I'm not even sure if I exactly want to be a great pickup artist, but a lot of the techniques and lessons seem to be something I really could learn from.
And, if I get the opportunity at some point, well, couldn't hurt to have a few tricks up my sleeve.

I suppose my main issue is that I only know how to approach women in one way, based on precautions I took when I was young. I'm in my first year of uni now (18yo), but I didn't really talk to girls before highschool (year 8 here in Australia, and I was 13...). All my experiences with them before then were rather negative, even from what I saw rather than experienced. So I learned to treat them in particular ways: I almost friendzone them myself, right from the start. In fact, I even control the way I consider them - I couldn't give you a HB for a girl, because I've very carefully controlled the way I see any woman to avoid any 'danger'.

So, even if I don't pickup (even harder with religious morals in family, and still living at home), I want to at least free myself a little. As it stands, I can't even give a girl a physical compliment. I have a stigma about using words like 'beautiful' (generally only used in regards to computers - I'm an IT nerd!), and I have never complimented a girl on her appearance. Never.

I'm not a complete loss though - I do partner dancing (jazz/rock'n'roll, heavier contact than ballroom, and more... interesting ) in a local group environment, so I'm not a regular basement nerd. I don't really enjoy drinking and nightlife though, so any games for me would be the day games.

So, my goals really are:
- Fix my 'broken' means of talking to women (I can make good friends, but only in the 'older brother' sense)
- Fix myself (able to see girls properly, not just my 'safety' vision)
- Actually be able to gauge myself (actually know whether I'm attracted, or just lonely, or what)
- Perhaps tweak things a little with my regular dance partner (bit of a challenge though, she's known me for a while)
- And maybe find a good pickup here or there. (but it's not my primary concern)

Anyway, if you want a context on how I relate with girls:

I did an accelerated program at school, where I did some senior subjects earlier. This left me with spare time at the start and end, which I spent in a room with the other people in the program. As it happens, I was the only boy in my year to do the program, along with a number of girls. So, we'd sit in the room, and they'd start talking about anything (seriously, they even bordered on talking about their periods), and even asked me for advice about THEIR relationships. (On a side note, my purely analytical approach always seemed to end well, but you can see the problem there!). And while I didn't really want to go further than friendship with any of them, there was no question of there being a chance, either.

So basically, I want to tackle my issues, re-orient myself, and then put myself in a good position. Maybe then I'll want to go PUA all the way, but for now, baby steps.

P.S. I don't even know if I'm an introvert or extrovert - I have extreme troubles inserting myself into a situation naturally (introvert side?), but I can generally make small talk fairly easily.

(P.S.S. If I sound like I should be on some other forum, let me know before I waste my time/irritate you)