My idea of hell is having two people in the car who are talking to each other rather than to me.

i can see myself either liking or hating that. i'd like it if it were the paramour and the *poing* geeking out about some esoteric bit of code. i get all gooey inside when they have a great discussion without me facilitating anything between them. :) or if two or more friends were discussing some other subject about which i know little, i'd really enjoy that.

i would hate it if the people made me feel like they wished i weren't actually there, if they fought, if they made out verbally, if they talked about things that really bother me (nasty gossip frex), etc. and if they required me to participate, that's the part that i dislike on principle while driving.

i have the public face thing a lot less now than i used to; yeah, that was once a major factor. now it's just bandwidth because i am much less capable of tracking multiple tasks thanks to (*grump*) the depression. it's ok with friends because i already know so much about them, but with new people there is so much to pay attention to that it overwhelms me. and i am also much less likely to share driving trips with people with whom i don't feel comfortable to start with, so this no longer comes up much.