hello all,
i had to do it.
after listening to everybody's comments about my questions to the list, i went out and checked on the current state of squeak and self.
looks like squeak and self definitely need a lot of attention from experienced developers and visionaries.
since i don't fall squarely in either category, it would be best to work with pharo.
also, as someone had mentioned, almost all smalltalk systems have diverged too much from the st-80 specification, so why not go for pharo which is so highly polished already and is being constantly improved!
so here i am, back in pharo land.
~mayuresh