JustShootMe writes "I have a question for my fellow Slashdotters, and yes, I realize I am entering the lion's den covered in tasty meat-flavored sauce. I have never been a very social person, preferring to throw myself into technology; therefore, I've been spectacularly unsuccessful in developing any meaningful interpersonal relationships. Lately I have begun to feel that this situation is not tenable, and I would like to fix it. But I really don't know how and haven't the faintest idea where to start. I know that I am in the minority and that there are many different kinds of Slashdot readers, most of whom have more experience in this realm than I do. So please tell me: how, and more importantly, where do you meet fellow geeks — preferably including some of the opposite gender — in meatspace?"
I don't know where you'd meet a woman in realspace, since I met my wife on-line. But that was 29 years ago, so that old trick probably won't work any more.
Actually, you're probably best off finding friends at a LARP club or a game club of some kind. There are just too many types of geek who will be interested in computing and so any attempt to find friends/relationships amongst Linux geeks will be futile. Too large a collection of too many utterly divergent personalities.
No, you need to find a way to isolate a much, much smaller pool of geeks, ones who share multiple interests in common with you, and the only way to do that is to find groups that share your interests.
(Looking online very, very rarely works, mostly because online spaces allow people to be totally dishonest. If there's no honest representation, you cannot find people by presupposing they are being honest.)
(Looking online very, very rarely works, mostly because online spaces allow people to be totally dishonest. If there's no honest representation, you cannot find people by presupposing they are being honest.)
Sure you can.
Think about the kind of person you'd want. Then figure out the lie they'd tell about themselves in the personal section. Lie accordingly about yourself, and go from there.
by Anonymous Coward
on Sunday June 21, @11:24PM (#28416683)
1. Buy some high-top tennis shoes, an ill-fitting suit, and a bow-tie.
2. Find a biker bar. A tough biker bar.
3. Enter, leap upon a countertop, and dance your nerdy heart out.
4. Once you wake up in Intensive Care Unit, try to pick up a sympathetic nurse.
Assuming guy looking for women: church, craft stores and shows, classical music concerts (musicians), amateur theater, Mac computer organizations have more women, Word SIGs, camera clubs, community college night courses. Married co-workers' wives have single friends. Volunteer groups, food banks, Salvation Army,
I met my wife online too, but before that, a motorcycle did wonders for my social life (in fact, it was the bike that gave me the confidence to meet her in person.)
Before I had the bike, I was shy and had low self esteem... I was dateless for over two years. Within a few weeks of getting the bike, I was getting 2-3 girls a week asking me out! Seriously.. a motorcycle turns "shy and introverted" into "dark and brooding". (But don't assume that every woman will ask you out - if one comes over and talks to you about your machine, chat with her a bit about the bike and offer her a ride.)
Some caveats:
Find a bike you *like*. Nothing looks stupider than someone who isn't comfortable on their chosen machine. Be comfortable on it, and you'll exude confidence, which is the most powerful attractant there is.
Dress for the bike. Similar to the above point, a racing suit on a Rebel 250 will just look silly, as will a leather jacket with fringe and chaps on a rice rocket.
It doesn't have to be a Harley or a rice rocket - a guy on a Shadow or Intruder (or even a Rebel) is just as impressive as long as he looks comfortable on it.
Learn a little about motorcycles, so you can hold your own in conversation. Don't talk about them endlessly though - that's just boring.
If you're the "fat WOW-playing" type of geek, lose some weight, unless you're also growing a zz-top beard and riding a Fatboy.
by Anonymous Coward
on Sunday June 21, @10:30PM (#28416171)
Fucking kids. We had BBS's back them (among other things). You think the Internet (it's capitalized moron) is the end-all-be-all? Go back to your texting.
I wholeheartedly agree, I'm a fairly geeky type and I can't stand the word meatspace. I find it a horrible, crude phrase for everyday non-online/computer life. It implies a certain contempt IMO, which isn't a good or healthy attitude. I think that's why it freaks out the "normal people"
How about just calling everything life and be done with it ? Doesn't matter if you're sending an e-mail, posting to a forum, picking up the dry cleaners or going for a walk. Everything is just a part of everyday life. The day you stop making the distinction between your online persona and your offline one, is the day you will have social success. "Normal" people don't distinguish between their online and offline activities, because in the end, it's all part of your normal day. Frankly, I've been a computer geek for 20 years now, and this is the first time I've heard meatspace, and the first thing that popped into my head is "too far gone".
For one, if you're geeky enough to use the word in casual speech, you might well find people who freak out at such vocabulary to be tiresome, so using the term works as a kind of social self selection.
For two, read the wonderful short story, They're Made out of Meat [terrybisson.com]. Choice quote:
"You know how when you slap or flap meat, it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat."
"Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much..."
I would also suggest just going to things that interest you. Chances are that you'll find people there that you find interesting and who find you interesting. Plus you'd already have something in common.
The thing is that "I have to go to this place and find people who will like me" should not be your goal. You should go to things that you want to go to or are interested in. Going places just to meet people with the "will you be my friend" thing tends to make you come off as weird and not in the good way.
I met most of my really good friends that way. So have a lot, if not most, of the people I know.
by Anonymous Coward
on Monday June 22, @12:18AM (#28417089)
First of all you should realize that you're not going to be very good at it. Like any skill it takes practice. So you might start out by finding some group of people that are tolerable but are probably *not* the people you'll want to actually spend time with. That way you can learn without "spoiling" the group you really want to know.
Some key things:
Be clean.
Learn how to listen, even when what's being said is not the most interesting thing in the world.
Be interested in their lives. Ask questions. Remember the answers.
If you're speaking with a female and she is telling you her troubles, sympathize, but do *not* offer suggestions. Ask her about her feelings. She doesn't want you to fix it, she wants you to listen. This is a very powerful point.
Be prepared to be thoroughly bored from time to time. There's no getting around it - if you want to be sociable there will be times when it seems like a huge waste of time. And you'll be right. But it's the price of entry.
by Anonymous Coward
on Sunday June 21, @10:18PM (#28416037)
Perhaps it has been so long that it just seems like Slashdot use to be an actual site you could turn to every day and read a nice cross section of laypeople and industry experts discussing interesting technology topics.
Can't all these inane 'Ask Slashdot' - aka Please Give Me Attention!!! articles be done away with?
In other words, it was always this lame. The signal to noise ratio may have dipped slightly, the interface has gotten shittier, and many of us have gotten older and more crotchety, but it was never as cerebral as people like to remember it. Even now, the level of discourse here is quite a bit above most sites that allow comments. The only thing that's really sunk significantly is the quality of the trolls.
The only thing that's really sunk significantly is the quality of the trolls.
Well you can't blame me. I at least feed em around here. Where are the other Slashdotters when it comes time to feed them? Walk them? Slap their little noses with rolled up posts when they get out of line??
This is one of those things that a nerd can't ask normal people and get an answer worth two cents.
Ask a normal person how to be social and they'll list a million things that the nerd can't do/doesn't understand/won't get the nerve to go through with. Ask a slashdotter, and while the advice may not be so great, at least the nerd should be capable of doing it.
Yes, yes, it's Slashdot and supposedly the blind leading the blind on this question. r-d-r-r. I get it. But I've been enjoying this site for a full decade now (late 20s) and I find that whenever these sorts of non-tech/science questions come up, the responses are often some of the most highly thoughtful and interesting on offer. So as long as we're all here and considering justshootme's question of "where do you meet fellow geeks -- preferably including some of the opposite gender", I would like to ask about fellow geeks interested in meeting the SAME gender for said purposes implied in the original question. I find that this exceptionally difficult, as there are very few other gay dudes willing to tolerate discussions about supersymmetry or the history of thermodynamics or mediaeval history for more than a few milliseconds at most. Should I resign myself to the fact that my demographic is simply to narrow and settle? I am beginning to think so.
Contrary to popular belief, CL is probably 99% scammers, bots, and hookers.
Try this little experiment:
Reply to an ad in women 4 men, or casual encounters.
Wait 2 minutes.
??????
DO NOT PROFIT, IT'LL BE A BOT
There are scant few real women trying to find relationships there...unless you're looking for the paying kind, or the old (read, 50+) hopeless romantic.
Go to a dance instructor. You've got the money. Pay for lessons. Then go to group dance lessons. Meet people there and then get groups going to dance clubs.
All your problems will disappear.
Unless you're a girl. All the above assumes you're a boy. You're a boy, right? OK, then go learn to dance.
by Anonymous Coward
on Sunday June 21, @10:10PM (#28415955)
International singles clubs, also.
Here in Silicon Valley, I met a lot of interesting women. Foreigners don't know you are a geek, they appreciate guys with a good salary, career prospects.
You learn all sorts of things, e.g. I met Dr. Wang, learned that she was a dentist. Observed that she had perfect teeth. Realized ALL dentists I had ever met had perfect teeth, form, fit and function. Decided my next girl-friend had to be a gynecologist.
Finally married a Russian. We fight about things I could never have conceived of previously, so life is not boring.
Doesn't matter. Ladies will appreciate that you're making an effort and the fact that you're clueless makes you harmless (i.e. approachable and not-a-threat should you approach them). As long as you don't get embarrassed and act confident and persistent while stumbling forward, it can actually work in your favor. Some nice girl may even offer to help out as long as you're not just cursing yourself and getting frustrated.
Worth a try no matter what. Better to strike out than be the ball boy stuck polishing the bat.
Linux groups would be a good bet for meeting more geeks. Something that help me get out of my shell at an early age was a martial arts club. Most times you will find they have a good set of values and a nice sense of community. Also it helps with self esteem. I have found this question to have a snow ball response. Once you start getting out and enlarging your comfort zone things can grow quickly. Checking out events in your area and region with social network sites and local arts events / classes can also go a long way.
Approaching new people is easier when you are approachable, be friendly smile make eye contact and most of all simple complements.
Oh and getting a 2nd job in a bar will change you for life.
First of all, don't talk like you do in your summary. Using overly precise words will freak normal people out (Geeks tend to find it pretentious, as well.) Find a local geek hangout spot, hang back and observe. Smile when something is amusing, laugh when it's funny. Say nothing until you feel comfortable. Do this until you are having a conversation. Repeat conversations until you are invited to activities with people. Repeat until you have friends.
But most of all, throw your research away, stop asking Slashdot like you're preparing a technical writeup...and Relax! People are fun.
Why limit yourself to geeks? I spent years at various Universities trying and failing to meet women and it wasn't until I started doing stuff outside of my normal group that I did. I took up figure skating of all things and met my future wife. Now you may ask why a red blooded male would take up figure skating. Same reason I did cookery at school. No red blooded male would do them so there were loads of females and no competition.
Get out, take up a social activity. A friend of mine in a similar situation took up dancing and ended up meeting lots of girls too.
I've met quite a few gorgeous women in "non-geek" settings. They love that I'm smart and quirky, and I make a great living. It sells itself. Just be confident and find things you like to do socially, and the rest will work itself out.
I think the most important tip everyone seems to give here is to get out and about. No women likes a couch potato, even geek girls like to go out and show off their tail feathers. Besides, they gotta show you off and impress other women. Think of yourself like a Gucci bag. A cock shaped Gucci bag that knows complex mathematics and earns a paycheck.
If you're unafraid of your klutziness, join a dance troupe. Or a theatre group. You'd be surprised; most such organizations desperately need someone to do lighting and such, and are woefully ignorant of basics. So if you can wire a lightswitch, can follow a script, you can be a stagehand or a technical director.
Volunteer for trail building. OK, this only works if you're an outdoor person, but that's where the sort of women I like hang out. You can build a trail in a local park, get to work next to some really good looking women, and perhaps have something to talk about - especially if you can keep your mouth shut and listen to eco babble about salmon runs and invasive species.
Or....
Anyway, find an activity that's not a dating meatmarket. Someplace where your social awkwardness (if such exists) is irrelevant, where you're working toward a common goal, and pretty soon you'll find some fellow tree planter or trail builder or invasive-species puller is asking you to come out next weekend to do something else.
The whole idea is that if you set out to find "fellow geeks" you'll end up in a room full of guys with stilted conversations about geek stuff. If you set out to do something different, and are honest and accepting and funny about your ineptitude, you will meet some really cool people.
There are countless organizations that need people who are willing to actually give time to help others. Whether you're tech support, grunt labor, volunteer EMT, phone bank for community hotlines, another adult with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, driving meals to shutins, an aide for local schools,...
The need is huge, the hands very limited, and the job has awesome fringe benefits: you like the person in the mirror and you work with some people who are willing to stop yakking long enough to actually help people.
If you try something and it fails, you can always reload from a previous saved game. If only real life were like that... "Wow, that didn't go over well. ctrl-z! ctrl-z!"
It doesn't matter where you go, or what you do. Just start talking, and when it feels awkward, and people give weird feedback, don't take it personally, move on, and try again. After a while, you'll be person of character, and able to interact meaningfully with everyone.
by Anonymous Coward
on Sunday June 21, @11:17PM (#28416623)
My girlfriend is a 2nd grade teacher. She and all her co-workers are single, female, very intellectual, super educated (masters degree is required), and very hot. Can't meet anyone of the opposite sex at work? They can't either!
I had the same problem as you, when my ex-girlfriend moved out; she'd managed to alienate literally everyone I'd previously ever known, including family members.
I joined a Meetup group about 18 months ago, and was eventually made Organizer. I host monthly groups, and out of a resident membership of around 100 people, I get regular attendance of close to a dozen people now. There are also Meetups for just about every possible kind of general interest you can think of, including some which are purely for random socialising.
Well, the one "skill" most people neglect to mention is simply approaching women and asking them out. I'm not saying you should be an ass and hit on every girl you see, but if you respectfully ask if they'd like to go out sometime they'll either be flattered and decline or say yes. You'll get rejected less often if you're honest about who you are and look for someone like yourself. Are you an overweight nerd that's into renaissance fairs? Walk up to the next chubby girl you meet at the fair and ask it she'd like to split a turkey leg.
There's a world of socially awkward women desperate for someone to show some interest in them. Be confident, don't fear rejection, and make the women that show interest in you feel desirable and attractive.
I found God - the Lord gives me the ability to mingle with society as the techie I am without the fear of what people will think or how they will react...
Just a little nerd trivia. "A rich man entering heaven is as a camel going through the eye of a needle"
It is possible that this reference was to the smaller gate of a city referred to as a 'needle gate' that was used at night when the larger gate was closed. In order for a camel to pass through the needle gate it had to be stripped of all it's cargo. Thus, it is possible that the reference of a camel going through the eye of a needle is just another way of saying: "You can't take it with ya!"
I met a future girlfriend while mountain biking...
I think I know what you were trying to say (you met a girl while mountain biking who then later became your girlfriend) but the way you said it makes it sound like it was a time traveling bicycle or you're some creepy guy stalking her trying to make her love you.
Go old school (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Go old school (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, you're probably best off finding friends at a LARP club or a game club of some kind. There are just too many types of geek who will be interested in computing and so any attempt to find friends/relationships amongst Linux geeks will be futile. Too large a collection of too many utterly divergent personalities.
No, you need to find a way to isolate a much, much smaller pool of geeks, ones who share multiple interests in common with you, and the only way to do that is to find groups that share your interests.
(Looking online very, very rarely works, mostly because online spaces allow people to be totally dishonest. If there's no honest representation, you cannot find people by presupposing they are being honest.)
Parent
Re:Go old school (Score:5, Funny)
(Looking online very, very rarely works, mostly because online spaces allow people to be totally dishonest. If there's no honest representation, you cannot find people by presupposing they are being honest.)
Sure you can.
Think about the kind of person you'd want. Then figure out the lie they'd tell about themselves in the personal section. Lie accordingly about yourself, and go from there.
Parent
Re:Go old school (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Go old school (Score:5, Funny)
2. Find a biker bar. A tough biker bar.
3. Enter, leap upon a countertop, and dance your nerdy heart out.
4. Once you wake up in Intensive Care Unit, try to pick up a sympathetic nurse.
Parent
Re:Go old school (Score:5, Informative)
Assuming guy looking for women: church, craft stores and shows, classical music concerts (musicians), amateur theater, Mac computer organizations have more women, Word SIGs, camera clubs, community college night courses. Married co-workers' wives have single friends. Volunteer groups, food banks, Salvation Army,
Parent
Re:Go old school (Score:5, Funny)
He said ~women~, not senior citizens ; )
Parent
Get a motorcycle! (Score:5, Interesting)
I met my wife online too, but before that, a motorcycle did wonders for my social life (in fact, it was the bike that gave me the confidence to meet her in person.)
Before I had the bike, I was shy and had low self esteem ... I was dateless for over two years. Within a few weeks of getting the bike, I was getting 2-3 girls a week asking me out! Seriously.. a motorcycle turns "shy and introverted" into "dark and brooding". (But don't assume that every woman will ask you out - if one comes over and talks to you about your machine, chat with her a bit about the bike and offer her a ride.)
Some caveats:
Parent
Re:Go old school (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Where Does a Geek Find a Social Life? (Score:5, Funny)
Wait, I don't understand!
I can't follow that, what happened to ??? ?
It's a critical step and it's not there! *head explodes*
Parent
step one (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:step one (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:step one (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
"Meatspace" right when you're made out of meat. (Score:5, Interesting)
For one, if you're geeky enough to use the word in casual speech, you might well find people who freak out at such vocabulary to be tiresome, so using the term works as a kind of social self selection.
For two, read the wonderful short story, They're Made out of Meat [terrybisson.com]. Choice quote:
Cheers,
Parent
Re:step one (Score:5, Informative)
I would also suggest just going to things that interest you. Chances are that you'll find people there that you find interesting and who find you interesting. Plus you'd already have something in common.
The thing is that "I have to go to this place and find people who will like me" should not be your goal. You should go to things that you want to go to or are interested in. Going places just to meet people with the "will you be my friend" thing tends to make you come off as weird and not in the good way.
I met most of my really good friends that way. So have a lot, if not most, of the people I know.
Parent
Re:step one (Score:5, Insightful)
Some key things:
Parent
Really? (Score:5, Funny)
You could start by not ASKING SLASHDOT...
Was Slashdot This Fucking Lame 10 Years Ago? (Score:5, Funny)
Perhaps it has been so long that it just seems like Slashdot use to be an actual site you could turn to every day and read a nice cross section of laypeople and industry experts discussing interesting technology topics.
Can't all these inane 'Ask Slashdot' - aka Please Give Me Attention!!! articles be done away with?
Just. Fucking. Google. It.
Parent
Re:Was Slashdot This Fucking Lame 10 Years Ago? (Score:5, Insightful)
In other words, it was always this lame. The signal to noise ratio may have dipped slightly, the interface has gotten shittier, and many of us have gotten older and more crotchety, but it was never as cerebral as people like to remember it. Even now, the level of discourse here is quite a bit above most sites that allow comments. The only thing that's really sunk significantly is the quality of the trolls.
Parent
Re:Was Slashdot This Fucking Lame 10 Years Ago? (Score:5, Funny)
Well you can't blame me. I at least feed em around here. Where are the other Slashdotters when it comes time to feed them? Walk them? Slap their little noses with rolled up posts when they get out of line??
Well?
It's a joint responsibility people....
Parent
Re:Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is one of those things that a nerd can't ask normal people and get an answer worth two cents.
Ask a normal person how to be social and they'll list a million things that the nerd can't do/doesn't understand/won't get the nerve to go through with. Ask a slashdotter, and while the advice may not be so great, at least the nerd should be capable of doing it.
Parent
Re:Really? (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, yes, it's Slashdot and supposedly the blind leading the blind on this question. r-d-r-r. I get it. But I've been enjoying this site for a full decade now (late 20s) and I find that whenever these sorts of non-tech/science questions come up, the responses are often some of the most highly thoughtful and interesting on offer. So as long as we're all here and considering justshootme's question of "where do you meet fellow geeks -- preferably including some of the opposite gender", I would like to ask about fellow geeks interested in meeting the SAME gender for said purposes implied in the original question. I find that this exceptionally difficult, as there are very few other gay dudes willing to tolerate discussions about supersymmetry or the history of thermodynamics or mediaeval history for more than a few milliseconds at most. Should I resign myself to the fact that my demographic is simply to narrow and settle? I am beginning to think so.
Parent
Re:Really? (Score:5, Funny)
Agreed. Asking this question on Slashdot is like asking Helen Keller if your socks match.
Parent
CL (Score:5, Funny)
Re:CL (Score:5, Informative)
Try this little experiment:
There are scant few real women trying to find relationships there...unless you're looking for the paying kind, or the old (read, 50+) hopeless romantic.
Parent
Learn to dance (Score:5, Interesting)
Go to a dance instructor. You've got the money. Pay for lessons. Then go to group dance lessons. Meet people there and then get groups going to dance clubs.
All your problems will disappear.
Unless you're a girl. All the above assumes you're a boy. You're a boy, right? OK, then go learn to dance.
Re:Learn to dance (Score:5, Funny)
International singles clubs, also.
Here in Silicon Valley, I met a lot of interesting women. Foreigners don't know you are a geek, they appreciate guys with a good salary, career prospects.
You learn all sorts of things, e.g. I met Dr. Wang, learned that she was a dentist. Observed that she had perfect teeth. Realized ALL dentists I had ever met had perfect teeth, form, fit and function. Decided my next girl-friend had to be a gynecologist.
Finally married a Russian. We fight about things I could never have conceived of previously, so life is not boring.
Parent
Re:Learn to dance (Score:5, Funny)
Finally married a Russian. We fought about things I could never have conceived of previously, so life was not boring.
Past tense, Hans, past tense amigo.
Parent
Re:Learn to dance (Score:5, Insightful)
Doesn't matter. Ladies will appreciate that you're making an effort and the fact that you're clueless makes you harmless (i.e. approachable and not-a-threat should you approach them). As long as you don't get embarrassed and act confident and persistent while stumbling forward, it can actually work in your favor. Some nice girl may even offer to help out as long as you're not just cursing yourself and getting frustrated.
Worth a try no matter what. Better to strike out than be the ball boy stuck polishing the bat.
Parent
Probably an obligatory link, but... (Score:5, Informative)
How to be sexy by ESR (Score:5, Funny)
You really have to read this and have Google Images open elsewhere wtih pictures of ESR to appreciate the humour fully.
Parent
Things I have found helpful (Score:5, Interesting)
The only place I actually enjoy shopping. . . (Score:5, Interesting)
Relax (Score:5, Interesting)
You could also start by... (Score:5, Funny)
Fellow geeks? (Score:5, Interesting)
Why limit yourself to geeks? I spent years at various Universities trying and failing to meet women and it wasn't until I started doing stuff outside of my normal group that I did. I took up figure skating of all things and met my future wife. Now you may ask why a red blooded male would take up figure skating. Same reason I did cookery at school. No red blooded male would do them so there were loads of females and no competition.
Get out, take up a social activity. A friend of mine in a similar situation took up dancing and ended up meeting lots of girls too.
Re:Fellow geeks? (Score:5, Insightful)
I've met quite a few gorgeous women in "non-geek" settings. They love that I'm smart and quirky, and I make a great living. It sells itself. Just be confident and find things you like to do socially, and the rest will work itself out.
I think the most important tip everyone seems to give here is to get out and about. No women likes a couch potato, even geek girls like to go out and show off their tail feathers. Besides, they gotta show you off and impress other women. Think of yourself like a Gucci bag. A cock shaped Gucci bag that knows complex mathematics and earns a paycheck.
Parent
What do you like to do? (Score:5, Insightful)
Some ideas:
If you're unafraid of your klutziness, join a dance troupe. Or a theatre group. You'd be surprised; most such organizations desperately need someone to do lighting and such, and are woefully ignorant of basics. So if you can wire a lightswitch, can follow a script, you can be a stagehand or a technical director.
Volunteer for trail building. OK, this only works if you're an outdoor person, but that's where the sort of women I like hang out. You can build a trail in a local park, get to work next to some really good looking women, and perhaps have something to talk about - especially if you can keep your mouth shut and listen to eco babble about salmon runs and invasive species.
Or....
Anyway, find an activity that's not a dating meatmarket. Someplace where your social awkwardness (if such exists) is irrelevant, where you're working toward a common goal, and pretty soon you'll find some fellow tree planter or trail builder or invasive-species puller is asking you to come out next weekend to do something else.
The whole idea is that if you set out to find "fellow geeks" you'll end up in a room full of guys with stilted conversations about geek stuff. If you set out to do something different, and are honest and accepting and funny about your ineptitude, you will meet some really cool people.
When in doubt, volunteer (Score:5, Insightful)
The need is huge, the hands very limited, and the job has awesome fringe benefits: you like the person in the mirror and you work with some people who are willing to stop yakking long enough to actually help people.
Re:When in doubt, volunteer (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
The Sims (Score:5, Funny)
If you try something and it fails, you can always reload from a previous saved game. If only real life were like that... "Wow, that didn't go over well. ctrl-z! ctrl-z!"
You want a friend? (Score:5, Funny)
Screw Up. A lot. (Score:5, Insightful)
Volunteer to be an IT geek at an elementary school (Score:5, Interesting)
My girlfriend is a 2nd grade teacher. She and all her co-workers are single, female, very intellectual, super educated (masters degree is required), and very hot. Can't meet anyone of the opposite sex at work? They can't either!
My solution (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.meetup.com/ [meetup.com]
I had the same problem as you, when my ex-girlfriend moved out; she'd managed to alienate literally everyone I'd previously ever known, including family members.
I joined a Meetup group about 18 months ago, and was eventually made Organizer. I host monthly groups, and out of a resident membership of around 100 people, I get regular attendance of close to a dozen people now. There are also Meetups for just about every possible kind of general interest you can think of, including some which are purely for random socialising.
Re:Go and do what you love doing... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Not a matter of where (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a world of socially awkward women desperate for someone to show some interest in them. Be confident, don't fear rejection, and make the women that show interest in you feel desirable and attractive.
Parent
Re:God (Score:5, Funny)
I find rum gives me the same ability :)
Parent
Re:Here are some ideas... (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Re:outdoors (Score:5, Funny)
I met a future girlfriend while mountain biking...
I think I know what you were trying to say (you met a girl while mountain biking who then later became your girlfriend) but the way you said it makes it sound like it was a time traveling bicycle or you're some creepy guy stalking her trying to make her love you.
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