Day Game Failure Leads to Night Game Success

After some months of trying to get serious about practicing and upping my game, I may have finally turned a corner. About two weeks ago I started day gaming regularly, and inspired by the “Day Game Challenge” initiated by Priest (of Mystery’s Lounge fame), I went head-on direct to several girls last week. To be honest it was pretty nervewracking…it seems easy to me when I think about it, but once I spot a HB in Nordstroms or wherever and I have to actually walk up to her and say the words, it is anything but. That’s probably one reason why doing it had such a positive effect on my game in the last week.

FRIDAY -- A NIGHT AT THE OZZIE’S

The turning point started late Friday night in Ozzie’s, of all places. Comfort and I were getting on a good buzz at the bar. I had left to open one set indirect but got blown out pretty much. We were thinking of just heading home when Mike befriends a Brazilian guy who is getting a drink at the bar. He’s pretty cool so we talk soccer for a while. Two somewhat chunky tan girls then come up…they are Brazilian and friends of his. Maybe B5 rating or slightly more (bonus points for being from Brazil I suppose?). They aren’t really friendly so we don't waste time. I’m noticing, however, that a crowd is beginning to form around us. Not looking at us or anything, just like somehow we are a gravitational pull and drawing people toward us, including a 2-set standing right next to us…an obvious AI so I open.

They are also only about B5, so this is pure practice. Seattle being Seattle and given the M:F ratio in Ozzie’s, they have more attitude than their looks warrant. I’m doing Juggler method but after about three minutes I stall out, and sensing the blow out I just blurt out the first thought in my mind: “Well, I guess that’s the end of our interaction, because as you can see I have NO GAME.” They burst out laughing and I proceed to drag this DQ on for a while. They are basically telling me how I should game them and I’m following their instructions and questioning their tactics…it was quite fun and hysterical. As this is going on, two more Brazilian girls come in, HB8s at least. I hit another stall with the B5 2-set, and without saying a word, simply turn my back on them, toward the HB8, and say “Hi. I’m Sid.” She responds well and off we go.

I kino’d a lot, but them being foreign, techniques in the JM or MM don’t work as well. I figured this out too late but I really need to go more caveman on foreign girls in bars, they are much more receptive to it then your run-of-the-mill Seattle chick. I had her going for 5 minutes then stalled out. She went off to sing karaoke saying she’d be back but that was pretty much it. Overall it was a good night however.

SATURDAY -- PART 1

SALSA 101

I’m eating a late lunch at Whole Foods around 4pm when Gee calls me and we decide it’s going to be a salsa night. Minutes later I run into Comfort who is doing grocery shopping and he is in. He’s never danced but they have a lesson at 9 so that should be enough to get him into trouble.

I get home, and text about 7 girls who I know dance. None of them, not one bird, is free. They all have parties of some sort to go to. So, my plan of getting a big mixed group to go salsa dancing is looking more like a guy’s night out, but we will persevere. After waking from a nap I have a text message from a friend who fills me in at a private house party happening at a huge downtown condo that night. Actually it’s more like one floor of a condo building…they have live DJs and drinks all night so the night is looking up.

We hit Century Ballroom about 9pm. Comfort is doing the lesson and talking up the newbie girls. I’m sitting with Cooldude, drinking Corona, watching and waiting for the dance to begin. I spot a girl from one of my classes, receive a warm greeting and she asks me if I’ll teach her newbie guy friends the basic moves. Once the dancing starts, I dance with a few girls, and then I spot a train of about 6 Korean girls walking in like they own the place. Most of them are ugs, but there is one real hottie, I would say a true HB8 or close. When they come down from the coat check I grab her arm and ask her to dance…and she refuses and runs off! Girls rarely refuse dance invitations at CB, that’s kind of the whole point of being there. I’m a bit distraught and take a few minutes to gain my composure back, and then I decide I’m going to go straight in to her set and make something happen, not exactly knowing what. ☺

I walk over to HBJazzie and tell her this is her 2nd chance to dance with me. She is no less bitchy. I proceed into standard sarge mode and just begin to plow. We get into a conversation…turns out she doesn’t know any salsa and is just here to observe. In the next sentence she tells me she’s a semi-professional jazz dancer and I’m like “WTF girl you can pick this stuff up in minutes!” The conversation is steadily improving when I decide just to go for it:

SV: “Hey, I should get back to my friends soon, but I gotta tell you, I like you and I’d want to see you again. Would you give me your number?”

HBJazzie: “I don’t know, you’re probably just not going to call me, right?”

SV: “The truth is, I find you attractive, but I would like to know if there is more to you than meets the eye. I mean, we’ve talked for a few minutes and you seem interesting, even though you were quite rude at first”

HBJazzie: [starts laughing and gives me a big smile and pushes me away playfully]

Apparently I had delivered a killer line. I think I was trying to push/pull though it sounds more like a pull/push…whatever the hell it is it worked! I get her # and felt it was rather solid. I danced with one of her ugly friends just to give myself a little insurance.

THE PARTY THAT WAS ON FIRE -- LITERALLY

We decide to head to the house party about midnight. As we are walking up the stairs in this 1930s-something building, we hear the din of voices and…an accordion?? There is a guy playing an accordion in the hallway and we make our way past him to the bar. Lithuanian folklore says that spying an accordion player upon entry to a festival is a good omen, turns out that was pretty much on-the-mark.

We begin to open some sets. Nothing big. I realize soon indirect openers here are a waste of time…people are here to drink, mix and mingle, and actually much more. I spy a blonde in a retro red miniskirt and white furry hat, and the first thing that comes into my mind soon makes its way to my mouth:

SV: “Has anyone ever told you that you resemble a Swedish flight attendant circa 1960?? And, I mean that in the best possible way”

HB-retroSAS: [laughing] “Well, sir, how can I serve you on this flight.”

It is ON…more ON than I was prepared for. We continue with the flight attendant banter for a while, and I realize it’s getting old but I’m not able to smoothly transition. I do some Juggler but I’m still really bad at the whole Appreciate and Relate stage (I make it too formula-like and thus it doesn’t have the effect it should). I basically eject and tell her I’ll find her later. I’m sure she was disappointed as much as I was that I didn’t have the game to follow-through after my strong opening. Doh!


Gee and I are in the midst of the dance floor crowd, swaying away, when we notice something weird about the music. There is some kind of beeping that has been going on for a few songs now…it could be part of the music but it just…doesn’t…sound…right. Eventually someone comes in and tells the DJ to turn the music down, yet the beeping is still present. We realize it’s a fire alarm. A minute later someone announces that there is a fire in the building and we need to evacuate. I could smell the smoke. Being on the third floor of a burning building with a bunch of drugged up and drunk hipsters did give me a moment of serious reflection…was this going to end badly?? . I started to exit but turned around to look for my friends. I didn’t see them but I did spy HB-retroSAS, who for some reason was just standing on the dance floor. I'm not really sure why, but faster than you can say "Towering Inferno" I went up to her and said:

SV: “Hey, so assuming this is the big one, I figure it’s as good a time as any to ask for your number.”

HB-retroSAS: “Um…haha…I guess you’re right.”

I hand her my phone and she types in her #. She then looks at it and says, “area code is 206”. At that moment a girl announces that the SFD has arrived, the fire is OUT and the party is ON. It’s about 1am, they crank up the music and people start dancing again. Apparently this sort of thing happens frequently at these parties.

Stay tuned for Part 2…it’s late and I got a dentist appt. tomorrow morning.

SV

ps—I was kidding about that Lithuanian folklore shit…you didn’t really believe me, did you??