I’m [27M], and I tend to have shitty luck when it comes to friends. I’ve time and time again over the years been discarded and left to rot in the dust over the years since I was 12. Because of that, it makes trusting people - guy or gal - that much more difficult. I mean yeah I’ll say it - I wasn’t a cool kid when I was in public school. Hell, even in my college years, when I was 2015, I got ghosted en masse by a lot of my own friends when a best friend spilled the beans to a girl I was into that, well, I found her attractive and that I used to live with an abusive father for 12 years; the girl then twisted it into a narrative that I’m “dangerous, unstable and violent” that caught the attention of not just my own friend group, but strangers as well (I used to get the stink eye in public). So I stopped bothering with people (though thank God for the people that didn’t believe that narrative). Now I don’t tolerate anyone who shows off even a single red flag.

All this used to happen back in Orange County. Now I’m here in San Diego, distanced from family or friends, and I have to reinvent myself here. I do my job as an electrical engineer, I workout at home after every weekday (now I’m pushing for every weekday and weekend), I do creative writing (screenwriting as a side hustle), and I expand my engineering skillset. It’s been several months since I moved down here and started a new job, and after I TURNED 27, I decided to quit living in self-hate and actually see what SD has to offer. I just don’t know where to start, ie: making friends, meeting women. Any thoughts/suggestions?