My last post was a bit on the negative side. I consider myself a mostly positive person. Except I don't want to be stepped on and I will stand up for myself and for my family. So I apologize for being so crabby. It has passed.
Yesterday some of my friends started playing a facebook meme. It is so simply sweet that I had to join in. A very simple concept: my friends were invited to send me an inbox message with a number between 1 and 100 and I would write them a message as my status that only they would know was for them. I started it as an opportunity to warm some hearts but what ended up happening was I warmed my own. It seems I had forgotten how many truly beautiful people I am surrounded by. I needed the reminder: people are good. Because often I am hermit like in nature and forget to reach out and touch the people I love (except for the five who live in my house, they are inundated with my reaching). If you have the time I suggest you try it yourself. I feel like I could conquer any adversity right now, it was empowering.
Also? I finished my Christmas cards. And I even enjoyed them this year which was a relief since I enjoyed NOT sending them so much last year that I was a bit skeptical.
Happy Friday!
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
Friday, December 10, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Bah Humbug
I haven't posted in more than two weeks. In fact, I haven't written anything since I finished my NaNoWriMo novel on November 26. I haven't even looked at the 150 pages of my own novel or written a Christmas letter. I haven't written a single letter or note to my darlings. I have only tweeted, texted, and facebooked which hardly counts as writing. I miss the writing but I needed to catch up on some things, namely the house which exploded in Christmas Cheer.
Christmas Cheer makes it sound intentional. Trust me, I'm trying. Because the honest truth is: Bah Humbug. I hate the mess that Christmas makes in our little house and I hate the mass of shopping I will do over the next week, planned though it may be and happy as I am to give, the shopping part still slays me.
And then all my friends started changing their facebook pictures to cartoon characters with the disclaimer that they were doing it in an effort to stop violence towards children. And while I wholeheartedly support ending violence towards children in all capacities, I don't see what changing my profile picture will do towards that end. Today, I changed my mind: all of the changed profile pictures have brought to the table a discussion of child abuse. And discussion is ALWAYS important. Even if getting out and doing something is MORE practical, discussion leads to better awareness which tends to lead towards more DOING SOMETHING. And so, good on you all for changing your pictures.
Today I am considering the things in our lives which lead to intentional happiness and the bringing forth of Christmas Spirit. I am all in for intentional happiness. And I love that Christmas brings families together. I am looking forward to all of it. Now if only I could control the mess.
Christmas Cheer makes it sound intentional. Trust me, I'm trying. Because the honest truth is: Bah Humbug. I hate the mess that Christmas makes in our little house and I hate the mass of shopping I will do over the next week, planned though it may be and happy as I am to give, the shopping part still slays me.
And then all my friends started changing their facebook pictures to cartoon characters with the disclaimer that they were doing it in an effort to stop violence towards children. And while I wholeheartedly support ending violence towards children in all capacities, I don't see what changing my profile picture will do towards that end. Today, I changed my mind: all of the changed profile pictures have brought to the table a discussion of child abuse. And discussion is ALWAYS important. Even if getting out and doing something is MORE practical, discussion leads to better awareness which tends to lead towards more DOING SOMETHING. And so, good on you all for changing your pictures.
Today I am considering the things in our lives which lead to intentional happiness and the bringing forth of Christmas Spirit. I am all in for intentional happiness. And I love that Christmas brings families together. I am looking forward to all of it. Now if only I could control the mess.
Friday, January 9, 2009
How Facebook ruined my.....
and other such nonsense.
Facebook has changed my identity and leveled my sense of privacy just a little. The same way that blogging has opened me up for criticism, so has this little social networking site. I claim over and over again, that you only put out what you want people to see. The thing is, I am not the same person for all of the people in my life. I want my boss to see me differently than my co-workers, and differently than my friends and most certainly differently than my family. So what is left for ALL of these people to see at the same time? Well, it's still me, but its a different me. I'm not sure that I like this homogenousness that has become my Facebook personality.
I have also found myself in an odd position (odd for me). I have too many Facebook friends. And not in the out there trolling for Facebook friends kind of way. Sort of more like my daily life causes me to come across many people and those many people feel it necessary to befriend me in this way, even though we would likely remain only acquaintances in the real world. I'm to blame too. I've done it. Felt like I maybe had more of a connection with someone at work than I actually did. And since I work in all areas of a 300+ bed hospital, it's not difficult to connect myself to many people. Many great people, who I wouldn't really consider friends outside of work.
Having grown up in a small village, and going to school with many of the same people from Kindergarten through to Graduation, I suppose it's not unusual that many of them have also become "friends". But why? I didn't keep in touch with most of them in the first place. A few I regret losing touch with. But most I didn't really care for in the first place. And now my life is on display for them to judge as I am judging them. Truth be told, even if I didn't care for them, I didn't wish them anything but the best and am happy to find that most are successful in their own ways. But still...did I need to know that?
My sister commented a few months ago that I am the perfect Facebook person because I don't tend to keep secrets anyway and because I don't tend to burn bridges when I move forward in my life. But this year, this past year, I managed to alienate a good friend. Now I am in the awkward position of having to follow her status updates or delete her as a friend. Since I am hopeful for the possibility of a reconciliation at some point, I am not ready to hit the delete button, but in the meantime it's damn awkward. And even if I hit that delete button, we still have way too many people in common to be able to avoid each other entirely.
It may be time to cull my friends a little. I'm afraid I might offend someone in the process though and how complicated that could be. Especially since I need some of these people to trust me in order for us to do the kind of work that we do. So umm, keep the work friends and cull the old school friends? I just don't know.
There are the couple of things I am truly grateful for. I was extraordinarily excited to "find" the first boy I ever loved. And we've had a couple of nice exchanges since. I have managed to keep better tabs on my best friend's seventeen year old son, giving him a safe place to land, and solid adultish advice when he sought/seeks it. I was happy to find a way to have somewhat regular contact with the best man from our wedding, who opted out of growing up and therefore has been very difficult to contact over the last few years; that and he's a bit transient (hi J!). Was not growing up an option? Man, how come I didn't know that before I had kids who needed me to be responsible.
That last remark was a little joke. Seriously, I like being a grown up. I like that our (YES, OUR, as in belonging to us) living room is filled with the laughter of our children.
The last problem is a problem. Of medium proportions, depending on the day for me. Applications. I went through a try everything phase which invariably left me wading through a lot of crap to find the odd good game. Like Scramble and Geo Challenge. Which I then proceeded to waste hours trying to master. Usually at the expense of sleep. Most of them I`ve given up. Reminding myself that Facebook is a social networking tool, not a way to absent myself from day to day life.
So while Facebook hasn't really ruined anything in my life, it has made things a bit more complicated than I would have liked to admit. And while blogging has changed the way I write from serious considerations and journaling to first draft, off the cuff, I am still here (on blogger) and there (on facebook). Better, worse, or just different? What do you think?
Facebook has changed my identity and leveled my sense of privacy just a little. The same way that blogging has opened me up for criticism, so has this little social networking site. I claim over and over again, that you only put out what you want people to see. The thing is, I am not the same person for all of the people in my life. I want my boss to see me differently than my co-workers, and differently than my friends and most certainly differently than my family. So what is left for ALL of these people to see at the same time? Well, it's still me, but its a different me. I'm not sure that I like this homogenousness that has become my Facebook personality.
I have also found myself in an odd position (odd for me). I have too many Facebook friends. And not in the out there trolling for Facebook friends kind of way. Sort of more like my daily life causes me to come across many people and those many people feel it necessary to befriend me in this way, even though we would likely remain only acquaintances in the real world. I'm to blame too. I've done it. Felt like I maybe had more of a connection with someone at work than I actually did. And since I work in all areas of a 300+ bed hospital, it's not difficult to connect myself to many people. Many great people, who I wouldn't really consider friends outside of work.
Having grown up in a small village, and going to school with many of the same people from Kindergarten through to Graduation, I suppose it's not unusual that many of them have also become "friends". But why? I didn't keep in touch with most of them in the first place. A few I regret losing touch with. But most I didn't really care for in the first place. And now my life is on display for them to judge as I am judging them. Truth be told, even if I didn't care for them, I didn't wish them anything but the best and am happy to find that most are successful in their own ways. But still...did I need to know that?
My sister commented a few months ago that I am the perfect Facebook person because I don't tend to keep secrets anyway and because I don't tend to burn bridges when I move forward in my life. But this year, this past year, I managed to alienate a good friend. Now I am in the awkward position of having to follow her status updates or delete her as a friend. Since I am hopeful for the possibility of a reconciliation at some point, I am not ready to hit the delete button, but in the meantime it's damn awkward. And even if I hit that delete button, we still have way too many people in common to be able to avoid each other entirely.
It may be time to cull my friends a little. I'm afraid I might offend someone in the process though and how complicated that could be. Especially since I need some of these people to trust me in order for us to do the kind of work that we do. So umm, keep the work friends and cull the old school friends? I just don't know.
There are the couple of things I am truly grateful for. I was extraordinarily excited to "find" the first boy I ever loved. And we've had a couple of nice exchanges since. I have managed to keep better tabs on my best friend's seventeen year old son, giving him a safe place to land, and solid adultish advice when he sought/seeks it. I was happy to find a way to have somewhat regular contact with the best man from our wedding, who opted out of growing up and therefore has been very difficult to contact over the last few years; that and he's a bit transient (hi J!). Was not growing up an option? Man, how come I didn't know that before I had kids who needed me to be responsible.
That last remark was a little joke. Seriously, I like being a grown up. I like that our (YES, OUR, as in belonging to us) living room is filled with the laughter of our children.
The last problem is a problem. Of medium proportions, depending on the day for me. Applications. I went through a try everything phase which invariably left me wading through a lot of crap to find the odd good game. Like Scramble and Geo Challenge. Which I then proceeded to waste hours trying to master. Usually at the expense of sleep. Most of them I`ve given up. Reminding myself that Facebook is a social networking tool, not a way to absent myself from day to day life.
So while Facebook hasn't really ruined anything in my life, it has made things a bit more complicated than I would have liked to admit. And while blogging has changed the way I write from serious considerations and journaling to first draft, off the cuff, I am still here (on blogger) and there (on facebook). Better, worse, or just different? What do you think?
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