I wrote myself another index card this morning. These are turning into fun little daily missions for me.

Gregarious

  • smile and verbally greet everyone (partial success)

  • start conversations with minimum 20 new people (success, I think I might have met this goal through the course of the day, but I never kept an actual tally)

  • invite people along for lunch (success, this was an easy one)

  • set up evening date (failure, called the girl I met in Starbucks on Sunday, got a text back saying she wasn't free tonight. I'll keep trying until I get blown out I guess)

  • conversations with current coworkers (mostly a failure, I was in training all day. I added this one because I started a new job recently)

  • work hard to remember names!

Today was strange. It was the first day of a three day training class at work where I didn't know anyone (not completely true, a girl a know through a friend, HB7, showed up late). I ended up talking to a lot of people in the course, and I felt like a leader of men escorting and chatting with the military guys during the morning break. For the lunch break, I managed to hastily organize a lunch outing with the HB7, my friend, and someone else in his department. I teased the girl a bit and remembered to kino - I overzealously shook her hand after we made a bet jokingly (I now owe her a beer) and would clasp her shoulders when feigning sympathy. I didn't want to overstep it, the place I work is pretty strict about sexual harassment. I already have her number, so I just need to invite her to something outside of work where it's just the two of us. I'll think of something.

In the evening, I invited the girl from Sunday to study with me at Starbucks (I was planning on it anyways) - but she texted me saying she was busy. I have no idea if she was flaking or actually busy, I guess I will find out later. I decided to go to a different Starbucks (there are 3 within a one mile radius of me, it's ridiculous) - I chose the one in the Barnes and Noble. The first set I try to open is an HB8 by herself, and a make a general situational opener; but it fizzles as the people in the tables adjacent to her saw it as me asking a general question directed towards everyone. I go back to my seat and work for a bit. I then get up and walk around, and a cute B&N worker (HB7.5) asks me if I need anything. I probably should have used a direct opener here, but I ended up having a decent conversation with her about Steven King, books, and dark humor. I managed to get her to laugh a little bit, but I was an idiot and continued to talk about books and I happened to ask in an area she knew nothing about so she pawned me off on her manager. He was able to give me some nice clues on what books I'd like, but I can't really say that he's my type. Last set I end up opening is a girl by herself (HB7), and I end up in a rather entertaining half-hour long conversation with her even though she is married and has kids. Overall, I should have opened more sets and more quickly - I caught myself hesitating and therefore missing the ability to open two sets.

Seddit, for tomorrow, give me some missions that I can put on my index cards. I unfortunately don't have a lot of time to devote to this stuff - I'm someone who works full time, is working on a master's degree part time, and tries to get to the gym regularly - so I fit this stuff in when I can. If you give me ideas on stuff that I can do at work or at the coffee shops in the evenings when I am working on my master's coursework, I will work it into my plan. Thanks for your support, seddit.