If there's one thing I know how to do, it's meet new people

I met my boyfriend on public transit! Most of my friends right now are people I picked randomly in a crowd. Often I get asked where I find the balls for such brazen interactions.

It's really simple

If you want to meet new people, there's two things you need to get in your head. The first is that your meeting someone new -that means they've most likely never seen you before. The second is thatthey most likely don't know much about you.

What does this mean?It means that it doesn't matter what they think of you.Really

Simple as that. You need to re-train your brain. Society would have you assume that it really matters what other people think. You expect thatif enough people make the same conclusion, it must be true.

That's bullshit

Just because everybody seems to think that we're gonna die in 2010, that doesn't mean you should start building a bunker. Just because everybody thinks pork rinds are nasty it doesn't mean I can't eat them!

Let me tell you a story

I have a friend. She's a 14 year old Chinese girl. Does her hair up every time she gets out of bed. Sprinkles on just a little bit of make-up. Wears cute-but-slightly-suggestive outfits. Pretends to be just a little less smart then she is. Once I saw her right after she got up. Hair a mess, no make-up, an over-sized shirt and giant P-J pants. She looked just as good. I told her this, and asked her why she did all that stuff. She was smart, friendly, kind. She didn't need any of it, did she? She said this:

"I do it because I want people to think I'm pretty."

What? You think you're pretty, right? I mean who cares what people think:

"Sure, but if people think I'm ugly, if the world thinks I'm ugly, that means it must be true."

This is media in action people. It doesn't matter if your a Gothic Anarchist from Texas and blissfully happy with yourself. Everybody catches the bug sometimes.

We're social creatures, and I get that. I know that once in awhile, it's important what someone thinks of you. But this mentality can debilitate us, and make us shut ourselves up. You get so rapped up in all this you try to write an e-mail to somebody and you freeze up. It makes you freak out. How are you going to do this?What if they don't like you?

What if they speak badly of you? What if they think you're weird?

What happens when people think you're weird? What happens when you meet people that don't like you?

YOU END UP SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE THAT DO LIKE YOU!

That's it everybody! You weed out people you won't get along with.

When you walk up to some stranger, they better stand up to YOUR standards. They better make YOUR cut. YOU better like them, or THEY miss out on your kick-assery.

Because even assholes kick ass some of the time. Really.

So send that email! Direct message that hot chick! Random-Add that random stranger!

Because news flash people! On the internet it is easier then ever to find people you like, and even easierer to get rid of ones you don't.

Thats mah WOOOORRRD today y'all.

I plan to do a series of these. Each should help you overcome these problems and get yourself out there without sounding like a big douchebag all day long. Hang ten.