Bootcamp Week#1: Start Your Engines...

[Sonic]

aRRggh arrggh and DOUBLE arggghh!!

Well, at least I didnt come back home without doing a THING.

Ok, so I get off chat, post at the new board the brothers from this bootcamp and then got ready for my journey.

Went to collect cash from the casino Palms. On the way there I couldnt get myself to even do the EC. There would be people approaching and I would look away or just look at the environment. Talk about anxiety as my stomach was rolling acid and chills doing this mission. Took out $400 and f--ing lost it all since my state was let's say..'upside down' from gambling. Partly because I felt like **** for not being able to do the EC, and if I cant even do EC.....no party with the fellas in Vegas and no Don Juan.

Basically back to the kooked up life as Im living right now...mundane and not interesting.

So I left the casino pretty pissed off, which actuallyy helped away 'some' of the anxiety.

Decided.."F--K this, Im going to get at least something done" Went to Wal-Mart, and started my journey.

EC was very tough at first, but then I just forced myself to do it. No smile, just crazy eye stare. By the fifth one, I started to give a little smirkish smile. I lost one battle of EC with this one guy, damn did he give me a good stare down. Maybe he was doing the mission from this bootcamp as well, lol. Once again, I recouped and went on a 'damn if I do, damn if i dont' spree.

EC continued, and I noticed that EVERYONE i gave EC to couldnt keep up with me. LOL. There was a girl who give me a good EC and I said "WHATS UP?" She didnt say nothing back...but I felt good for at least doing it.

The night is still young and got 30-40 ECs and one friggin hello. Not even a hello, but "whats up" But believe it or not, at least I did one hello.

And yes, it does get easier to do the EC but it doesnt get EASY. Also, most people dont even look at your eyes for no more than a half second, luck if it goes a secod.

The night is still young and taking out my mom and uncle (who is visiting from California) to eat. At the stupid ass Palms. Hoping to get someting done over there and at least TWO hellos. I have till the 30th and just one hello would be way under quota.

-----

Weakness: Im too analytical when thinking of saying hello. I keep thinking that it sounds weird and creepy if some random person just yabbers hello out of nowhere. If I say it to a guy, he'll think im gay. To anyone else, Im nuts. But maybe I need to enter that frame where I shouldnt give a **** and just do the damn mission.

Strengths and Improvements: EC DID get easier as time went by. I started this morning with horrible EC, couldnt get myself to do it, but now its easy. Not habit forming or natural, though I can see where this leads too.
----------------------

Goals for tonight when I come back: At least TWO HELLOS DAMMIT> TWO.....

LONG ways to go, but Im on the road and slowly approaching destination.

Input please!!

 

[johnmich]

I forgot about the bootcamp but I am starting it today. I am a whole day late so need to catch up.

Recently i have found eye contact to be easier, especially with those i know.
This guy who bugs the crap outta me and intimidates me a bit, i found maself starin him out til he pulled a situpid face yay

Its 3am here so am beddin it soon but I will start it tomoro, hoping to lock gazes and stare out fools.

Wish me luck and nice goin to those who have done it already.

 

[JackFlash]

Well heres my experience today.

I actually started doing this on the weekend and tried to maintain eye contact but I had trouble cause once I forgot about trying to maintain eyecontact Id get back into the old habit of looking away and by the time i realise this the other person is already staring at something else.

Anyway. On the weekend I was at the police station getting a Criminal Record check for this new job (which im starting tommorrow btw) and I had to wait inline there were benches outside that I had to sit on. There was this good lookin girl sitting there too. So I decided to try out what Ive been reading up on but it took me a while. The problem with me is that I think up what to open up with too much and it takes a while because i over think it.

So then I see her CRC form in her hand as well so I blurt out "Getting one of these for a job too?" and that got her goin, turns out she was goin into nursing and her name was cathleen, The convo was cut short because she was called in next I managed to get her to come back out cause I said somethin funny to her before she went in and she laughed. Anyway I went in at the same time as well because there was a spot open. unfortunately didnt catch her on the way out because she was done the same time.

other things on the weekend. Mostly just trying to get EC down dont think I managed to throw out some hi's.

Now today I tried again with EC and I missed some chances at some hi's as well. although I did get a decent conversation going when I got my haircut with the stylist although it may not be a big thing to you but it was for me since I usually sit and keep quiet until its done. One thing I noticed during this was that I had trouble bringing up things to talk about my brain went blank but luckily she had alot to talk about herself so that kept in going.

when I left I walked around the mall and did the EC thing alot. Missed a chance at the food court to start a conversation with another girl in line. Just gotta keep at it until I get over that hump that keeps me from saying anything. overall today I think I did pretty good on the EC but didnt quite meet the 50 mark.

Tommorrow I will try again which will be better I think because I start a new job so there should be plenty of chances of EC and conversations.

 

[poppinwave]

ok

Done, I just made contact with everyone I ran into, and said, hi, of course they said hi back. I did this yesterday and the day b4 2! keep the tasks comming!

 

[Swoop]

Swoop first field report: Week 1 , Day 1.

Woke up, took a nice shower and dress casual but still nice, already feeling good. First thing on the list to do was go get some food. As I was driving toward my favorite restaurant, I attempted some eye contacts with other drivers. At first I get this uneasy feeling, staring at other people to get them to make eye contact, only 3 people look my way and I smile and nod. They look away quite fast. There was this HB on my right lane, I tried to get her to look but she wouldn't, I think she knew I was checking her out so she pull her car forward so I would be kinda behind her. so that's 3 down.

So after I ate, food was delicious. I went to the mall. As I walk through the mall, I notice it was quite hard to make eye contact with people, many of them are afraid to look or if they do look it's for a split second. Locking eye contact was pretty hard. But I was determine to rack as many as I can, so I keep walking and giving eye contact. I made contact with this HB walking toward me while talking on her cell phone. I just nod and smile. 4 down. As I keep walking I made another 4 more eye contacts. So now the number is at 8. Feeling more confident with this. I think I got how to make eye contact without coming off as maddogging someone. I simply wait til they look and then I nod and smile, one guy nod back, girls usually smile back. I said hi to one HB, she was a little suprised that I said hi so she didnt say anything back. Another chick I did this too return a hi.

I enter Virgin store to buy a dvd. I made a 3 more eye contact whle browsing the store. total now stands at 11. There was this one HB9 with her mother. I wanted to make eye contact with her, at ths point I can look at anyone. But she wouldn't look up. Her back is somehow always facing me. Damn that girl knows Swoop is checking her out. Anyways... I left the store and baught a Seinfield DVD.

Then I went over to Barnes and Noble to do more practice. I made eye contact with a guy leaving the store, now it's 12. As I walk in, I went straight to the relationshp section to check out "The Game". I sat there reading it a little. When people walk pass me I would try and make eye contact but no one looked. So I got up and walked around the store, made eye contact with a gentlemen, we exchange "Hi, how's it going". So now it's 13. I saw a cute worker and wanted to make eye contact with her, but I couldn't find her again. She disappeared somehow. I was actually thinking of making my first approach on her. Damn, wasn't meant to be. I left the store, people at bookstore is too into their reading to make eye contact.

After leaving B&N, I saw these 3 cute girls taking pictures and giggling. 3 sec rule, I approach them and got a picture taken with them. Wow, can't believe I actually did that. I'll count this another 3, so my total is now 18 EC.

I can honestly say, I see my body feeling more proud. Left the mall very happy of what I have acheived.

That's it for my day. Swoop there it is! 18 down 32 more to go.

 

[Swoop]

Originally posted by The_Shezzler
Exceptional!

Good work on the EC and hellos - but even better work with the approach, not even i approached in my first week of bootcamp!

Would it be possible to document your approach - ie opener and how you managed to get a photo with the girls?
It would be very helpful to some of the guys.

Always try and document your convos when writing a FR.

Great Work

Sarge On...

Oh it was timing, before I went to barnes and noble, I notice these girls were walking around the mall taking pictures of themselves, probably testing out their new camera.

So when they were posing for another picture, I approach:

Swoop: "Hey, mind if I get in in picture?" (smiling of course)

The girl with the camera: "You serious?"
The other two girls were kinda in a bit of shock a stranger would do this. Then they were giggling some more.

Swoop: "Yea, it would be cool."

So we just pose and I got my picture taken with them. Btw, they are very young. So I left it as that. Afterward, I hear them laughing and giggling, probably thinking "What the hell just happen!" haha

Not much of an approach really, but for me it was definitely a great boost.

 

[Swoop]

Originally posted by syncmaster
hahah - locarius thought of the dating for dummies approach in a bookstore a while ago. It's funny.

haha I think I will try that next time I'm at Barnes and Noble.

 

[redline]

Pretty uneventful second day, kind of similar to yesterday, but with less HB's and much less eye contact. Most people today would not even look up, let alone look directly at me. The ones that did felt ok, not too many nerves today, and I stopped to have a chat to some Green Left campaigners about politics and had a chat to a couple of the staff in subway about the weather.

There was only one memorable person today, a HB walked passed with a friend, we had brief EC (she looked away), and as she passed she said "cute" to her friend. WTF! I had no idea what to do at this point. I guess I should have turned around and gone for it, but I had a blank mind in the moment. lame.

btw - i reckon im well past 50 now, but my hello's arent coming along so well. My focus from this point is to say more hello's and initiate some conversations.

 

[Sonic]

(Sonic gets EUREKA! Moment!)

Gracias for the input Shezzler! My story might touch upon the point you made, because to me saying 'hello' felt a bit routine and canned and now I know why I felt that way. You gotta feel it and has to be real......damn, talk about totally working the inner game right ot the core..LOL

Anyway.....VERY WEIRD YET INTERESTING NIGHT. Had a "eureka!" moment so to speak

So yeah, everyone saw me ***** and whine here about my 'not so great adventure' earlier on. Pretty much that post was common with others. EC was tough at first, but got easier..etc.
My challenge was saying the hellos that stemmed from a mixture of approach anxiety but mainly not feeling comfortable with saying it since, as Shezzler pointed, it had to be real for me(as the "hey, whats up" approach actually turned out to be the most attractive girl since she had a certain quality I wanted to explore. It was real)

So I post, leave the house with uncle and mom, take em out to eat. My mom doesnt really help my mode (her frame sucked up mines) by saying how she has a headache, 'hurry up im hungry'. My uncle didnt help by complaining of how miserable the food was for him the past couple of days and his conspiracy with grocery stores keeping meat frozen for several months.

So we eat and pretty much no EC. I was back to my old self before the BC. Arggh.
Although I noticed to be more social with the waitress, the bus boy, etc. Nothing huge, but noticable.

Went back home empty handed. Kinda pissed off at the moment.
So I head back to Wal-Mart but this time not really to sarge (feeling a bit bummed out) but to get some speakers for my computer.

Tried some more EC and did a pretty good job. Same old stuff. STart to feel a bit more confident. Though still in no mode for some 'hellos'. Ive been programmed by society governed by technology and isolation and Ill be damned if I had to be a human being! HAHA

Right before I was about to leave, I checked out the Xbox360 once again (check my post in off-topic section, quite frankly, it stinks for the price you gotta pay...wait a year and then it will be worth it). Was playing more Call of Duty2 and noticed that I had to call my dad around 11:30 to meet up with me next to register car.

"YIKES!" (I thought to myself)

Dont carry a watch and left my cell in the car, im absent-minded that way.

There was a cute girl messing around with the NintendoDS kiosk and she had a watch. Since I was in a hurry, I didnt give a damn if I intruded her.

ME:"Hey there, do you know what time it is?"

Her: "Yeah, its ummm...let me seee..um, its 11:20"

ME: "Thanks! by the way, nice watch you got on..I like the wrist band"

her: She giggles in cute way "Thanks, actually just got it last week"

ME: "Cool. Hey thanks for the time, gotta run!"

-----------

Everything was true. Her watch was pretty cute on her and i did have to leave! I DID need to know what time it was!

Not realy a EUREKA! moment, but everything was just normal/natural stuff.

So I ended the night in a good mood.

Shezzler, Ill get my hellos in, but with your permission as you are BC leader/instructor and student , I would like to include hellos but with maybe a bit more 'real interaction'

In fact, before I read your post, had a chat with one of the bros of how I felt 'artificial' with saying the hellos. But now i understand.

In fact, now I know why I did rather well in Colombia and rather crappy here. In Colombia, people are pretty social. Its not uncommon for strangers to greet each other, get into converstaions, have a smile..and be all around 'warm'. Living there for 3 months, I got used to that vibe and by the third month I was somewhat conditioned whether I like it or not. Hence, I was being a natural out there.

Well, enough of the past and time to move forward!!
And i see more people who have signed in than post field reports!! Lets see how others did

 

[yrock181]

i did good yesterday. i got in 7 hi's and 9 ec's. i was going to approach a girl who i said hi to on the train and guess what she did. she pulled out her phone and maked believe she was talking on it when she saw me catching up to her. why do they do this?

 

[ItalianoPuro]

Hello Everyone Hi Shezz,

some of us of the bootcamp have organized a little forum for this event

so it could be easyer for us to post our daily experiences and more...

 

[Mikers]

yrock181, these things happen man. Dont try to take it personally. Just be persistant and stick to the weeks objectives and you will go far

 

[RBB]

FR: W1D1&2 - Socializzal proovizzal in da workplazzle

Day 1 was a day filled with errands I had to run off for myself. All the exciting crap like rent, bills and groceries. I managed a few Hi's but I can't recall how many.

Day 2:
In my recent wake of abstinence from porn, I woke up with the biggest boner today. And I'm sure that I'm gonna unload it all on a certain HB H who is begging to see me this weekend. Anyway, beside the point! This boner is my biological tribute to bootcamp. A monumental stature symbolising my determination, persistence and ...... Bah! I never was a good story teller.

3 Hi's on the way to work

2 Hi's on the way back.

1 convo with a guy and HB at the bus stop about their Uni courses. Nothing spesh, he played trombone and she played violin.

Side Note: Now for the part I've been wanting to share. As some of you may know, I'm loving work and the position I'm in. I've achieve a level of alphaness, mystery and positiveness that no one could reach. Except that new guy who smokes pot.

Now, everytime I go for a smoke break I make sure that I have company. Even when pulling myself aside from the group and not announcing my exit, I have atleast 1 HB who follows me around religiously. This is excellent for social proof. As today when I and HB tagger went outside, it was only us and 4 HBs from the other floor. When I say 4 HBs, I mean 3 were HB8+ and 1 was UG3. I already have some level of rapport with HB tag and she continued talking about how she'ld like to be kissed. I could of sworn that we had this conversation before, so in order for me to not bash my head against the wall I had to divert my attention temporarily. As I turn my head around toward the 4 HBs, I notice that 3 of them were looking my way listening to our conversation as 1 of the HB8+ was whining on about her job. I gave a c+f raise of the eyebrow at HB8 blonde and she started laughing to which I laughed. HB tag started laughing which propelled me into a deeper laughter of disbelief of how stupid she was. I redirected my attention to HB tag out of respect and she was now talking about her favourite kinds of music.

The 4 HBs shortly left after that fiasco and so did we. I've made a mental note to track down those 4 HBs from the other floor and have a little chat to them. No need for haste.. I'm already feeling confident enough to take down all the HBs within the levels of this office building. RBB's siege saga will continue!

--

Week 1's results:
EC, smile, Hi's - 10 (?)

 

[RBB]

Oh yrock181 it could be for many reasons. Let me toss a couple up in the air.

Let's see.. if I said hello to a HB and chose to approach her, but then she whipped out her mobile for a defence; I would of
a) approached anyways - confident level permitting, or
b) would of walked right passed her and thought to myself "b*tch".

Either way, I would of came away with a positive mindset. This is because if b) were to happen or if I came away with a rejection, I would put the blame soley on her. You see it couldn't of been you, you came prepared. All DJs are always ready. I feel that HBs have the disadvantage, we DJs catch em off guard sometimes!

It could of been a bad hair day for her.
She could of felt a deep red boil surfacing on her nose.
She just farted.
She is really shy and never thought a guy would approach her on the train.
Her breath is rank.
She just farted.

All in all, yrock181, you can't lose any pride if she just farted.

I'm tired..

 

[johnmich]

Two things ...

1. Shezzler, you should be a poet or summat

The rain was coming down at a thunderous rate, murky water raced down the streets and into the sewer openings, leaves were creating a kaleidoscopic festival as they swirled and dropped from the autumnised trees

2. It was rainin heavily today and woke up late into the afternoon so not many opportunities to do EC.

Am going swimmin tomoro so will try my stuff then.

 

[The Nice Guy is Gone]

Day 2, Part 1:

I had an interview for a promotion this morning in a different department/location from where I currently work. As I was waiting in the waiting room, a man came for an interview for a different position.

I decided to get warmed up a little bit, so I open with a generic opener:

me: What position are you interviewing for?
him: HR Specialist, what about you?
me: My wanted position
(workers behind desk start talking weather and we hear them and laugh about it)
so I say
me: I love this weather--how are you liking it?
him: (not sure what exactly he said, but we fluffed for a bit about weather and where we used to live)

This pretty much opened me up today, and this was before 9:00 am. we pretty much had a full convo, I just can't remember it.

Day 2, part 2:

lunchtime:

Because of my situation (I have no vehicle), I decided to go to Wal-Mart, again, walk back the same way I did yesterday, and do the same thing.

Anyways, I got a little more eye contact today from others. I said hi/hello to a lot more people today, and got some in return. I was smiling again the whole time.

When I was walking to Wal-Mart, I attempted to make eye contact with everyone I saw, didn't avil to too much. I even tried making eye contact to those that were driving, one did, the rest didn't even look, but I guess they had to concentrate on driving.

Once in Wal-Mart, I kept with the eye contact, and the first guy (looked like he was inh high school) I saw, I made direct eye contact, and said, "Good Morning." He gave the nod. Y'all know what I'm talking about. Guys nod, girls smile. I said hi to about three or four more people inside Wal-Mart, but it was not very busy so I left.

I was walking back, and there was woman walking past a restaurant, and I said, "Good morning." She got this disgusted look on her face, didn't look my way, and didn't say a thing. b***ch.

Anyways, still walking the same way there was this couple going into a store, and I say the same thing I've been saying all day, "Good morning." The woman was already in the store, and the man says, "How are you?" Keep in mind this was rhetorical as he was halfway in the store.

On the other side of my work building, I walked up and down the sidewalk, but no one was outside. I spot this set of 2 hb's in one of the stores and maintain direct eye contact with this hbblonde (she was hot, to say the least). We held eye contact until I walked past. She had a smile on her face too. I have a question about this one. This was a beauty shop, and I have no money at the moment; I was outside and she was inside; should I have walked in and opened up on her, or not b/c that would look like desperation?

That is just a question because I am trying to learn. All in all, I've probably made the goal in two days with eye contact, but I'm not going to stop. I've probably reached about half the goals with generic greetings. I'm not going to stop, and conversations are soon to come.

 

[Toohot4upilot]

Good job man,

 

[The Nice Guy is Gone]

Day 2, Part 3:

Well, I left work early--I had some problems with one someone who is over me (not my supervisor, but still), so I decided to handle it by going home early so that nothing would affect my work or theirs.

So I stopped off at the library on my way home--and unfortunately it's regulated big time, they don't even allow access to this site.

Anyways, on my way home from the library, I continued attempting eye contact. Virtually no one returned it.

I said about four or five more hi's and only one person returned it. One of the chicks just kept glaring forward as if I hadn't said a thing. Oh well, all I could do at this point was laugh. Bring on the hb's and the convo's not to mention the #'s.

So far, it's been a great week, and it's only Tuesday.

 

[ItalianoPuro]

Here guys!

http://www.amalfiplaza.com/djparadise.htm

Hope U LIKE IT!

 

[johnm420]

well today made eye contact with about 45 girls about half of em were looking at me first but when i looked back they shyed away. I got looks people tell me but i just need some confidence so its a bit easier for me.

im feeling pretty confident about looking people in the eye now and i never really shade away like everyone else now im a trained tiger. im able to just look a girl straight in the eye even when im not prepared.

tommorow its time to drag in some more confidence and go and speek to them i started of slow to get a good footing and tommorow im gonna lay it all out

wish me luck



boot camp 05 people!!!!