[Perspicacity]

To start this thread, some old approaches from earlier this year:

In January, partly inspired by Bodi's book, and partly by an earlier feeling that 2018 is to be the year where I give classical game in London one last chance, I became a Daygame Monk.

Overwhelmingly, I only approached girls who I'd be pretty enthusiastic banging, which generally meant girls who were (or at least seemed at the point I decided whether to approach) 6.5+. In most sessions I'd generally avoid approaching girls who looked particularly bitchy, unlikely to stop, or just 'not on' according to my gut. Sometimes I'd approach one or two of these just to turn stones, calibrate, and make sure my ability to do so didn't atrophy. Even at my 'worst' I didn't go below a 'bottle' (wimp out) ratio of 1:2 bottles:approaches on openable-seeming girls. Many days I opened every clearly good-looking enough, openable-looking enough girl that I saw, and also some who weren't so clear cut.

I approached on 17 different days--most of them in a block in the middle from early January to late January--and logged 78+ approaches. Most of these were in Zone 1/2, many/most near famous London daygame hotspots. on weekdays I'd leave work on the dot at the end of the work day, run home with my work bag and clothes, shower if appropriate, then head into the field to game for three to four hours. On weekends, I'd typically be in the field for at least 12 hours across both days, potentially up to 15 or 16.

Call that 3.5 hours per weekday, and 7 hours per weekend day. So that's an average of (5 * 3.5 + 2 * 7) / 7 = 4.5 hours per day looking for sets. 17 days then gives 76.5 hours in field, hence almost exactly 1 approach per hour in field. If I approached two-thirds of the approachable girls, then that means an approachable girl every forty minutes. (Note: There were many more unapproachable good-looking girls who were in implausible two-or-more-sets or with boyfriend or submerged in an Oxford Street crowd only to emerge at the last second, or so forth.)

I probably spent £150-£200 all-in on transport and in-field sustenance to get these approach opportunities.

My haul?:

(Big disclaimer: This period of feverish approaching was partly for me to see if a changeable polarising aspect of my appearance that I currently have going on, is undermining my results. Based on the results, I'm inclined to say it did, but maybe me + London is just shit regardless.)

- Two phone numbers, both with no reply to my first message; one was the very first approach, my first in a long-ass time.
- A handful of seemingly strong sets, some of which went nowhere for no reason; some of which I can maybe guess at why they might not have gone further; a small number of which were 'I like you but have a boyfriend'-type situations; and a small number of which were the girl being into me but her being too socially retarded to work with.

Some comments on specific approaches (numbers are approach # from my log):

1. Front stopped a Middle Eastern-looking HB6.5+ on Tottenham Court Road. Turned out to be half-Turkish, half-Russian (alleged) runway model. Seemed to be a strong set. It probably helped that I was thinking 'this girl is not good-looking enough to be runway model; she (and others) probably trump her up because she's mixed race,' which kept me grounded. I sent an (admittedly not great, but also not completely dreadful) WhatsApp opener, and it never even showed up as Seen, even after her profile picture and status changed. This reminded me of the fact that 110% of decent-looking girls in London who are not just passing through, will claim to be a model.

4. HB7+ Eastern European-looking girl. From the waist down was amazing, but let down by her face, otherwise would have been 8.25+. Set the tone early on that 'age-appropriate' (i.e. not MILF's) girls who are good-looking will usually respond pleasantly, and treat me like a plausible suitor, even if they reject, and will not treat me like a creep. (Conversely, the few times I lowered my standards, or when I approached a less conventionally attractive girl who was my type, I tended to get ignored harshly, blown out, or treated like a dangerous creep.)

8. HB6.25 Oriental English girl. I found that both English Oriental girls, and immigrant/tourist Oriental girls, responded a lot better to me than I'd expected going into this period.

11. Against my better judgement, opened a 6.25 girl (below the 6.5 cut-off) with a slightly SJW/Camden vibe on the tube indirectly on what she was eating. She completely blanked me--twice.

13. The most flash set. Near the choke point at the start of a platform of a major London tube station, I opened an HB7 blonde MILF in front of half of London. Ended up gaming her, aloof, on the platform then on the train in front of many miring guys and curious ladies. No glaring faults in my game here, I just caught her at an age/time when she was doing the whole 'try dating a long-time orbiter best friend beta bucks and try to make it work despite him drying my pussy' thing, and was too loyal to give me her number, but sorely considered it for a long time.

14. HB7 brunette very nice English girl (just my type). Opened her on a fully occupied Tube train but she was married. Very pleasant rejection, and she actually thanked me in front of everyone for having the 'courage' to approach.

15. Similarly, opened an HB7.5 brunette English girl right outside Oxford Circus station who was flattered and impressed by my approach, but she was waiting for her boyfriend.

17. Another against-my-better-judgement approach of an HB6.25, who blanked me.

18. Somewhat 'sketty' seeming girl who I therefore expected to blow me out, but she was actually very nice, but had a young kid and boyfriend she seemed very happy with and loyal to.

19. Opened what I somehow thought was a 6.25 (hence against better judgement even if I'd been right) white girl who turned out to be a 5.5 Indian girl. She was not a fan of my schtick, so I didn't give her the dick.

20. HB7.25 I passed once but didn't have a chance to open, then against all odds came across ten minutes and numerous backroads later. As usual for such a good-looking girl, she was pleasant but had a genuine excuse as to why she couldn't stop/let me close.

25. HB8 half-Kenyan, half-English girl. Third-best-looking girl of the whole period, probably 'objectively' the best-looking given I'm not that into black girls and think mixed-race girls are overrated. Nice girl and really nice vibe to this set, possibly because I saw a ring and so felt it was a long shot hence low pressure.

28. Was in one of those impish moods where one petulantly revert to rookie errors, and walked with a girl who refused to stop all the way from Russell Square to the far end of Waterloo Bridge. She softened somewhat, but seemed like a lot of work for her being barely passable, and she remained aloof and contradictory throughout. (However much you're cringing reading this: believe me, I'm cringing more.)

31. Sat down on a bench next to an HB5.5 (had thought HB6/6.5). She immediately got up, said 'No', and left. Yet another predictable < HB6.5 blow-out.

36. Second-best-looking girl--8+ despite having started to hit the wall. Seemed to be one of those sets where the blatant age gap (or being on Oxford Street) meant she did not stop / blew me out because I was obviously playing the field.

(Intermission: Went to Trafalgar Square and watched the whole place for 10-15minutes and did not see a single bangable girl on her own.)

37. Got on a Tube train and placed myself next to a promising-looking brunette. Since she was a cute (HB7.25), young (18) Essex girl on her own, we got on famously, but she was third wheel to her sister and brother-in-law, and not in London much, so current and future logistics sucked. I let her go at Victoria without trying for close, which she was probably sad about.

38. HB7.25 Polish girl wearing the female version of a coat I'd reserved at H&M not two minutes before--good open material. One of those surprisingly-common cases where she was leaving town the next day (New Zealand) and seemed DTF but simply had no time. (In fact not entirely dissimilar to #37 Essex girl.)

44. Blanked by an 'HB' 5.75. Where's that 50 Cent gif?...

48. Indirect open on her clothes. I found this type of open tended to work well in this period. Probably didn't hurt she was French. HB 7.5 on the Tube. Seemed to be going very well but then she took a phone call and started rambling to her friend on the phone in French while still smiling at me, but making no move to finish the call. I started getting off the train without saying anything and not looking at her, but she smiled and said bye despite still being on phone--guess I needed to tell her to get off the phone, since she was intent on cockblocking herself blabbering to her friend. (In retrospect: Was she talking to her friend about me in French and hinting for me to overrule her 'on the phone' frame and sweep her up for some ADVEN'SHUR SECKS?)

49. Best-looking girl. HB8.25 white dark brunette English girl (my type). Got a response to my opening question but then she immediately shut it down telling me not to take it personally but she'd been up since 4AM, had travelled all the way from Newcastle, and didn't want to talk. Seemed genuine, so I dropped the set.

54. HB7 black girl with braids from Lewisham. Surprisingly she gave me a chance (several, in fact), but I was warming up and my ramble was shit, so she slowly and incrementally drifted away.

57. Wanted to do some rapid sets so (despite my gut saying not on) approached an HB6 Oriental girl who turned out to be American right outside Oxford Circus station. Sure enough she pissed around on her phone and just made noises at my ramble and questions before eventually claiming she had 'stuff to do' and was 'waiting for a friend' and asking me 'Really? This isn't going anywhere'. 65536% sure based on this that this girl was from New York.

65. The set I'm most proud of. HB7.25 Talulah Riley lookalike. Yet another alleged model (this time catalogue/ad though). 18 y.o Sixth Former doing drama and maths A Levels. I negged and shredded her hard (probably too hard, since she pointed it out and was explicitly conscious of it). Was a 20 to 25 minute set. I was feeling the (relatively small) age gup when, during this time, she texted her friend about the set in real time as it went down, messaged her boyfriend (who had become her boyfriend by sliding up in her DM's on Instagram despite living in Oxford, which I wrecked her hard for succumbing to) about me to make him jealous (explicitly confirmed when I teased her for doing this), and Snapchatted me twice while I was gaming her pretending to be creeped out. She poorly acted creeped out and concerned she was 'being groomed', but she stuck around for a long time and was compliant, so I think she was actually potentially open to me being obviously older and more mature, and needed a stronger hand (and more aloofness when going for the number) to play into the dominant older man frame. Definitely signs and gut feel here that she had never done any sort of age gap but was turned on by the prospect of being my little nymphet. Probably lost the set by pushing repeatedly for the phone number too hard and too directly after she initially refused, rather than playing it cool and gaming more before retrying. Alternatively, should have shot for a sort of instadate by telling her I was going to go with her to lunch with her female friend, then had a laugh with both of them. Unusual for being a strong Leicester Square set.

68. HB7+. My other Number Close to Nowhere despite her seeming to flood her seat at the sight of me and squirm around to get me to open. For some reason reminded me of a weird girl in 2016 who seemed strongly into me, didn't reply, then I managed to find out was a lesbian.

75. HB6.75/7 triggered my proximity alarm on the Tube platform and was into me. But she gave me nothing to work with and (relatedly) seemed like a loser, so I just gave up and got off, while she seemed disappointed.

76. HB6/7 Spanish girl who seemed to string me along then, right before she left, take pleasure in complaining about English people and shooting me down. Realised that even my usual foot in the door with Spanish girls can't overcome the corrupting influence of London, especially an Oxford Street shop girl.

General observations for this period:

- Treating sub-6.5 girls like girls I'm properly in to, does not work.

- Covent Garden is hugely overrated. I literally found only one vaguely approachable girl there the whole time, and she was a complete weirdo who ran away as soon as I opened my mouth.

- Trafalgar Square is also hugely overrated, insomuch as it's rated at all by anyone. I opened one sort-of set here with a not-great-looking maybe-MILF, that went nowhere.

- Leicester Square is pretty overrated, though less so, and probably still worth checking out.

- Camden is a complete wasteland during the day. The garbage Camden Girls spill into Tottenham Court Road and Oxford Street. Fuck Camden Girls.

- If you have two decent-looking girls near you and you open one of them, then the other might open you! Play 'em against each other!

[ksbms]

Two numbers only out of circa eighty approaches requires redressing. Also, it was January, probably the worst time of the year* and most girls stay at home, hormones sedated due to low temperatures, general outdoor gloom and low melatonin concentrations, girls keep putting on weight whilst bing-watching TV series and intermittently bang solid/transient boyfriends and fuckbuddies and care little for getting a new one. That's why pros hibernate I think, at least until official beginning of Spring. But practising will make you ready and more effective once the weather significantly improves. At that stage and with such ROI, where you are, I would definitely introspect. I dare to say Edinburgh/Glasgow are more challenging and demanding on the player than London with it's vast international population. This your advantage. My first suggestion would be to start audio record each set and analyse with a particular dg model in mind.

* I remember doggedly trawling streets of Edinburgh, day after day, last January, looking in every nook and cranny for little return but I would still get on a date one girl out of ten approaches + burnt my chance for a spectacular SDL after idate with a Brazilian (looks 8+) Emirates air stewardess. There was no room for error and just a few hours, didn't act decisively enough. Yet, I wouldn't call myself intermediate by any stretch.

[Perspicacity]

Thanks, ksbms.

I've been wondering why the approach:number close ratio was so low for these approaches.

E.g. even aside from all the factors you mentioned (temperature/climate/season, 'hibernation mode' of girls), and all the factors I've considered (both changeable and unchageable/innate properties of myself that are polarising, logistical factors that might have meant I wasn't approaching whole-heartedly, etc.)--why was the ratio so much lower for this period, when I felt my game was at least as good as it's ever been, than for other periods?

(E.g. at university, not in London, I was getting deets from a much higher proportion of girls, despite my game probably being worse.)

I hadn't considered that one factor might be what you mention about using a daygame model. Previously, my approaches were broadly using Roosh's GALNUC, and I was analysing my sets (during and after) from that basis. Whereas these January sets were broadly just going by whatever amalgamated knowledge is kicking around in my skull and happened to come to mind at the time.

Arrogant of me, perhaps, to think I'd get anything without using a model.

(In fairness to myself: I did the January sets on a whim largely to exploit the kick of motivation given to me by reading Bodi's book, and to see what would happen if I did a high, dense volume of approaches, without any particular expectations. Was expecting poor results and no bangs, I was just surprised by how dire it really was, i.e. only two numbers with no response, and how many seemingly-strong sets weren't even number close-able.)

When I next do a consistent period of approaching, I'll be sure to use a model. The only one I know well enough to use at this point is Roosh's, but I could pick up a Krauser theory book and give that a try too.

Can only imagine how tough Edinburgh was for you last January. I was finding an approachable girl every forty minutes in London hotspots. God knows how long it took you to find (let alone idate) an 8+. They're rare enough even in London as to almost be approach-on-sight orders.

[Skank_Hunt]

Even though direct comparison is impossible, for example ksbms' looks, vibe and game may be a lot better than Perspicacity at the moment, 2/78 numbers:approaches neither of which responded needs some serious adjustments, in areas unknown to us.

However one thing you have going for you man is balls. This may well get you through to success in the end, so I congratulate you for your efforts. I don't do British or American public transport whereas I didn't feel so much pressure in summer time YOLO drug capital of the world Berlin. Some less busy American systems I have opened on, but comparing the tube to say NY it's way too crowded for me. So you got more balls than me, that's my brutal honesty, just as I appreciate your brutally honest stats.

About the <6s. I have found this as well. The old "fuck a fattie she will be grateful for any attention she gets" is not something I find during daygame. I find they will be more eager to reject harshly. On the other end of the spectrum is the girl who is genuinely hot, will often look bitchy and be walking fast; again, they reject quickly, I would say summarily rather than with particular malice (bar a few, who usually hate all men so not personal). (As in, "ha, umm no" or at best "nice try little grasshopper but no".) Then there are the beautiful girls who have had nice lives because they are pretty, and see the world in a positive light mostly because of their looks and the cascade of apparently fortuitous favorable events that derive from her physical appearance: even if you don't stand a chance, they will often still be nice.

You might have been getting more numbers at university because it's not fully cold approach.

As far as model goes, I would go with Krauser. Don't forget indirect openers, but Krauser is a day game specialist, specialist being an understatement.

[Perspicacity]

An approach from today, then some general thoughts:

Today's approach:

Unusually took a lunch break and was eating on a park bench with a friend.

Saw what looked like an HB7+ milling over in the distance. Spidey sense tingled at the way she seemed to be walking towards us then diverted off.

She was ambling along in the classic 'ripe for daygame' fashion.

Eventually I got to the point where she was such an obvious target that I couldn't handle just sitting there.[1] I told my friend to take five and went over.

She was sitting on a bench by herself, with just enough room to sit with her without it being awkwardly close. As I got close (seeing she was indeed a HB7/7.5; 7.5+ if you're into EE girls), I commented that I had said to my friend that 'this girl is dressed far too warm for this weather' or something, since it was the first noticeably sunny and vaguely warm day in a while. As often with 'clothes openers', this seemed to work well.

However, as soon as I'd sat down and was midway through my opening sentence, I noticed she had an engagement ring on![2] At this point I normally would have given up completely, but thought I might as well see what the deal was. Possibly my biggest ongoing game obstacle is edge and killer instinct, so gaming an engaged chick hard seemed like a good opportunity to work on that, and to reintroduce some hard edge to my game.

I guessed that she was Spanish, but once again it was a dark-featured brunette who turned out to be Polish rather than Spanish. I made some comment about me making this mistake before[3] and how stereotypically Polish girls have blonde hair and blue eyes, while Spanish girls are stereotypically dark-featured.[4]

(Great, an engaged Polish girl. 'cause everyone knows they're well easy ... Well, who knows, maybe she's engaged to some English beta bucks, rather than her Polish high school sweetheart? Carry on...)

She asked where I was from, and I said 'London'. She gave the intended reaction of appearing slightly put out at me dodging her actual question, so I dropped a shit-eating grin and asked, '...but you mean where am I from from -- where my parents are from -- right?', which she indicated she did, so I told her.

Can't remember much else. At one point I asked which part of Poland she was from, and we chatted very briefly about that. She checked her phone a couple times (though she had been doing that when I approached, and she did it in a quick 'sorry I gotta check this' kinda way rather than a bitchy or obnoxious way) and soon said she had to go.

My gut is unsure if she really had to go. She had been sitting there staring into space as if biding her time, and checking her phone, even before I approached, so it's entirely plausible that she really had to go. On the other hand, she had been there five or ten minutes before my approach, and continued ambling slowly as she left, so she didn't seem particularly in a hurry. Maybe she just accounted for her slow amble in her calculations...

Before she got up, I got up and made another crack about her inappropriate clothing and the weather which she found amusing. I got up before her and said it as I walked off to not appear needy and almost subconsciously suggest I was about to leave myself anyway. As we walked apart, I got her name and told her mine. Low probability of running into her or hers anytime soon (didn't even get a chance to find out what she was doing there; where she worked; or where she lived), but over multiple approaches putting my face out around this part of town (where I work and live), those little probabilities will add up.

[1] When this happens, usually with an obviously good-looking and open girl, it actually reverses the usual state of affairs. Usually it takes some amount of effort (even if small when in good state or if an experienced gamesman) to make oneself do the approach. In situations like this, however, one actually has to find reasons to *not* do the approach. A feeling of reverse approach anxiety takes over: sitting in place is uncomfortable, physically manifesting as a constant glancing over at the girl and restlessness in one's seat.

[2] In retrospect, her left ring finger was on her other side to me, so possibly she (consciously or otherwise) brushed her hair or something to make me notice.

[3] Maybe a mistake if it sounds like I use this as a routine often.

[4] Could go either way: might seem like I'm complaining she's not a stereotypical blonde-haired, blue-eyed Eastern European, but then that could also work as a disqualification, 'push', or neg.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

General thoughts:

Game pre-season has begun. Days are now long enough, and the weather just about warm enough, that it's time to emerge from daygame hibernation, and all forms of game can now be spun up to all cylinders. The girls are hitting the park and ambling around. Both literally and metaphorically, it's now the warm-up for the Spring/Summer daygame season. I could even feel in myself that so much of the brain fog and lethargy of the past few months lifted just from today's mild weather, and I was tempted to hit some central daygame spots and see what was up.

Relatedly: I may have to start taking lunch breaks regularly. A girl I passed to approach this girl, was also approachworthy and seemed slightly open, then afterwards when my friend and I were walking out of the park, we passed three girls all sat down on the grass, with nobody else around, all okay-looking and ranging from not-obviously-unapproachable to a possible please-open-me.

Even looking out of meeting rooms at work today, I saw several decent girls of all kinds (young, old, white, black) go past in the narrow field of vision over brief time intervals.

I've always hesitated to do any significant amount of daytime cold approaching (especially street or direct approaching) in the towns I live in, but realistically I've been overcautious in the past. I don't have much to lose even in the case (worst case doing negative visualisation) if I get a bit of a reputation for being a young cold-approaching poonhound.

Days like today really make me remember that for all our abstractions, we are animals, and fundamentally in game we're shooting for a synthesis of our theory with animal instinct. Something in the air and in the weather changes, and suddenly we're all out of the woodwork. The first flying ants of the season.

No time to waste. Time to tune up my body from an indolent winter, sort my place out so I'm not cockblocking myself on bedroom logistics, and, most importantly, get my hands on some Krauser books to get a framework figured out for this summer's madness.

[Perspicacity]

Was feeling restless tonight so I went out to see what was up. Wanted to open a few sets but more generally just chat to people and dance at the club.

Checked out a bar restaurant I'd been to once before. There was only one set of people that seemed potentially approachable, and fortunately (I thought) they were a set of decent-looking girls who looked unusually dressed up for a Thursday night -- two blondes and a brunette. I got a drink and went to the toilet in order to scout them out as I went past. Then on the way back I opened them by asking if they were going to the club. They replied no, so I tried to get a ramble going by starting to say that I'd figured they were since they looked dressed up.

Just as I started that observation, the brunette piped up combatively with, 'Oh, we're not dressed up.' I replied, 'Really? You look pretty dressed up.' and she basically kept being contradictory while her friends watched. I got the feeling this girl was a regular downer, and that her friends sort of just let her spout off because they didn't want to ditch or confront her.

Realising that the brunette was bad news, I tried to reinclude all the girls by saying, 'Huh, so you're not going to the club? Have you been before?' to get a conversation going about the club (which often goes quite well), but the brunette literally interrupted me out of nowhere while I was talking to one of her friends about this, to ask what my job was.

I looked at one of her friends and said, 'Pretty intense, eh?' which the brunette again contradicted. I said that I had no job in a voice I thought was sarcastic, but the brunette was so determined to be a bitch, and I was too subtle, so she ignored the tone, took it literally, and made some demeaning grunt. I asked her what she did, then as she started to answer that she was a merchant banker, I said, 'Oh wait; I don't care.' then 'Cool story.' when she told me anyway. As I said this, her friends turned from looking like neutral and curious to see how I dealt with their friend, or even on my side, to disappointed in me, so insomuch as there was any play here, I blew it by letting the brunette get to me.

It occurred to me a couple minutes later that I should have either said I had no job, lived in a cardboard box, and in fact had only talked to them to ask for money; or I should have just said I was gigolo, completely deadpan, and held the brunette's eye contact as I said it. Or gone with the classic 'Who brought their little sister?' line to avoid her question and frame about my job.

But fundamentally, I was simply rusty dealing with such aggressive shit testing -- if indeed it was shit testing, rather than genuine bitchiness or genuinely trying to qualify me on whether I was pulling a salary above that of a merchant banker. Quite possibly she was the insecure token brunette of the blonde group, and acted out all the time and cockblocked because of it. (Ironic since I generally prefer brunettes, and she was the second-most attractive one and I'd have happily banged her.)

I went to check out my more familiar pre-club bar, but it was closed tonight along with the other most promising bar.

As usual, the club wouldn't let me in flying solo, so I went to check out another bar, but again nobody there seemed particularly open to chat. At one point another guy was standing at the bar for ages looking awkwardly bored, so I asked him if he was also rolling solo, and he gave a brief answer then walked away. Ouch.

I left after my drink then ambled around the town looking for somewhere with people and failing. I sat on a bench and spaced out for a while, then thought fuck it, might as well go back to the latter bar I'd gone to (which was at closing time) and see if anyone was going to the club. Nobody was, but I actually got some okay reactions when I asked, so maybe people were more open than I thought. Next time at that bar I should just open people with that question and say I haven't gone out here much and am checking things out or whatever.

Before I'd re-entered this bar, I'd asked some students outside if they were going to the club, but they weren't. As I left again, a cute girl from the student group, now on her own, opened me asking if I was promoting for the club because it was dead tonight. I walked with her for a bit since we were both heading past the club, and we were about to pass it, she asked me if I had fire. I was confused and asked her to repeat a few times, then she gave up and asked the bouncers for a light, and I foolishly kept going and left her behind.

So, I should start carrying a lighter in my coat again. Also, I should have stopped at the club with her and ripped into her with the bouncers for not wanting to pay a few quid to get in the club and tried to convince her to go in or game her there -- cement, cement, cement!

Also, again fundamentally, that she reopened me and said she'd walk with me, were massive IOI's, or at the very least signs she was friendly enough to shoot for social circle. So again: Rusty game meaning I've forgotten the basics, and that my already insufficient killer intent and edge is even more blunted.

On paper a shit night: paid £8 to get bitched out by my only proper set, then made a bunch of rookie errors. But whatever, charge it to the game. Got some learnings and only wasted an hour and a half, and even that's debatable since I did some scouting.