Been here for a couple of months now and decided going to try this as i figured it takes a lot of balls to do it. Last 3 weekends i went out on a Sunday and sat around coffee shops and walked around my (small) city just noting opportunities and counting the misses that occur in every day life.

So last Sunday i decided to go for it. I jotted down numbers 1 to 10 and said that this week i will do 10 and score each number off as i progress

  1. Girl walking through City

So i spotted this girl walking with a suitcase looking at her phone - she seemed slightly unsure of which way to go. I thought it would a good opportunity to approach and at the very least she may be receptive to my help. So i leave the coffee shop and walk up the street behind her - it was busy. The initial approach is the scariest bit as most people know. I seemed to care more about who would be seeing me and what their perception of me would be rather than the girl! She got a little further and turned the corner.. 'right lets do it!' I thought. ' errr too many people'. I bailed into a bookstore. I cursed my self for 10 seconds and walked out - i turned the next corner not sure which way she went. There she was - so i caught up and was side by side and said 'excuse me'. A sudden feeling of complete and utter nervousness and anxiety overcame me. I couldn't tell if it was euphoric or complete discouragement.

'I just saw you back there and wanted to say i thought you looked pretty hot' i bumbled.

She looked confused. 'Do you speak English?' I said nervously this time.

'Yes' she replied.

Then she sort of walked a little. I walked a little too beside her. I instantly feel awkward.

'Sorry was that kinda weird' i asked?

'Just a little unexpected!'

'Are you lost?' By this stage she was walking and didn't really respond so i said 'OK take it as a compliment' and walked on ahead.

2 & 3. Park

I was walking through the park and spotted a nice looking woman. I decided to rein things back a little so i walked up

'Excuse me, do you speak English?'

'Yes'

'I have this thing going on at the minute where i can't walk past a beautiful woman without telling her i think shes hot - thats all - have a great day' and walked on. Both smiled and one also said 'have a good day'.

(it was the same for woman 3 too).

3.5

Not really sure if i can count this. I was in the queue to buy some lunch and a girl was standing there too. Behind the counter they were making a tasty looking sandwich.

'Is that yours?' i said

'no'

'Oh i thought it was because i was going to say I'm jealous as it looks delicious'

'I got the same as you i think' she said

'The chicken sandwich?'

'No, i got the wrap'

'you should try the sandwich' i said 'much better'

'Where do you work?' i said

'across the street'

'Oh, i thought you would have worked in a beauticians' (what was that i thought to myself) 'Sorry - thats the worst stranger in a queue chat up line i have'

the conversation went on a little bit like that until she got her wrap and then she said 'bye, have a good day'

Lessons:

I learned that i am not great at processing information under pressure or what to say next. I think i need a few prepared statements or conversation progressions to fake things in such circumstances as i felt under-prepared afterwards.

With girl 1 I should have got in front of her and called out the 'outside the norm' boundaries i was about to cross. I should have also said i thought she looked nice (hots a bit strong) but that she looked lost rather than the stop-start buffoonery nature of the interaction.

Regarding the 3.5 girl it really taught me how much pressure i am putting on myself and the situation and if i can get out of my head and inject a but of myself with just the right amount of scripting for when it goes flat it would be much better than assuming the role of the play actor without a script.

One other tip for anyone thinking of doing this.As much as you want to tell people about it - don't. They don't understand and at least one of my friends thinks i'll get arrested for conversing with people!! The other 2 think i'm a creep. Basically - you will get negativity from people who would never have the balls to challenge themselves.

Lastly - the one thing that always gets in my head as my city is so small is that by walking around the city I have this fear of passing by the same person who rejected me again. Anyone experience this?

Any comments or feedback welcome.