Thanks, Wade. You're the bee's knees.

Roller, sign me up for a couple sets.

Bee's don't have knees...

Well, your the bee's straight legs.

Wade, I'd say that's pretty good advice, but if you'd like to get the thoughts of a fellow who's been around the block a few times...let me see if I can add to Bud's guidance...albeit in a rather blunt form that is intended as a message for your own good. So, hopefully, you'll receive the following advice in the spirit in which it is given.

Should you live long enough, you will reach an age when you will walk by women and if you wonder at all about what is normal or whether you're missing something, it WON'T be due to a smile they gave you.

In truth, you won't have to worry about such stuff, because there won't be any smiles, unless they're ones due to familiarity (like from a neighbor), simply because they won't even notice you. For all practical purposes, vou will be invisible to them.

And, Wade? That day comes suddenly and before you know it. So don't waste another day or another smile --- or so much time thinking about it.

Instead, starting now, take the best first step you can: smile back at them. Then advance to the next step, if only to say "Hi," and see where it goes from there. But, Holy Crow, give yourself the opportunity to find out!

Because remember, you heard it here: once those smiles from strangers are gone...they're gone forever.

Just my two cents.

That's what I said!

Thanks for classing it up.

It is random woman that walk by me usually on their way out of a building...so I should stop them from going to where they are going to try to talk them up? :-s I am not good at talking to people T_T

Well, you ARE a tough act to follow, Bud!

On a very different note...

YEEEEEEE-HAH! Came home this evening after making a trade for a GSX Magneto and earlier today, I sealed the deal with a fellow Realmser for a figure I'd pretty much given up hope of getting any time soon --- WoS SR Deadpool!!!

Holy Crow!! Fellas, today was a good day to be a trader, you betcha!

Like Soxolas said, start with hello. Do it with a smile in passing. Maybe next time there's a reason to not leave the building.

It would probably help people like Wade if women learned to stop being so dang subtle about such things.

I don't blame you. Women have a way of being intimidating.

Yea, they have boobies!

What --- and risk expulsion???

Wade, another kind of advice that I can offer you (And it may sound a little strange)

Get the thought out of your head that a relationship (Or even just a first date) is something that you HAVE TO HAVE! By creating a need for yourself that you keep putting internal pressure on yourself to achieve, you are doing nothing but stressing yourself out and ultimately psyching yourself out. You get so nervous because in your mind, you've set up the scenario of "This may be the last chance to ever find somebody" whether you are doing it consciously or unconsciously.

I hate it when people throw out cliche phrases like "There are other fish in the sea" or "It's when you stop looking is when love finds YOU."

These aren't alltogether wrong, though. I have only ever REALLY asked out one person in my life and I crashed and bombed...HARD. After it was over I realized that it wasn't such a scary thing to do as long as I didn't make it a priority in my life to be in a relationship. I've been with Dngergrrl for almost 8 years now, and she was the one that asked ME out. I think it was only due to the fact that I had developed this non-chalant attitude towards relationships that I had the confidence in myself to allow one to happen.

Thing is I have the same issue with anyone just talking to them, just even more so with females no matter what the reasoning behind it is. There are some females that are easy for me to talk to but usually they are married or have a boyfriend though I am not sure why that makes it easier for me.

It sounds to me like you have an inherent fear of rejection. Whether you know it or not, you fear what others think of you and it has caused you to become introverted. You find it easier to talk to people who are already in relationships because there is no fear of rejection there. You know you aren't talking to the person in the hopes of starting a relationship with married woman, so there is no social stress there. A good way to excersise your social skills is to try to get into conversations with people like waiters/waitresses, friends, coworkers, classmates, etcetera.

Like I said before, don't focus on the fact that of WHY you are talking to a person whether it is a girl or not. Focus on the Conversation and the act of doing it. Doing this will only make you a great listener, too. Girls dig that.

Probably because with those two groups you aren't putting any pressure on yourself to impress or charm. You're able to just be yourself... which is the mindset you should be in at all times. Act naturally!