No reason to be shy, you obviously have a good sense of humor. Best to go to some Gusgen Mines party and start random chitchat with people, maybe even ask if any of them is in a social shell. Can also /shout in Jeuno for a social LS, many are always accepting members. Even if it doesn't turn out to be the right shell for you, you still get to meet some people and it'll spread from there. It also gets easier in endgame when you can team up with lots of random people to do VW, for example. I think I met more people during VW than my entire previous FFXI career because it basically forces lots of new people on you almost every run you do. Not all of them will end up on your friend list, but it helps make these fights more entertaining, and you will remember people and /wave at them when you see them again, which happens a lot in here.