Corrections · 3
You are right about "How are you?" being superficial. The expected answer is often just "Good, thanks", so neither party takes the greeting literally. Once in a while a complete stranger will actually go into their life story, which is awkward.
I tend to prefer "Nice to meet you", "Good/Nice to see you again", or "It's been a while" when greeting strangers or acquaintances.
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Today I'll write something about myself. I feel very uncomfortable about greeting people in person, especially when it comes to strangers.These two sentences are so closely related that I think a comma is necessary.
I think It is so awkward to say "Hi! How are you?" - and giving a hug or kiss on the cheek is just as bad. Well, usually you don't give real hugs and kisses, right? It's actually just a slight hug and touch on the cheeks. Of course I'm not saying I'd like to hug and kiss people for real, that would be way worse.
You've already said that you are writing about yourself, so including "I think" or "I thought" too many times is redundant. This first one is marginal, and works better if you say "I think it is too awkward..." or "I find it (too/so) awkward...".
Also, I used to avoid saying "how are you", because I thought it was so superficial. I didn't want to know how the person was doing, so it would be just from mouth out if I asked them. Nowadays I ask "how are you", just because it's considered more regardful, but I still feel a bit bad about it. I wish I didn't have to greet people.
You've moved on to a new idea so I think a paragraph is appropriate. In casual writing 1-5 sentences per paragraph is ideal.
The yellow sections are correct and understandable, but not natural expressions. I'm having a hard time coming up with good English equivalents, I might have said "shallow" and "friendly" respectively, but those are kind of dry.
Maybe "I didn't want to know how the person was doing, so the question had no heart."
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