So. Yeah. Spoilered for sob story:

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Recently got out of an abusive marriage. Shoulda gotten out years ago. Shoulda gotten out the first time she told me to my face that she couldn't comfort me when I was upset because I was so pathetic it was all she could do not to attack me. Shoulda, but didn't - but now I'm out, at least, and she's a thousand miles away.

But as it turns out, marrying your high school sweetheart after having precisely no other relationships leaves you with a really freaking crappy body of dating experience.

I seriously have no idea how to get back onto the market. Most of the local social avenues - by which I mean bars, bars, more bars, and also bars - are foreign territory to me and in any event I'm broke. I can talk to romantic interests without turning into a stuttering idiot but I never quite figured out the line between 'expressing interest' and 'coming on way too strong' and as a result I don't make the attempt at all 'cause, well, ruining friendships (and, in the case of the gentlemen, getting the crap beat out of me). If I can get to the first date stage I'm pretty sure I have it handled from there, between good advice from friends/family and having, y'know, functional human friendships to compare to, but I honestly have no clue how to get to that stage.