Full or half-empty?

I used to love shorthanded tables. I was fairly successful at them, especially at 5-person SnGs, and they were a great way to cut my teeth into real money.
Now I'm wondering if I made it harder than it needed to be at first.
When I switched to playing full tables full-time, I made more money in one week than I usually make in a month (and I usually make pretty good money for low-limit poker in a month), both in tournament play and in rings.
I had cards, sure, but more than that, I had action on them whenever I did have a monster.
And that brings me to my post.
I"m now a full-time, full-table ring player.
And I'm loving it.
It's intimidating for a new player like me to sit at a table with nine other pokerites. Almost every hand, someone seems to have a whopper. I mean, if there are 10 strippers, one of them has to be hot, even if the others all have C-section scars and don't believe in trimming down there, right?
But I realized that I was already playing for a full table when I was playing five-table hands. A-10 in early position? A limp or a pitch. Raise up to 9-9 and then play passively. Only call a re-raise with the big three, AA, AK and KK (I probably even pitch QQ).
You can call me weak/tight if you want, but I'm very picky about my starting hands. They make my decisions easier after the flop, as Harrington advocates.
The only problem with that was at the 5-person tables, the blinds come around fast, so many times, I found myself down even if I had good hands and wasn't calling much.
Not only that, but when I would have a monster, I wouldn't get action, either because no one had anything or they were afraid of my squeaky-tight image (understandably, by the way).
But in a full ring table, not only is it pretty certain that someone else will at least have something, they rarely are able to pay attention to individual players, so image isn't nearly as important.
I can see why Willy Wonka had trouble with the full tables in the higher limits, as tables full of good players are hard to overcome.
And in a tournament, well, the payoffs are simply bigger. Yes, I don't cash quite as often, but I cash far more than I thought I would with a full table, and therefore, my profit is much bigger.
I always thought peite was the best package, but now, I'm starting to appreciate full sizes even more.
Just in poker. Not in my choice of strippers.