AoA:LA and AoR:LA, Part Deux

It seems PU101's schedule of classes is increasing in frequency. It's kind of good and kind of bad at the same time-- I like helping out (and rising through the ranks) but man it's SUCH a drain on my resources. My weekend gets shot and my energy reserves are tapped by Monday.

There are positives to the whole thing, though. Instructing students makes me step up my game at a rapid pace because I have to show and prove at the drop of a hat. I also get to pick the brains of other instructors and share and gather knowledge in a concentrated form. Ohh, and there's that whole "make cute girls smile" thing, I guess that's kinda fun. ;-)

Some sets of note for posterity's sake:

(1) AoR Saturday night. Hung out with the PU101 interns at Saddle Ranch for an hour or so (I was DEAD tired and just wanted to chill and have a beer). While flirting with the waitresses in the outdoor seating area of Saddle Ranch, Gamer* and I both notice this table with one cute blonde surrounded by 3 guys. None of the guys looked like her boyfriend just from observing how they sat and interacted. A couple of times the blonde looked at Gamer and/or myself-- like strong, solid eye contact.

After a couple more rounds of flirting with the waitresses I excused myself from our group and approached their table. I got the attention of the guys and gal at the table, and:

ME: Excuse me, guys. Do you mind if I talk to your friend for a second?
ORBITING GUY FRIEND: Which one?
ME: Her. <Turn to the chick, who is seated close to where I'm standing now> I was sitting over there with my friends and I noticed you, and you're really cute. I had to come meet you.
HER: ^_^ I'm Rebecca!

I introduce myself to her and to her friends (don't be rude, now) and ask how they know each other. She says that they're all old classmates. Architects, it turns out. Cool.

I lean up against the railing and vibe with her for a little bit. At one point She asks what I do, so I take that opportunity to drop things into medium Rapport. I share one of my Identity stories, talking about how I enjoy being a catalyst in peoples' lives. Things were starting to go somewhere, conversation-wise...

...until the orbiter interrupts our conversation by asking Rebecca about her plans for this coming weekend. My Rapport doesn't trump his Rapport in this instance (remember: classmates), so I lose her attention. It didn't feel right to re-engage her with some Attraction material so I let it go and just vibe with the other two guys for a couple minutes until I decide to leave. I tell them all that it was a pleasure meeting them and exit gracefully.
---

(2) AoR Sunday afternoon, Melrose Ave. Was instructing one of the students, J. and one of the interns, B. No particular sets hooked for me, but I did get a LOT of practice opening Mother/Daughter and Father/Daughter sets. It helped me calibrate that timing and how to address both people with the proper energy and respect towards the parents.

There was one missed opportunity that I regret not taking action on-- there was a stacked blonde chick on the other side of the street walking by and I couldn't get a good look at her face, so I hesitated running across the street (that is, across Melrose Ave, not a side street) to open her Direct. Lesson learned: take action anyways. If it turns out she's not what I'm looking for I can always just keep walking past her.

I had one fantastic blow-out in a jewelry store. I approached some Lebanese-looking girl from the side with the start of my 1-2-3:

ME: Excuse me, do you know if there's a Bank of America around he--
HER: No. <Turns away>
ME: ...
ME: <Walk away and engage the Korean chick behind the counter>

It didn't phase me at all, I just thought it was REALLY funny. It's that girl's loss, ultimately, we could've had a fun interaction.
---

*Handles used to protect the identities of the innocent (and not so innocent, as the case may be. ^_^;; ).

An Evening at Villa Sorriso (Pasadena, CA)

Today I had previous engagements so I had to skip out on instructing at AoA for this evening (although I'll be back tomorrow). In the morning I participated in a graphic design portfolio review down at Cal State Long Beach and by the time I was done I was nearly asleep. I made the long drive back up the 110 to LA (half-asleep, not a good idea) and hit the sack for an hour to recharge.

Drove up to Pasadena for a buddy's birthday dinner shindig at Villa Sorriso, an upscale dining experience at the west end of Old Town Pasadena. Good food, good company, good times.

The restaurant converts to a dance spot later in the evening, so we hung out there until the party started going into full swing. My buddy's drunk but taken care of so I go and work the crowd. I'm in socializing mode and I'm using no canned routines or anything-- just walking around and talking to people like the sexXxy beast I am. :-)

One interaction went pretty well and I learned a lot about kino calibration and just exuding sexuality. She was standing at the front in the smoking area with two of her friends and I was finishing up a cigarette and convo with some guys I was engaging. She kept looking in my direction, although I didn't know if she was looking at me or the guys behind me, but it didn't matter. I went up to her, told her she's cute in a playful but confident way, aaaand we're off to the races. She's a voluptuous lil' Latina, and she's cute enough that I want to talk to her. We talk for a few, get the hand test in (passed) and engage her friends for a few minutes until they decide to hit up the bar. I'm whatever about it and say I'll catch them later.

Fast forward 20 minutes I run into them again outside while they're having drinks. I bust on them by playfully accusing them of stalking me, which gets them laughing. My girl suggests we go dance and I happily oblige. I lead her to the dance floor by her hand and hand test again (passed again) and we start grindin' on the dance floor. She's into it and rubs up on my goods for the bulk of our dancing and I let my hands wander around her butt. She keeps pushing them away but I pay it no mind, it's not a big deal to me. We leave the dance floor after a couple of minutes because the DJ sucks and keeps changing the style of music, and I tease her about charging her $20 for the dance. Rejoin her friends where they head to the bar (again), I let them go and head in the other direction.

Fast forward 20 minutes (again), I'm on the phone with a good buddy of mine just shooting the shit and in my peripheral I see my lil' Latina sitting in the corner getting hit on by some douche. I'm debating whether to go rescue her or not, but I'm still on the phone with my buddy so I decide not to. Besides the fact that I really wasn't THAT into her (although I'm fairly certain she'd be down for a ONS) I didn't want to hang up on my buddy.

Some of you might be saying "WTF? Go get the chick and fuck her!". A part of me would agree, but another part doesn't really WANT sex for the sake of it especially with a chick that I only *sort of* think is attractive. I took the lesson instead, which I'll be able to apply to chicks that I *REALLY* dig (read: Korean chicks with limited english abilities).

So, what have we learned tonight, kids?
-I'm one sexXxy beast, grrrr baby, yeah!
-I'm more or less non-reliant on routines now and just state the obvious and let my body language do the rest of the work
-I DEFINITELY need to work on my dance floor game. It was serviceable with this chick but I do think there's more for me to learn there
-I should've kinoescalated to the point that she vocalizes wanting to bounce if only for the experience
-Being outcome independent is a great feeling. :-)

PU101's Art of Attraction: LA

So I've been tapped as an in-field-coach-in-training for PU101's AoA:LA this weekend. I don't know what to feel about it, really.

On the one hand I like the fact that they're asking me to help them out because it's in my nature to be helpful to people and to get enjoyment out of the process. On the other hand it's in a"try-out" role, which I can sort of understand but at the same time I can't help but feel like my time may not be appreciated.

I hate when people waste my time. It's a pet peeve of mine. This is one of the reasons I loathe jury duty: my time is undervalued by other people and I just want to headbutt their grandma for it.

I learned a lot from their workshops when I attended, which is why I'm willing to donate my time in the first place. I just hope they utilize my time and appreciate my presence and experience and not make me regret being such a generous person.

I'm going to try and maintain a positive outlook on this. Maybe I'll get some ONS's or a day2 out of this from some chicks I meet this weekend. That'd be a nice reward.

FR: The Edison

Quickly--

Went to a new bar in Downtown LA called The Edison (bar in converted turn-of-the-century power plant). Dope venue, no cover, TONS of cute chicks. This is my new Friday night spot, methinks. :-)

Only one noteworthy set:

Opened a 2f-set near stage. Engaged them with nothing flashy in terms of Attract (the venue didn't feel all that ADD, despite the music, so I didn't feel like I had to dig deep into the bag of tricks). Buddy came to wing me, so I talked with the cute 31 y/o Pinay of the set.

What was interesting was that she is very much a Type "A" personality-- very talkative, VERY kinesthetic (probably a Scorpio or a Pisces), very engaging. This threw my game a lil' since I was used to girls that I had to pry info out of, so I brought things down to Rapport energy levels and let her do most of the talking.

Long story short-- got a #close (I know, I know...), played with her for a little bit on the phone, then bid her and her group adieu. This morning sent her a playful text to see if I'd made a good enough impression to get her to text back and get the ball rolling.

Hey, how's my globetrotting gymnast doing today? :-) -JS

(She's well-travelled and a former gymnast, hence the above references)

Didn't get an immediate response so I was like, "Whatever", and went about my day.

Around 11:00pm she texted me back, so there might be something there to pursue. Ohh, I forgot to mention that she's engaged. Not that I'm letting that stop me, that just means I have to be more discreet about stuff. :-)

The Missed ONS

Just wanted to put this up here for posterity so I don't forget. Was at a social mixer for professionals in Santa Monica (got one soft contact close from a cute Korean chick, could've been better but her friend was there the entire time) and hung out with some people from the Santa Monica Lair.

Afterwards went to Busby's on Santa Monica Blvd. to hang out, talk, and play some table tennis. While sitting down near the entrance to the table tennis room and talking with a newbie about game this drunk chick (I'd give her, like, a 6 or 7 on the numeric scale) rolls up behind us and is staring at the table tennis. I open her, light banter, introductions. Eye contact is good, so I start rampin' the kino and I can just tell it's on. I do some basic Rapport with her and keep kinoescalating.

The problem is the newbie won't take the hint and leave. He's engaging her the *whole* time in logical BS and I can't help but cringe on the inside. :-\ Eventually she leaves.

If the newbie weren't there it could've been sooo easy to just say, "So are you ready to leave?" and bounced her right then and there.

In hindsight I should've just boxed out the newbie (asshole move, but necessary) and kinoescalated her to the point of bouncing. A lesson learned, regardless.

FR: Beverly Center

OBSERVATIONS
-Relax and smile. It goes far.
-Being honest with your intentions can work if you're sincere about it and not dicking her around
-Discretion is the better part of valor... or something

THE STORY
Went back to the Beverly Center tonight as per my normal scheduled time to go... somewhere where girls gather. I had spent the previous two hours looking for some web programmer interns for work at The Art Institute of LA so I was socially warm already. I had four interactions, all with Hired Guns (because, hey, they're relatively easy):

1) Blonde in first-floor of Bloomingdales. I flubbed this one pretty bad but pushed through it to Rapport, which was choppy and disjointed at best. After about 5 minutes I bid her adieu.

2) White girl from Iowa working in Kenneth Cole store. She was cute (kind of a Meg Ryan quality to her face) so I went in and told her so. She was physically ill so I had no opportunity for kino other than the handshake (she was holding a crumpled kleenex in hand and looked tired) but went through my Rapport stack anyways. Rapport went well (and was good practice for me) so I went for the day2, got the BF answer. I said "cool" and wished her a good evening.

3) Chinese girl working in the Gelato place up in the food court. High School senior(!) and a little chubby but cute nonetheless. Just vibed with her, got some logistical info (like the whole "I'm in High School" thing), flirted a lil' then bid her a pleasant evening. This one's a fine line that I'm walking, since I don't like jail.

4) Korean chick in Armani Exchange. I'll elaborate on this interaction because it almost caught me off-guard:

HER: Excuse me do you need any help?
ME: No, I'm just poking around.
HER: OK... [starts to leave]
ME: Actually... one thing...
HER: ???
ME: I know this is a little random... but I just had to say you're really cute.
HER: :-D Thanks! High-five!
ME: [Almost got caught off-guard by this reaction] No, wait, you get a Low-five... [low-five her]
HER: :-\ :-)
ME: OK... now you get a high-five, too! [high-five her]
HER: [laughs] [starts to walk away]
ME: [Grip her fingers a little] Wait, what's your name?
HER: C____. :-)
ME: I'm John. :-)

From here I get about 30 seconds of Wide Rapport before some customer comes in and pulls her away. :-\ I chill and do some shopping, then re-open for a little bit. Flirt a lil' and ask her if some shirt I grabbed makes me look hot or sexy and get her to laugh. Find out she's from the same hometown as I am(!) so I roll with that for a second before she's pulled away again.

I go try on some clothes then come back out.

ME: Hey, C______.
HER: :-)
ME: I know you're REALLY busy right now, but I want to take some time to get to know you. When do you get out of work tonight?
HER: 10:30pm.

From there we waffle on her schedule some, but it's nothing solid. So I go for the contact close.

ME: Let me get your number and I'll call you tomorrow so we can set up a time to meet.
HER: :-\ ...
ME: Just tell me, I'll memorize it. I don't want to put you on the spot.
HER: :-) 700-6...
ME: Wait, [grab a random shirt] take me to a changing room.
HER: :-D

Get into a spare changing room, get her number properly and give her a quick call so she has my number in her cell phone.

Leave the store and leave a voicemail that goes like this:

"Hey C_____ this is John, that sexy and/or hot guy you met at work in A|X. I just wanted to leave you a message so you know what my voice sounds like on the phone. I'll give you a call tomorrow so we can set up a time to meet next week. Talk to you later. :-)"

I'm going to teach myself Korean

I know what I like, for the most part, when it comes to women. My list of types of women I'd like to copulate with goes something like this:

• Koreans
• Japanese
• Chinese/Filipinos
• Redheads
• Some blondes (mostly those with sharp, Scandanavian features)
• Persians

It's uncanny: I can pick out a Korean chick from 20 paces with just a sideways glance and my gut goes, "ROWR!". I don't understand the *WHY* aspect of it, but I do know I like them.

Therein lies the rub-- most Korean chicks I run into are (A) FOBs or (B) very-nearly FOBs and the language barrier is frustrating like nothing else. I don't know how Daniel does it, man; I need to pick that man's brain one of these days.

So with that in mind I'm going to give this Rosetta Stone software a go and see if I can't string together some 2nd-grade Korean blather for those situations when they FOB out on me. Hard to build a connection with just broken English and sparse kino.

(ASIDE: Some people I've known say it's a "DLV" to speak in an ESL chick's native tongue. To those people, I say fvck off. Sorry, had to get that off my chest...)