saying'. They replied saying it was about a guy they used to work with, and the set rolled from there (that's the beauty of this opener - it gives endless possibilities for going straight into conversation). Jaz came over and winged one of the girls away, and I began to work with the other one. We talked for a while, and I began to go kino. However, this bit could have been done better. I was shy and hesitant with my kino, restricting it to light touches on the arm. When I tried to escalate, the girl noticed and visibly backed off a little.

This all fits in with my idea of setting boundaries. Early on in the interaction, the boundaries I'd set were hesitant and nervous with regards to kino. When I broke that boundary, it stuck out like a sore thumb, and she picked up on it.

Lesson: With kino, just get stuck in. From very early on, almost from the start, make it perfectly normal to have your hand on her back, and make sure she knows its there. Otherwise, when you escalate, its blindingly obvious what you're doing which triggers her defence mechanisms. Not good.

I didn't close with this girl, and we left shortly afterwards. We headed on to The Venue. Once inside, my focus became not sets and girls, but rather just becoming comfortable and having a good time, dancing openly and as if I didn't give a shit girls were watching. This bore results. I didn't open any further sets, but two girls opened me! Neither of these interactions led anywhere. The first was a girl who stopped and danced with me, before telling me to follow her and meet her friends. When we did, I made sure I introduced myself to everyone in her group before returning my focus to her. One of the guys said to me 'Good luck with her...' or something. And I quickly got what he meant - she danced flirtily, but resisted any escalation. A bit of a cock tease, to say the least.

The second girl who opened me, I guess, didn't really open me as such. She came over and took me off to her friend, and introduced us. Her friend seemed shy, however, and seemed pissed off with her mate for doing it. Fine by me, I left them to it.

But it was good to just be there on our own terms, having our own fun and generally keeping our part of the pool warm. I found this actually drew girls towards us. Much better doing that than standing around eyeing up girls.

I still need to get used to dance floor approaches, and I'd appreciate any tips guys have on this. I was eyeing up a girl who was part of a 3 set for quite some time, but at no point did I go over. I'm not sure what to do on a dancefloor when it comes to picking up girls. You can't really talk to them without seriously bringing the energy down (its tremendously difficult to dance and talk), and its further difficult to engage the whole group. An obvious answer is to be direct: go in, directly for the one you want, grab her hand, and start dancing with her. This is something I need to learn to do, as it will be a hell of a useful tool to have in my tool box.

So that was tonight. I still want to approach more, but I'm pleased with the sets I was part of, the set I opened (uncanned, might I add), the successful number close and having the balls to re-enter the set and get her number, and also just generally learning to have fun as a priority, and no longer going out with girls as the sole reason for going out.

So some careful progress made, and I can't argue with that!

Co!!

Was meaning to put a proper post on this but been busy with the packing!!

Was great to have you down again, sorry for shoting, but my girl, whos not my girl, showed up with her girls. (Im trying to train them as wings..)

We get this a lot actually..

The dance floor is not for conversations. When a girl joins you to dance (and how can she resist when you're clearly good at it and are enjoying yourself..) its not talk. You have to dance with her.

What has worked loads for me (and I've seen work for the guys) is taking her hand and spinning her, once this way then that, then bring her in close. If she reciprocates the interaction spin her again and bring her ass back in to you and grind some more... then more manoeuvring and go in close for the kiss... You can do this on the same dance floor many times a night with a few different girls.

Then its already sexual and no deep conversational skill are needed just the right level of pull and push to keep her hot for the rest of the night.

(P.s And if she didnt reciprocate, dont waste any more time on her!!)

These are just my thoughts, dont know what the other guys think or what works for them.

Its always good to close if you like the girl, who knows what could come of it. But I gotta stop telling you what to do, its not being a very good host!!

Im off tomorrow, back in 4 weeks. I trust the guys will invite you back down while im away!!!

See you around fella.

x

Don't worry Dave, hopefully soon you won't have to tell me what to do - I'll be doing it all anyway!

Have a boss time in Brazil mate!! Totally jealous of you going, wish you had space for a small scouser in your rucksack!

Bring me back a tan mate

Hit the town last night with Darkstar666 and Relentless. It was my first time out with Darkstar, and I was most impressed - a fearless approacher if ever I saw one!

I'll keep this brief. For the last few weeks, I've not done as much work on my game as I'd have liked.

I only opened two sets last night. Honestly bars last night were choc full of blokes. At one point we walked into Modo only to be confronted by what is referred to in academic circles as "A Wall Of Cocks".

Nevertheless we persisted, and I opened two sets.

The first was in Scream - a seated two set. I went up and said hi. They said hi. I asked them what they were talking about. They said about some posh girls arse behind them. And we had a fun conversation.

However, I annoyed myself towards the end. One of the girls asked where we were heading onto. I replied 'Bloody everywhere mate!' and reeled off a list of bars. They said 'Ah... Well, we're going to the Krazy House'. I looked shocked, and proceeded to set out my thesis on Why The Krazy House Is Shit, ranging from the absolute cocks who go there, to the six inches of shit on the floor, to the warm cans of Red Stripe the goons behind the bar charge you £2.50 for despite having to pay a fiver to get in...

And I looked up, and realised I'd lost them. And I knew why. I'd spent the last minute basically telling them 'you're going to have a really shit night'. I should have been so much more positive than this. Even something like 'Krazy House, cool. I'm more of a Heebies man myself, you will be too when you get to my age. A Heebies person, I mean. Not a man. Although there are operations for that sort of thing these days, although I've never heard of girls becoming guys, it always seems to go the other way...'

I get into arguments with girls too easily. Even arguments I'm having with the intention of lightly ribbing them always seem to come across as arguments with the intention of establishing a superior position. I need to get away from this. A 'Yes, and...' last night would have done me so much more good than the 'You're wrong, and here's why...' approach that I took. Grrr!

The second set from last night was towards the end of the night. It started well. I introduced myself, and said they looked like they were really into what they were talking about. I asked what it was. 'Well...' said one of the girls, 'we were talking about the implications of the Soviet Union's nuclear policy on the environment and climate change.'

'Oh really?' I asked. 'That's so funny, we were just talking about that as well!' I thought this was dead funny, and so allowed myself a few seconds basking in thoughts of 'God, that was dead funny' before returning to the set. The set, however, didn't push on particularly well. The girls waited for me to lead conversation, and I didn't really push on. This is where the 90/10 rule applies - for the first two minutes, I needed to lead conversation. I was waiting for them to say stuff, and when it didn't happen, there were a few awkward silences. I could have said anything, and should have said anything. For the first two minutes, just drill on and say stuff. A note for the future.

As I said at the beginning, last night was simply about keeping myself ticking over until I can game again properly, and I get my evenings and weekends back. I did that with two sets, two approaches. That's enough to just keep me warm. A few things to think about, but nothing particularly drastic right now.

I was reading this thinking he needs some 'Yes and...' improv goodness and then you said it. I think it's a balancing act you can't always agree with everyone otherwise you'll be back to chode square one where you appear to be agreeing just to get them in the sack but then again if you disagree with everything you'll look like a tit.

I think it's tact and judging the situation properly so there's no magic bullet answer but you realized that you'd gone too far in saying it's shit and I think you were right in thinking you should have said you prefer someplace else.

It's made me think more about not agreeing but offering a different view point instead of smashing their views to bits.