In the Beginning there was...Wetherspoons

Keychain - Day 1

What a crazy day...

Picture the scene, it's a rainy day in London town and four of the five Rockstars converge on a Wetherspoons to meet for the first time for a pre-Rock lunch...We had to eat fast, the meet-and-greet session was in a half hour and we were not going to be late! Already our commitment was being tested as we faced off against the Wethespoons menu with no time to spare...the food arrived, we hit it hard. We were all awed by BlackSwan's amazing 120 second curry-close.

Then we braved the elements (rain) to get to Mr M's place and meet the instructors for Project Rockstar. Mr M introduced us to London Soul, Dr Yen, London_Hunk, Sasha and 5.0, with Vercetti and Daxx soon to be joining us. What a cast! With hugely diverse specialities and interests, these guys look set to seriously rewire the way we think about game, social dynamics and life in general.

After a trip to the pub, we reconveined at Mr M's place for our first session of theory. From an overview/foundation perspective Mr M talked about the dynamics of relationships, how relationships are formed and maintained, value exchanges, first impressions, social trees, social life structure, opening...so much information and, between my ninja-note-taking, all I could think was this totally makes sense and I can't believe this is the OVERVIEW session!

Mr M talks fast, and almost every sentence is ridiculously packed full of information. I found myself furiously scribbling down entire sentences as my brain was pummelled with insight. To mix my metaphors there were light bulbs, ahas, pennies dropping, wool-from-eye-liftings...this guy's knowledge is really deep.

Here's a random sample of some of the nuggets that just floored me:

• Independent Value + Relationship Value = Returning Relationship Value.
• A person's current value to you influences how you view their past actions.
• The value of a social tree depends on its access to scarce social resources.
• Don't be afraid to re-invent yourself towards the things that you value.

There were tangents about mutually beneficial leadership styles, example anecdotes, the influence of one's core group. In two hours Mr M just blew the lid off Social Circle Mastery and set the tone for the rest of the programme.

We're going to learn from the instructors, from the field and from each other...

Paladin (a friend of the Rockstar coaches), Optimistic and I left the session for the tube station and within minutes Paladin had Optimistic running down the street to Daygame a passing girl! He then took 30 seconds to teach me a direct daygame opener (ala Soul) and immediately pointed out a passing girl. I've never done direct daygame before so...in I went. Ran the opener and she opened! About five minutes later, I number closed her. Might post y'all a field report on this in tomorrow's blog if you're nice ;)

Anyway, one day in and it's already full steam ahead...

Keychain