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Message: <blockquote data-quote="francisca" data-source="post: 1726945" data-attributes="member: 9734">Just read this whole thread, here are some random thoughts I rolled up concerning my experience with these matters.Cat-Piss Men:Let's see.  This GenCon, I had one experience with some smelly dudes.  They smelled bad.  Real bad.  Could smell them 10 feet away.  That was it.  Out of the thousands of people I passed by, I encountered 2 smelly guys.  Were there more?  Probably, but the majority at least were fairly clean.Really Disturbing:However, the most disgusting thing I saw was a "normal" looking guy, walking around with a blonde all weekend.  I have suspicions she was an "escort", as she was made up to look "hot": nice body, bleached blonde hair, lotsa red lipstick, revealing clothes, no bra, thong showing, etc.., but maybe she was just comfortable with her sexuality in a Brittany Spears kinda way, I dunno.  Anyway, she looked like a 35-40 year old woman trying to pull off the current MTV hotty look.  Now, what was disturbing about this?  Everytime I saw them, 9 or 10 times, he was either groping her, shoving his tounge down her throat, or at a minimum, pulling her so close to him as they walked that she had trouble staying upright.  The whole time, she had a shell-shocked, "I can't wait until this over", glazed over expression on her face.  Really disturbing.  Nervousness:I'm not too socially inept, and not very shy.  Hell I used to teach IT classes which had 100-120 18-20 year olds in them.  However, I still get nervous meeting people.  In almost all cases, I always wonder why afterwards.  Here is when I was nervous this past GenCon:1) Meeting Jolly Blackburn (creator of KoDT).  Very nice guy.  Very much a gamer. Walked away thinking, wow, he's so normal[/].  Duh!  Of course he is.  (Oddly enough, I was not nervous when I read at the Love Reading)2) Meeting some ENWorlders.  Dunno why.  Maybe because I respect their opinions, and don't want to come off as an ass.  (On the upside, one of them seemed at least as nervous as me.)So, to you guys who get sick to your stomach from nervousness, guess what?  It happens.  To most people at least.  It gets better the more you meet and greet people.  Get past it.  Yes you can.  Really.  Just relax.When it comes to the opposite sex, be bold.  You may surprise yourself.  Don't ever consider someone out of your league based on looks.  Anyone who is obsessed with appearence is not someone you want to be with anyway.  That's not to say that hygiene and wearing some decent clothes aren't important, but don't worry about fashion.Social Ineptitude:I've seen some descriptions of truly social inept people in this thread.  I would not game with them unless they changed their ways.  I also would not hang out with them in general.  I don't put up with people who continually ruin otherwise good times.  In that regard, I agree with Nisarg.  However, I don't advocate shunning them or pushing them off a cliff or anything else like that.  Politely point out their foibles.  If they get huffy and throw a fit, they're not ready to accept their shortcomings.  Tell them to come back when they are.For those of you who feel completely inept, how did you find your gaming group?  You must have some social skills.</blockquote>

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