[FR] Mission 2: Openers with kino.

It's time for another detailed field report from the 52 year old guy learning the game. Man I need a handle, something better than my "throwawayPUA" reddit handle, I figured it was good to have a secondary throwaway account for this, but now I'm getting serious. Someone suggest me a nickname, and it better not be "Pops." Ha.

So.. Friday night. I just did not want to go out. I am tired. But fuck it, I need to get out anyway. The materials say go out even when you don't want to go out. And this is my 4th night in a row gaming, I am worn out. The weekend free concert is tonight, I always go, and then I game a little at the bars afterwards. Today I watched the RSD Transformations series videos with Ozzie about endgame. I'm not there yet, but it has a ton of great tips about getting to the endgame. Biggest point: no kino early, no endgame. Start kino immediately, otherwise you are setting up a barrier to kino and escalation. Starting kino late means you have already set up a distance between you and the target, and she will feel weird when you do start touching her. So I set myself a mission, go back to my favorite bar and do some openers with kino. Simple, right?

I dressed a bit better, a nice expensive Kenneth Cole shirt, khaki shorts, and my favorite sandals. The sandals look like lace up Roman gladiator sandals, I get tons of compliments about them. But wearing them was a big mistake. More on that later. I look good. As that old dumb comedy routine goes, "sometimes it doesn't matter how you feel, just how you look. And you look fabulous."

The concert was kinda crap, low turnout due to impending thunderstorms. I was amused to bump into my cough syrup drinking friend, I told him about how I used him as an opener. He laughed. But soon, I got into a really foul mood. A grubby panhandler kept bugging me, I spoke to a foot patrol cop but he wouldn't roust the creep. I argued with him, he said, "He's not bugging anyone." I said, "he's bugging me." OK, forget about it. Then I saw someone I detest, the boss who fired me from my last job. Now I am really in a foul mood. And my feet are killing me, I've got blisters from those damn sandals. I tired and cranky and I am going to have to work extra hard to keep my state up.

Alright, forget that shit, time to game. But it's only 9:30 and the bars are dead. Extra difficulty: after the concert, there are tons of old guys roaming around town and the bars, they are even older than me, like in their 70s and 80s, and wherever they go, it is totally low energy, like they're overdue for nap time at the nursing home. I do not want to go where they are, and be one of the elderly in a bar full of 21 year olds.

I pop into my favorite bar, it is totally empty. I walk around town (oh my aching feet) and find one busy bar. Dive in and do some openers! Someone suggested I just drink water, but I figured I'd start with one beer. But I can't get near the bar. Eventually I dive in behind a really high energy HB6 who pushed her way through the crowd. I open, "Man I didn't think I'd ever get near the bar, it's so crowded." She mumbles some vague, disinterested responses, I didn't really hear what she said. We're standing there like forever, not getting service. I plow on ahead, "If you manage to get a bartender, buy me a drink!" She gives me a really dirty look. I laugh, like I give a fuck what she thinks. But the joke is on me. I finally get a bartender and order a draw of Stella Artois (the only non-crap beer on tap). It comes in a 10 oz. plastic cup, definitely not even a full draw, he asks for $4 (I was expecting more like $2.50 for a short draw). Burn. Then I turn around and on the other side of the room there's a woman selling $1 Bud bottles from a big ice chest. Double burn. I would have been satisfied with a $1 Bud. Now I realize the bartender was burning me for wasting his time with a draw when he was pouring shots, and the other waitress was dealing beers. I really have lost touch with how bars work. But I resolve to just drink water for the rest of the night and focus on the game. I am outta this ripoff joint. Not many girls here anyway.

So I sit around in a fairly foul mood on a bench outside my favorite bar, waiting for it to get busy. I see it filling up gradually, and about 10PM, I see two big groups of HB8s heading in. It is on. As I get to the door, one HB8 is fumbling in her purse for her ID, she got separated from her group. Time to set the hook. I gesture to the doorman (who I was chatting with earlier) and say, "I'll vouch for her." She looks up and laughs, doorman laughs too (good social proof). I breeze right past without stopping. I'll reopen when she gets inside.

I head in, and her friends are already settling at a table. One of the guys screams like an ape and jumps over a chair and sits down, slapping his hands on the table loudly. I walk past another guy, commenting back over my shoulder, "Such high energy! You can't take him anywhere!" He turns towards me and laughs hard. Then HB8 walks up to the table. She's standing and looking down into her purse, fumbling around again, just like she was when I first saw her. I come up to her, facing 90 degrees, and go direct kino, I put my hand on her shoulder and say, "I knew you'd get in if I vouched for you." She looks up from her purse to me, laughs, and grabs ahold of my arm. Oh yeah, direct kino works, I can hardly believe it. This is like the first female touch I've had in weeks, seriously. She says it wasn't really in question if she'd get in, she had her ID, her eyes are glowing and she's excited and rubbing up against me. I said they wouldn't let me vouch for her anyway. Ha ha ha, blah blah blah, good times and emotional spikes are happening. Then I dump the conversation down the toilet, "Oh just wait until you're old enough that they stop asking you for ID." Oh shit, I am drawing attention to the fact I'm 30 years older than her, but she's giggling anyway. The RSD material says it doesn't really matter much what you say, as long as she keeps getting emotional spikes to keep her state up. I keep plowing, I try to recover but I am doing worse, and her chode boyfriend is sitting down next to us and glaring at us. Time to eject.

Head to the bar, ask for a glass of icewater. I run straight into 2 AMOG jocks. They own this room. They open me, I chitchat with them about football (which I loathe) and turn the tables by telling them some jokes, they laugh and I am building social proof to anyone watching. Then they left the bar, leaving me owning the room.

OK, that was a quick diversion. Now it's getting crowded near the bar, and I'm wearing sandals and afraid I'm going to get my toes stomped on by some girl in stiletto heels. Note to self: sandals unsuitable for crowded bars. I'm standing next to 3 HB8s, I am thinking of opening with the "so how do you guys know each other" opener and then the "girl code" routine. But I hesitate and suddenly 3 chodes come up and hit on them. The guys are high energy (and smashed) and the girls are responding with shit tests, so I just eavesdrop and call it another amusing learning experience. Then another HB8 comes over with her boyfriend right behind her, it's her friend "wooo!" and big hugs on the girl next to me. As she lets go of the hug, her elbow hits me in the chest and she turns to me and says "oops, sorry." Kino time. I put my hand on the small of her back and say, "no problem, but where's my hug?" I can't believe I just said that, it just came out of nowhere. And she hugs me, wraps her arms right around me and gets on her tiptoes for a quick squeeze, and I squeeze her back. Her boyfriend looks irritated, like I give a fuck what he thinks. Huggy HB8 turns back to her friends and resumes talking, I'm out.

There is more action going on with two groups of HBs around me, but I just I sip a little more water and notice the woman I "vouched for" looks bored and is glancing my way occasionally from across the room. She is obviously not excited by her boyfriend, I could probably game her again and separate her from her group, wow, when did I start thinking like this? But I am tired and burning out. Time to go home. Mission accomplished, I did a couple of openers with kino, they worked really well, I only fizzled out after completing the opener, and I really didn't intend to go much further until I study more material and have more game.

Conclusions: Maybe I have more game than I thought. I don't have all the moves yet, but I do have a sharp wit, and I can think on my feet to cook up clever, natural, observational openers (like the "vouch for her" pre-opener) which can compensate for my lack of game. Also, the RSD material on kino and escalation is pure fucking gold. It works. I am committed to studying their system and working it as hard as possible. And supplemental material, like Mystery's approach methods, like not facing but doing over-the-shoulder or 90 degrees, is also pure gold, it puts people at ease. Hell, it puts ME at ease, and I need all the help I can get.