Wow, what a workshop! I have 3 field reports to post, one for each day we were all together. I'm going to split them up just to keep things simple.
Saturday I started the day off with some modifications to my avatar. I employed the skills of a very talented barber by the name of Rye Lee and we took the hair down to a one. I really like the change, and I was given a lesson on how to "match." This included not just clashing colors together but being sure to carry a common theme. Most importantly, be congruent with the face you present!
We headed out to the Dolphin Mall to run some day game (Huge Mall in Miami) where I picked out a few new items/props including a cool white hat that has "Zig" embroidered on it. Kino joked that I opened every set he was about to open and he was right. I was in just about every set I could get my hands on.
The first one was this 2 set of latin women HB8 HB7 that was seated in the food court. Kino pointed them out and said something to the effect of "Go open that set" and I was off. I walked past them, then over the shoulder opened with something about where the good night life was. I threw a FTC then grabbed a chair and sat down with them before they had a chance to answer. Nice
So we chatted for awhile and they were really getting into me. I ran the best friends test on them (I love that test, thank you Style!) and that was the exact second they hooked. After they asked me my name, where I was from this guy entered the set, external interrupt, saying he was selling his rap cd. What to do!?! I was about to get AMOG'ed, so I did what Rye had taught me. I made this guy my best fucking friend. "Bro, that's awesome! What kind of music do you record? (reply) Hey, throw down some freestyle!" At that point I start to beat box. The guy couldn't do it! He was totally AMOG'ed and destroyed and the girls were throwing me crazy IOI's. I hit all the attraction switches. then I asked them if they were students. They didn't answer right away... High school! I'm only 24 but still, they were STATs. I had an excellent set, learned how to AMOG back, so I told the ladies it was a pleasure to meet them and went back to the rest of the group.
We all headed over to a spencers type store to pick up a few things and I decided to open this girl working there. Opened with "Hey, I have a bet with my friends as to how old you are." I thought she was at least 20, turned out she was 17 as well but I had already opened so I just started to stack for practice. At this point DJ comes in and says to her "So you're 17? Have a nice day" and walks away. Totally blew me out of the set, but it sure was a hell of an AMOG.
I double number closed another two set (HB8.5 HB 7) that we ran into outside the mall. They even invited me and my wings (Rye and Kino both hardcore DHV'ed me) to be on the guest list at a club in Miami. We never ended up meeting up (It was too bad, I had major attraction) but it was still an awesome feeling to run a set that well. There were a bunch of other sets but those are the ones that stand out at the mall. We next made our way to south beach.
It was pretty dead to be honest. I had a lot of success opening seated sets though, here people were eating/drinking sitting at tables that are on the sidewalk. I had this fun 3 set a mom who was loving me at the end trying to get me to go out with her daughter, HB 4. I was really opening every single set for practice so I played along for a bit, they invite me to the club they were going to and I told them I might stop by and bring the party into it. I eject on a high note and it turns out that while I'm in another set they happen to get into a cab right in front of me. I yell over, "Have fun at the club!" and they say something to the effect of "See you there!" INSTANT preselection.
Another set that stands out was this three set of older (30's) intelligent women. I entered after kino and rye were already locked and came in with WAY too much energy. I also didn't really calibrate like I should have and by the time I had realized it I was already blown out. I used something Rye told me about, I turned my back entirely to my target and crossed my arms, major IOD. When I came back I was able to at least keep her occupied while Rye and Kino ran game. I basically just stacked for awhile (Something I learned to stop doing, a later FR will discuss it) but I learned something...
Rye is the ultimate boyfriend destroyer. He had his target practically begging him to stop gaming her because she wanted to stay "faithful" and she wouldn't be able to if he kept going. Kino and Rye #closed, I was happy to occupy the obstacle to thank them for winging me all night.
There were so many sets that they are really just starting to blur together. At the end of this day I had realized one thing that I had read but never believed. The opener doesn't matter! It just opens the door for you the really run game. A2 is where the fun starts.
I really feel my body language starting to come under control. Granted it's far from perfect but it's making a big difference in my "Hook Ratio." The whole workshop SPAM is really taking me to the next level. Just having someone there who can read my body language and tell me I need to not (insert thing I did that was bad), fix it, and then watch the next set hook that much quicker. I'm calibrating, heh, kinda makes me feel like I have arrived
More to come!