I'm friendly, OK.

So while we're on the topic of the other night with the girls. I should mention that they had endless fun at my expense, making fun of my friendliness.
Now, I'm the first to admit that I'm a pretty friendly person, and I'm really not shy. At parties I generally manage to meet everyone attending, and I have no problems doing work networking or making new friends at any sort of function.
So why do my friends apparently seem to think it's so shocking that the same tendencies seem to come out in less structured environments, and with people less connected to me in a social sense?
I'm talking about the fact that I have a bit of a knack for striking up conversations with random strangers in public places.
Pubs are easy. I do it all the time, especially if I'm left standing on my own while my companion(s) are off in the bathroom or at the bar. In fact, I did that last week and struck up a conversation with some random while Kogi ducked off the the bathroom.
The Bus. Now this what kind of what started the conversation. I mentioned something about the guy I sat next to on the bus the night before. And the fact that I got his name and email address. And swapped some music files from our phones via bluetooth. And I took his photo (it was time for photo diary, OK?). Well, he had the same phone as me, and we were stuck sitting next to each other for a 30 minute bus trip. What else are you going to do? I also met another guy the other week, when he noticed I was playing sudoku whilst taking my normal commute and asked me about it. (See, it isn't always me doing the initiating). I ended up teaching him how to play and having a very interesting conversation about time-series regression. (OK, interesting for some people, I'll admit). And then there was the girl at the bus stop the other week. She asked me how far it was to a particular stop and how she would know where to get off. I told her I was getting off at the same place and if she wanted to sit with me I'd let her know. Turns out she was from Tassie...So of course we ended up having mutual friends in common. And the French backpacker a while back...I think I also have photos of him somewhere...
There are also some more random ones. I've seen people sitting by themselves in strange places looking upset or crying, and I've asked if they needed help. I was even actually able to help once, but it has always lead to interesting conversations.
So the question is, am I a freak for talking to random strangers? Or what is wrong with our society that we think we can't?That we're afraid? Or that people will think we're crazy?
Well, I'm quite happy making friends all over the place. And I guess while people still talk back, there's obviously enough like-minded people to there who feel the same.
So there.

J. :-)