I feel insulted...

Well first, try not to be all despair about this the stuff i said. But as for why its looked down upon? Here in the states we have a personal space bubble that evolved out of puritanical values and western ideals of how people should interact. It pretty much just stuck since then because nobody questioned it. Its so ubiquitous people enforce it upon each other and upon themselves from birth without every knowing why in the first place.

I'm a cuddle slut. I would be lying if I said there weren't family members I would like to bathe with.

You're gonna come across this when getting to know people. Some have only superficial desires. I was in a chatroom way back and was talking to a girl. We decided to tranfer to yahoo messenger and have a video chat. Once she got a look at my face she made this "grossed out look" and immediately ended. Then deleted me, then wrote as her status "given up" so needless to say I was pretty offended. Over the years I've come to realize if they're not interested they will break contact. It's nothing to get upset over. They may not like your looks, personality, interests, etc. Just let go of the baggage and move on. Holding on to it will just bring you down. I have an anime pic as my avatar cause I like it but I also have several pics of myself in the gallery. Along with a description of myself in the "about me" I still find it surprising how few people will actually use a profile.

Get a puppy. I've just seen the Andrex puppy on TV and it's soooooo cute!! Unfortunately I'm not allowed a dog :( blah. @Rou - I thought people in the states were super happy and chatted to everyone...is that just what they show on TV? The coldest place I know is London. There was a woman trying to get her buggy up some stairs as I got off the train. There were people just standing watching her! I couldn't believe it. But when I went to help even she looked gobsmacked. It's kinda sad there are places like that where people simply ignore each other.

The US has all types. It's a big place. You'll run into many people that will just strike up some small talk out of nowhere or hold the door for you, but also many that won't give you the time of day. Now if your car breaks down on the side of the road, good luck. The odds of someone stopping to help are close to zero. You'll inevitably find a bit of the "don't bother me" and "I don't want get to involved" mentalities, but you're bound to run into that anywhere.

People are super friendly here because this is a small and laid back Oregon town. If you walk by someone on the sidewalk, about half the time they greet you. Although since this is a sleepy retirement town and nothing is open late I do get hastled sometimes if I'm walking around late at night because the cops just assume I'm out to buy drugs or cause mischief. And random people offer me drugs late at night, lol.