Everyday I Write the Book

I love Facebook.

I often wonder what I did before it came into my life. (Sad, I know.) How did I keep up with or communicate with anyone? How did I know anything that was going on? I honestly don't think I can remember...

I love it for all the good reasons, of course. I love the wall posts and the birthday reminders and the people who pop up about whom I haven't thought in ages. I like the status updates and the mass messages and the photos. I like to use "facebook" as a verb and investigate--going through wall-to-walls, photos, and friends in common to glean the information I need.

Er... creepy?

Now I'm embarrassed?

Sometimes, though... I love to hate Facebook. It's like it has a mind of its own, and it's only showing me bits and pieces of the whole picture. It feeds me some status updates and not others, and it dumps information into my life that I would have been just fine not knowing. It leads me off on wild goose chases; it makes me think I know people I really don't; it hooks me and sucks me in like a dangerous narcotic. Homework is pushed aside; conversations are tuned out; minutes tick into hours, and, before I know it, I can't remember why I started down this rabbit hole in the first place.

Are there others out there like me, or am I a hopeless case?

Tell me I'm not alone, for I believe there are all levels of Facebookers...

First, there's the "my girlfriend/friend/child/spouse-set-up-this-account-and-I hardly-ever-check-it" booker. I call this one the phantom Facebooker, for they're practically not there. This profile has minimal information, and it is rarely, if ever, updated. The picture is usually with another individual (probably the person who set up the account), and it will proabably never be changed. Confirm the friendship of these bookers, but don't expect to learn much.

Next, there is the no nonsense Facebooker. This individual deals in friend requests and confirmations, accepting invitations to events/groups, and simply existing in cyberspace. They're not there to write on your wall, and a Happy Birthday message is about all you can hope to get, EVER. These users may go months without checking the account, so don't count on this being your only method of communication.

Along the same lines as the no nonsense Facebooker is the communicator and the networker. The communicator is there to do just that: communicate. They log in to keep in touch with family and friends who aren't in their daily lives, and they leave it at that. The networker is interested in advancing in the business world and may be lacking a wall or photos (for fear of putting out the wrong image, you know). These users are simply accessing the website to service their own interests and needs, and they're generally not interested in what's going on with you.

Next on the list is what I call the workbooker. This person may be feverish with Facebook activity during business hours, but you're not going to see them logging in after hours. Weekends? No, sir. They look at Facebook as a means to an end, a way to make it through the day.

Next, we move to the browser. This is the person with a healthy interest in what's going on in the world of his or her peers, and he or she can look for a little while before shutting down and leaving it be. They write on walls and look at photos, but, before too long, the lure of real life brings them away from the book. They probably log on daily, but it's during down time, and it never takes priority over actual activity.

The next booker is a sneaky one. I like to think of this user as investigator. This person is frequently online but leaves very little trail. He or she checks the mini feed, looks at wall-to-walls and tries to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, but the outside world would never have a clue. The account may seem practically dormant, but he or she may be looking at your profile as we speak...

In the advent of status updates, we've introduced a few other types of Facebookers. The commentator gives perpetual comments, opinions, and feedback on events going on in the world--often entertainment, politics, headlines, etc. There's also the informer, who provides the world of Facebook with a play-by-play of their activities. It may be daily schedules, morning outlooks, events as they unfold, or days in review, but we never have any doubt where they are and what they're up to.

Next, we come to the Facebook convert. These are the ones who swore they would never, never log on, but now can't get enough. They shouted their feelings from the rooftops and spoke out against Facebook every chance they got, but now they can't go a day without exploring some new application.

Finally, we get to the most severe of cases. This final group is the one I refer to as the lifeline Facebookers. These are the people who update constantly, have the application on their phones, talk about Facebook and what they've seen there in everyday conversation, stay logged in all day, see every feed and wall post and miss nothing. These people spend hour after hour clicking away, they make photo comments, they're on every wall you click on. Their profiles are filled with information, and it is added to/edited frequently. They tell themselves they'll look at "one more thing," and and hour later they're still sitting in front of the screen. Without Facebook, they would be lost.

Now, don't think these labels are impenetrable; lines can be crossed and people can move between the groups. Also, it is my experience that some users may try to pass themselves off as different types of bookers (like a lifeline believe himself to be a browser or a workbooker thinking she's a lifeline), but I always try to follow my gut. Well, that and the hard evidence; usually everything I need is there is black and white--wall posts, status updates, etc. often give me all the information I need.

So, have I left anything out?

I'm sure you can probably all tell (embarrassingly enough) what kind of booker I am...

So, what kind of booker are you?

Simple Life

I often wonder, when, years down the road, a montage depicting my generation is made, just what it will contain, what it will show. I was watching a special on famed journalist Walter Cronkite tonight, and I couldn't help but feel that my generation is sorely lacking in "big" news.
Cronkite was a reporter and journalist for CBS for almost twenty years. He covered Kennedy's assassination, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam Conflict, Woodstock, the Beatles, Johnson's death, Sinatra, the Grateful Dead, and the landing on the moon, to name a few. He was there for arguably the biggest events in American history; he watched the world around him change and reported back to the people.
Has my generation had any events that will live on in infamy to the likes of those?
As I sit and try to think of events that rocked the world during my time, I can come up with very few.
9/11
The tearing down of the Berlin Wall
The war in Iraq
Hurricane Katrina
Clinton's Impeachment
Columbine
Princess Diana's death
Tsunami in Asia
The Challenger explosion
Tiananmen Square
Several of these happened before I could even count to ten, so I remember nothing of them. Sadly, many events that popped into my head were celebrity related, and I refuse to think that the biggest events of my generation are the O.J. Simpson murder trial and the death of Michael Jackson. Am I forgetting something huge, or is there anything there to forget??
I guess now you could say,
So, what?
Well, nothing, I guess.
It's just that I watched this special with my mom, and I was jealous at how much she could say she watched firsthand as it happened. Today's generation no longer unifies in front of the television to watch news unfold, and one person's earthshattering event is barely even a blip on someone else's radar.
Y'all have heard me say before that I think it's highly possible that I was born into the wrong generation, and my longing for a simpler, more unified time is further evidence of this. I wish I could turn on the ole black and white and know I was getting the same news as everyone else around the country and the world, but that's just not the way things are, I suppose.

Hometown Girl

What a neat weekend.

I often think that I have done and seen everything that my hometown has to offer, seeing as I've basically lived here for all of my twenty-four-and-a-half years. Yesterday, however, I discovered a whole new world.

I had to get up really, really early to find it, but it was definitely worth it.

With my mom's surgery and crazy schedule these past weeks, I haven't gotten to take many pictures lately. I have been itching to take some, though, and the other day when I saw a sign for the local farmers market, I knew I had found my subject. The only hitch? It started at seven o'clock Saturday morning.

The crack of dawn it's not, but it's early nonetheless.

However, it seems I will do just about anything to try to get a good picture, so I left my house bright and early yesterday morning. It was so, so worth it.

The early morning world is a totally different world, and one of which I am a big fan. (And not just because the sunlight early in the morning is fabulous for taking pictures...) There is just a peace and a quiet that comes early in the morning and never reappears throughout the day.

I found so much amazing color and natural beauty at the farmers market, and I also wandered around downtown Columbus, where I also found some great photo ops.

I bought a few things at the market, one of which I was using for a specific purpose. Tonight my mom and I used my fresh tomato to cook the cutest little individual tomato pies. I managed to hold off eating mine for a minute so I could snap a quick pic to show y'all.Finally, I wanted to say a big happy birthday to one of my bests, Nick. I'm not too excited about starting school again in a few weeks, but I am pretty excited about hanging out with this guy on a regular basis again. Happy Birthday, Nicko!! Hope you've had a wonderful day!!

Wicked Good

Have I mentioned how ecstatic I am that Day is finally home from Germany?! I fear I've been lax in giving her the proper welcome she deserves...

Daze, I'm so glad you're back!!

I was fortunate enough to get to spend the entire day with Day yesterday as we ventured to Memphis for a fun day trip, including a matinee of Wicked. I saw Wicked in New York two years ago, and it has remained one of my most favorite musicals. As shocking as this may sound, I think this touring group that brought the production to Memphis may have outshone the cast I saw in New York. It may sound crazy, but it's true!!

One cool surprise was the actor who played the Wizard. I thought he looked familiar the second he walked out on the stage, and with a little racking of my brain I came up with exactly who he was: head counselor Pat from the movie Heavyweights. Random, huh? (And an odd person to remember?) D-list though he may be, Day and I thought it was neat.

We had so much fun laughing and talking all the way to Memphis and back. Before we left, my mom said, "You and Day don't get to acting so silly and laughing that you run the car off the road." She said this in jest, but it was probably pretty good advice, for we did come awfully close to doing just that. I'm so glad she's back and look forward to more fun with her this summer before she starts medical school in the fall.

A Little Respect

No one can deny that the entertainment industry has taken a huge hit this week. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson: three iconic figures no longer with us.
Our country and the world will certianly miss these three.
However...
(You know me... I have to play devil's advocate and try to look at things in a different light.)
I have heard a number of reporters, interviews, and newscasters say some of the most absurdly inappropriate things today. I just heard a commentator say, and I quote, "I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow the world had stopped turning [because of the loss of Michael Jackson]."
The world stop turning?? Really??
Further, I heard another reporter say, just as the death of Michael Jackson was announced, "Even if you didn't know what was going on inside this hospital, you would know something horrible was happening because of the people outside."
Not to be crass, but... it's a hospital. There are horrible things taking place every minute of every day. Just because they're not happening to a celebrity or someone being covered by the media doesn't make them any less horrible for the people to whom they're happening. Seriously, how insensitive can you be?
Michael Jackson, just like every other celebrity and "famous" person plastered across the covers of magazines and television, is just a man. The loss of a human life is always tragic, and it truly sickens me when the media makes a feeding frenzy of these situations. It sickens me more, however, the way that the present world (and seemingly America) heightens celebrities to the point of dieties. And for what? They are people; they have lives and feelings and deserve the same privacy, respect, and sensitivity that any Average Joe would receive. Yes, they have chosen this life in the public eye, but shouldn't there be a point where the media says:
Enough??
It seems cruel and unnatural to me. I guess I just don't understand where the media gets off thinking it can do and say anything it desires, leaving humanity and decency at the door.
It's disgusting.
Wow... sorry to get carried away. Didn't mean to launch into a diatribe on "Where is the Humanity in Today's Media?" I'm stepping down from my soapbox now, I promise.

Birth

Happy Birthday, blog! You're one today.

It seems like only yesterday Becca was hassling me about starting a blog, and all of a sudden it's one year later; we've certainly been through a lot together in the last three-sixty-five, huh?

You sure have been a constant friend and confidante for me these months. Cyber space through the blog medium is a funny mix of personal insight and total anonymity, and you've helped me strike a balance between oversharing and keeping too much to myself. You've helped me to reflect on and sift through lots of the stuff in my life this year, and I'm not sure that I would have come through it as...er...gracefully (?) without you.

You've brought new friends into my life and helped me reconnect with some special friends I'd lost touch with, as well. You've also helped me keep in touch with some of my closest friends through new times in their lives, whether it be a move to the south or a brief stint on the other side of the world. Thanks for that, by the way.

You've inspired me to open my eyes to the world differently, and you've given me a platform from which to spew my opinions, some of which I should, admittedly, keep to myself sometimes. In short, I think it's safe to say you've impacted my life in a truly lasting way.

I hope together we've brought one or two laughs to somebody. Maybe we've even made somebody say, "Hmph... I've never thought about it like that." If not, well, there's always next year, right?

Here's to another year with you.

Spring

P.S. Readers, I know we (I) took a brief haitus for a few weeks earlier in the summer. However, I think I'm officially back, and I hope you're still with me. Are you guys still out there??