>>355252492
>I generally have difficulty dealing with speaking up unless its something i know a lot about already
you've already got the jist of it. if you ever join a meetup, its perfectly ok just to hang around and listen, and if you hear someone say something you are knowledgable about, you can pipe up and contribute. this is a perfectly fine way to navigate socially. 

>Butting into people's convos is really weird, but so is just floating around and eavesdropping
its not, and its not

cant help you with the avatar stuff, just pick whatever