Did you reboot after making runlevel 3 the default?

Thank you all for your help! Here's the scoop:

I typed init 3 which again froze the screen I was logged in to. So I switched to another screen and typed startx -- :1 which brought me to afterstep! Success! Strangely I can't get rid of the graphical login for cntl-alt-7 (when I hit cntl-alt-backspace it says:
INIT switching to run level 3
INIT sending processes the term signal
INIT switching to run level 5

and then the login. BUT, I am very happy to at least have 99% of the problem solved. Thank you all so much for your patience and persistence in helping a newbie out!

Xcfe www.xfce.org is a /good/ fat free desktop

I thought it was cholesterol free

I am still curious as to the problem with your run level 3 vinuosity, if you find out, you should let us know.

Cool