Tynan, I've included a poem below, by Rudyard Kipling, which is an appropriate response to your post.  I agree with some of what you wrote, but I feel its important to point out, as Kipling says, both triumph and disaster are imposters.  All things are fleeting, both success and failure.  And no man will ever BE a huge failure.  A man can have failed to achieve a goal, but that is not at all the same thing as "being" a failure.  Failure is not a state of being.  And our failures do not, and cannot define us, unless we allow them to.

We define ourselves.  I choose to define myself based on the manner in which I move through life.  I set goals, and I pursue them with all my heart.  I constantly learn from my life, and apply those lessons to my next set of decisions.  So long as I do that, I will never be a huge failure.  Even if I start a business and the business fails, that does not mean I should think of myself as a "huge failure."  There is truly no possibility that I will ever "be" a huge failure, unless I choose to fall into a self-centered spiral of pity and negative thinking.  And even if SETT were to fall apart, you will never "be" a failure either, not by my definition.  You will simply be a man who successfully pursued his goals and who followed his dreams, but who had a few failures in history.  A failure is an event, not a person.

Tynan,  I've been following your blog for... wow years I guess, but I rarely have commented.  I felt compelled to comment on this one, you distilled a lot of things I agree with.  I think the "new age" focus on the present moment comes largely from the book "The Power of Now" which is a great book, and I think focusing on the present moment is stressed a lot because so many people fail to do that, so its a good place to start.  But your right that the past and the future should not be completely ignored either.I like the way you describe the past as a set of completed experiments, I don't think I have heard anyone else put it that way before, that is a good way of explaining it.  I also especially liked the way you said "It's dangerous to plan to be happy later, because if you're not happy now, you probably won't be then either."  That is one of those valuable lessons that I have to keep teaching myself over and over again.

@ubo, you clearly have no idea what pick-up is. I find it sad that so many people are ready to attack a man who is simply seeking a little companionship and happiness.

For some reason people are very threatened by men trying to assert their sexuality. There is this long running stereotype that "when women assert their sexuality they are called sluts, but hen men do it they are congratulate.'

This knee-jerk response to pick-up disproves that idea. People are even harsher on men than they are on women.

The world is full of angry people looking for a scapegoat, many of them has settled on pick-up, sad but true.

Tynan, I understand your dilemma about not wanting to post to many "intimate details" about your approach. Unfortunately those details are the real meat and potatoes of the learning process.

I (and I suspect most aspiring men out there) really can't learn anything from a post unless those details are given. I can't see it in my mind. When I discovered the community, the fact that guys would actually describe what usually got glossed over was what was so helpful. So if you are not going to be going into any specifics about what happens after the open, I am not sure what I gain from reading these PUA posts and I may stop following them so closely.

Now before anyone points out the obvious objection: I am not saying the purpose of your blog is just to teach me, I understand you can say and not say whatever you want, but I thought you might like a little feedback anyways.

Tynan, I enjoy hearing about your problems with this. It makes you seem much more human than most of the other pick-up artists and makes me feel more hopeful about my own waxing and waning ability.

I encourage you in never giving up (as if you need it, lol) But even more I encourage you to keep up this brand of honesty about your own short comings.

Most of the "professional Pick Up artists" are so busy selling themselves that they spend all their time making themselves sound impossibly good. You on the other hand sound like a REAL guy, I can relate to you.

Tynan, I really enjoyed reading this post. The Game is my favorite book too, but I always felt it was a bit biased by Neil Strauss's obvious dislike of Tyler and RSD (After all Neil's company Stylife is in direct competetion with RSD)

Reading about the events from your perspective is fascinating.

It reminds me of reading about the Merry Pranksters party with the Hells Angels from 2 perspectives (first Hunter S Thompson's in Hell Angel's then re-told from the Merry Pranksters perspective in Electric Kool Aid Acid Test)

Here is a good website for flying standby, they offer super cheap tickets, with the stipulation that you will have to wait for another day if the flight sells out: http://www.airtech.com/

I used something similar to it to fly from Boston to Ireland for $99.