Sophie is home all day, and the Hints and Tips book clearly explains the events you can activate with her and how you begin the cam girl storyline. The same thing can be said for Matt, his events are explained in the book.
If you explore the city, you'll encounter events at the park, walking to the City Center/Downtown. If you visit the Gym, you can meet Damen and visit him daily downtown. If you talk with Amelia, you can unlock the nightclub and invite various friends to join you.
All of these are either explained in the hints book or easily found by exploring. I do appreciate the feedback though and agree with it partially, a flaw of the game is that to progress the storyline all you can do is go to work.