if you go to an AA meeting, people will listen to you. you might not like them (i grew up among AA meetings), but at least they will listen to you and probably relate
i know the painfully shy thing, too. it might never leave, but the superficial conversations can actually be helpful. consider this: if you can have "superficial" conversations, then you can always converse with the people you work with without them thinking you're totally stand-off-ish, but then again you don't have to let them know too much where they start prying. it will come in handy someday.
when you write that you're shy and have trouble communicating, in conjuction with what you described about your high school friends, to me that says that you're one of those people who chooses friends carefully, and that's a fantastic trait. there's nothing more annoying than people who claim to be your "instant buddy" and then never show up when you really need them. but your characteristic shows that you probably develop deeper, more meaningful friendships with people, which to most people is better.
if i were you, i'd take a couple of interest classes at a community college. it's cheap, if you don't do well academically it probably won't permanently ruin your academic record (hey, you can always go to another college!), you'll meet a lot of other people who take a no-pressure, interest-based approach and who are also looking for new acquaintances. plus, let's say you find a class you really like, like a modern music class, and you feel too embarrassed to speak up in class for fear of sounding stupid--who cares! you won't ever have to see those people again if you don't want to! and you only have to deal with them for one quarter or semester.
i was shy, too, and still am about making close friends. but some of the best people i met were at a community college. plus, there's other activities going on, clubs and sh*t, in case you end up not liking the classes--and unlike high school, you don't have to be enrolled in a class in order to do the activity you want (like those yearbook and student govt. classes I remember from then).