I've been working on my 100 set challenge and I'm halfway through as of last night! You can read up on the first 49 here if you're interested. Mainly I've been working on just approaching, but have been trying to apply what I've learned here as well, so far in bits and pieces. Last night's approach was the first one that I felt was worthy of a field report because even though I failed to close, I think I did a lot right, and there's a lot to learn from in this FR and I would be interested in hearing some feedback, so here it goes:

I went out solo last night, but I wasn't really in state and passed up a bunch of opportunities at my first venue. The second venue was pretty dead, but at least I conversed with two dudes at the bar, which improved my state a little bit.

I hit up a third venue which is a bar that I frequent that is pretty crowded on the weekends, with a decent amount of good-looking women. I'm still not completely in state, but I'm lucky enough to snag a seat at the crowded bar, so I sit there for a bit. An HB7 comes up next to me at the bar and asks if she can squeeze in so she can order. I say "of course" and proceed to ask her about how her night is going. She and I start talking.

(Normally I'm hesitant to count something as an approach for my challenge if she actually is the first one to talk to me, but in this case I'm counting it, since I recognized an opportunity, took it, and attempted to escalate it)

After I ask her about her day, she says "I'm sorry if I smell like fish, but I went out fishing earlier today and I didn't get a chance to shower" (she smelled fine actually). I told her that I didn't smell anything so she probably shouldn't have said anything. She laughs. We're talking and the conversation is going well, and I'm starting to kino a bit with her, touching her arm. (Is there a term for a girl that makes it easy for you to talk to her? Because it's awesome when they meet you halfway, or even a quarter of the way. This girl was carrying her end of the conversation, and all I had to do was match her energy and we were vibing!) Anyway, as she's talking about her fishing trip, we talk about hobbies, and she mentions golf. Old AFC surely_joking would have told her that fishing and golf sounded cool, but now I know it's much better to just be honest, and I try to qualify her a bit. I say "Wow, fishing and golf sound to me like the two most boring things you could possibly do." She gets a shocked look on her face (I guess she's used to guys just agreeing with her). I say "Why don't you ride a bike or go surfing or something else that's actually fun" (Which also demonstrates value as it implies that those are my hobbies, right?). She comes back and says that she does bike and does surf (California girls, gotta love em!), but also likes to fish and golf.

At one point she randomly says that if I start dancing to the music at the bar, she'll put a dollar down my shirt. Now, I know the conventional PUA wisdom is not to be a dancing monkey, almost literally in this case, but I started dancing. I'm actually happy I did, because old AFC surely_joking would have been too scared to just start dancing in the bar and would have made some excuse, but I was trying to not give a fuck, so I just started dancing. She stuffed a dollar down the collar of my shirt...and then she took it back! I said "what the fuck? I just earned that dollar" and she laughed and gave it back. I used it to tip on the drink that I had just gotten for myself.

She says "You need to do a shot too." I ask her what does she think I should get? (She's obviously wanting me to buy her one too). She suggests something, I forget what, but didn't sound that great to me, so I order a shot of bourbon. She says "I don't like bourbon" and I say "Well, you're not drinking it." She gets the hint and buys herself her own shot. Shit-test passed! We do our shots together. She says she wants to play pool, and I tell her I'd be happy to kick her ass. At this point, we've got a nice teasing vibe going on, and she's giving me those playful pushes and shocked looks whenever I say something teasing her, and she's laughing (this is all very good, right?)

I go over to the pool table, and we manage to get the next game. We're playing against each other, dancing a little bit to the music between shots. She's shaking her ass a bit while I'm shooting, I think trying to distract me. I beat her on the last ball, but it was a good game. I think AFC surely_joking would have let her win. After we're done, she says she wants to go smoke a cigarette, but that she'll be back. I say "You obviously want to dance with me, so when you get back, we'll hit up the dance floor. She says ok!

When she gets back, we start dancing. This is my first time as an aspiring PUA on the dance floor, and it was a lot of fun, but I think this is where my game started to come apart. It goes really well at first. I'm totally self-conscious about dancing, even with some alcohol in me, so I'm usually nervous, but I know I've been doing well so far, so I just fucking go for it and go all out dancing. I have my hands on her hips and she's having fun. She actually says "you're fun to dance with!" which boosts my confidence even more. I start dancing closer to her and she actually starts grinding her ass against me. (Thank you seddit, for even getting me to this point!) I'm rubbing my hands up and down her sides and she's really into it. At this point, I think I've got a damn good chance at f-closing her tonight. We stop dancing after 2 songs or so because it's hot and we go back over to the bar. She's smiling, but she tells me "you can't touch me like that" (which was weird because we were both definitely escalating with each other on the dance floor.) I say "it seems like you were having fun." She says "I was, but you still can't touch me like that" (Huh?)

She leaves again for a cigarette, I go to the bar for some water. When she gets back we start dancing again. She starts grinding against me again! Even more into it this time, basically dry humping me. I figure I can put my hands on her hips again at this point, but she grabs my hands and lifts them up in the air. Maybe she has an aversion to being touched on the hips or something? I don't know... Anyway, after a while, she goes out for another cigarette, and I tell her I'll go out with her, thinking a change of scenery might help me out. So we're sitting outside, talking a bit more, and she says she has to go.

Ok, I ask her for her number. She says she doesn't give out her phone number. At this point, my state has slipped a bit, and I ask her "well, how can I see you again?" (maybe a bit AFCish). She says that I'll just have to come back to the bar sometime.

So that's how it went. I'm very confused about the mixed signals she was giving me, and where exactly I went wrong. A few thoughts:

-I remember seeing a video somewhere where the guy said "Don't make her embarrassed for being attracted to you." Basically the idea is that if she's really into you, she probably doesn't want to broadcast that fact to everyone at the bar and would rather it just be between the two of you. I think perhaps I was being too visible in feeling her up with my hands? It wasn't a packed dance floor, so people could see me moving my hands, but her grinding up against me is a bit tougher to notice. Was she objecting to me making a spectacle instead of grinding with her covertly?

When things were going better, I realize I probably could have k-closed at some point. When would have been a good time?

Any other suggestions or advice for the future?