Saturday 6th February and I’m meeting up with Wisdom and Suave in Covent Garden to shoot a few in field videos. I’m full of cold and stayed home all of friday cos of it but when I want to sarge these things have a habit of receeding. We have high-faluting ambitions of recording audio on our mobile phones and then synching it up to the video later. That doesn’t work. Stupid Nokia files aren’t compatible with stupid Vista. Wisdom has a 1-to-1 tutorial student out too.
My first open is an apocalypse of a petite HB6 Brit Dancer. The open itself works out fine but I stack terribly and ask too many questions. It’s been too long since my last full-on day game session. Nonetheless she’s entertained and happy to chat. Next I apocalypse a 2-set of french tourists. Doesn’t stick at all. But I always enjoy the ludicrousness of this opener. My state is rising and the fun vibe is kicking in. We replay the audio and laugh. Third bite of the cherry comes with HB7 Brit Designer. She hooks good. Check out the video. She’s laughing right away and I move her around lots, get a close and eject.
Wisdom takes his student off cos he’s now ready to go, having seen three sets in action. Suave takes the camera and we head down to the piazza. I open a really cute, fresh-faced HB8 blonde. Really fresh-faced, because she’s got a secret:
Krauser: So it’s a saturday job [she’s on her way to] or is it your main thing? I’d have said you’re a student.
HB8: I’m still at school.
Krauser: School? What, like normal school?
HB8: Yeah, I’m 16.
Krauser: Woah! I’d have said you look at least sixteen and a half *she giggles, I look around mock-nervous* Where’s your dad? Is he watching? *more giggles*
Damn those age of consent laws
I decide to take the Facebook. Doesn’t feel right, or at least not till she’s had one more birthday. She’s less than half my age. But damn she’s hot and she’s giving me super strong eye contact. The girl is turned on. I let her go to work and then Suave opens his first set – number closing a cute brunette. I video it but a technical fault wipes out the file. I open a 2-set of Germans but can’t hook. We head to Trafalgar Square.
Not much happening down there. On the way back up Suave stops another 2-set but can’t hook. I stop HB7 Chilean but she’s in a rush to meet someone and I don’t project enough value to make her late. She gives me two minutes and she takes my card. I’m not counting that as a close. Then I fail to hook HB6 Brit – she’s just fucking miserable from the beginning.
Back at Covent Garden things improve. I get a long ten minute set with HB7 Welsh. She hooks good and I think I’m well in but she just won’t give her number. It really puzzles me because she was invested. See for yourself. And yes, I apologise for the mincing run. Gonna fix that.
There’s no failure, only feedback. Alert readers will compare this set to my succesful number close above and notice some striking differences in the vibe and body language. Comments welcome on a compare and contrast. We finish up the day with a few more sets each. Suave gets another number by chasing down an Italian 2-set that gave him an eye contact approach invitation. I stop another two girls but get early boyfriend defences so don’t bother ploughing. Then the four of us meet up in my favourite Caffe Nero to debrief. Initially I view the day as a bad one, going on my gut feel. But as we debrief I realise my bad days now are better than my good days used to be. On this bad day I achieved:
– Ten approaches in two hours after a two-month lay off.
– Number close HB7 22 yr old, facebook close HB8 16 yr old (could’ve taken number). In set five minutes with each.
– Every single girl I approached stopped and gave me her full attention for long enough to get out the opener. Of those ten, eight stuck around to let me stack.
– Some excellent third-person video footage to review to improve my game.
– Ten minutes in set with difficult girl who eventually opened up and invested. Got both video and audio of this so I can see why I didn’t close her.
– Great fun with good friends.
So I’ll be back out on Sunday. And just so you know I’m not only posting my successes, here’s a montage of every set I botched today. Crappy camera work, but hey.
