Hey Draxx, welcome, i can relate a bit to you. i used to go into the pub and buy a beer and sit on my own, while observing others. one guy, a retired policeman in Scotland had experience of profiling people, he had been approached by Special Branch/Scotland Yard which he rejected as he said they were all Masons!
Well, he took an interest in me and we got to know each other, I am as far as I can tell a high functioning aspie, but he profiled me and I knew he was doing it and he knew I knew as he was talking about me in the third person.
He said, "there's a guy who comes in here and just buys his beer and sits down in the corner, nobody bothers him and he doesn't bother them, he sits and reads his books and the newspapers, but he is ok. He finds it difficult to talk to people and make friends and to maintain friendships, but he's ok, he's intelligent, he's at university while all you idiots think your smart"
He was gesturing to others in the bar, he was actually very loud but quite amusing.
One day I came into the bar stressed out after sitting a uni examination, and he tlaked to me and calmed me down, about 8 people were there and i don't like talking in large crowds but I started talking all about this module of glasgow in the 19thC and i basically hit him with a lecture in half and hour which he enjoyed as all the others became bored and left, but by this time I couldn't care and was on a roll, but this guy was constantly asking me questions about the political, social and religous areas of our city, and then he said, "
I, Pech gives you lot a lecture and you all get up and leave cos he's too intelligent for you",
then we would start laughing, but this guy understood me and i knew it but I didn't know what was wrong with me, I just thought I was just extremely shy!
He was also heavily into the bible and Protestanism, and me being of Irish catholic background led to interesing debates!
Anyway, welcome, and try not to stress out to much! We can all meet someone who we will connect with eventually, maybe sometimes we are trying to hard as usually they come to us when we least expect it!