Points to ponder 

ROFL Tracy!  Uhm, what makes you think that NOT posting here would alter that???
;)

I'm not sure I should post here as it will just perpetuate more posting by you.  ;-)

Wow, a guy lurks in the dark for a day and all these posts grow on the outside?  How am I supposed to become self-absorbed in self-pity with all this knocking about up here?

Thanks for your posts.  I've fallen too far behind to reply to all of you, but Thanks.

Asim, I still go, but they had a week off.

Hey Rob, This has got to be your shortest post ever! LOL

You really need to get out there. What about your Bible Study group? did you stop going?
I realize i have a hard time communicating and having conversations. I shut down over the years. I'm trying now and working on this. Don't give up!!

Hey Rich, We are humans, We exist! We are real!

Ya know-
This brings to mind that perhaps I got so comfortable in my 22 year marriage, as bad as it was, that I didn't have to really work at socializing.  In fact, there were always people around so much so that I craved alone time to charge my emotional batteries.
So I should've been more carefull what I was wishing for, eh?
Perhaps it was staying with the devil I knew as opposed to the devil I didn't know...oh well...now I know I'm glad he left.
I do want to say that I value this site and the tremendous support I get from you all.

Now, see, I deal with people face to face all day long (I work in HR and recruiting).  So it's a relief after all that to "only" deal with people online.  ;)

But yeah, I know what you mean.  STBX is taking the kids to the beach tomorrow for a couple of days, so I'll be completely on my own for the first time in a while.  I could go to a bar and pick up a complete stranger, but I'll probably just go to a movie instead.  My picking-up-stranger skills are pretty rusty (okay, non-existent).

According to my counselor, this COUNTS as interactions. :)

Coming out of a DV situation, where my stbx isolated me from people, said counselor thinks that getting involved online or ANYWHERE is healthy. :)  so there :P

That said.... there is something to be said for face to face contact as well. However for me that is the major part of my job. (I'm playing hooky today -- don't tell anyone!)  Or even phone conversations.

So,  All you who are only interacting via internet, are you having phone conversations with anyone?

AND what about webcam conversations or live chat? those must count for something as well!

Robert Boyd! Get your butt out of the house for goodness sakes! I can not even begin to imagine not interacting with people, in person, for 2 days let alone for 2 weeks.... NOT healthy! The more you seclude yourself the harder it will be to get out there. Now GO!

I have actually gotten out more and interacted with people the past couple of weeks. Each time I headed out I wanted to go home but I stuck it out. Every time I ended up enjoying myself and I have learned that there are people out there who enjoy interacting with me in person. Having said that, I just finished my daily walk and rushed down to my cave to see if anyone e-mailed me or if there was any feedback on my posts here at D360! ;)
I will try to get out more!

A computer was my only comunication to my ex for almost 10 years. I have been on my own most of my life. I don't think I have ever had anyone I could depend on for the simplest things. Maybe it's me. But I'm not demanding. 
For a long time I only went out to the grocery store. My contact with the cashier was "did you find everything you needed? Thank you. Good bye"
Like Rob I work at home. I like doing what I do. It would be nice if this farm could pay it's own way. I'm 12 miles from town and live an isolated life. But I'm used to that. And most people do let you down. My standards are not that high when it comes to following thru on comittments. Except where my ex was concerned.
Most of my human contact is ordering food at the drive-thru window. Pay for the food at one window and pick it up at the next. A thank you and I'm on my way.
I have had more "converations" and human contact on this site than I have had in years. But I always was a loner.

The computer is my best friend too!  When I am home, I am always checking to see if anyone wrote to me.  How sad!  LOL.  I need to get out more!

Why is it that loneliness takes over after divorce.  I think it is because we are so used to having that face every day in our lives.  Now all I want to do is hit that face...LOL, not that I ever would.

It does take a  lot of energy to be social and out going.  What has happened to those people we use to be.  The internet is a safe place.  If you do not like what people have to say, then you can just push delete and move on.

Oh how I wish the ex had a delete button....poof bye!!

I have made it my mission to "get out there"  more often.  I hope it pays off in the end.

LOL DNM!  So true. 

"Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the flung poo of outraged chimps..."

Or something like that.

Yeah, this might sound weird or pathetic, but I gave up waiting for people a long time ago.  9 times out of 10 they let you down anyway.  I'd forgotten that while I was married, but I'm learning again.  I spend a lot of time on my own, and if I want to see a movie, I go. If I want to go to dinner, I go. It's kind of lonely, but it is what it is.  So I just get used to it.

Gentlemen- this all sounds too funny to be real, and yet I think this is one of those situations where the truth is stranger than fiction.
I find myself not wanting to go out and having to interact- it takes emotional energy that I don't have much of.
I did force myself to go to a movie with a friend last week.  I slept that night and most of the next day.
Really, though, is this normal behaviour?
Perhaps if I went out more often I'd get used to it and not be drained by it.
Robert-Boyd, there are parts of Shakespeare that are questionable, in simian-speak, anyway :^)

I'm pretty close to that already.  I work out of the house.  That was one nice thing about marriage.  I always had a friendly face.  Ok, well at least until the end...

Wow, you do have to get out, Rob.  (You too, Rich.)  There are real, flesh and blood people out there.  Go get in their faces.

If we're not careful, our society could end up like that in Isaac Asimov's "Robot" novels, where people never actually come face-to-face.

LOL!  You kidding? I'm a chimpanzee chained to a typewriter trying to hammer out Shakespeare. ;)

You and me both! The internet is becoming the only place where I can interact with adult humans and I guess there is no actual proof that I am interacting with humans!