Wow. That does sound like an interesting twist on what you were expecting out of the day! Hope it all works out friendship-wise. It certainly is a challenge (at least for me) to make friends at this age and with this job.
I have a hard time making friends too. It's too bad this situation turned out to be a little odd. Maybe it will turn out okay. It's funny. I'm married and have kids and I'm always looking for unmarried women to be friends with who are willing to go out drinking once in a while or something. The moms I know are not into that. So, my newest potential friend is a single lesbian woman with whom I have a ton in common. We're hoping to get together after the holidays. This will be my first attempt at friendship since moving her almost 4 years ago. Good luck finding new potential friends yourself.
Goodness, that twist on the day really does emphasize the extent to which making friends is like dating! I've been feeling this myself lately. A colleague of mine who would clearly like to be friends keeps making overtures; unfortunately, I'm really not interested (for a variety of reasons) and keep putting her off, and it really does feel like a weird quasi-dating situation. And then I've made overtures to another colleague--kind of "asked her out"--and I think that may go somewhere but I'm oddly worried about seeming too eager. It's all very strange!
The secret to making friends for me has been extending lunch/coffee/wee dram invitations more often than I ordinarily would.
In one town I lived in for a couple of years, that meant ending up with some friends with whom I had less in common with than I would like, but the only alternative was having no friends at all. (Needless to say, I left that town PDQ.)
Good luck!
Wow! No, not quite what you generally expect when looking for a new friend. 
It is very strange trying to make friends at this age, and the whole married/unmarried kids/no kids thing does seem to complicate things. Some of the other new faculty that I like seem to be into going out to bars or to hear music (like, late at night in bars kind of music), and I am such an old fart, I'm just not interested in that any more (though going out somewhere where people can drink doesn't bother me - I just am not interested in the smokiness/noise of most bars). I like to go out to dinner and/or to the movies and/or to someone's house. The folks I know who seem more interested in this kind of thing all have kids, and I'm never sure how to negotiate that socially ("let's go out and do something! but you have to get a sitter!" doesn't seem very polite!).
I suppose what this really demonstrates is that it is something that requires a lot more effort these days, and I'm not use
used to it. (that's what I was going to say!)
I have been really struggling to find friends this past year with my new job, new state, etc. I have not been able to figure out why it's so difficult. I relate to how seeking out friends can feel like dating. I think the weirdness is ultimately worth it, but the initial weirdness can be there for sure.
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