Oh, to be the New Girl again.

You know who she (or he – that would be the New Guy) is. You make an appearance somewhere and you’re a new face, suddenly everybody wants to know about you. You’re mysterious. You stand out. You’re new.

It happens all the time in a small area like Bangor, where we tend to see faces over and over again. You have a regular place you go, whether it’s Shaw’s or Dunkin’ Donuts or a bar. The man who rings up your groceries, the woman who pours you a coffee, the people waiting for a beer – they’re almost always the same.

So when a New Girl (or New Guy) walks in, she immediately grabs our attention: Who is that?

Late last winter, when I started to venture out of my apartment more often, I hooked a couple of partners-in-crime into going to a popular open mike night in Bangor. I ended up chatting with a man who wondered why he hadn’t seen me there before.

You can take it as a cheap line, but I think he honestly wanted to know. He told me his buddy was managing the bar, so he was a regular (can’t blame him for wanting to go where he was a familiar face and where he didn’t have to pay the cover charge) and he knew everybody who walked into the place. But he didn’t know me.

We talked for a few minutes and discovered we both liked sports and art. The next day we had lunch. We talked more.

Nice guy, but not for me. OK, I’ll admit it. He stood me up a few days later.

But the point was made. What’s new and exotic is exciting and different.

A few months ago, I saw the process work again, this time from the outside.

I’d actually known this New Girl for a couple of years, so she wasn’t new to me. She was a friend of a friend who I saw at the holidays, but she was living in Europe.

The New Girl moved back home this fall and was taking classes at the University of Maine. We started bringing her along to our nights out, and I was amazed at what happened.

A few days after the New Girl joined us, I got an e-mail from a friend.

I was just wondering, he wrote, who was the New Girl sitting next to you? What’s she like?

And a few days later, another e-mail popped up from someone else. What do I know about the New Girl? Is she seeing anybody?

Now, I’m not sure if these guys were interested in the New Girl or were just interested in gossip. But it was interest, and her appearance generated something.

One of the struggles of living in eastern Maine is that it’s hard to find new places to go to because, well, there aren’t a lot of places to start with.

Take a break from your regular stops. If you’re sick of seeing the same people, chances are they could use some time away from you, too. Then go back and see what happens.

This worked like magic for me a few weeks ago. A couple of weekends out of town for work, combined with the high school basketball tournament, kept me from my regular places. During that time I got a phone call wondering where I was – and when I was coming out next.

Or try varying your routine. If you’re a regular at the supermarket on Broadway in Bangor, for example, why not head over to the Brewer store? If you’re tired of the same faces at the same places, shake things up.

You’ll be a New Girl (or Guy) again. And you’ll see tons of New Girls and Guys, too.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600, or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.