=====================================================
Field Report
Location: House Party, Acacia Road, Guildford
30 October, 2009
Wingmen: none
=====================================================

This is the party, we’ve been planning to go to for weeks. Costumes have been chosen and perfected, accessories are being worn, a guy with a giant papier-mâché body has turned himself into Pac Man (respect…). I adjust the 1950’s army regulation trench coat and my Russian pie shaped barrette. I feel good, with the two facebook closes and a k-close already completed in the pub, the rest of the night is bonus as far as I’m concerned. Eye-contact in the bathroom mirror “it’s game time” I think as I smile at the cheesiness of the line to walk down the stairs through the heaving mass of people in the living room/kitchen. Outside it’s busy with people in various states of sobriety, I count three people that should already be at home and two stoners that won’t remember tonight without serious and immediate medical intervention. “Good crowd” I smirk.

There’s MyQuest. Dressed like a zombie bouncer, he has amazing facial make up and blood lovingly applied by our friend Cara. He’s standing outside of a mixed two set and may have opened them recently but I’m not sure. If he has then they’re trying to freeze him out by focusing on their conversation. The girl is in a red black polka dot short dress with two ring piercings in her lips. I figure I can try and save the set and then pass it back onto Mike. I’m expecting my K-close to arrive at the party later and then I’m going to take her home. She lives nearby but I need to give my brother and Gummo rides home anyway so she’ll have to come with me.

I break straight into their conversation face on and play the chatty tipsy guy even though I’m sober.

“OMG! What a great party!” (rocking back on my back foot as I change my body language to be side on and facing the guy “Everyone’s costumes are amazing but what are you dressed as, man? I’ve been trying to work it out!”
“Wait a second,” He says pulling down a face mask over his balaclava and stands in a pose, the black leotard and ripped fluorescent yellow work waist coat dramatically flapping as he yells “COME HERE!”
Genuinely impressed I laugh and yell “Fucking hell! Scorpion from mortal combat! I LOVE it! High 5!” *smack*
I turn to the girl over my left shoulder and look her up and down to appraise her while rocking onto my back foot. “What are you meant to be? A lady bird?!”
“No,” she says slightly surly “I’m a recent suicide victim” and she points to the shadowed bruise on her neck from where the noose would have choked her and the slight hollowed look around her eyes.
I DHV them about the pub I’ve just been too, The Star, and talk about how I took guys there. In front of me I see Mike with a sullen and disappointed look on his face and he mopes off. *shit. I wasn’t meant to steal the fucking set…* The two set start talking again and I act like I’m part of the conversation and inject myself into the thread to glean information and throw in my own DHV opinions. *I’m not going anywhere guys. So don’t even try to ignore me*

Eventually I’m in conversation with the HB7 and I keep my body language strong and on the back foot. She’s a student at the local music college studying music & business. That’s cool and interesting, tell me about that and why did you want to do that – no talent?! *laugh* You must have a great taste in music but you’ve got to look out for the next thing. So what do you look for in music?

Technically speaking it’s not qualifying her but the conversation is flowing and after Scorpion moves on it’s just us. We continue chatting and after a few minutes an HB9 covered in blood and full of attitude marches up grabs my face to turn it toward her. I’m temporarily in shock and she’s staring directly into my eyes but I maintain the eye contact for the 2 seconds she does it and recover my body language ASAP. I seemed to have passed some kind of test because she lets go and then walks off. *ok… that was odd but you need to stay above it. Be unphased*. “Where were we?” I say “oh, right yes, so my baby cousin came to stay with me and…” HB7 barely even registers what happened except for a mild smirk but

I start looking for IOIs. She’s not looking around or trying to find an exit, I’m maintaining good eye contact, keeping my body language strong and start kino-ing more, leaning in to talk into her ear but only indirectly like I’m talking over her shoulder and letting her into a secret. She’s not left, she’s not flinching, she’s maintaining the eye contact and when I take a sip of the drink she’s holding she lets me. Straight from MM’s guidebook – sometimes it’s what she doesn’t do that indicates interest rather then what she does do. This is good because I’m not reading too many other IOIs. I run the mind reading gambit on her (2 out of 3 numbers right). Mike comes back and I engage him and draw him into the conversation. After a while he ejects and engages a French girl dressed as a cat.

The phone in my pocket starts to buzz and I pull it out to read a text. It’s from the girl in the pub. Her friends want to go to another bar/club called Farenheit and so she can’t make it. She says she still keen for sushi though and wants me to get in touch. Hmmmm… this changes this conversation I’m having from practice on HB7 to something with possibilities.

It’s time to lock in. We’re about 5 meters from fence and I grab her hand and take a few steps backwards so I can lean back (I’m now thinking that this is both a lock-in and a relocation and quiet congratulate myself for it). We chat for a few more minutes but I can’t remember the details. I’m 75% sure that I can kiss this girl and the thrill of possibilities drives me on. I use the K close I skimmed off the PUA tv show.

I put her hands on mine and tell her to look into my eyes while I move her hands back and forth and tell her it’s the trust test to see if we get along. Then I take those hands and put them over my shoulders and my hands on her hips. I tell her that this is the tension test and to maintain eye contact “Don’t (pause). Look at my lips!” I say. Her eyes flicker down and then back up. For a second her cool façade cracks and she smiles at me *gotcha!* I count a second and a half.

“Are you a spontaneous person?” I ask her smiling
She smiles back “I can be…”

We make out. *High 5* I later find out that the girl who stared into my eyes was her best friend in Guildford. I was being screened by her and by not flinching I passed some test. Go figure…

Learning Points
Pay more attention to your DHV stories. (I need to memorise them word for word)
Keep a clearer picture of game structure in my head and ask the Jambone Questions (Hook? Attraction? Qualificaiton? Comfort?).