Halloween Hijinks

You know, I'm not normally one to play "dress up" on Halloween. The whole idea of the "holiday" has lost its novelty on me; if I want to go out and have fun I can do that in my normal civilian clothing, thank you very much. :-)

This past All Hallow's Eve I ended up chillin' with my brother and good friend K. at this new (yet old) spot called LIFE on Wilshire Blvd and Crescent Heights Blvd. I had heard about it through some email list I'm on (I forget which one. Thrillist? Yelp? One of those...) Now it just so happens that this particular evening LIFE was also hosting a social mixer with the organization lafun.org. Color me pleasantly suprised when I walk into LIFE and am greeted by several dozen scantily-costume-clad Asian women from the lafun.org list. :-) Now THAT'S how you start the evening off right!

I opened a couple of groups just warming up my social muscles and ended up talking with a girl at the bar, B., who was part of a larger group of Asian girls that weren't in-costume (for whatever reason). We vibe for a bit and I attempt to see if she'll comply with me by saying I'm going outside for a smoke. She agrees but for whatever reason she doesn't follow. I'm not about to hang around waiting for this chick so I bounce outside, greeting random people and groups along the way.

Later in the evening I end up reopening the group with my buddy K. winging me. That buys me some time to get some one-on-one time with B. For whatever reason she's super closed-off and shy, and she keeps insisting that she's boring. I tried giving her the benefit of the doubt but after a while I started believing her.

I decided to go and talk to the rest of her group after that; the whole group was composed of cute Asian girls so it's a win-win proposition for me. :-) I play around with one of the girls, V., basically amping Attraction, taking photos, kinoing the shit out of her. Good times.

I eventually switch gears to E. who was quiet most of the time our group was mingling with theirs. She was the token Korean of the group, I guess, and you know how I am with Korean girls... :-] I end up talking with her and dropping things into Rapport and developing a connection with her, which is always good times. It turns out I kind of dig this chick for more than her looks. Go figure, right? ;-) I set up tentative day2 plans with her (due to her schedule conflicting with mine; November's a zany time for me right now), did a little phone game with her on-the-spot to get the first phone call awkwardness out of the way, then kept talking to her and getting to know her.

So to recap: Went to LIFE; had a blast with my brother and good friend; and got a tentative day2 with a cute Korean chick. Muy bueno. :-)

Giveth and taketh away

You know sometimes the Universe perplexes me. It will both give you a gift and then take it away in the same breath and somehow I'm sure there's a lesson to be learned in there somewhere.

So yesterday I was running around (literally) doing some minor errands when I decided to stop by the Robek's near my apartment. While there I spot this cute Korean chick hop in line at Robek's right after I finish. I go outside and chill for a second since Robek's is LOUD and experience has taught me to exercise some patience in such situations. After a couple minutes she exits Robek's which gives me a chance at a better look at her. She's not the typical kind of Korean I go for -- she's thick (not fat, as evidenced by her waist and stomach; more along the lines of Reubenesque) -- but she has a cute face and she certainly knows how to move.

She sits down at a table outside with her books and her cup of ice cream. Cool. I stand up and approach her, get her smiling and laughing a bit, and start the dance of getting to know her.

Now here's the rub which I've been experiencing lately to a high degree: I go for the day2 and she's basicaly got a booked schedule. This particular girl works 2 jobs and is studying for her MCATs and only has free time after 11:00pm, MAYBE. I back off and go back into a Rapport conversation then revisit the idea of us hanging out again, to which she's still unable to offer a better solution. I take her phone number, chat for another minute, then bid her adieu.

What is it with the Universe giving me awesome chicks that I like and then making it near-impossible for me to see them? Seriously. I don't get it. To say its frustrating would be understating things.

I don't even have a real solution for this problem, to be honest. I've had to cut bait on several other chicks in recent memory because of scheduling conflicts and it sucks since I don't find THAT many chicks Attractive in that gut-level sense of the word. With this particular Korean chick I *could* try to set something up for after 11pm but that's a long shot because, hey, I have a life I have to lead too.

HurryDate at Ritual

Since my schedule's been pretty tight at work I'd decided to explore other avenues of socializing. A friend had to told me about HurryDate and I decided to give it a whirl; I'd never done speed dating before and want to check it out. This particular event was being held at Ritual, where White Lotus used to be.

"But J," you may ask, "aren't you a PUA that can bed HB11's at the drop of a dime?" </sarcasm> I'll be the first to admit that recently the girls I've been interacting with in bars and lounges have been... less-than-ideal for a myriad number of reasons. Maybe it's the environment, maybe it's them, who knows. I thought this would be fun to try out and see how the quality of girls at an event like this is.

I'll say this much for the events I've gone to so far (tonight included): it's a crap shoot. Of the 20-some-odd girls that were there maybe 4 of them were attractive physically. I talked to all 4 of those chicks and there was just something... not there. I can't put my finger on it. It may be that the type of girls that speed date are either (A) too busy to socialize normally or (B) are peculiar in some other fashion that prevents them from being social on a regular basis. In any case the 4 cute chicks all had personality quirks that just didn't do it for me:

1. Reagan (yes like the ex-president): Just a weird personality. Very abrasive, negative, odd.
2. Abi (sp?): Hot Iranian chick. Libra. The sparks just weren't there.
3. Evelyn: Asian Dental Hygenist from Monrovia. Boring.
4. M____ (I forgot her name): too quiet, was like pulling teeth trying to get some Rapport with her. Arguably the hottest chick at the event. Tall, blonde, late 20's. Marketing consultant that lived in some city near the 5 and 170 freeway.

All in all I'm pleased with myself for trying this out and being social tonight to try and make up for the hot Korean that walked in and out of my life TWICE this afternoon. Confused I need to take this momentum and carry it into the weekend. Hopefully work won't sap my mojo.

"No?" or "Not Yet?"

I've recently been forcing interactions less and less and letting the Universe guide me where I need to be. It can be exhilirating most times, where every interaction becomes an adventure. Other times, though, it can be an exercise in patience.

I've been flirting with this one girl at work on and off for the past several months. I know the whole, "Don't sh!t where you eat" mantra quite well (as I almost got burned one time before at my current gig) so I'm very careful how and when I flirt with this current chick. I get the vibe that she's into me BUT things always come up that make us getting together (and ultimately, "getting together") a huge challenge right now.

If it's not one thing it's the other: her dog swallowed some push pins; I get sick the week I have free time; she has to fly up North to see her folks; I have to take care of some last-minute financial shit; SHE gets sick the day before; the list goes on and on. It's not like these are flakey behaviour kinds of things, I can accept that. It's more like the Universe is telling me "No" with this chick.

Or is it "Not Yet?"

I'm still not sure, since we seem to vibe really well. The frosted side of me is inclined to believe "Not Yet" because every time I shelf this as a learning experience it re-opens anew. Frustrating does not even BEGIN to describe how this feels.

All I can do, really, is keep looking elsewhere lest this situation drives me bananas.

Yay B-List celebrities

Who would've thought that Santa Monica attracted the PUA type?

I was hanging with some friends from the Santa Monica Lounge at World Cafe tonight, just shooting the shit and seeing what the night brought. It was sort-of crowded at World Cafe, but not in a good way-- mostly white people with a smattering of Asians and Indians to color up the crowd a bit. I was mainly interested in talking with my friends and hanging out; I'm pretty lazy when it comes to opening groups of people as of late as I'm trying to just let the universe bring me the people that I'm meant to interact with.

While sitting around shooting the shit one of my friends recognized J-Dog from "The Pickup Artist" on VH1 with some girl. I turn around and introduce myself to J and to the girl, T. who happens to be the producer for the aforementioned show. I end up shooting the shit with the both of them and they're both really cool cats. It's a shame that J doesn't get even coverage on the show since my perception of him from the show is not as good as my perception of him after I met him. I eventually also talk to Spoon for a hot minute who seems to be in a better headspace than he was during the TV show.

I think it's fascinating how being a "B-List" celebrity can be either a major boon or a major bust for a person's social value. On the positive side you get recognized by some people which kind of puts you on a slightly elevated status relative to other people in the room. On the flip side, though, it makes it hard to discern whether a person is into you for who you REALLY are or if they're just enamored by who they perceive you to be from whatever it is you're famous for. I'm not sure I would ever be ready for the lifestyle of a celebrity, even a minor celebrity from a show like "The Pickup Artist." By nature I'm a very private person so I think all the poking and prodding by random people into my business would grate me after a while. I suppose it's a good thing I'm not a world-famous pickup artist then. ;-)

An evening at S Bar and The Griffin

Logistics, logistics, logistics. Things like "getting IOIs" or "DHV'ing" or whatever bullshit are not my Sticking Point right now, everything keeps boiling down to the big "L" word. I'm very finely tuned into social interactions nowadays and I'm closer to running "Natural" game than I was 3 months ago. I have maybe 1 or 2 fun roleplaying openers that I keep in my back pocket but other than that I let my Body Language and Kino do the lion's share of the work for me. Now I just have to start finding girls that are local and down for some same-night sexytimes and I'll be golden.

Tonight was something of an interesting learning experience, albiet a touch frustrating. I'm trying to explore K-Town more (because of my irrational love of Korean women) and went to S Bar on Wilshire Blvd and New Hampshire Ave with my buddies Ulysses and S. If you've never been to this kind of bar before it's something akin to a hostess bar where the bartenders (who are all Asian women) pour your drinks, drink some of your alcohol, eat some of your food and generally entertain you. Tonight (Saturday) was actually kind of dead-- the only cute girls were behind the bar and that was a logistical challenge for me. I can't really kino across the bar easily so it makes getting the girls warmed up difficult. I need to find a spot at the bar where it opens up or something so I can stand next to them and get them hot and bothered to bounce later in the evening. I really dig a couple of the bartenders there and would ravish them in a New York Minute but I still haven't been able to crack the code yet, as it were. This'll be a pet project of mine for a while.

We eventually bounce from there to a new bar up in the Atwater Village area called The Griffin, which is something of a greaser rockabilly spot with a really chill vibe. We're chillin' in the smoking area and at one point I'm like, "Fuck this, I'm going to do the whole social butterfly thing" and bounce my way through the smoking area. Most of the sets end up dying for one reason or another until the very last set at the end of the evening (and at the end of the smoking patio, coincidentally).

I open the set with my tried-and-true, "Hey, do you have a light?" and I get the ball rolling. I eventually just start shooting the shit with all of them and try to get myself integrated with the group. Eventually 3 more of their friends show up, one of which is this STUNNING Vietnamese chick named V.T. Wow. We introduce ourselves to each other and I'm getting the vibe from her. I end up chatting up everyone else for a bit and eventually get drawn into a conversation with her sitting at the table.

From the moment we started talking I knew it was on. I was ramping the kino on her leg, under the table, while sitting in this dark spot of the bar. I was looking at her with strong Eye Contact ("Soul Gazing:" left eye to left eye) and going into some Medium Rapport stuff. I would've taken things further (feeling up her hands, her inner thigh, putting her hands in my lap, etc) but then I get cockblocked by her two friends that pull her into a conversation at the OTHER table. Blah. I go back to vibing with some of the guys at the table I was at for a bit.

Now at this point I have a decision to make: go for the day2 or the ONS. Given the logistics of her friends being there and whatnot I went for the day2. I stood up, went over to her table and chatted up her friend for a second before turning my attention to V.T. I straight up tell her, "Hey, I know you're with friends right now but I really would like to get to know you better since you seem like a cool chick. Let's get a coffee next week." From here logistics spanks me again:

-She lives in Huntington Beach, but is going to school at UC Santa Cruz (going back in 1 month)
-She has a live-in boyfriend
-She's working part-time at Fashion Island in Newport Beach (which is FAAAAAAAR from both my work and apartment)

I press for a meet-up (while kino'ing her back and arms away from prying eyes) and she seems to be giving it serious thought (eye-accessing cues down and to the left) but starts hemming and hawing about the points above. At that point it's do-or-die, since pressing for the ONS is more than a little difficult with all her friends there. I tell her this is her last chance since I was leaving (which is true), and she seems to consider it deeply one last time but ultimately backs out. Blah again. I say bye to everyone in the group and exit with grace.

3 feet from gold, man. 3 feet...

So, what did I learn tonight?

-Reinforced the fact that I'm a sexy bitch and chicks want to fuck me. w00t!
-Kinoescalate like there's no tomorrow but do it discreetly (i.e., under the table in a dark spot of the bar).
-"Soul Gazing" is the shit. I do this with everyone now but most especially with chicks. You can have the most DRY conversation in the world but you can basically eye-fuck each other in the middle of her friends. It's hot.
-Don't ignore her friends, integrate yourself with the group.

Ahh well, chalk this night up to experience.

Happy Birthday to me...

Today was the celebration of my birth upon this Earth and I'm dead-ass tired right now. I had spent this Labor Day weekend in the City of Sin: Lost Wages, NV. I went with 3 of the closest people I have in my life: my brother, my cousin, and my good friend K. My goals that weekend were simple: play craps, pick up girls (if the situation presented itself), shoot guns and (if the mood struck) see some titties.

I gotta say this weekend was a mixed bag.

The craps tables at Excalibur and Hard Rock took me for about $1,500 (I had some good runs as the shooter, I shoulda left when I was up) so that kind of messed with my head a bit. I earmarked $1,500 for this weekend so it's not like I wasn't mentally prepared for it, just the fact that I couldn't catch ANY breaks at the Hard Rock craps tables really set me back emotionally-- I didn't have the desire to flirt with girls after losing money the way I did.

******

In terms of flirting with girls things just weren't hitting. Most of the girls were either with BFs, were boring, or were too "hot" for my emotional state at that moment. The girls that DID have potential I messed up by mistiming my approach. For example I was in Mist at Treasure Island, the freebie bar near the front entrance. It was more or less a cockfarm (blah), but there were several sets that could have gone better if I timed things differently:

1) Mixed set of guys and girls sort of dancing near the front. Asians. I got solid EC from one of the girls but hesitated too long to open them. I had to wait until the one I wanted sat down at her table alone and I went Direct. Slight language barrier and eventually her BF returned and basically shut me out. I greeted him in a friendly manner and exited with grace.

2) 2 girls walked into the bar, one Asian the other White. While they were at the bar waiting to get the attention of the bartender I opened them with the roleplay frame that I was part of their group and was running late. I had them laughing and engaged for the first minute, but I eventually lost them to the bartender. Had I waited for them to get their drinks things would probably have gone better.

******

I've come to a couple of realizations from this weekend in terms of what I want out of this whole "meet girls" thing:

-Although I can function in a high-energy environment I much rather prefer quieter, "normal" locales to work my magic. For example I was leaving the Sherwood Forest Cafe in Excalibur when I saw this cute Asian chick eating by herself. I passed by her table, thought about it, then went back. I opened her sincerely but relaxed with, "Hey, you're really cute. I want to get to know you," and caught her off-guard a bit while she was eating her soup. It was cute. We vibed for a bit but she was there with her BF (who was playing poker at the time) so I took the convo as far as I could to practice my Rapport skills. After a few I left her to her meal and rejoined my buds.

-I can't force myself or put undue pressure on myself to open because that's when I fvck things up. When I'm relaxed and having fun with my friends and cute girls happen by things tend to fall into place. I already logged my training hours behind the wheel, I just have to let shit happen now.

-I don't really want a one-night stand. That may sound weird to some but in my heart of hearts those kinds of encounters don't really do it for me. I want a connection with the girl, that just makes the sexytimes all the more sweeter. That's not to say that I can't develop a deep connection with girls in one night, so I don't preclude the possibility of having an ONS, but most (if not all) of my night-time connections as of late have been shallow to medium Rapport, at best.

******

On the upside I had TONS of fun hanging with my boys, shooting the shit, just being Men without apologies. Shooting guns at The Gun Store kicked ass, as usual. And to round things out we went to Sin (a strip club) and saw some titties, which is always good times (hey, I'm still a guy, y'know).