I hung out with a friend today that I hadn't seen in a few months. We ended up going to a car show and meeting up with some of his friends, and some of his friends' friends. I completely felt like the odd man out. Everyone was playfully ragging on each other, and it was just like a rapid fire of quips...

I even received a few, but see the thing is I feel like my mind is working in slow motion. I'm not sure if it's a memory problem or that I've sort of "unplugged" socially until I found pickup... but it was strange

I'm not saying I want to learn to rag on anyone, but it seems like my mind is running slower than the conversation. What is the fix? Listen to more interactions? Should I watch Friends? LOL... Join some kind of club and just interact more? Sit down and do some memory exercises? (I mean they were pulling all kinds of popculture references too... Ones that I should know, but forget!)

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"A man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks, he becomes." - Mohandas Gandhi

Shit! Talk about pressure!

So what if you didn't make an impression with friends of friends? Are you going to be seeing these brief and random acquaintances again any time soon? I highly doubt it.
Just put it down to having an off day. You can't be expected to be on the ball 24/7/365 right? And if you think that YOU can be perky and the center of all attention for all that time, go right ahead.
Could it be that you're simply over thinking the situation?
Don't try and figure out everything, like there's some kind of methodology for every situation. Just move on.
But if you feel you need to do something about yourself, then go right ahead. Jusy don't watch Friends that'll only teach you to be a moron.

Hey man. This happens to me sometimes too. It used to happen a lot more, and I'll tell you what was going on in my head and how I fixed it. If what's going on in my head isn't the same thing that's going on in your head then I don't think my way of fixing it will work, so I'll put a couple fixes on here to try and help you out.

Normally in my head, I notice that I do worse while conversating when I'm thinking too much on the actual quality of the conversation, and more particularily my contribution to the quality of the conversation. I realized the best way to fix this is to concentrate on portraying a certain feeling instead of concentrating on introducing awesome topics or making awesome topics awesomer. In my case I just think to myself "What's the positive thing to say here?", and I blurt out my answer. Seems to work.

Now if that doesn't help you, your problem probably lies with you being out of state. Here's a couple fixes for that.

1) Just scream to yourself before you meet up with your friends. Like, YAHOOO! For added effect stomp your feet like your having a temper tantrum.

2) You said things were going in slow motion. Well concentrate, and this is going to sound wierd, and see if you can perceive things even slower. For instance, watch somebody that is moving, and see if you can "see" them moving slower.

3) Concentrate on your breathing, and just feel what parts your breath is going to until you feel chill.

Most importantly just feel relaxed (easier said then done). None of the people that you meet should make you feel uncomfortable, afterall your alpha

Part of the problem is lack of social muscles. You just need to start going out all the time.

Another problem is that you're being socially reactive, as opposed to proactive. You're letting other people create a vibe you're not comfortable with.

Learn to lead the conversations, and you'll never be the odd man out.