Yes, I suppose I'm saying it is a skill. It's like diplomacy... But you gotta make sure not to let anyone drain you, gotta keep your boundaries of what's ok with you. Part of the mystery of life figuring out who we are, where one person stops and another begins. I'm realizing recently that I have attracted some female friends in my life over the years that tend to talk about themselves mostly, and now from this thread, I think maybe I've been doing it so that I won't have to talk and show the real me. Plus the way my mind can race it is hard to get sentences spoken. It's hard to socialize casually for me in real life. Most can't relate to what I experience in my head, so I try to nod pleasantly, and talk about horribly boring topics like their vacations and such.