How do you make friends out of strangers?

It's really hard to make a friend out of someone you meet randomly in a store etc. But it did happen to me once and I had a 5 year friendship with the person. We were both looking at video games and we talked and just clicked. But I consider myself very lucky. But if all you do is talk to random people on the street I think it will be more discouraging than helpful.

I'm not very outgoing but I want to improve. I also need to make more local friends. I'm planning to see if I have any luck at an anime conventions. Because at least everyone there is of similar interest and I know other people who have made new friends at conventions.

Some kind of class (not necessary college, but local community classes or sports clubs) is a good place to try make friends. If your taking the same class of interest like an art class or language, something kind of fun. If you're making small talk and talking about that common interest before class everyday with classmates given some time they might be comfortable enough to do something outside of class.

But even still it's hard, if you were used to a certain set of friends for years and people change, and you lose them. It's just the matter of finding and connecting with the right people that you really click with. Don't give up hope, nobody was born unworthy of making friends.

Jam it back in, in the dark.