OK, I finally set aside some time to write my Bootcamp FR. It’s been almost 2 months, but better late than never.
Big thanks to BlueM for letting me crash at his place during this weekend. I don’t think morning ever came so quick as it did during those few days!
Afternoon introduction in Sinchon
The first part of the bootcamp was to meet RedpoleQ and the other attendees in Sinchon. Since everyone’s schedule was mixed up, it was Ulysses, RedpoleQ, and I meeting at a coffee shop. RedpoleQ shared his life before game, his progress, and how it’s changed his life. Ulysses and I took turns talking about the answers to the pre-bootcamp questions from the email we were sent.
Night Game – B1
We all met up at a Quiznos before our night out to get our instructions from RedpoleQ. It was RedpoleQ, BlueMystery, Poison, Ulysses, and myself. RedpoleQ gave us some background on what we were supposed to do: Open, BT Spike, bring in our wing, and Qualify. During the set, we were supposed to be escalating kino. All of these ideas seemed completely insane to me, since I haven’t done any of them in Korea. Rarely would I even kino girls in the U.S. Although we did have our sample routine stacks to use, I was unsure of how well we were going to be able to communicate with these girls in English. My Korean is very basic, and not really enough to hold a decent conversation. The added fun parts were that we couldn’t drink any alcohol, we couldn’t get any phone numbers, and we had to stay in set until RedpoleQ told us we could leave. This should be interesting.
As we enter B1, RedpoleQ walks us through the venue. As we walked around, we were instructed to smile as if we just got the best blowjobs of our lives. Ulysses was my wing for the night, and we took turns opening sets. The first set was a 2-set and went surprisingly well. As I was in set, RedpoleQ grabbed my arms and had me doing some pretty heavy kino right from the start. I was surprised at how much I could do before the girl would say anything (which she didn’t in this case). I ran a few routines, and then got nervous and forgot what to say. RedpoleQ noticed, this, and in a true bootcamp instructor-style voice shouted “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!” I told him I didn’t know what to say. “PULL OUT YOUR ROUTINE STACK!” This would be a phrase that I would hear multiple times throughout the night. Ulysses and I go into qualification, and RedpoleQ eventually asked me “what’s cool about this girl?” Not a good question for me at this point because I was nervous and forgot a lot about what this girl said to me. Eventually RedpoleQ told us to eject.
Things started to get a little better, but all the sets didn’t go quite as smoothly as the first one. I don’t remember how many sets we were in exactly, but it was more than I had been in throughout the past 4 months in Korea. There was quite a few times where the girls would resist my kino and tell me to take my hands off of them, even if I was just lightly touching their back. I complied, only to be greeted by RedpoleQ screaming “WHAT ARE YOU DOING???! GET BACK IN THERE!!!” He told me that if the girls moved my hand, then to just put it somewhere else, or BT spike them and try again. What really blew my mind was how right he was. I would go back in there and continue plowing, and eventually the girls would be cool with my kino (and even let me escalate). The same girl that continually grabbed my hand and told me to stop touching her a few minutes before was now letting me lock in with her.
There were many times where I had to pull out my routine stack since I forgot what to say pretty often. At the beginning I was worried about other people looking at me while I read my routine stack, but that quickly went away after RedpoleQ yelled at me again. Throughout the night, he helped me correct a few other things I was doing wrong, such as asking for names at the wrong time, BT spiking incorrectly, etc. I have to say that all of the stuff I learned that night was so valuable. I made a lot of mistakes, but looking back I know I needed to make those mistakes in order to learn from them. Only 25% done, and I felt like I already made a lot of progress.
MOST MEMORABLE SET OF THE NIGHT: There was a 2-set that Ulysses and I were in that was not going smoothly for me. My girl said she didn’t speak English, and communicated to me that she was having an important conversation with her friend. At 3:00am. In an insanely loud club. I ejected at first, but RedpoleQ did not let that fly. He had me go back in there, and made sure I stayed. I did that entire set in Korean, until finally the girl said “OK, YOU KNOW WHAT?!?! I SPEAK ENGLISH!!” We finished up the set until we were instructed to eject.
Day Game – Café Pascuccis and the mall
The morning sure does come quick during the bootcamp. RedpoleQ, BlueM, and I headed out to meet the rest of the guys for some Day Game. I don’t think I could have been more terrified. We met up at Café Pascuccis for our instructions for the day. This time, we were supposed to do everything we did last night, but with the addition of bouncing and timebridging. I opened the first set, and I brought Ulysses in to wing me. My body language and voice was hesitant, so I eventually got blown out. Ulysses opened the next 3-set, brought in Poison, and then eventually me. I tried to bounce her, but no luck. I went back to qualification, escalated kino, and built more comfort. I attempted a timebridge, but no success. They left, and since there weren’t a lot of sets left, so did we.
As we were walking around, BlueM spotted a cute girl in a pink sweatshirt sitting on a bench alone, so I went in to open. She didn’t speak much English, so the majority of our conversation was in Korean. Her friend and the friend’s boyfriend came over quickly, so I introduced myself. I bounced her to a bookstore, and her friends decided to come along. I grabbed her hand and got her to take my arm as we walked—so awesome! We hit the travel section, spoke a little about traveling, and then parted ways. In hindsight, I should have timebridged her. She was keen, but I didn’t know how to handle it since the friend and friend’s boyfriend wouldn’t leave us alone even for a minute for me to timebridge her. BlueM came over and told me to open another single set that was a few bookshelves down. Things went well, and I we agreed to go to Cold Stone for ice cream. She put her books back and I got her to grab my arm as we headed out. Just then, I hear the voice of some woman calling over to my girl. I turn around, and it’s the bookstore lady. Cockblock! There’s a lot of confusion, and I get blown out. In hindsight, I should have just told the woman that she was my girlfriend and continued walking.
MOST MEMORABLE SET OF THE DAY: The girl in the Pink Sweatshirt. I could tell she was keen, and it was the first time I’ve bounced a girl and got her to grab my arm.
Night Game – Mass
Our same group met up at Coffee Bean, with the addition of Security. He had taken a previous bootcamp, but missed the Saturday night portion. We got our instructions from RedpoleQ, which was to do everything we did previously plus run Strawberry Fields and the Question Game. This would be an interesting night for me because only 3 weeks earlier I came to Mass with a bunch of K-Lair guys, and I wasn’t able to talk to any women there.
After our initial walkthrough, we began opening and switching off with wings. Sometimes I would wing with Security, sometimes with Ulysses. I timebridged the first set I was in. Open, open, open. Got into a 3-set with Ulysses and Security (Ulysses had a really nice looking girl in that set, well done!). We all timebridged, and then ejected. RedpoleQ told us to go back in there and bounce them. Things were kind of messy at this point because one of the girls left, and the friends didn’t know where she was. Eventually Security and I bounced 2 of the girls to a bar/café down the street. We got some drinks and I heard Security begin with SF. I didn’t want to do the same, so I went to the question game. My girls turned out to be a 24 year old virgin who hadn’t had a boyfriend in 5 years. Back to the club.
We continued to open a ton of sets and plow as much as possible. After a while RedpoleQ told us to find our own sets so we wouldn’t depend on him to tell us what to open. At one point, he noticed me standing around and said “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!? YOU DON’T NEED ME TO PICK YOUR SETS!!! OPEN!!! 5-4-3-2-1-GO!!” I have to say that it did work well, I had no problem opening the rest of the night. I opened one set at the bar, and with 10 seconds some Korean guy physically pushed me out of the set. RedpoleQ noticed this, and brought me in to show me what to do. He found out that they did know each other, but let me know that I should never let anyone push me out. It was time for the last set of the night, and probably the most difficult. Ulysses and I worked together on this one, but it was an uphill battle. Each girl in the set kept talking to each other and making it difficult to isolate. After some plowing and locking in, we timebridged and headed to BK for debriefing. Here we met with fellow bootcamp veterans NRG and Vigorous who were out in Hongdae for a K-Lair event. A great night!
MOST MEMORABLE SET OF THE NIGHT: The 24 year old virgin that I bounced to the café. She was really cute and a fun girl to hang out with. Plus, I never bounced a chick out of a club before, so it was a big accomplishment for me.
Day Game – Café Pascuccis
This was my favorite portion of the bootcamp by far. Things went smoothly with all of my sets, and I opened girls that I never would have thought of opening before (especially during the day!). RedpoleQ gave us our final instructions, which was to do all we’ve done before plus our hero story. I volunteered to open first, and I knew immediately who my target would be. There was this 2-set across from us with this tan skinned Korean HB who I saw glance over at me. I walked over, scared, but determined. BT spiked, kino, brought in Poison as my wing, seeded ice cream, and then bounced to Cold Stone. Although I didn’t give Poison the heads up, he was quick to know what I was doing, and we bounced out of there smoothly. We got ice cream, but there were no seats, so we stood inside for a while and talked. The girls spoke relatively good English, so it was easy to talk with them. We walked outside and somehow ended up switching girls. Once we got to our second bounce location (another coffee place, to get some tea), we switched back to our original girls. We headed upstairs and both ran SF. Poison heard me running it as well, so he decided to make it a group SF. Although RedpoleQ later told us that it wasn’t a good idea, it was really funny at the time. I had already timebridged at this point, so I went into the question game and told my hero story. We got a text message from RedpoleQ telling us to hurry up, so we said goodbye and headed back to Pascuccis.
After that last set, I was motivated to open. Ulysses and I did a few more sets, but they didn’t go too far. One was a 3-set that we did with Poison, but we ejected because one of the girls was getting married. I sat next to BlueM, and he was smiling at a 2-set that was looking at him through a glass divider. He could tell that I was doing well that day, so he told me to open them and run the set solo. I casually walked over, followed the plan, and go the timebridge. The best part of that set was Poison. As I was timebridging my target, I glanced up at one point and saw Poison communicating with the obstacle through the glass. He timebridged her through a glass partition!
The day was winding down and I had to go back to Busan soon, so we got together for our final dinner of the bootcamp. This was my favorite part of the bootcamp. We all reflected on what we did well and what we needed to improve on, and also picked our new names. Mine came to me pretty quickly: Vision. The reason I picked this was because up until that weekend, I had so many mental blocks about what I thought was possible when it came to talking to girls in clubs and during the day. If someone would have told me that I was going to do the things I did that weekend, I wouldn’t have believed it. After that weekend, I felt like I had blinders taken off and could see the world differently. I had a new vision of the world.
MOST MEMORABLE SET OF THE DAY: The 2-set that Poison and I bounced to Cold Stone. That girl was my HB9. Not only did I accomplish my goals for the day during that set, but I did it with the kind of girl that I’m really interested in. Tan skin, cute face, nice body, good sense of humor, and fun to talk to. I was surprised because she had a boyfriend, but I still timebridged her, bounced her to 2 locations, and had some strong kino going. She is the type of girl that motivates me to improve at gaming. That set solidified the bootcamp for me.
The bootcamp was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life. It changed me, and has motivated me to continue to change. I know that what’s important is what I do AFTER the bootcamp, so I’m making sure I keep my goals in front of me. It hasn’t been easy, but this bootcamp has given me the roadmap to get where I want to be. Now it's up to me to follow it.
Thanks to RedpoleQ, Blue Mystery, Poison, Ulysses, and Security. It was a truly memorable weekend!
-Vision
