why is change so awkward even when it shouldn't be?

I'm a late Bloomer anyway plus I grew up kinda different. I didn't do alot of typical teen things when I was a teenager. I was raised by my conservative Catholic grandparents and pressured into being like an adult from around 14 on. I was in the Boy Scouts and pushed into a leadership training program at 14 and was Senior Patrol Leader and got my Eagle all around the same time as well as being pushed into being an alter boy (I always had to get up every Sunday morning at 6:30am to get ready for church at 8:00am, my grandfather had to be half an hour early to everything.) I was pretty much kicked out of the House every morning in the summer when I was 15 to look for a job. Etc. When I moved out at 20 I started doing my own thing, including sex, drugs, heavy metal music etc. And pretty much still there, though I've always done things in moderation and never went crazy like many friends. I was always practical about it.

Nate, that's exactly why I figured I ought to start now. For the last few years I've kept telling myself "after I accomplish this" or "after I fix that" but if I kept doing that I would spend my whole life always having something else I "needed" to do first. At the same time, I think that even if I didn't find someone here that even a more ordinary girl would be fine, if she were tolerant. I've had the pleasure of meeting some fairly reasonable people, so I wouldn't say you need to limit yourself to only otaku girls (preferable though it may be). It's just tough to find the tolerant ones. Even girls with a different type of nerdiness would probably be relatively accepting (or even curious) of anime. But then, you may still have to compromise a little for it to work. Some people won't, maybe you can't, but that's okay too. As for making new friends, or even opening more options as far as a mate goes, it seems to me that trying out new things and finding additional hobbies could be a boon if anime alone isn't working out. I have and have had a handful I switch between, like anime/manga, video games, game development (which entails many things), web development, drawing, and more recently even cars / car modding, and other fleeting interests here and there. Finding new interest in sports, music, blogging, reading, foreign languages, gardening, etc provides a larger arsenal of common ground with which to identify with others.

ahhh that makes me feel a bit better truly... honestly i should be used to change by now seriously i was a military brat and i moved about every 3 years if not less so i was always in a rush to make more friends. then i entered the military and well....lets just put it delicately that i learned not to trust anyone through extenuating circumstances both at home and at work. now im out and im kind of looking at the world around me feeling awkward and a little lost not really remembering how i used to make friends or even knowing what the "rules" are any more ^_^ *bit of a sheepish look * im really glad i found this site it nice to know that i can still make friends even if im a bit awkward still ^_^

On a different topic, I've had a few female friends join or want to join the military. Now I'm not saying it can't be a good experience or that there aren't good people but (depending on the branch and situation) it's not the best situation for a girl to be in as the likelihood for rape and sexual discrimination is very high in certain situations. So I'm always surprised at girls wanting to join. I even have male friends suffering from post-traumatic stress and are alcoholics. I wouldn't join if they paid 10 times as much as they do. I'm not saying I don't respect military personnel, but I think the government is a bunch of hypocritical self-serving, greedy, power hungry a-holes who (except for a few) care more about money and power and getting re-elected than people. Sorry for the rant. But Yeah, I'm surprised how much people change over time. It's sad sometimes.