WTF? First post here and my paragraph breaks are gone? Sorry for the mega-paragraph, folks! I'll read and see what I needed to do to cause the breaks... br's or p's?

Heh, this topic is particularly near and dear to my heart, as I was asking myself the same thing nearly 30 years ago. Not just for purposes of finding a geekette, but simply to learn how to socialize "normally", period! I would hazard a guess and say that many of we older geeks were much more isolated in our awareness of each other than is the case today. We grew up being taught by empirical schoolyard and backlot lessons that socialization was best avoided if we wanted to maintain at least some shreds of our ass at the end of the day. It took a fluke accident that left me bedridden for 6 months in my late teens and the crushing boredom/embarrassment I experienced during that time from being unable to relate/respond well to concerned relatives that caused me to consciously vow to explore my options. Long story short - I discovered pen-and-paper RPGs, from there discovered Renaissance faires, and I have to say that being accepted as an actor within the faires is the *perfect* way for a geek to gain all those mad socialization skills AND opportunity to practice them on the fair(e) sex of your choice. I give this perspective from the POV of one whose literal FIRST DAY'S exposure to a renaissance faire (Maryland's, FWIW) resulted in my being hired as an "actor" simply because I had asked (in my naivete) if I could work there, I fit a particular costume they had on hand,and they needed warm-body nobles to fill in the court. I *wasn't* an actor, had no experience at it, and spent that first season rather dazed and confused. The following years, however, led into faire-provided cast colleges, where we newbies were actually trained in how to comfortably interact naturally and entertainingly with the public. That first season, however, wasn't a loss - because after hours, the real fun (IMNSHO) began. EVERYONE is "different", and generally welcoming to everyone from every strata of society... and the ladies are quite often part of faire because of the perceived romance and chivalry (which surprisingly does carry forward into after-hours behavior to a muted degree) and some (many of the younger ones) also enjoy the "wenchiness" aspect of faire. For many of these faires, you don't HAVE to be an actor already - they will train you as part of their ensemble cast. They are mostly looking for people who are simply willing to get out there and be willing to make fools of themselves in public (unless the newbie is naturally talented) until the lessons taught really sink in and the newbs become self-confident. I typically run the Military Guild most years at the Virginia Renaissance Faire, we (and the other guilds) are always looking for recruits and our faire is really gaining a reputation for our cast training and interaction. Search Youtube for us, and you'll find my proposal to my wife (whom is a Trekkie programmer geekette that I had introduced to faire) two years ago. You'll also find wenches mud-wrestling, and yes, some of them still work our faire... The payoff is well worth the leap-of-faith investment. Good luck!