Hey don't feel bad at least you didn't do what I did. I went to help my Father out for personal/medical reasons and knew I would not be able to game for at least 3 months. It ended up 4 months but before I left to save room on the server I requested to remove all my charracters, well I was down to one "Jay Robinson" at lvl 9 or 10 and Very involved in gaming with him. Now I'm back and I'm thinking about just staing with one again "Garnet Stonesmythhy" (I'll decide that later).
So for me its really strange seeing characters that "Jay" knows but "Garnet" never met. I allways try to talk to them but, being new for the second time is tough but I realize that sometimes folks are tring to catch up with a party or just don't want to talk for many reasons and I just try to talk to everyone so noone thinks poorly of me.
Just do what you want inside of the rules and don't let others get you down. And take what others say with a grain of salt. Now if a GM has a problem with something I think they will PM you and /or give you a "TELL" in game and that is the ONLY thing that you should take to heart.
Hope I helped,
Zen