Be more sociable

I consider this a completed goal. Volunteering has gotten me out of the house in ways that even school never did. Here’s to volunteering and to the hope that this will keep up.

I’m trying out a few volunteer gigs to see if it will ease me out of my shell. Here’s to hoping.

I know why that person made me uncomfortable. I’d seen them before and not in a positive light. In fact, but for the fact that I’ve got quite a bit of restraint, I wouldn’t even be in the same room with them if I could help it.

My saving grace is the hot person (usually is eh?) who sits across from me normally. I highly doubt anything will develop from it but it’s nice having a distraction from the person I don’t like.

I’ve joined this Anti-Stress therapy group and, so far, we’re one class in and it’s going mostly ok.

There is one person I get kind of weird vibes off of though. He is a member of the group and I’m not quite sure how to respond. It is nice to have more in depth conversations than awkward stares from across the room but…the conversations are usually brief and lacking anything more than greetings and farewells.

Kind of weird that I’d focus on this one person. Also kind of weird considering the vibe I’m getting off of him.

I cannot define it and that automatically makes me uncomfortable.

In the past when I didn’t listen to my gut instinct, I usually got burned and when I did listen, I managed to extricate myself from a number of sticky situations that otherwise might not have turned out very well for myself and/or others.

While this guy is not giving off “big creepy pedophile” vibes, I can sense that he’s not being even so much as 20% upfront about who he is and why he’s there. I certainly don’t expect most people to be completely open about their business but to be as blank/closed as that is just too weird to the point of warranting suspicion.

I’ve come too far in my life to just brush this gut feeling off as “just irrational paranoia”.

While it is meant to be an “open” group, I’m not going to let too much fly while he’s there and, most definitely, I’m going to be sitting as far from him as possible.

I actually carried on conversations over the past few days. Normally, I’m the strong silent type on the Metro but lately I’ve taken to talking with others. It’s usually about knitting in some form or another but still…

I have no clue what possessed me but I put an advert in Craigslist for e-pals in a major Canadian city. I was totally honest and got quite a few really nice replies.

That reminds, I have a backlog of e-mails to answer… :-D

Hm, let’s see? I’ve been bugging Canadians like it’s going out of style.

One person is really well known and unapproachable for someone as shy as me but is so nice and helpful.

Another is so out there that I’m raising my eyebrows at both the insanity he carries and at not being the weirdest person in the conversation.

Another isn’t Canadian but I’ve talked with him more than I’ve talked personally with anyone in a long while. It’s nice to have a conversation with someone where they’re not slamming everything about you because they think they’re better than you. I’m glad the last one is my friend.

So yeah, I’ve been quite the social butterfly lately. Weird…

It was fun. I arrived early and was the first one there at the Barn. I love that building already. It’s got a nice warm feeling and I’m hoping to hang out in there more often.

Right now though, I seem to have stepped into it. I was met by the immediate preparation plans for the upcoming festival they’re holding next Wednesday. Not that I mind but I was hoping to get a better idea of the club with a bit less stress.

I’m going to be working with a nice person I met there on the ‘American’ cultural display. As I found out from her and others, she’s been pretty much the main one working on it for a while.

I just feel good to be into something right now aside from academic stuff. Going to school just for class or academic appointments is boring.

It’s going to be a good week next week though. There are going to be a lot of different talks, festivals, cultural exchanges, movies (but I saw Daughter From Danang already, I didn’t let on though), as well as a nice dinner at a local church. One of the faculty also said that a number of the faculty at the school had open houses during the holidays for the students where they invited them into their homes for cultural exchange, dinner, and fun. It sounded interesting but I want to take it one step at a time with this festival and church dinner first.

I guess I’ve got to dress up for this stuff. shudder

I am currently at school counting down the moments until I walk over to check out the International Club I’ve seen advertised in flyers on the campus bulletin boards.

I don’t know what to expect but the combination of the promise of free food, my determination to get beyond some of my methods of connecting with people, and the fact that it’s free are spurring me forward into whatever this is.

I’ve got nothing to lose and if I find that I’m really not interested, I can hop right on the bus. It’s a win/win situation really.

I finally said hello to all the unknown people on my Yahoo 360 friends list. I’m proud of myself but I highly doubt that anyone will actually write back. LOL, I need to learn optimism.