|
I actually found this unpublished bootcamp review on the my computer the other day. In light of my impending move to NYC this week, I decided that I really needed to rededicate my self to PU with the new start that I will be receiving. As a result, I'm beginning that process by posting my review for the first time. I will also be posting my first FR/makeout w/ a blonde a couple weeks after the BC that I also wrote but never published. The LA May 08 review is as follows:
Background/BC decision: I am a 24 yrs/AB Taiwanese/5’10/160 lbs.
The main reason why I took the bootcamp was because I wanted some more structure and instruction about the game – which was exactly what was being offered by ABCs. My entire life I could never really tell when a girl was attracted to me, and absolutely never had the balls to tell a girl how I felt about them up front. I was just too afraid of rejection. Additionally once in every blue moon when I was actually somehow in a dating situation – only because the girl was the one who took the initiative, mind you - I was just painfully clueless as to what I was supposed to do next and predictably scared them off w/ my inexperience and neediness. All in all, let’s just say I wasn’t exactly pimping it up. All I know was that I needed to change my life drastically, said “fuck it,” and decided to sign up.
Preparation:
Prior to reading the game, I’m fairly certain I’ve never made any cold approaches in my life time. Now I could be wrong about this, but I’m pretty sure zero is a pretty low number for most guys. After signing up for the BC however, I promised myself to make an honest effort to get my approach anxiety to a manageable level in order to ensure that I made the most out of the experience. This was accomplished primarily through daytime approaches, and having a friend to help push each other. We played games of approaching 9 people within 10 mins – saying literally anything, hello, compliments, and opinion openers – just for the purpose of killing AA. Additionally we also pushed each other into sets and the other person would watch and try to critique the interaction afterwards. For the purpose of killing AA, these exercises were great. However, in trying to get anywhere beyond opening sets though, we had no idea what we were doing; quite frankly, it was just really the blind leading the blind. Thankfully by the time the BC rolled around, I think I upped the combined number of bar approaches (5+) and day time approaches (35+) to probably up to around 40+. I was however, deathly nervous that all these daytime approaches were not going to translate into night game, and I would be gripped with nervousness and anxiety like I have been all my life.
Day 1 Recap:
To be honest, the entire time of flying to FCW and getting into my hotel, the reoccurring thought that ran nonstop through my head was, “I can’t believe I’m doing this. Wtf is going on. I can’t believe I’m here.” Needless to say I wasn’t exactly at ease with the idea of the BC, even though I was already there. Once I was settled into my room, I went and found Tornado in his room for some lunch and we awaited the arrival of BrownBrownie from the airport. Eventually he comes in at the last minute and we head off to FCW.
At FCW we arrive late and introduce ourselves. JW/Ozzie/JT as well as the other students, J and Alpha M are there. Everyone seems fairly normal and laidback. That’s a good sign. The lecture proceeds as scheduled and it was informative – which is a gross understatement. I know with great certainty that there is a ton of information that I would have never figured out from going out on my own. Just off the top of my head, the subtleties of approaching via kino opening/turning are mindblowing. I had no idea there was this much tact to such simple moves. Immediately, the value of signing up for a BC is apparent from the get-go. We learn about Attract and approach, BT temperature, and indirect game. I can feel myself getting more and more nervous as the hour for departure approaches. We leave at 9:30, and I’m trying to mentally prepare myself for the worst. I fully expect it to suck hardcore.
I do however, find myself relaxing more and more during the car ride, interestingly enough. JT and ozzie are pumping themselves up, while I’m working through my thoughts; J is also quiet. Finally we arrive and bounce into a very laid-back, upscale, bar/lounge.
We wait around for the rest of the guys and JW; and immediately he points out a 3-set standing close to the bar to me. Walk of KAHN! I kino open and run my natural opener. They’re decently receptive and I hold their attention, even after their friends arrive and says hi. Eventually the material runs out and I eject. First reaction, “um, wow that wasn’t so bad,” and second, “holding the attention of 5 girls is kinda hard.” Ozzie reminds me that I need to smile and kino more, which I would learn later would be a reoccurring theme throughout the weekend, haha.
The first approach snow balls into a flurry of interactions. I have never felt so comfortable in a lounge before – the pre BC homework was definitely the reason why. My AA was so low and it felt amazing. When the night was over I could recount in my head up to 17 different sets that I approached, with half of them being pointed out to me by the instructors and the other half I went into on my own. It got to a point where I could sit back for a minute and realize that I’ve talked to over half the people in the room, if not more. It was a great, empowering feeling to be that socially active.
A few interactions:
I run into a 2 set of brunettes near the main bar, kino turn them, and give them a compliment. I make a quick comparison between LA and xyz girls and run my natural opener for an LA girl’s opinion. One of them blurts out, “it’s okay to make out with co-workers!” um, excuse me? I call her out on it, saying “um wow that was a fast response. Is that how you girls do it in LA?” I banter some more and then try to eject when I think it hits a lull. The one I kino opened suddenly goes, “Wait, what’s your name?” as I’m trying leave. Um, that’s an IOI if I’ve ever learned anything from all this PUA stuff. I stay in set and end up meeting their short female friend who enters later. I eventually eject again as I don’t know how to deal with the awkwardness that arrives with lulls in conversation. Doh.
I kino turned a 2 set of blonde and brunette near the bar and compliment their outfits. “Thanks! I got it from work!” I point to my shirt and retort back, “oh that’s sweet, mine isn’t.” she laughs and then I tried a cold read. “for LA girls you guys seem very chill.” Turns out they’re actually from Alaska/NY, respectively. “Oh. huh. That’s not close to here.” Eventually I get around to running my opener and they seem to respond well and like it. The blonde inputs as a matter-of-factly, “your coworker is a whore,” and immediately without really thinking about it I reply, “yeah well it takes one to know one.” She then coldly and quickly says that I don’t know her, it was nice talking to me, and then turns away with her friend. Whoops, I was kidding! I can’t help but laugh at myself for such audacity and try to find some of the guys to tell them what happened. I’m pretty sure that was my first blow out, and to be honest, it really wasn’t that bad, and it was definitely my fault. It was kind of funny, if anything, and I didn’t mean it. It just accidentally slipped out.
Later on at some point ozzie sends me into this 3 set of a brunette, black, and asian in a circle. As soon as I kino open the black girl, I see out of the corner of my eye Tornado walk by and literally do the exact same kino turn on the brunette. Oh shit! For a split second I think about not opening the girl, but then I think, wtf you already turned her, just do it, and end up complimenting her, albeit stumbling with the words. I’m pretty sure at this point I convince myself that the set is lost and plan to mentally eject – which was pretty stupid, in retrospect. This rational error was immediately apparent when I try to leave and she asks me for my name. Next we have an awkward handshake in which I call it out. “whoa hold on, that was an awkward handshake, we need to do this again.” She responds warmly and gets into the whole reenactment. I later run my opener on her and her friend and eventually acknowledge Tornado and his girl. I’m not sure how this set ended, but there’s a pretty good chance it’s because I prematurely ejectulated again, as that would also become a reoccurring theme of the bootcamp. Apparently Ozzie and Brownbrownie watched this entire interaction a foot behind me. Ozzie tells me that the black girl had IOIs during, and after the set, by looking over in our direction. When she is leaving the venue a little bit later, he pushes me to go say bye. Afterwards, he asks if I noticed her hesitation and waiting for me when I went over. “ummm, nope?” he then asks if I noticed the hug she gave me. “umm hell yeah!” It’s more apparent that I need to be more aware of body language, non verbal tell signs, and stop being so surprised when girls are attracted.
Positives of the night: Without question, I had the most AA and most nervousness with my first set of the night; I’m pretty sure I didn’t even try to banter with them I was so nervous. Since that first set though, I had very low AA for the rest of the night, and I consciously realized that when I actually enter sets, I’m really not that nervous at all. I am actually fairly relaxed, and I suspect that translates thru to my body language as well. (Though I’m not sure how this applies to girls that I find very attractive) Throughout the night I approached at least 17 sets, and that was the most I’ve ever done before in a bar. Sweet.
What could have done better: Smile! Kino! Fully Commit! Most importantly, Stop prematurely ejectulating! The majority of my sets I opened and ran my material and seemed to go okay until I hit lulls in conversation. I’m certain I ejected early almost ALL of my interactions. Gotta plow plow plow. Lastly, don’t be surprised by attraction and interest by girls before or after approaching. Learn to expect it.
Thoughts: um wow, who would have thought that girls are not that scary? Almost all the girls I talked to were fairly receptive, and were usually too nice to tell me to go away after the material ended. I felt so good after this night, even though I didn’t push many of the interactions beyond buying temperature. I have never felt so comfortable going up to strangers, and just starting up conversations. I could not believe how easy it was; all I needed was the right physical calibration, and some opening/background material to lean on. Who would have thunk? Also the venue that we went to was freaking awesome.
Day 2 Recap:
For day 2 material, we learn about comfort and direct. Admittedly I am overwhelmed with the information and feel like there’s no way I can apply the information tonight. I feel an irrepressible nerdy need to study the notes before going out, but alas we do not have time. I suspect that the others might feel the same way, but we go out that night with no questions asked. The goals for tonight are to go direct, bring everyone back to our home base for comfort practice, and go for the numbers close. I’m thinking to myself…Huh, that’s cool, I have never done any of these in a club before so that should be a piece of cake. yeah right.
We get there and set up our bottle service area. JT brings us into a 3 set of girls, I eject immediately after a brain fart. Um wow, talk about the value of warming up.
Throughout the entire night I felt like I had no idea what was going on. Didn’t exactly feel like I had a good grasp of the new material we learned and felt a little overwhelmed w/ the information, but still just went on approaching with pretty low AA, though it felt pretty aimless. A couple notable approaches however:
Ozzie points me a 3-set of Hispanic girls seated by themselves in the corner. I open by complimenting and jumping into my natural opener. At some point I purposely say, “yeah I was at a party a couple of weeks ago, for cinco de mayo. Which is a mexican holiday in case you guys didn’t know.” They laugh and feign ignorance. after the opener i hooked one of them, who then asks me to sit down on the table with her. I think to myself…JT says sitting down is a sign of going into comfort phase. Did she just pull me into comfort? What just happened? We sit and chat and I barely BT but already she’s getting me into C conversation. I’m not sure who’s gaming who, but at some point I vaguely remember her talking about not wanting to ever have children but enjoying the “procreation act.” Huh, that’s cute, I feel like that should mean something. Any ideas on how to reply to this? Meanwhile her girlfriends are leaning back and having their own conversation. I realize that I’m not leading the interaction, so I try to steer it towards something more tangible, and mention our home base area. However I accidentally knock my drink over behind me at some point and have to go get someone to clean it up. Real smooth, champ. Additionally I’m not sure how to pull her away from her friends but I come back and tell them that I need to borrow their friend for a minute and show her where our home base is. I hold my hand out and she takes it and follows me to the dance floor. I look over at our bottle service area and then realize, wait! There’s no one there? Wtf? I suddenly chicken out and tell her that we’ll be over there and she should come back when she gets a chance. Oops. Somehow I convinced myself that I f-ed that one up and eject.
Later while walking to the bathroom I spot a 2 set of a blonde and brunette close to the bar and I kino turn them with a compliment on their outfits. Immediately I make a similar read on LA girls and the brunette asks me where I’m from. “I’m from a little place called xyz, a city located in xyz state. You might have heard of it.” She gets excited and says her friend is from Portland. “nice, NW connection!” (high5) Eventually I run my natural opener, and then at some point bring in ozzie when I see him passing by, and inadvertently introduce the blonde first. Later on I would learn that the first girl you introduce is signaling who you’re interested in. as a result he occupies her friend to help me go 1-1 with the blonde. She asks me for my name. I respond, “my name is Brad Pitt. I’m much better looking in real life. I don’t know if you noticed.” She laughs and lights up, “oh I did notice!” I respond, “um, yeah, it’s not a big deal. Don’t worry about it….Also I don’t know why you’re laughing. That’s kind of rude.” Banter continues for a while, and eventually leads into C, with fairly frequent kino back and forth, strong eye contact, and close physical proximity by directly facing each other. During the interaction she suggests multiple times that we either a) get a drink or b) go back to our home base that I mentioned earlier. At this point however, I’m still not quite sure what’s going on with our bottle service because literally there’s still no one in the area. I’m confused as hell but I’m trying not to show it. Later I would learn that we actually moved it to a different area fairly close by and apparently I didn’t get the memo. I make her tell me a joke before I buy her a drink but afterwards I hesitate, as I am unsure of where to take the interaction – I think I was torn between going to the bar or trying to figure out where everyone went. At some point I’m certain they girl coded each other and finally excuse themselves to the bathroom. Oops. I think hesitated way too long and it came off as weird. Oh well.
Immediately afterwards I walk right by our new area, and realize that that the other guys already pulling girls into the bottle service left and right. Well fuck, gotta get’er done. I go back out approaching. At some point however, I run into the same Hispanic girl from the original 3-set looking for me. Apparently she wants to buy me a drink, but only if I remember her name. that’s an IOI, but goddamnit, I don’t remember it. Sheepishly I ask, “hey gimme a hint. what’s the first letter?” She complies by telling me it begins with a J. There’s only one name I remember from the night that begins with a J, and I give it a shot….and….apparently it’s right. Booyah. Drink is on her! Eventually we go back to home base, and seat together on a stool. We’re back into C but it’s not too smooth. Topics ranged from commenting how everyone there was with a white girl, interracial dating, and how she’s been with all “flavors,” and my own experiences. This was interspersed with decent kino as well. However I can feel the energy just slipping away. Suddenly I hear, “hey pump up her BT,” in my right ear. Wtf. Oh wait, it’s JT dispensing some drive-by advice. She looks confused as to what just happened between us. Immediately I bring her back into BT and get her laughing again. Eventually I force D by pulling out abc’s reboot line. She goes, “yeah and then I go and bore you with all this talk about my past and career goals.” In response I tried to qualify her by repeating what she’s told me thus far. Meanwhile I notice that Alpha M and his girl are way too busy sucking face in the corner. Haha, way to set the standard buddy. At some point, she ejects. I sit back and reflect briefly, concluding that I probably dawdled too much and didn’t think about compliance testing enough. I then go back out and start approaching again.
Later on at the end of the night I spot her heading out and booty bump to get her attention. I get a hug and number close by mentioning that “I don’t come to LA much, but next time I’m in we should hang. Let’s exchange #s.” During the close, ozzie flies by and says something unintelligible. For some reason I thought he was criticizing my number close technique. Afterwards I later learn he was actually telling me to go for the k-close. Haha, oops, my bad.
Positives of the night: I accomplished all of the goals for the night. I number closed a cold approach for the first time in a club. Went dancing immediately after a direct cold approach. I created Attraction, BT, C, and attempted D. Went direct multiple times. Had a girl buy me a drink for the first time.
What could have done better: Be more aware of your surroundings. Be flexible! Girls will get tired of waiting and eject if you don’t take control the opportunities in front of you. Remember Isolation excuses! “Hey my feet hurt, let’s go sit down.” “Hey I’m not sure where my friends are but let’s go find them.” Use BLP and compliance tests! Stop prematurely ejectulating! Fully commit no matter what.
Thoughts: I didn’t feel that great about my successes after this night. Not sure why, because I had some decent interactions in retrospect. I guess I’m annoyed at myself for feeling overwhelmed; I forget to use the material that we just learned during the day and as a result was not being able to apply them properly. It’s something that will take practice and time, I suppose.
Also one thing that I found interesting, were sets that were counterintuitive but went well. Most notable were the two approaches where I very obviously screwed up my approach, and fumbled pretty hard core over my words. But even w/ such blunders, the girls actually hooked, and I have no idea why. The Hispanic girl in my interaction even told me as such - that the reason why she wanted me to stay when I first went up to her group was because she liked the fact that I was nervous in my approach. Wtf? Any thoughts on this? This is also exactly what happened w/ the black girl from the first night. I don’t get it.
Day 3 Recap:
We get up and hear about the lay adventures of Tornado and Alpha M post clubbing hours. It’s a freaking riot. The lectures for the day covers extraction, phone/txt game, and AMOGing. Finally, some tools to handle the male obstacles in the field.
As it was graduation night/AMOG night, the goals for us are to AMOG each other as well as our instructors when we get the chance. We then roll into a small show venue that is eventually filled with rocker type guys and girls alike. At this point I realize that this probably isn’t a scene that I usually frequent by choice. As advertised, the venue for this night was the hardest one by far, with many distractions that include loud music, small spaces, and a ton of AMOGs. Oh well. Game on.
The most notable interactions:
Towards the end of the night someone mentions that there’s a mystery method guy in the field tonight. I look around and spot some douche with a freaking black top hat. Hey, it’s willy wonka trying to work his magic! He looks clearly out of place and it’s awkward for everyone involved. At some point however, Tornado, Brownbrownie and I were sitting down and taking a breather. Next to us is an asian girl/guy who presumably came together, and out of nowhere comes willywonka looking ridiculous, trying to game the girl. I look over and realize exactly what’s going on, and her guy friend isn’t doing anything. I realize that there’s no fucking way I’m going to let this douche take this girl from an asian brother. We’re going to AMOG this shit out of this guy; we gotta help a brother out even if he doesn’t know what’s up, or just doesn’t know what to do about it. I tell Tornado and Brownbrowie, “dude we gotta amog this douchebag. Let’s go.” Tornado immediately goes and occupies the girl and the guy, and brownbrownie and I team up to go take on willy. We introduce ourselves and I go completely logical on the guy and fire machine gun questions as fast as my brain can calculate. Brownbrownie is doing the same, and I could definitely feel the competitive juices flowing. I notice out of the corner of my JT silently whooping with his fists, presumably cheering us on. This guy doesn’t know hit him; all he is doing is answering our questions about shit that we really couldn’t care less about, and looks too confused. Eventually we fry his circuits and he excuses himself. Battle won, bitches.
After the show starts alpha M and I are like, shit the game is over for tonight. We sit down with ozzie in the bar outside just to relax and recap a little bit. Suddenly I spy 2 girls (brunetteglasses and blonde) come in and sit on the bench across from us. I think to myself, “damn I think I need to go open,” and start to get up. However, Alpha M the wily bastard is already halfway there. Wtf? This guy is like a ninja - he’s so damn quick. Oz sees this, starts laughing, and says, “Dude you gotta be faster than that.” Damn, he’s right. I wait for a bit, realize alpha m is targeting the blonde, and then I go in situational on the glasses girl who looks bored. “hey I just wanted to say hi to my glasses twin!” She opens, “hell yeah we’re not nerdy at all!” (high 5) Suddenly the blonde looks in my direction and goes, “hey, there’s your hot asian guy!” to my target. um, what? my first thought was, wtf, who is she talking about. Is she talking about me? Yikes. That’s a first. I then remember that I’m not supposed to be surprised by attraction anymore, but rather expect it. Alpha M and I then both make a move to sit down after BT spikes. I banter some more with my target and then I hear, “hey, you’re hot.” Again, blonde’s coming back. This is weird. I’m still not convinced she’s referring to me. I reply with, “thanks. I try.” I think I’m accidentally amogging alpha M. I’m definitely not trying to do this on purpose, bro! Alpha m tries to pull her back by telling her we’re twins. Not sure how to defuse this, or switch targets cause we’re both sitting down on their respective sides on a bench. (The order was as follows: [ me, brunetteglasses, blonde, alphaM ] any ideas on how to handle this in the future?) It doesn’t help that she’s kind of drunk as well. Eventually their friends come in and try to bring them back in. Alpha M and I do our best to contain the situation but alas we end up losing it. oh well.
Positives: Successful amogging! I’m hot? Got blown out! Fully committed! In set for 30 mins w/ a english chick!
What could have gone better: Don’t get so discouraged by the noise and the competitiveness. Learn to man up and apologize if you are wrong. Keep plowing!
Thoughts: Looking back, the most nervous I felt this entire night was not talking to any particular girl, but rather during our attempts to AMOG the MM guy; I could definitely feel the adrenaline pumping during that interaction much more so then.
Additionally in retrospect of the BC, there were often times when I found myself convinced that I’ve lost the set simply because I saw any sign of disinterest, or any road block. If the set doesn’t begin well, I mentally give up. If the set goes well immediately, I gain confidence and continue. I must lose this tendency. JT said that my success in the bootcamp was inconsistent, and that it varies too much: from excellent, to shitty, to average. It’s all over the place and that is a problem. I believe that this soft mentality is the reason why there is such variation. This is the reason why I need to fully commit to sets, in order to truly challenge, push myself, and grow. It is easier said than done, however.
Instructors: JW is a very positive guy. Very encouraging. Understands where we are coming from. In the end however, he’s just a laid back guy that’s fun to be around with.
Ozzie is very chill. Reminds me of a lion laying low in the grass, and only exerting energy when it’s necessary – for the kill.
JT just has freaking presence. It’s simply something you can just sense when he walks and when he talks. It’s commanding.
Final BC Thoughts: I love the foundation that ABCs has given me to practice with. I can be in set at anytime and literally think to myself, “ok I’m in this part of the interaction. This is what comes next and what needs to happen.” I then can use the tools that were taught during lecture to push the interaction towards the next step. After the BC there is no more reason for me to read/study any more material out there; I just need to apply what I’ve learned out in the field. ABCs of Attraction will teach you the entire skill set of a PUA and establishes a foundation for you to practice with and succeed in the future. I truly believe that as long as I stick with the basics of the ABCs structure, persistently practice, I can and will succeed in the future.
Another trend I found interesting was that I was definitely noticeably way more nervous around the instructors and during our practices in lecture than when I was in any set out in the field. I just found being around the instructors more intimidating than any of the women out there! For some reason I just felt really awkward and nervous when we would practice and do exercises together, but def. much less so out in the field.
My advice for future BC attendees: More than anything make certain your AA is handled before the bootcamp. I am so glad I had that took care of that beforehand, otherwise I don’t think I would have gotten as much out of it as I did.
-G.
Last edited by graphyte on 09 Aug 2009, 10:50, edited 1 time in total.
|
