Friday, January 27, 2006
Sticking point obliterated:
St Augustine sarge:
Seamas and I took a day trip from Gainesville to St Augustine. In the early evening, we stopped at this coffee shop that we just happened to walk by. We saw two HB's sitting down. We soon realized that they worked there. On was an HB7 blonde and the other was an HB7 Hungarian girl. I decided to sarge them as they seemed like they were friendly, plus I knew talking to me would be more interesting than the conversation they were having. They were talking about work BS. The sarge went pretty well. I had them laughing and both girls were actively participating in the conversation. At one point, the sarge stalled, so I went to sit down with Seamas. He said that the HB7 blonde had body language that indicated she was interested in me. He pointed out that she was stroking her hair and kinoing her arm. I had noticed it too but I was in the wrong frame. Seamas then made an excellent point that her positive body language could mean only one of three things: 1) she was interested in me, 2) she was interested in him 3) she was interested in the Hungarian co-worker.
Clearly, the most likely answer was the first one. She probably wasn't interested in him considering he hadn't really been a part of the conversation. She didn't seem like a lesbian so three seemed unlikely, plus I was the one who had been steering the conversation. In addition, she had been keeping eye contact with me and not the Hungarian chick.
First Attempt at a # close:
Even though Seamas had convinced me that I had a chance of closing, I was still reluctant to try. This has been a huge sticking point for me, and I was actively planning to get past it on Wendesday. Part of me didn't want to do it b/c we were only on a day trip and it wouldn't lead to anything. That was dumb reasoning, though. I knew that I had to try to make a # close or I'd never get past the sticking point (SP). Just as we were about to leave3, I told her that I had enjoyed chatting with her. (I remembered reading on mASF that it's good to give a statement of interest when # closing). I said that we'd be back in town again and asked, "What steps can we take to make sure we can talk again (credit FS player guide)?"
Girl: I don't know.
Me: Why don't you give me your phone number?
Girl: Well, my husband has my cell phone.
Me: Oh. Okay, well it really was fun chatting with you. Enjoy your evening.
Analysis:
That wasn't so bad. I got rejected, but it felt good to have actually made an attempt. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted by actively trying to get past my SP. I felt almost like I did after I made my first few approach attempts on Ajay's birthday. I still believe I had done a good job with the sarge. I had both girls laughing and participating in the conversation. I definately felt like I had rapport. The husband stuff was legitimate as she did have a wedding ring. Also, the Hungarian girl had called a cab. As she was walking out, she checked on her co-worker and the blonde had replied that her husband was picking her out.
First # close:
I wore my silk Hawaiian shirt which helped me get into a socialable mood. I had also gotten adequate sleep so I was ready for action. I met up with Seamas at Starbucks on University & 13th street. When I walked in, I saw him sitting next to a guy. I figured that it was one of his students, but it turned out it was this guy he had met at Starbucks. The guy turned out to be pretty cool and we hung with him for a few hour afterwards. The goal for the day was to attend this wall event on the UF campus. This one student group had organized this wall event. Earlier in the week, students had decorated the various cement blocks with examples of stereotypes and racial slurs. The group then paid a contracter to assemble the blocks into a wall. (I found it funny that they had to pay someone to assemble the wall. The students that had been there earlier said that they weren't permitted to build it themselves.) Today, people would help pull down the wall as a symbol of how we were going to work at eliminating those stereotypes and judgements from our thinking.
We had planned on opening the girls we had sarged earlier at the wall. They were busy when we got there so I decided to just open random girls that were tanding around. First, I approached this HB7 with glasses who had a notebook and pen in her hands. I asked her if she were writing an article, and she said she was writing about the wall event, and was planning on submitting it to the newspaper. We chatted for a few minutes but I didn't feel a vibe, so I moved on.
Next to her, I saw a thin, HB7 brunette who was wearing a backpack. She had a half torn tag on her back. I knew it was one of those luggage name tags that you get at the airport, but I decided to open her by busting her on it.
Me: Hey, did you know you have a price tag on your backpack? How much are you asking for that backpack?
Girl: What? (She then looked at her backpack and saw I was pointing at the luggage tag.) That's not a price tag, that's a luggage tag. I had like eight of them there before.
Me: Oh cool. You sound like a world traveler. What's the most exciting place you visited?
Girl: I was in Europe. (I believe she then talked about how she spent a bunch of time in London.) She then asked me if I had ever been to Europe.
Me: Yeah, I came back from Amsterdam last week. (I then told her a brief story about Sidegames. I told her how he booked a ticket on a Monday for an ORD-EZE Argentina flight leaving on Tuesday. He then cancelled it right b/4 he got on the plane. I told her how he did the same for a Friday Amsterdam trip which I booked on Thursday of that week. I said I burned my miles to go to AMS for two days so I could stay in his prepaid hotel that he would otherwise be wasting.)
Girl: Do you have free long distance?
Me: Yeah. You can call anywhere in the US. It doesn't matter.
Girl: (She calls her phone and checks her voicemail.)
Me: You really should get that phone cancelled or people might call Europe for 3 hours. Why don't you write your e-mail and number on this paper?
Girl: You have my number in your phone now. (She then writes her e-mail on the sheet, but as she's doing that, she shit tests me about having a pen and notepad.) Do you do this often or something?
Me: (I'm not sure if I handled this right. I suppose I could have gone cocky funny and said, yeah, this is the 999 time today.) Instead I said: I keep this notepad around to write down any negative thoughts I have. (shout out to Raaf and his inner game post. I actually don't write any down, but I do try to do what he says in his post.) I've been trying to get rid of all my negative thoughts. Usually, I can just talk myself out of them, but if there's one that's sticking in my head, I write it down and analyse it later.
Since this was my first number close, I think I started to sound needy after I got the info. I told her that I'd call her, but then remembered she supposedly had lost her phoen. I then said I'd e-mail her and hoped we could grab some coffee on Saturday as I was leaving soon.
Analysis:
I did well for the most part. The only things I would have done different is that I would have closed earlier so I didn't have to risk her walking away. I also would have run the Mystery line and told her, "When I call, I don't want you to be like, 'Hi... Who is this? Oh yeah. Um. Hi.' I want you to say, 'Hi Ted, I'm so glad you called.'" I'm sure I'll do this in future sarges, but I felt really good to have successfully closed someone.
On fire:
After this, I was one fire. I opened girls left and right as we walked on campus. I did crappy sketch artist on a girl, but she supposedly had a boyfriend. I plowed through her initial mention of her BF, but she kept bringing him up, so I didn't try to close. As we walked around, I found myself in party-guy mode: I kept greeting people and saying funny comments to people.
#Close Number 2:
I saw this cute HB7.5 or 8 blonde sitting on a bench near the food court entrance. I started walking towards her and as I was on my way, Seamas pointed her out to me. I had been following the 3 secs rule since my first close, but he didn't know this yet. I walked up and ran the tent opener on her. I feel like I can do that when I approach immediately. If I stall and wait to long, I find myself using Crappy Sketch artist. On a sidenote, I'm not sure I'm congruent with the direct Sketch Artist opener. My body language and routines are calibrated right now to indirect game and maybe that's showing up as incongruent with direct game. I'll find out eventually as I'm going to keep trying that opener when appropriate.
We chatted for a good amount of time about topics stemming from the tent opener. I elicited values from her and did a little patterning. I then changed the topic to travel. She talked about skiing and she happened to mention that she was from Chicago. I had some topics planned, but I immediately talked about Chicago as I knew that would give us rapport. (I now realize that I could have used a good line on her. I should have asked her when she was there and then said that we could have crossed paths before and not even know it. Credit to an mASF post.) I asked her about places she'd like to visit, and she mentioned Hawaii. I then got to DHV by saying I had gone there in November.
I sensed I needed to close, so I ran my usual closing line.
HB: (She had mentioned that she doesn't go to school her. She reitereated that here.) I'm only here for the weekend and I'm going to spending all my time with my brother.
Me: I'm leaving on Monday, but I visit my parents often so I'll be down here again. (That's BS as I haven't been down here in 5 years. What is true is that I do plan on coming down more.)
HB: I go to school at FSU.
Me: What city is that in?
HB: Talahasse. That's like 3 hours from here.
Me: Well, just give me your e-mail and phone number and we'll talk. I had fun talking to you and I think we'd get along.
I whipped out my notepad and pen. I kind of qualified myself here by explaining why I had the pen & paper (the negative thoughts routine). I won't repeat that routine in future closes unless I get shit tested. She tries to dictate her number, but I want her to write it. I would rather have the girl's handwriting on the paper rather than my own. In addition, when I forgot the HB's name, like I did here, I know she'll write it down so I don't have to lose points there. Finally, someday, I want to be able to pull out an envelope filled with female written phone numbers like Style does in The Game.
Food Court:
The three of us take down a whole pizza in the food court. We decided to sit next to this HB6.5 and HB6. . As we sit down, I greet them. I didn't really want to run game, but I figured if I opened them immedately, I could go game them later and I woudln't feel awkward. When we were done eating, I threw out the pizza box and opened them again. I asked them about the club scene. I could tell they didn't go to clubs, so I asked them what they did for fun. I also ran best friends test. Basically, I kept them entertained for a good 5 minutes. They had traveled to Europe and I was again able to DHV by mentioned my trip to Amsterdam. I thought about closing them, but decided not to. The cuter HB had said she was going home to Ft. Myers for the weekend and that's the one I had wanted to close. I decided to just eject. I told them to have a good afternoon, and for the HB6.5 to enjoy her trip home. I then sat down next to my friends.
They got up about a minute later. As they walked by me, they said, "Bye." The HB6 also said, "Bye, Ted. Have a good afternoon." I realized that was a huge IOI that she addressed me by name like that. I also knew that I had done well with both of them.
Analysis:
I should have tried to # close both girls. I didn't want to close the HB6 b/c she wasn't that hot, but that was stupid. The two girls I lcosed earlier were hotter, but the logistics were bad. The one girl was from FSU and the other supposedly lost her phone, even though I had her number. The HB6, was going to be around this weekend for sure. I should have closed her just to do it. If I didn't want her, I didn't have to call. Since I didn't close, I keep thinking about how I should have. Maybe I could have boosted my confidence more by laying her. Oh well. The night is young...
Conclusions:
This number closing isn't that hard. I wish I had gotten past this SP earlier, but oh well. I feel great now and I think I can close more HB's tonight. Now, I just have to work on kiss closing or Fclosing. I also have to work on phone game and Day 2's. I'll probably be doing more of that in Chicago considering I'm leaving on Monday.
St Augustine sarge:
Seamas and I took a day trip from Gainesville to St Augustine. In the early evening, we stopped at this coffee shop that we just happened to walk by. We saw two HB's sitting down. We soon realized that they worked there. On was an HB7 blonde and the other was an HB7 Hungarian girl. I decided to sarge them as they seemed like they were friendly, plus I knew talking to me would be more interesting than the conversation they were having. They were talking about work BS. The sarge went pretty well. I had them laughing and both girls were actively participating in the conversation. At one point, the sarge stalled, so I went to sit down with Seamas. He said that the HB7 blonde had body language that indicated she was interested in me. He pointed out that she was stroking her hair and kinoing her arm. I had noticed it too but I was in the wrong frame. Seamas then made an excellent point that her positive body language could mean only one of three things: 1) she was interested in me, 2) she was interested in him 3) she was interested in the Hungarian co-worker.
Clearly, the most likely answer was the first one. She probably wasn't interested in him considering he hadn't really been a part of the conversation. She didn't seem like a lesbian so three seemed unlikely, plus I was the one who had been steering the conversation. In addition, she had been keeping eye contact with me and not the Hungarian chick.
First Attempt at a # close:
Even though Seamas had convinced me that I had a chance of closing, I was still reluctant to try. This has been a huge sticking point for me, and I was actively planning to get past it on Wendesday. Part of me didn't want to do it b/c we were only on a day trip and it wouldn't lead to anything. That was dumb reasoning, though. I knew that I had to try to make a # close or I'd never get past the sticking point (SP). Just as we were about to leave3, I told her that I had enjoyed chatting with her. (I remembered reading on mASF that it's good to give a statement of interest when # closing). I said that we'd be back in town again and asked, "What steps can we take to make sure we can talk again (credit FS player guide)?"
Girl: I don't know.
Me: Why don't you give me your phone number?
Girl: Well, my husband has my cell phone.
Me: Oh. Okay, well it really was fun chatting with you. Enjoy your evening.
Analysis:
That wasn't so bad. I got rejected, but it felt good to have actually made an attempt. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted by actively trying to get past my SP. I felt almost like I did after I made my first few approach attempts on Ajay's birthday. I still believe I had done a good job with the sarge. I had both girls laughing and participating in the conversation. I definately felt like I had rapport. The husband stuff was legitimate as she did have a wedding ring. Also, the Hungarian girl had called a cab. As she was walking out, she checked on her co-worker and the blonde had replied that her husband was picking her out.
First # close:
I wore my silk Hawaiian shirt which helped me get into a socialable mood. I had also gotten adequate sleep so I was ready for action. I met up with Seamas at Starbucks on University & 13th street. When I walked in, I saw him sitting next to a guy. I figured that it was one of his students, but it turned out it was this guy he had met at Starbucks. The guy turned out to be pretty cool and we hung with him for a few hour afterwards. The goal for the day was to attend this wall event on the UF campus. This one student group had organized this wall event. Earlier in the week, students had decorated the various cement blocks with examples of stereotypes and racial slurs. The group then paid a contracter to assemble the blocks into a wall. (I found it funny that they had to pay someone to assemble the wall. The students that had been there earlier said that they weren't permitted to build it themselves.) Today, people would help pull down the wall as a symbol of how we were going to work at eliminating those stereotypes and judgements from our thinking.
We had planned on opening the girls we had sarged earlier at the wall. They were busy when we got there so I decided to just open random girls that were tanding around. First, I approached this HB7 with glasses who had a notebook and pen in her hands. I asked her if she were writing an article, and she said she was writing about the wall event, and was planning on submitting it to the newspaper. We chatted for a few minutes but I didn't feel a vibe, so I moved on.
Next to her, I saw a thin, HB7 brunette who was wearing a backpack. She had a half torn tag on her back. I knew it was one of those luggage name tags that you get at the airport, but I decided to open her by busting her on it.
Me: Hey, did you know you have a price tag on your backpack? How much are you asking for that backpack?
Girl: What? (She then looked at her backpack and saw I was pointing at the luggage tag.) That's not a price tag, that's a luggage tag. I had like eight of them there before.
Me: Oh cool. You sound like a world traveler. What's the most exciting place you visited?
Girl: I was in Europe. (I believe she then talked about how she spent a bunch of time in London.) She then asked me if I had ever been to Europe.
Me: Yeah, I came back from Amsterdam last week. (I then told her a brief story about Sidegames. I told her how he booked a ticket on a Monday for an ORD-EZE Argentina flight leaving on Tuesday. He then cancelled it right b/4 he got on the plane. I told her how he did the same for a Friday Amsterdam trip which I booked on Thursday of that week. I said I burned my miles to go to AMS for two days so I could stay in his prepaid hotel that he would otherwise be wasting.)
Girl:
Me: Yeah. You can call anywhere in the US. It doesn't matter.
Girl: (She calls her phone and checks her voicemail.)
Me: You really should get that phone cancelled or people might call Europe for 3 hours. Why don't you write your e-mail and number on this paper?
Girl: You have my number in your phone now. (She then writes her e-mail on the sheet, but as she's doing that, she shit tests me about having a pen and notepad.) Do you do this often or something?
Me: (I'm not sure if I handled this right. I suppose I could have gone cocky funny and said, yeah, this is the 999 time today.) Instead I said: I keep this notepad around to write down any negative thoughts I have. (shout out to Raaf and his inner game post. I actually don't write any down, but I do try to do what he says in his post.) I've been trying to get rid of all my negative thoughts. Usually, I can just talk myself out of them, but if there's one that's sticking in my head, I write it down and analyse it later.
Since this was my first number close, I think I started to sound needy after I got the info. I told her that I'd call her, but then remembered she supposedly had lost her phoen. I then said I'd e-mail her and hoped we could grab some coffee on Saturday as I was leaving soon.
Analysis:
I did well for the most part. The only things I would have done different is that I would have closed earlier so I didn't have to risk her walking away. I also would have run the Mystery line and told her, "When I call, I don't want you to be like, 'Hi... Who is this? Oh yeah. Um. Hi.' I want you to say, 'Hi Ted, I'm so glad you called.'" I'm sure I'll do this in future sarges, but I felt really good to have successfully closed someone.
On fire:
After this, I was one fire. I opened girls left and right as we walked on campus. I did crappy sketch artist on a girl, but she supposedly had a boyfriend. I plowed through her initial mention of her BF, but she kept bringing him up, so I didn't try to close. As we walked around, I found myself in party-guy mode: I kept greeting people and saying funny comments to people.
#Close Number 2:
I saw this cute HB7.5 or 8 blonde sitting on a bench near the food court entrance. I started walking towards her and as I was on my way, Seamas pointed her out to me. I had been following the 3 secs rule since my first close, but he didn't know this yet. I walked up and ran the tent opener on her. I feel like I can do that when I approach immediately. If I stall and wait to long, I find myself using Crappy Sketch artist. On a sidenote, I'm not sure I'm congruent with the direct Sketch Artist opener. My body language and routines are calibrated right now to indirect game and maybe that's showing up as incongruent with direct game. I'll find out eventually as I'm going to keep trying that opener when appropriate.
We chatted for a good amount of time about topics stemming from the tent opener. I elicited values from her and did a little patterning. I then changed the topic to travel. She talked about skiing and she happened to mention that she was from Chicago. I had some topics planned, but I immediately talked about Chicago as I knew that would give us rapport. (I now realize that I could have used a good line on her. I should have asked her when she was there and then said that we could have crossed paths before and not even know it. Credit to an mASF post.) I asked her about places she'd like to visit, and she mentioned Hawaii. I then got to DHV by saying I had gone there in November.
I sensed I needed to close, so I ran my usual closing line.
HB: (She had mentioned that she doesn't go to school her. She reitereated that here.) I'm only here for the weekend and I'm going to spending all my time with my brother.
Me: I'm leaving on Monday, but I visit my parents often so I'll be down here again. (That's BS as I haven't been down here in 5 years. What is true is that I do plan on coming down more.)
HB: I go to school at FSU.
Me: What city is that in?
HB: Talahasse. That's like 3 hours from here.
Me: Well, just give me your e-mail and phone number and we'll talk. I had fun talking to you and I think we'd get along.
I whipped out my notepad and pen. I kind of qualified myself here by explaining why I had the pen & paper (the negative thoughts routine). I won't repeat that routine in future closes unless I get shit tested. She tries to dictate her number, but I want her to write it. I would rather have the girl's handwriting on the paper rather than my own. In addition, when I forgot the HB's name, like I did here, I know she'll write it down so I don't have to lose points there. Finally, someday, I want to be able to pull out an envelope filled with female written phone numbers like Style does in The Game.
Food Court:
The three of us take down a whole pizza in the food court. We decided to sit next to this HB6.5 and HB6. . As we sit down, I greet them. I didn't really want to run game, but I figured if I opened them immedately, I could go game them later and I woudln't feel awkward. When we were done eating, I threw out the pizza box and opened them again. I asked them about the club scene. I could tell they didn't go to clubs, so I asked them what they did for fun. I also ran best friends test. Basically, I kept them entertained for a good 5 minutes. They had traveled to Europe and I was again able to DHV by mentioned my trip to Amsterdam. I thought about closing them, but decided not to. The cuter HB had said she was going home to Ft. Myers for the weekend and that's the one I had wanted to close. I decided to just eject. I told them to have a good afternoon, and for the HB6.5 to enjoy her trip home. I then sat down next to my friends.
They got up about a minute later. As they walked by me, they said, "Bye." The HB6 also said, "Bye, Ted. Have a good afternoon." I realized that was a huge IOI that she addressed me by name like that. I also knew that I had done well with both of them.
Analysis:
I should have tried to # close both girls. I didn't want to close the HB6 b/c she wasn't that hot, but that was stupid. The two girls I lcosed earlier were hotter, but the logistics were bad. The one girl was from FSU and the other supposedly lost her phone, even though I had her number. The HB6, was going to be around this weekend for sure. I should have closed her just to do it. If I didn't want her, I didn't have to call. Since I didn't close, I keep thinking about how I should have. Maybe I could have boosted my confidence more by laying her. Oh well. The night is young...
Conclusions:
This number closing isn't that hard. I wish I had gotten past this SP earlier, but oh well. I feel great now and I think I can close more HB's tonight. Now, I just have to work on kiss closing or Fclosing. I also have to work on phone game and Day 2's. I'll probably be doing more of that in Chicago considering I'm leaving on Monday.
