In my second year of school, at the start of the semester, I decided that the kids I was hanging out with were boring. For a lifetime, people puzzled the hell out of me.

I watched them gossip, get excited about things that were meaningless to me (clothing brands, etc.), take what did not belong to them, underpay workers, lie about getting sex (men), and a thousand other things.

It took me a long, long time to understand it was all about status, self-interest, and, I suppose, ignorance and not being particularly bright.

I find that my friends do come from the web. They have been there for me in trouble, have financially helped me over and over again, have been keen to meet me, email me long letters of their lives, etc. In some ways, some of them are parasocial relationships, but in other ways, many have become genuine friends.

No, I never went to parties with them, and I never went out to socialize with them, etc. Like I said, it was all beyond me.

So, yes, I must be a 'loner,' but I don't feel any loss for that.