Hello H3rmit: Well... I guess I don't have much to offer here since I'm pretty-much an "urban hermit" myself. I neither have nor seek IRL friends. I guess there was a time when I might have been interested in such a thing. But, as I have aged, & not had any real friends, I've lost interest.

I think part of my problem has always been, my interests have always been so far outside of the mainstream, the likelihood of finding anyone else IRL who would share them is vanishingly small. This is one way in which the internet is valuable. It enables me to connect with others who have had similar experiences & who have similar interests, although even on-line I find few people I can really relate to in more than a superficial way. And of course they are, at best, only virtual friends... not IRL ones.

By the way, perhaps you already know this, but with regard to the "circles-of -trust" concept, Parker J. Palmer (who developed the techniques) has been an educator, & has done allot of writing on the subject.