Wow! Thank YOU all for actually DISCUSSING this. Thought I'd get at least a few nasty flames (the day is young, but I live in hope..ha, ha!)

Some of the key points for me are that I DO need "that circle of friends". There are many aspects of my life that ARE lived 'separately', simply because of things like: no kids, weird hours, odd job/hobby/passion, lack of formal education, the aforementioned smoking (I hear you Paul, thanks for the concern), a really off-the-wall sense of what's funny, and an obsession for investigating both/all sides of an issue, before making up my mind.

I can relate somewhat to Kendall's asking pointed questions to folks who may not know their OWN history terribly well. But for me....I simply wouldn't be able to do that with friends. It would simply add a dynamic to our relationship that's probably not neccessary to MAINTAIN that relationship.

As usual, listening and talking to Mudcatters helps one sort things out (and NOT at 100 bucks an hour!!) and I'm beginning to think that "group", "circle", and "friends" are altogether different. Perhaps I (and some of us) tend to lump them all together. The folks I'm truly closest to, do indeed know pretty much how I think about everything. (how could they not? When I'm not being the distant introvert, I'm the Motor-mouth extrovert!) Gotta do some more thinking on this.....thanks.

Rick