Three kinds of people:

1) Those I don't know. Assuming they're not some kind of public figure whose actions and words are broadcast far and wide with the express purpose of provoking a response from those who take in said words and actions, I like people I don't know, or more precisely, I like the potential imbued in people I don't know. Saying howdy to people I pass on the street is meaningful, in some small way; so is a couple minutes' worth of shooting the breeze with the guy next to you in the bar, or exchanging a smile with the mail carrier, und so weiter. It doesn't matter if anything becomes of it; as a matter of fact, in many cases I almost prefer momentary, ephemeral interaction, because prolonged exposure to others can create

2) People I know and dislike, distrust, am repelled by, am disgusted by, and/or any other number of negative things. Sadly, this category of people makes up a disproportionate number of of the human beings I deal with regularly, mainly due to the fact that I have a job and am exposed to various media. "Familiarity breeds contempt." Luckily, there are

3) People I know and like. These are the ones that really matter the most, although they all necessarily sprang from the first category. There's not much to say about this class of people, other than that I'm thankful to know them, and wish there were more of them. Alas, some grotesque, seemingly convoluted but probably really quite simple laws of human society dictate that shitheads outnumber good folks by at least 10,000,000 to 1.

It's no surprise that I'm not a very social man, then. Conversely, it makes perfect sense that I value my friends, family, and loved ones as much as I do; they're proof that the odds aren't totally against me. Between category three folks and category one strangers (who are exempt from the numbers game because I don't know them and therefore am compelled to qualify them as an unknown quantity; it's when I get to know someone that they fall into the second or, far less often, third categories), I'm not doing too badly.

I'm very good at boring myself, if you can't tell. Fine- better to bore myself than have someone else do it.