Daytime approaches

Went to buy some club clothes. Wasn't sure if a shirt actually suited me. What's a PUA to do? Approach a girl, of course! There were two couples shopping nearby (the point was to approach, not to PU, so a BF with her is okay), and I picked the younger, more stylish girl, to ask her:
Me: Are you shopping for your boyfriend?
Her: Yes, he's over there. (seemed confused, thought I was hitting on her)
Me: Great, then you must be an expert in fashin sense. I was wondering, does this shirt I'm wearing look really stupid or really cool on me?
Her: Hmm, let me see...yeah, I'd say it suits you, maybe....

In a Starbucks, saw a girl studying with a language course. Sat nearby, she looke to be ready to be approached, but chickened out at first. Upon leaving, finally did open her with "What are you studying, French, Spanish,...?" She said it was actually German, and she spoke only broken German, so it was hard to talk much with her. Continued a little with "I'm learning spanish at the moment, I really lik to study in coffee shops, too," and so on. Would have had tons of ways to go on, but as I said, it was hard to carry a conversation in German with her, and I got nervous and ejected.

At the same starbucks, I missed a chance to vibe with the girl at the counter, when I was buying a mug - could have talked about how I was sending it to a friend overseas, finally found a nice city mug etc.

Learning points:
- Be aware of the situations, just inject any comment that comes to your mind.
- Be aware of people's moods, a girl who's in a good mood will react open to almost any opener.
- Practise, pracise, practice. I'm feeling good approaching, but still way to hasty due to nervousness.
- Just do it, it's fun!

It's the state, stupid!

Since it was a nice, sunny day, spent some time just cruising around downtown on my bike. Got *lots* of EC and smiles from the girls I smile at, seemed like everybody was really into me.

Last week, doing the same thing at a mall, it seemed like I couldn't even get anybody to acknowledge my presence.

What's the difference?
- The environment matters. If eveybody is in a good mood (street cafe, sunny day), it's way easier than in a hurried or gloomy environment. Even if you're in a good mood, it's hard to break through general grumpiness.
- Your state. I love bicycling, and was really happy about one of the first sunny days. And it shows, even if you're not aware of it, people can always tell if you're truly happy and relaxed, or just trying to force yourself into a good frame.

Class outing, and first club approach

Went out for dinner and drinks with my summer class, i.e. people who I've seen a lot over the last couple of weeks, but didn't know before. Had a good time, and was really *on* - with some chicks, I had C&F really down - I kept teasing them until they were laughing their ass off.

One girl that likes me had to leave. I would have gotten her number, except I came up with something better: when she was showing pictures of her new flat on her cell phone, I took the phone to look at the pics, and checked her phone book for her own number. Memorized it, and entered it into my own phone later. This way, you can also check for boyfriend's numbers (phonebook entries like "darling" etc). If she notices that you're messing with her phone, you can even bust her on it ("Just checking for nasty photos" etc), provided you got the rapport to be seen as funny rather than nosy. Yes, it is wussy to get her number this way instead of asking, but the upside is that she's going to be surprised and impressed when you call her, without her knowing where you got her number from.

Also took the initiative in getting people to go to a club afterwards. First had cocktails at a bar, and my game suffered from being stuck between two guys (we were 4 guys and 3 girls all in all). Where you sit upon entering a bar or restaurant is really crucial, and yet kind of random - any ideas on how to make sure to not get stuck next to boring guys?

At the club, again had a good time, everybody started dancing, except for one guy and girl who were playing too cool to dance to old-fashioned music. These days, I really enjoy grooving to the music, but I can't do it completely sober, only after a beer or two - not getting drunk, just loosening inhibitions, actually works better for me than not drinking at all. Got some kino, and no resistance, but no reciprocation, either. That happens to me a lot - I initiate kino, and the girl gives no indication wether she likes it or not, doesn't stop me, but doesn't seem to enjoy it either.

Spent some time with all of the girls, they were all nice enough, but not madly attractive. In this case, should you focus on one girl, or just go with the flow and keep your options open with them all?

In the end, everybody had a good time, but everybody went home alone. Except for one girl and a guy that I had thought un unlikely pairing - shy, geeky girl, and an AFC-like guy, who had shown hardly any sign of being into each other. Strange.

Oh, and I actually approached a girl in a club for the first time. She was dancing wildly, and drinking from a bottle a guy was holding. So I opened her with "Hey, what are you, exploiting all the guys to buy you drinks? Pretty mean!". Unfortunately, she turned out not to speak German too well, and said something like "Me russia, not speak much, back to man".

The good:
- Enjoyed myself and genuinely had fun in a club
- Got a group of kind-of-strangers to enjoy itself
- First club approach ever, yay!

The bad:
- Couldn't get it on, even though the girls in the group already knew me, and knew me to be cool and social
- Didn't know how to escalate

Building up awkwardness resistance

There's a whole bunch of situations that make me cringe inside. Not in the slight nervousness kind of way, that would be good, usually a sign that the thing you're nervous about is exactly what you should be doing.

In this case, I mean just a feeling of "I don't want to be here, make it stop". Examples include cologne stores, clubs or cafes by myself,...

Lately I've been putting myself in these kind of situations, just to get used to dealing with and successfully ignoring awkward feelings. Plus, I get really creative in finding stuff do to, finding reasons to talk to people etc, just to get out of it.