A Ride With the Wingman

It’s not often I have a person helping me meet women at a bar, but there I was, at a bar with @URWingman Thomas Edwards while he helped me approach a group of four women. This was the third bar of the evening, the first was my home bar, the next two were places where he could see my game. While at the home bar, he prepped me for the next phase, giving me some tips and advice on the process of the evening. He wanted to see how how much game I had. I warned him this may be ugly.
Strangely I felt like Neil Strauss in The Game, when he first met Mystery. The differences are, Thomas isn’t a pickup artist, he’s was showing me how to become comfortable meeting women by being myself. It’s not that I ever doubted his skill but there was a moment the situation became real. While at the second spot for potential meet ups, we walked down a flight of stairs. A girl noticed him and she said, “what’s up?” nonchalantly. She responded and her face lit up! She began to focus all of her attention onto him. It was like magic! I was amazed, and immediately asked him, “How’d you do that?”
“That? Dude it’s that easy!”
He broke down how the situation unfolded and was showing me how easy this was. My only thought was “Damn, I want it to be that easy for me!”
We went to a third bar quickly after the demonstration. We looked around and picked a group of women to talk to, there were four of them. Before approaching he laid out a strategy, and I was to follow his lead. Approaching a group of four women is like entering the mouth of hell. In the past I’ve often been chewed up and spat out, so I didn’t know what to expect. Thomas again made it easy, all while showing me his techniques. This was better than The Game, instead of using silly pickup lines, preprogrammed tactics, this was about acting naturally, and having normal interactions with attractive women. On the outside it looks simple, easy, possible. Inside there’s thought, moves, and approaches that must be made.
The group of four was an interesting bunch. The one woman I targeted in the group, worked in the medical field. He opened her up for me, we all talked. Shortly after introducing ourselves, they wanted us to take pictures of them but he had a different idea. He decided we should take a picture of ourselves then one of them. I’m not sure what to think of this, even today a week later. When he explained it, it made sense to me. When a girl asks you to take pictures you become their camera person for the night. You don’t want to become that person. You want to stay away from becoming their photography bitch. I instantly thought of the times I was someone’s designated photo whore, realizing where I’ve gone wrong in the past. It’s something that’s been a source of frustration.
As conversation continued, we found out that the target had a boyfriend, but she wasn’t sold on the idea. She said something similar to, “I have a boyfriend but, ya know, he’s whatever.” I would later find out from Thomas that this was a golden ticket! It’s rare when you meet a woman who openly tells a guy she’s taken but willing to move on for you. Essentially that was the message being relayed, and I was missing the messages. Thomas made very clear the missed opportunity as I displayed how ignorance of the situation.
Throughout our conversation, she displayed more of an interest in my wingman than me. It was as if we were in a raid, he was the person who pulled mobs and I was the tank. At times I lost aggro as her focused turned onto him. Essentially her interest in me would waiver and focus onto him. I’m very familiar with this situation. Often I find myself having to fight for the attention of women when out with some of my guy friends. It becomes more of a competition, and I had to remind myself that this wasn’t a competition. My wingman was here to help me, not to compete with me.I have to say, Thomas did act as an awesome wingman, he found opportunities to excuse himself, raised topics that brought the attention back to me. Throughout the process he was supporting me. It was refreshing.
It was time to go. I got her email (she wasn’t giving away her number, boyfriend I guess) and we left for a recap. I left with a very different sense of myself and the process. I felt empowered, confident, and able to meet any woman I came across!
After parting ways, I hopped onto a local train to transfer to a Brooklyn bound train. While waiting on the platform for my transfer, I spotted a very attractive woman. We were waiting for the same train.
“How long have you been waiting?” I asked.
“I just got here and you?”
“The same I just got off the local.”
“Oh really? Me too.”
The conversation ended there. She was soon walking away down the platform. There’s still plenty of work left to perform.
Photo Credit: Steve Maw on Flickr



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5 Responses
wingman said on January 25th, 2010 - 1:15 am
It was a good night and a pleasure hanging with you. We’re far from over but having seen the improvement over the course of that night, the sky is the limit for you!
Can’t wait to keep this going!
singlegirlie said on January 25th, 2010 - 10:21 pm
Honey, honey, honey! Wow. I didn’t realize men analyzed women and their actions so much. I thought that was our job. And I’m finally realizing how silly it is, because whatever explanation I can come up with for why a man is behaving in a certain way, there are potentially hundreds of other explanations that could be equally plausible.
I’ve asked many guys (and girls) to take pictures of me and my friends, but never, not once, did I ever intend for that person to be my photography bitch. I couldn’t even imagine such a thing! Yet your buddy seemed so sure this was the case. I’m not saying it definitely *wasn’t* the case – because again, there are many, many possible motives – but don’t get too married to the idea that your interpretation of their intentions is the correct one.
As for the girl with the “whatever” boyfriend – yes, she may have been signaling that she was open to other possibilities. But she may not have been. Maybe she’s in a “it’s complicated” relationship and was just telling the truth. Or maybe she was pissed of at her boyfriend that night because he forgot her birthday (or whatever), so she was out getting drunk with the girls.
My point is, we’re HUMAN, and we’re all different. To say that in all cases “x means y” is folly and will just leave you even more confused when it proves not to be the case. That being said, it does not hurt to try and interpret behavior and pick up on cues. That’s all part of communication. But just don’t be shocked if your interpretations are not accurate, because trust me, many, many times they won’t be. And that’s OK. You don’t have a crystal ball.
Allison said on January 25th, 2010 - 10:28 pm
I agree with singlegirlie!
Asking a guy to take a picture might be an easy ‘in’ to start talking to him, for example. Men who think they know how to ‘read’ a women (ALL women, essentially) are ridiculous, no offense. Just as women who think they know how to read men are ridiculous.
wingman said on January 26th, 2010 - 12:14 pm
I totally agree with both of you! I am totally not an “x means y” kind of guy. I just play out different scenarios and tell him what to look out for. One thing he forgot to mention (and part of it was that he didn’t notice) was that later on in the night those same group of women found another group of guys to take pictures for them the rest of the night. My sentiment is that if you’re trying to build a connection with someone, you can’t do it taking pictures all night.
The problem with the situation was that she was blatantly expressing interest in the both of us (whenever I thought she was focusing on me, I left the scene so she could focus on him). She was definitely “dangling the carrot.”
I actually have a post coming out later today talking about what singlegirlie said about the “whatever” boyfriend. She brought up some major points that I strongly agree with!
Single City Guy said on January 26th, 2010 - 1:02 pm
You’re right, the entire camera bit is what I left out, but for good reason it was going to be an upcoming post (being I’m behind). But the point here is, if you think taking pictures all night long is going to get you further, think again.
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