I’m horrible at making casual conversation. I’m trying to get better at it but my confidence in this area is horrible. It’s not that I don’t like to talk to people, but I find it very difficult unless there is an obvious purpose like a project, meeting, etc. I don’t think it is a lack of courage as much as a complete inability to generate phrases that people recognize as friendly. I am going to try to get better at it this year and I’ll also exchanging info on this web site for a few days to see what comes of it.