The best way I started to kind of socialize was kind of like what Turk said, walking around not looking at anyone and listening to music. I had to take a two hour bus ride to work at that time, every day for two years, and while you can generally be ignored while walking around town, doing so on a bus in downtown CA? Not a chance. It was too hectic for me to focus on anything I wanted to do, like read, so I often just sat there 'looking bored' apparently. Which invited a lot of people over to talk to me, but as I had my music going, the question was usually "What are you listening to?" Which is a simple answer, I didn't even have to think about it, I just had to read off my screen. That usually led to me being pretty uncomfortable for a while trying to carry on a conversation about my music or dealing with them leaning close enough to hear it - but at the end of the day it opened up a lot of doors that I never would have even seen on my own. After two years on the same routes, I made a lot of really odd friends (because, it seems, most 'normal' people drive to work. Go figure) and I wouldn't trade the experience for the world. Sure, it was a little scary, but a LOT less scary that the social situations NTs tried to talk me into doing in the past. I didn't have to reach out of my bubble, and if anyone happened to step into it, it wasn't overwhelming since I was used to the environment and was around a lot of the same people most of the time, so I was a little more in my element.
