Da King: My guess would be that you're hanging on to your current friends out a fear of loneliness, despite the fact that, even when you're with them, you feel lonely. Your best friend sounds like no friend at all. And since none of them seem willing to communicate long enough to discuss how you feel, prehaps the time has come to stop trying. Who knows? Maybe when you stop calling or making an effort to hang out, they'll turn into human beings and ask after you...but don't count on it.

You enjoy stories and fantasies, eh? Well, I'm not sure of your age, but there are multiple solutions to finding friends with similar interests. The most universal is probably your local library, which usually has various groups you can join. I was insane with loneliness in NY when I lived in a boarding house, so I joined a writing group at my local library and had an absolute blast. Go and ask one of the librarians what kind of programs are run there, and then try to join them.

If you are in school or college, finding friends is as easy as hanging out in popular gathering places for your kind of group and simply saying "hi." I believe I met one group of friends when they were talking about playing AD&D, and I turned to them and asked, "You guys play D&D?" We were off to the races in terms of conversation, and I soon had new things to do on the weekends.

There was a time, after a particularly messy breakup with a girlfriend, when I lost about every friend I had. I'd gone a little nuts and became very abusive, so they simply walked away. Once I got my head back together, I found myself in a donut shop one evening, enjoying a cup of coffee, when a small group that was debating something dragged me into their conversation. I soon found another group of people to hang out with, and they were there every night. In fact, they were the ones who eventually inspired a screenplay I wrote years later entitle, Anyone Can. (I actually used the aspects of our real life conversation as the opening of the script!)

You are not happy with where you are in life, and so it falls to you to change where you are. It's kind of what I'm doing, although my situation is a tad more dire in that people are becoming aware that I cannot be so alone anymore; I need to be near family. The bonus is that I happen to have friends in the area I'm moving to, and so I will be even less alone.

So, young warrior prince...go forth, and conquer new lands, and perhap one day you truly will be "da king."

bluewind95: It's good to hear from you, sweetie. Please, please, please feel free to come and complain or what have you...because when you're posting and venting your woes, at least we know where you are.

smellie_hippie: Surgery for TMJ, you say? Well, the best part of this bad situation is that young folk recover must better from surgery than us "old" folk. When I was 18, and again when I was 20, I had surgery on my left knee. My recovery was almost a non-event. A month after both surgeries, I was up and about without a second thought, and years later my knees merely do some extra popping, none of which is painful. But now...? Surgery is my second to last answer for anything, with the very last being "dangerous" medications. That's because surgery is a longer recovery for me, and I don't heal as well as I did when I was a youth. (Have you people forgotten the adventures that followed the multiple nerve decompression of my right leg? G-d, what a nightmare!)

Now, because this is happening around her face, there may be more of a fear of scarring than the actual surgery. (Funny what the mind finds important, isn't it?) Ask about scarring and whether a plastic surgeon will be involved at any point. Just knowing the event will not leave many physical scars will be a relief for all, especially the young patient who, I'm sure, is concerned about her looks.

Zeb: Oh, sure. Take my idea and expand upon it, thereby making me look bad. Now I have to hate you for...Oh, I'm gonna say five minutes.