i've got a method of meeting people that rocketh. check it out:
got an interest? anything that interests you and that you enjoy (your deviant sexual inclinations excepted, unfortunately) and that might conceivably interest some members of the Female species too is fair game. like i'm a photographer. you may be into cooking or reading or stamp collecting or kats or science or whatever.
so what you do is decide which of your interests you'd like to get more into, with other people, then you go to
http://www.meetup.com/ and search for groups catering to that interest in your geographical area. then you join one or two. and finally - and this step is absolutely essential; if you don't do this, my Cunning Plan won't work - you
attend that group's meetups. and you *will* meet Girls. i promise. and some of them will probably even be cute and funny and interesting and stuff. and you and they will all share a common interest, something to talk about that you enjoy talking about, and you and said Females won't be under any pressure to take your personal connections in any particular direction. you can do nothing together for the rest of your lives except discuss geological formations, or you can dive into bed together the night you meet, or (the most likely option), something in between, and whichever happens will be comfortable because there's no agenda...you're just doing what comes naturally. it's very great.
i'd been a very solitary creature for a long time, living in a place i didn't particularly like nor fit into, and i didn't think there was anybody here i was even *interested* in meeting. but after a few years of this i decided i just had to get off my tail and start meeting people. so meetup.com occurred to me (i'd been a member years before but wasn't sure of my interests and never really did anything with it) and joined a couple of local photography groups and started going out shooting with them and i met interesting, attractive Women the very first time, and a Woman i adore the very second time. i was wandering around shooting in a beautiful arboretum with this great, fun group for about half an hour when a Woman walked up an joined us - a late arrival - and i felt glad to see Her even though i'd never seen Her before. and i'm shy so i didn't say much to Her right off, but i did kind of hover around Her and try to prevent Her from getting separated from the rest of the group (She was staying behind to photograph things while the group moved on ahead) and She wound up striking up conversation with me - we had photography to talk about right from the start - and everything just rollled very naturally from there. i adore Her and spend lots of time with Her, doing all kinds of fun things. and She's local! i don't need a plane ticket to go see Her!
that's what's so great about meeting people this way. the localness and the something-to-talk-about are built right in. all you have to do is go and it *will* happen.
good luck, and have fun!
tiger