Sometimes I really don't know about my social skills. Maybe I never had them, but they're definitely in decline now.

In classes, I'll watch other people who can converse so easily to strangers and wonder, how do they do that? It seems like a tricky fence to walk, every word a potential crash to the ground which'll break all your bones. Maybe the trick is to be curious and nice, all at once. Maybe there is no trick, and it's just a natural born talent that some people will never have. Or maybe I just need to work on it. It's kind of hard though, when I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing.

I would like more friends of the opposite sex here, purely for the reason change-of-scenery. Girl friends are all very well, but there is something so nice and uncomplicated about guy friends which cannot be duplicated in girlie friendships. There, again, is a fence within a fence (ah, definite misuse of a metaphor), a delicate balance between appearing friendly and appearing flirtatious. I really can't tell the difference for myself sometimes. Do I even flirt? I don't want to give off the wrong signals, and I think I do.

Pah.

...

There was a red-lit wall that was evocative; the memories slithered, slinked through me. I felt the newness, the excitement, the nostalgia. Everything all at once, in a rush. Then the band started, and the moment was lost.