So, chat with me!! :o

Seriously though, I was homeschooled until I was twelve (I'm 19 now) and while I am great at talking to people casually and cracking jokes, I'm noticing I've never gotten over social stunting when it comes to making friends who want to see you outside of school or work. Like, how do you hang out with people or get into situations where you have people to hang out with??? It sounds weird but it's something I've never really had, I'm completely stupid about it.

Also, the art discussion forum on here is so dead. I remember growing up doing petsite art and the forums were always full of people posting work and getting feedback, but it seems like the only posts are for event drawings or commission pricing. I kind of miss active, online art communities. Sometimes I feel like participating in forums and other online posting is like talking to a void that doesn't give back.

Anywho, what are you guys up to?

I woke up at 5:30 due to shenanigans of reseting my sleep schedule. I'm rather new to pet sites, the closest thing I had to that was a Warrior Cats RP I used to go on, so its kind of sad I missed when the art disscussion was bustling with people, my old RP site is long dead too, so I kind of understand it too. As for how to get friends, you kind of have to do what you just did and put yourself out there and hope to get in a conversation with someone. I met one of my friends by mustering up the courage to say something about the anime I knew when I met him in the mall. That spawned a two hour conversation that led to me being his friend. (Its also how I inadvertently met my girlfriend). So keep at it. You can friend me if you like or get my skype if you want to talk regularly its Rainclaw390. I'll throw the question back to you, what have you been up too?

That's one of the major "bad" parts of being homeschooled, I think, is the way social skills develop in turn. A lot of stuff you just kinda pick up as you grow up being around other people all of the time, so being so secluded can really hurt the growth.

However, I will say the whole "making friends outside of work/school" thing stumps me, too! I have many people in my college courses who I will goof off with or chat with when I see them, and I'd like to be friends, but I don't know how to take that extra step. I think the easiest thing to do, though, is get their number and then text and ask if they wanna do something. Get coffee before class or go to the mall or have lunch or whatever. I know it feels really awkward and weird, but that's normally the step that's needed, I think.

also ps your ha is super cute!!

That's cool! This is weird, but I actually feel like I had a way easier time making friends when I was 12 and really into anime. Commmon interests are huge, and anime fans are usually really dedicated. I've branched away a lot since then and unlike most people, I hardly watch any media anymore except for kids cartoons and I only know like one other person who is as hardcore about cartoons as I am. And yeah, I wonder if RP communities are just less active now, like the hobby is kind of dying off, or I'm just far less aware of them?

NOOT NOOT. HAHA yeah, surprisingly I never had an issue just... being social, but making actual friends has always been a problem. I guess maybe it isn't the homeschooling, it's probably just me. :O I think I'll counsel some of my sort-of-not-really's about it.

I hear you about that. I usually don't think to ask for people's numbers, and when I have them I like... never... text anybody. I guess I get that that's what you are supposed to do, but at the same time I feel so stupid about hanging out in general that I wish someone else would invite me so I could get... educated... about it. Like, if I invite someone somewhere I don't want to be super awkward and they have a bad time. You know, the more I write about this, the more I realize how stupid I sound HAHA.

Thank you!! Your HA is also adorable! I love casual HAs.

!!! noot NOOT

No, I totally understand, and you don't sound stupid at all!! I completely relate. It's pretty easy to be social and talk and stuff, but again there's this weird line between "we are being sociable because we see each other and it's polite/friendly" and "we are actually friends!! wow" and being able to step over that line is weird and complicated because you don't even know if the other person WANTS to be your friend???? relationships are complicated :x I normally do that, too--I wait around for them to invite me so I don't make a fool of myself~

hey, i was homeschooled until about twelve as well!

for me, finding people to hang out with was never much of a problem when i was still being homeschooled because i was involved in so many things outside of the home. i was in dance, i did theater, played sports at the YMCA twice a week with other homeschool groups, etc. i was actually pretty busy and i'd play with kids from those groups outside of our activities sometimes.

it was a little weird after getting to public school, though, especially finding new people to hang out with. from my experience, joining clubs or other extracurricular things really helped a lot. i joined band and pretty much all of my high school friends were band kids. common interests and hobbies are a good start, at least. and throughout my whole experience, i still had some online friends that stuck around :)

that got a little wordy, apologies!

Hey! I'm 19 as well, and have been on here since I was 13 haha. My thing is, I'm great with people, I'm not shy or anything, but I'm horrible at making friends. And by friends I mean, people I text daily or hang out with. In high school I had one really good girl friend and then we stopped being friends. Now the closest thing I have to friends are the women I work with. It's pretty sad. I live in such a small town that I feel like I've met everyone and nothing ever sparked for us to be friends. Plus I moved here the middle of high school so that put me at a disadvantage because everyone else grew up together.