LOL you make me smile, The Ruminant. I always appreciate your thoughts on topics on these boards so don’t feel like you should hold back based on a “track record”. I wouldn’t be on this board myself if I had it all figured out 😉

To answer your question, I’m not sure I think of any given social situation as serious, per se, it’s just not my personality to walk up to a stranger and say hi or make small talk. I enjoy chatting with people when they approach me, but I don’t feel comfortable (or the desire) to walk up to a stranger and introduce myself and chit chat. I’m more likely to walk up to strangers and say hi in a “controlled” environment (for lack of a better word) – for instance at a party or a wedding where there seems to be an easy intro “How do you know so-and-so?” versus a simple “Hey, how are you doing?” at a bar full of strangers, for example. “Networking” events or anything where there is “mingling” beforehand makes me itch. Now I sound like I’m overanalyzing this stuff. Point being, I’m generally leery of men who approach me out of nowhere as they seem kind of smarmy, or lothario types, but then I’m too inhibited to reach out to meet the shy “nice guys” who keep to themselves. That’s not to say I won’t consider dating a man who approaches me out of nowhere (hence my last 3.5 year relationship), but I’m typically on-guard unless our meeting is a little bit more organic.

I dunno, I’ll just keep on keepin on and wait for Prince Charming to fall out of the sky until I come up with a better plan 😉