Hanging out at dive bars alone has never been super good to me but I think I might have just been going to the wrong places (too many old creeps). Even at the shitty bar I was going to the other year I did meet one cool person, but I was so caught off guard it fizzled after chatting for a bit.

Idk. I've always felt like nobody ever taught me how to chat up strangers (and I honestly for a long time felt people my age just simply didn't do that anymore... now I'm not so sure), but otoh learning from my older family members would've probably just taught me to be a sex pest so I guess its for the best that I have to figure it out myself as an adult.