Are people really that lonely?

I've found it funny recently how so many people actually tell me intimate details of their lives. And I wasn't fishing for them, it has gone along the lines of 'So how have you been... Oh, really? Why/How's that?'and then I have received a deluge of information. None of which I will ever publicize, of course, in case anyone actually ever reads this stuff.

But I've been thinking, because some of the people I have been speaking to I'm not the closest with (these people are not strangers, but we arn't the closest of friends either), and by the sheer number of people who have been talking to me about things, I've come to think that most people are rather lonely, and that they really want, perhaps even need, people to share their lives with. People who just show enough interest in their lives to actually ask how things are going, or what's been happening. Because most people are willing to open right up if you just show that you care. And from the fact that so many people seem to be opening up to me (and it seems that I am the first one that they have opened up to), a fair few people don't have that someone about to open up to, so I end up as a surrogate. Not that I'm complaining, but I have been finding it strange due to the sheer quantity of what has come out.

Anyway, the irony of me talking about this on an open forum is not lost to me. So I guess I'll just be quiet now.

A quick question to anyone still out there

I'm thinking about whether anyone actually reads this blog, and the advantages/disadvantages of having readers or not. So here it is - the first couple of readers to send me an e-mail at lords2001@gmail.com will get a hat or something cool when I next see them. It's valid for a week (or shorter or longer, depending on what I feel like). So shoot me an e-mail if you do read this stuff, and let me know