I partly agree with you (especially about #7) though as someone who's currently working on expanding his circle of friends, some social gatherings (I use Meetup

I partly agree with you (especially about #7) though as someone who's currently working on expanding his circle of friends, some social gatherings (I use Meetup.com a lot) provide better opportunities than others: noisy bars/restaurants where it's almost impossible to have conversation beyond a sentence a couple words long, limit the ability to get to know someone and find what you have in common/build rapport. Same goes for movies.