Hey guys, I figure for my introduction, I should start with a field report.

Finals have just ended and I'm sitting in La Guardia on layover waiting to get to Indy. I'm listening to metal and drumming on my laptop keyboard when this gorgeous mother and tall, statuesque daughter pull up next to me, chatting with this airline security guy who I can already see is an AFC. He'd gotten them tickets on this flight, semi-illegally, I think, and the mother was in the process of thanking him and shoving him off. You never ever buy a girl a drink. This is just a much more expensive one.

Anyway, I sit there, and I'm about to open the daughter when it's time to board. So I think, "Oh well," and pack my gear up and get on the plane. But low and behold, my seat is right in between them!

So I open with some easy social proofing I had picked up. I take out my kindle and lay it on my seat before putting my bags up and instantly the girl is mesmerized by the shiny new toy. She picks it up and asks about it, turns it on, and giggles excitedly. For some reason, kindles are cool. I dunno.

Her: How do you get books on here?
Me: Wirelessly, or, if you're overseas, via USB cable, like a thumbdrive.
Her: But why not just read normal books?
Me: Well, they don't have English books everywhere. Do you think they have a lot of them in France?
[This here is my social proof. True, I sort of name-dropped it, but I'm new to this, so bear with me.]
Her: What, do you go overseas often?
Me: Well yeah, I do physics research, and a lot of nuclear physics is going on in France. I spent last summer in Grenoble. [This is actually true.]
Her: Oh, cool! Where do you goto school?

And so on, and so on, and so on. I spend the next few minutes alternating cocky funny with negging, while the plane gets ready to take off. She takes out a sky flight magazine and opens it to the sudoku page, and grumbles that it's already been done. I make fun of her for playing sudoku, and then she touches my arm (IOI) and threatens to "beat me up," then makes me try the sudoku. I pretend to try for a minute and then force her to show me how to do it.

We go through the sudoku game together and I notice she talks to herself when thinking and I pretend it's some sort of test.

Me: "The way you reason verbally to yourself means you're a very extroverted person and are very good at explaining and teaching how to solve problems to others. What're you majoring in?"

Her: "Oh, nursing!"

Me: "You're made for it, as you can see."

We banter on for a few minutes, and then I decide to take her on an instant date. She says she's bored and I pull out bulletproof monk and we spend the rest of the plane watching it on her laptop. She has it on her table, so she really doesn't have a reason to lean on me, but I know she wants too because at this point she had rubbed up against me multiple times. I try to put the bar up, but it doesn't go up far enough. Then I take the computer and put it on my table.

She doesn't lean on me. I'm kind of pissed - that was supposed to help with my closer. So I goto plan B. After the plane ride, I get off and freeze out. I completely ignore her, take out my cell, and call my Dad as I walk to baggage claim. The call lasts five minutes and then I hang up. Lo and behold, suddenly, out of no where, she's caught up with me and her Mom is gone. I know I have her in the bag.

We go down to baggage claim and I wait for my bag. When I get it, I tell her to give me her number. She lives in Charlotte, NC, and me in Charlottesville, VA, so I tell her I'll head down that way after Christmas, maybe we can hook up.

Bada bang, bada boom.

-Jiggly