Okay, so I met this guy at a party at my friends house. I know, not the best way to start a convo, but here me out. We're all having a good time, drinking, listening to music and yelling at girls that pass by. Problem number one: The girls are passing by. Not stopping. Not smiling. Nothing. So there's this sausage fest going on in the front yard and all the while I am so damn frustrated I just wanna crawl out of my skin. I keep saying lets go out, lets start walking, lets hit the bars. Everyone says yeah sure, but no one is moving. So I decide to go on an adventure and a couple of the guys who decide to come along follow. Suddenly one of the guys starts talking about some shit that is just baffeling me. Talking about a book and all sorts of terms. He called me an AFC and I'm like, what the heck is that. Well suffice it to say the conversation went on and on and the whole time we were out we were talking about this stuff. I was WAY more interested in this than the third guy. Well the third guy leaves and me and this other dude decide were gonna try it. We decided we would be no worse off after the trial than we were about an hour ago so what did we have to lose. After understanding stuff like AA, AFC, IOI and the like I had a little bit of confidence. So we hit the first set we see and use some canned opener along the lines of our buddies girlfriend kisses girls at parties, is that considered cheating. To my utter surprise the opener actually worked. All the women in the group (4) started hammering away. Opinion after opinion after retraction reconsideration and reformulated opinion. I couldn't believe this was working. I was so excited, confused, happy, it was like a sensory overload. I've never had that kind of success before. This was only after about an hour and a half of coaching on the basic fundamental principals of PUA. Well here's the kicker. My buddy and I walk away and says, "Did you see how that worked?"
Me: "Yeah, but...how did that work?"

We talked some more and to my surprise he says,
"That went bad though."

Me: "Bad? How was that bad? It worked, we were talking to some pretty good looking chicks."

Him: "Yeah, but we didn't move in for the kill, we opened but once they started talking we didn't take advantage of the situation. We stayed on the outside looking in, you had your free hand in your pocket most of the time and you focused on your target too soon."

(I would learn in 24 hours that the word WE was used on account of him telling me he had been studying this for about six months but this was his first real run.)

By this time my head is spinning and I'm trying to process so much information I decide to buy another beer. After we get our drinks and finish our self critique we decide to go for it again. We find a 3set by the bar and move in with another can. Only this time the tables turned. The girl screams "OH MY GOD, THE GAME!!! YOU READ THE BOOK!!" The two guys knew or played as if they knew nothing about what was said. They looked genuinely confused. My buddy is busted and plays it off pretty well, but the girl turns to one of her guy friends and starts explaining what "THE GAME" is. The other guy starts to listen in. After that there was nothing we could do, but what did happen next was pretty cool. One of the guys came up and said "Hey, what are you guys drinking?" He bought us each our Budweiser and turned away to walk back to his friends. We were a bit dissapointed, me moreso than he. But he turned to me and said "Shit happens man you just gotta roll with it. This is just practice." Then it clicked. I don't care about these girls. I don't need them. It's just practice. How well can I do each and every time I go out and do this? That's the point. My buddy nods in appreciation that I understand a little more now.

Then came the fist to the gut. We try one last set at a table. 4 people. One guy three girls. We walk up and try a different can (by this time we're a bit buzzed so I dont recall in what order we actually used what)
and right away the guy turns around and asks why we came to his table. Suffice it to say the open failed, the girls spoke their native tounge "We hope you have a great night" (Fuck off, get lost.) and we walk away. I felt terrible. My buddy says, "No biggie, man we made the mistake of staying here too long, we worked the floor and he recognized us. Then he said, "You know what just happened there?"

Me: No, what?
Him: That was called AMOGing.
Me: AMOGing?
Him: Alpha Male Of the Group

I thought to myself,

So if me and that guy were both male dogs, he just humped me in front of the whole group?

We left and that was that. Night one complete, but little by little he was shoeing me how to get rid of my approach anxiety. Night two was terrible. We hit this bar that was trying to hard to be a club. Loud music. TOO LOUD. Hard to open when you have to lean in right away to yell at some girl in the ear. And the ratio of Asian women to white girls (or at least girls that spoke English well enough to carry a convo) was terrible. Probably about 12 to 1. I'm not big into Asian girls, but my buddy is and he reccomended this place so we went. He later admitted it was a mistake, but during our time there we worked at least three sets within the first hour. Most were terrible because there was a language barrier and an intellect barrier. We got no where. My buddy almost got a girls number but that's a story for another time. Me on the other hand, worked hard, but could not connect. I spotted this gorgeous brunett, obviously American hangin with about 4 of her friends. We make the move. Approaches were difficult too because it was packed like sardines in there so the only real option is come up from behind since everyone and their mother was sitting at the bar. Well we give it a shot. We use the can about whether or not I look gay because a couple of hours ago at another bar some gay guy was hitting on me and bought me two drinks. One friends says, "No, hell no, he's hot, (turns to me) you're hot. I move to talk to the others but they seem a bit distant. So I ask the girl who said I was hot a question:

Me: Are these your friends?
Her: Yes these are all my friends. (Names them)
Me: How do you all know each other?
Her: We all work together. (All of them turning to face us)

At this point I'm thinking okay at least one of us needs to switch positions with one of these girls by the bar (based on what I've learned so far). So I lift up my empty beer bottle to the bartender indicating I need a new Budweiser and I go for my wallet and try to smoothly work into the anchor, but again, too damn crowded so I wound up seeming forcefull. By this time the other friends are chit chatting again, I get my new beer and as soo as I turn around they start walking away. I couln't think fast enough. I wanted to say something like... "Hey, before you go.......". I had it up that and then...BLANK! So there was so much wrong with that situation that we later broke down.

After all this, my point is.... I am new to PUA. I am excited about it. And I am glad my buddy showed me this website so I can share my stories of triumph and failure (probably more failure than anything for now, until I get better) But I am in a big city with a new outlook on life.