I've been doing cold approaches or starting conversations in public for a few weeks now. It's becoming a lot easier - there's still awkward moments, but I'm no longer getting that heart-beating anxiety about it and it's becoming a lot easier. I'm also feeling way more confident about myself, just in general.

- 1st girl I talked to today was a pretty awkward conversation on my part. I saw her doing something and commented on it. Then I had a brief 1-2 min talk, but didn't really create any connection or anything. She was in town for a day and then another day next week. Then I asked for her number and she said no because it didn't make sense. Tbh there was no reason to ask for her number, since I didn't create a vibe it didn't even make sense with her schedule, but I'm glad I did. This is the first girl that flat-out rejected me and it really wasn't a big deal at all.

- 2nd girl was at a street festival. I talked to her for about 10 min. It was actually going really well, she was a student from Argentina that looked like Corinna Kopf. The problem is a couple times towards the end I let my confidence get shaken. One was she was eating food and she offered it to me, and I was hesitant and a bit awkward about it, because I don't like eating with my hands. Then when I asked for her number later, it wasn't smooth and I stumbled a bit, so might be a bust but it could've gone well if I was a bit smoother.

- Then I had a first date with the first woman I cold approached. The date was awkward for me - I don't think it would seem awkward to an outside observer, but I found it awkward. There was very little chemistry. I met this woman at the park and she was really excited for the date based on her texts. However, from the start, she seemed very shy, passive, and soft-spoken. She also avoided eye contact a lot of the time. Also, she mentioned she was on leave from her job and had been depressed. I found a lot of the time when I tried to steer the conversation into her interests, it got onto topics that were downers, but I couldn't figure out how to get onto better topics. She also didn't really ask questions about me (same as when I met her at the park), so she basically knows nothing about me. There were times I was making her laugh but it was more just moments here and there. I didn't escalate on the date, besides the hug at the start, because I couldn't figure out how to. It never got to the point where I felt like it would be natural, I feel like I failed at the parts that come before that. I don't think I did terrible on the date and I think I was less awkward than her, but I think someone with more skills could've handled it way better.

- The vibe I'm getting is that not many men are hitting on women in real life. All of these women are attractive, but when I ask what they do, they say stuff like walk around by themselves or spend time with their pets.

- My success rate for numbers right now is 3/4. Which also tells me that men are probably not hitting on these women, so when you do, they respect it and are open to it.