Literal language switch ON.
Boy meets Girl. He awkwardly and shyly avoids her whenever he sees her, because at one time he thought she was too good for him. Now he realizes that there is nothing to gain by thinking that way, and perhaps she is actually looking for a guy like him. It is certainly possible.

Boy and girl are in contact, but it is through internet means. Face-to-face conversations cannot be substituted. Boy needs to step up his... courtship process because he wants to make Girl happy and take her places. He now believes this is possible if he can program himself to walk over to her when he sees her instead of going into "avoidance mode", as he has previously done.

Hypothetically, after boy does this -- when can he ask Girl out?

*take her places = bring her out with him to have fun and laugh and stuff.

Boy needs to quit acting like a robot and thus act more like a human. Ask girl out for coffee or something not too formal and the boy goes from there.

I understand that showing emotion is scary because girl can be the one to avoid boy. . or other cases, the other way around. I think boy shouldn't move too quickly because that can scare off girl. It will be better to have a face-to-face contact with her because it will mean she knows who you are & how you look like. I am not saying be friends with her because whenever boy decides to ask girl out, girl will say "I see as a friend not as a lover". In that case just 'talk', meaning talk to have a relationship in the future.
I won't tell boy when exactly to ask girl out. Boy will know when the time is right. How? Girl will be more into boy. . boy will realize it. . & happily ever after. But yet don't wait too long or girl will move on.
If it never happens. . then it was never meant to be.
So, good luck boy :]

I think its safe to say that you have broken the ice by getting to know her on the computer.

The next logical step would be to send her a message, and ask her if she'd like to go to a movie Friday night. That will make it easier for you.

This of course, depends upon your age, and the age of the girl.

If she is interested, you'll now, if she isn't interested, no harm done. At least you tried.

Good luck.

KC and Jake, Boy doesn't know Girl too well... I mean maybe if the first real conversation goes well -- but it's really risky to "ask her out". Maybe after a FEW convos.

UhLeeUh,
Thank you for reminding Boy to start at FRIENDS before making a move. Girl better not limit Boy to "just friends" though.

I'm changing the tense of my situation now :P.

I'm continuing the friends thing but I'm not 100% sure where I stand with her. She responds to my texts and we almost saw each other recently but she backed out of the plans. However SHE was the one who suggested we meet up -- so I think there is some interest on her part. I tried calling her, but she didn't pick up. We later texted back and forth and I was hoping she would want to talk to me over the phone -- so I asked her if she was free later for a phonecall (I'm paraphrasing). She said no. I'm assuming she wants to stay text buddies for now -- but this won't stop me from raising the bar to phone buddies in the future. I MUST talk on the phone with her or meet her in person. Otherwise I'm not making any progress.
I msn'd her earlier today and she didn't respond. Whatever, I won't let it get to me.

My goal is to see her in person but I don't want to come on too strong by calling her every day of the week to find out if she's free.
Any suggestions?

Ok, so you are texting her to see if she's available for a phone call so you can see if she's available for a date??

Seems like a lot of excess and unnecessary communication. Because you both are a bit shy or something when it comes to phone calls, can you not text her and ask if she would want to meet up for lunch? Lunch isn't as "date-ish" as dinner plans would be, and maybe you can finally get through this wall of communication that seems to be impeding your progress with her!

Good luck :)