So what I did was to join MeetUps.com and search for my vague interests.

I also started going to church again. -- don't know if that's for you.

And this is going to sound weird, but the Craigslist discussion forums also provided me with some fun conversations and allowed me to meet some new people online first (I created a new gmail account with a pseudonym), and then later in person when I found a few that I really connected with. First, start the discussions in another state if you're concerned about creepers, and then when you've learned some basic rules and know how things go on these forums, switch to a different city in your state, and then finally to your city.