So, I went back to my alma mater for the first time since I graduated for a huge party on campus. Last time I was there, I was in the most horrible mental and physical state. I had survived the most difficult time of my life, dealing with meeting graduation requirements and a cheating, personality disorder of an ex-girlfriend. My longstanding love of the place, since high school, had turned into an awful fear of being reminded of those last few months where everyday was emotional torture. This torment was before pickup, obviously, and I'm very different now.

I was back in town, but in the hurry to arrive on time I forgot my phone! I chanced upon the two very good friends I meant to meet up with, one of whom was a HB8 with a heart of gold, though has always been in a LTR. I talked to everybody I could find, new or old acquaintances, old friends and professors. Every sense of resurgent misery was gone, as I couldn't help but feel amazed by the people and place which had helped shape my identity for four years. My friends and I enjoyed live music, while HB8 and I cracked jokes the whole time. Utter contentment.

We had to get some drinks and smokes for the night, and we walked back to the car with HB8 on my arm. This involved a trip to Walmart, and Wygant was right about taking a date to such a place. HB8 and I had an amazing time playing with the toys, browsing the V-day candy, and riding the bikes around. Everybody's mood was so uplifted by the time we left.

When we got back to campus, the party was underway and I left my friends to mingle. The sexy girls I used to stay away from had become receptive to my personality and were giving me clear IOI's. People who had been around me for years, but I never interacted with, got a healthy dose of me this time around. I never thought I'd be so excited to see these people, but my newfound sociability combined with the familiarity of everything put me into state so readily. In fact, I really should have thought more about who I wanted to talk to, because I could only talk to so many people at once! I didn't have my phone to call friends and find friends, but not having my phone really kept me in the moment and the night flowed really well. I suggest forgetting it, sometimes.

Although there were plenty of girls to choose from, I got an email a while back from a HB8 who I used to crush on really hard. She's pretty cute, but more importantly she's intelligent as all hell. That's a really big turn on for me. The email was a blatant IOI, hinting towards at least a make out, but until now I had no impetus to return to campus and act upon it. When I came across her, she was talking to a good friend, who's kind of a lady killer. I stepped immediately into the conversation without a thought, and the guy had bowed out in a few seconds flat. I kino'd and eye contact'd and employed everything I learned on her. Meanwhile, we had an off the wall and in-depth conversation about our theses. She's a hard read, but she told me to find her in a couple hours or so, because she had an actual obligation to attend to. I held back on a k-close because I was going the distance with this one.

For the time, I had some great conversations with more random people. One I recall was with a HB8 who I also crushed on, but was with a guy I knew. I only had fleeting conversations with her before, but this time around, I just poked her and said 'Hey, you're that girl that blah blah blah.' Turns out we related really well, and I didn't even have to kino her to get a sense she was interested in me. She ignored her BF the whole time, and was peeved when he asked her to leave with him.

Another highlight was coming across an old friend, HB9, who I had big one-itis for. She friend zoned me early in our relationship and I was a huge chump for a good while. I'm sure I had a chance, but at the time I had no game. When we graduated, I tried to keep in touch, but she ignored me most of the time. NOT THIS TIME!! I casually said hello and got back into a conversation with another girl. I'm sure I could have followed up, but I wanted to avoid relapsing into that one-itis again.

I was all over the place the whole night, and there wasn't a moment I wasn't in state. I'm sure I would have #-closed more, had I not forgot my phone, but the amazing feelings of the night totally wiped clean any bad memories from before. I might not have felt that way if my whole perspective on social interaction wasn't changed by pickup. I fear I could have easily chumped it up and became depressed, but I'm sure that will never happen again.

Anyways, nearing the end of the night, hyper-intelligent HB8 from before found ME, and I took a walk with her. We literally talked bullshit until we came across my old make-out spot. Fuck it! I grabbed her and kissed her. Things got hot pretty quick. In fact, she had keys to some of the public classrooms and we sneaked into one. Hey, a couch! Things intensified more, and my hands were all over. But I LMR'd. I said 'What are we doing!?!' and 'We can't do this here!' She said 'Let's go to my place.' No problem.

The ride was awesome, she drove, we kept up the smart-talk and it was game over when we walked through the door. I got the 'I can't believe you're on my floor/bed!' I'm sure she meant it the good way. We had some of the most amazing sex I've had in a long time, the mental foreplay and my mental state is what made it amazing for both of us. Before pickup, I relied on luck and my looks to get the girl, now I'm the selector and on home turf, it's fish in a barrel.

tl;dr Overcame issues from my past, had an amazing time talking to everyone, leading to some amazing sex.