Totally get that, had the same thing happen when I moved for my wife's job a while back. I joined a weekly board game night at a local comic shop, just showing up every Thursday no matter what. That regular face time is everything, you stop being a stranger and start being the guy who always brings the weird pretzels. The animal shelter thing makes perfect sense, you're all there to do a job first so the pressure's off.

Exactly, and honestly that cake probably has more real food in it than most cereals anyway.

Yeah, I feel that. My last cooking project looked more like a crime scene than a meal.