Conversations Always Go Awkwardly Amok!

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It seems no matter how hard I try (in fact I think sometimes trying too much makes it worse), most of my convos, especially with people new to me socially, always end in a bout of awkward silence. Either that, or I make a comment that comes out wrong or phrased/paced/arranged strangely, and the other person feels uncomfortable. Some days randomly are better/worse than others. Today was one of the unsuccessful ones. I work with customers and for some reason was mispronouncing or spatting out words strangely. I wasn't particularly nervous, I just couldn't project my words normally. Other days I could almost pass for normalcy.

In addition, I often bounce in place or tap my hands when talking to someone, which some have told me comes off as being anxious, but I often do it subconsciously out of habit. I'm sure some of you can relate to this. It just sucks not being able to successfully maintain a convo with the people that actually interest me.

What about you guys? Can you convince other people your normal or do you have any quirks that "reveal" yourself to others? Are you decent at holding convos with people without awkwardness? If so, teach me your ways!

join the club.
the only person on earth that i can talk to effectively, stares at me in the mirror.

yup yup, I'm super awkward.

my solution to this usually entails making fun of myself. then people think I trust them exceptionally or something, and so start flirting with me. then I have to make fun of myself more about how nervous I am when someone starts flirting with me.

vicious cycle.

I have to prepare a lot, go over conversations in my head and think out responses to several specific things that someone may say or do. If I'm caught off guard with something new, I'm really struggling. I feel ill-equip. The only thing I seem to do well in a social setting is deliver one-liners. If I can make someone laugh, I can get by.

I self-deprecate a lot too (according to my bf waaay too much) in conversation. Maybe people flirt with you because it makes you come off as very humble.

Hey the ability to deliver good one liners is something few NTs even have. Luckily awkward humor is "in" right now with shows like The Office and comedians like Charlene Yi, Michael Cera, and Jim Gaffigan (well sorta, maybe he's just more self deprecating). Sometimes I will say something I didn't mean as a joke and everyone will laugh as though I was being sarcastic. Then its awkward because everyone else thinks its hilarious but in my little thought bubble I'm thinking "I was serious. And its not funny."

I used to be bad at making conversations, small talk especially. Now Im a lot better, I dont really find small talk a problem anymore. What is more the problem is the timing with knowing when to approprietely intiate a conversation and close one. Sometimes I dont talk to people when I should, or I talk to people when the timings not right. Often times I prolong a conversation longer then whats appropriete.

I become super agitated and feel very panicked. The person I'm talking to generally begins to become uncomfortable and proceeds to ensure that they are not in another 1 on 1 situation with me again.

Actually, it doesn't make me sad because I don't ever like to meet new people and I don't really care what people think of my odd behaviour. If they are nice people or others with AS, then they probably would have seen me struggle to begin with and not judged me on it.