I am not a morning person. Anybody that knows me for any length of time knows this. I prefer to stay up really late (early?) and then sleep in really late. This rarely happens. Well, I should say, the staying up late happens all the time. The sleeping in, not so much.
Usually when I get up in the mornings to get ready for work, I'm in Zombie Mode. That shuffling, shambling, bumping into things along with grumbling mutterings. Sort of an autopilot mode, it usually suffices to get me propelled into the shower. Of course, there's a slight risk when turning off your brain when getting ready. Yesterday morning, I tried to take my morning pills by using my toothbrush as a water glass. I spent a few moments puzzling over why my toothbrush was not adequate for water holdage, before realizing what I was holding. This morning, I made a piece of toast for breakfast, and decided to put peanut butter on it. The entire time my bread toasted I stood looking down at the fork I had grabbed to spread the peanut butter on it, then was like.. the hell? This is a fork! I suppose I *could* have just flipped it around and used the handle to spread, but opted to exchange it for a butter knife. We won't discuss the time I tried to lock my front door as I was leaving with my mail key.
Understand, I can FAKE being a morning person, if I have to. If a kid knocks on my door in the early hours, I'm instantly awake and alert and can deal with whatever emergency is happening (what? the cat peed on your bed AGAIN? seriously, dude, keep your door shut). If I have early morning tasks I have to do, like travel or starting the crockpot, I can get up and be quite functional. Doesn't mean I *LIKE* to do it. Or that I'll do it cheerfully. It also inevitably means interacting with Morning People. Oh, Morning People. I think it's cool that some people like getting up before God Himself is even awake (looking at YOU, Dad) and I'm sure that the sunrise and quiet time is great. Doesn't mean I have to like it. Also doesn't mean I have to like your chipper, happy, bouncy, AWAKENESS that freakin early in the morning. At one point I came in to work, and a Morning Person here FOLLOWED ME THROUGH THE OFFICE chirping "Good Mornings" at me trying to get me to reciprocate. I may have snarled a bit. Of course that morning I also had a borderline migraine headache, so that wasn't improving my mood. Still. I think Morning People need to understand that the rest of us are here under duress, so just push the coffee/donuts/cereal/huge box of chocolate our way with a stick and back off and wait.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Someone To Watch Over You
When I lived in Ohio, I drove to work about half an hour a day, each way. It was mainly freeway driving, and there were lots of corporate buildings along the way. This meant that there were also big ponds, since all the corporations have to put in an at-hand water supply in case of fires.
Every day I would drive the same route, and almost every day, without fail, a heron would fly across the freeway, right above where I was driving at that exact moment. It wouldn't always be at the same location. It wouldn't always be at the same time of day. Sometimes it would be on the way to work. Sometimes on the way home. Regardless, it was ALWAYS THERE. It was almost as if there was a flock of herons, off stage-right, just waiting for their cue. Oop! There she is! Quick GO! GO! GO! And across it flew.
Something I've noticed about the world; there are a lot of people going through life, but not actually SEEING it. Both my parents instilled in me an avid curiosity about the world around me. Part of that is just, well, NOTICING things. Part of it is not taking things for granted, or becoming so inured to them that they cease to hold wonder. One time I was riding on the Ferry here in Washington, and the view was just beautiful. Mountains in the distance, houses peppering the hills, the downtown skyline in the distance, other watercraft zooming by. There was this man sitting there working on his laptop. He looked like a commuter -- someone that lived on the other side of the water so he took the ferry every day to work downtown. He could have been out on the deck clinging to a rail feeling the wind in his face and smelling the salty fish air, or looking at that spectacular view, or even people watching. Instead he was sitting at one of the tables inside, typety-typing away at his laptop and not raising his head once. I felt sorry for him, in that moment. He had become so used to the amazingness around him, he didn't even see it. Jaded.
I notice things. Little things. Things that probably a lot of people miss. Maybe it's when someone goes out of their way to do something to make my life a little brighter. Or maybe it's how the sunlight streams through a patch of trees *just so* and it looks like something out of a movie and I expect a Unicorn to step out from between the trees any second. Perhaps it's the way the leaves swirl in our cul de sac like they're playing a huge game of tag and everyone's It. I noticed the Herons. At first, it was a novelty. Wow! Is that a blue heron? Grey heron? No clue, kind of hard to tell while driving at freeway speeds and getting a glancing peek as it flies across overhead. Then, it became almost a ritual. Where will I see it today? When? Which direction will it be flying? Then, it became.. a comfort. It felt like it was MY heron. It was there, flying over at that precise moment when I was driving under it, just for me. It was watching over me. Or, perhaps Someone sent it to remind me that I was always being watched over.
I was sad about the herons when I moved to the great Northwest. Sure, they have them here, but they're not very common where I live, we get more crows, hawks, seagulls and the occasional bald eagle. I had resigned myself to enjoying the beauty of towering pines and the magic Mt. Rainier for my drive to and from work. And then in happened. One day, on the way to work, my heron flew over. Right across the freeway, right above my car. It happened a couple more times in the months that followed, and then, something new.
There is a couple mile stretch of freeway that I drive through that has a series of on and off ramps going to various places. There's a bunch of light posts strategically placed around this so at night it doesn't become a navigation hazard. Every day for quite a while now, while driving home through that section, I see at least one hawk perched on one of the lights. Today, in that little stretch, I saw three. They're just hanging out, watching for roadkill I assume. I wonder how many people drive under them, every day, and never even look up and see them? Every time I see them, they make me smile. They are my silent drive companions, beautiful, noble, and always watching over me.
Every day I would drive the same route, and almost every day, without fail, a heron would fly across the freeway, right above where I was driving at that exact moment. It wouldn't always be at the same location. It wouldn't always be at the same time of day. Sometimes it would be on the way to work. Sometimes on the way home. Regardless, it was ALWAYS THERE. It was almost as if there was a flock of herons, off stage-right, just waiting for their cue. Oop! There she is! Quick GO! GO! GO! And across it flew.
Something I've noticed about the world; there are a lot of people going through life, but not actually SEEING it. Both my parents instilled in me an avid curiosity about the world around me. Part of that is just, well, NOTICING things. Part of it is not taking things for granted, or becoming so inured to them that they cease to hold wonder. One time I was riding on the Ferry here in Washington, and the view was just beautiful. Mountains in the distance, houses peppering the hills, the downtown skyline in the distance, other watercraft zooming by. There was this man sitting there working on his laptop. He looked like a commuter -- someone that lived on the other side of the water so he took the ferry every day to work downtown. He could have been out on the deck clinging to a rail feeling the wind in his face and smelling the salty fish air, or looking at that spectacular view, or even people watching. Instead he was sitting at one of the tables inside, typety-typing away at his laptop and not raising his head once. I felt sorry for him, in that moment. He had become so used to the amazingness around him, he didn't even see it. Jaded.
I notice things. Little things. Things that probably a lot of people miss. Maybe it's when someone goes out of their way to do something to make my life a little brighter. Or maybe it's how the sunlight streams through a patch of trees *just so* and it looks like something out of a movie and I expect a Unicorn to step out from between the trees any second. Perhaps it's the way the leaves swirl in our cul de sac like they're playing a huge game of tag and everyone's It. I noticed the Herons. At first, it was a novelty. Wow! Is that a blue heron? Grey heron? No clue, kind of hard to tell while driving at freeway speeds and getting a glancing peek as it flies across overhead. Then, it became almost a ritual. Where will I see it today? When? Which direction will it be flying? Then, it became.. a comfort. It felt like it was MY heron. It was there, flying over at that precise moment when I was driving under it, just for me. It was watching over me. Or, perhaps Someone sent it to remind me that I was always being watched over.
I was sad about the herons when I moved to the great Northwest. Sure, they have them here, but they're not very common where I live, we get more crows, hawks, seagulls and the occasional bald eagle. I had resigned myself to enjoying the beauty of towering pines and the magic Mt. Rainier for my drive to and from work. And then in happened. One day, on the way to work, my heron flew over. Right across the freeway, right above my car. It happened a couple more times in the months that followed, and then, something new.
There is a couple mile stretch of freeway that I drive through that has a series of on and off ramps going to various places. There's a bunch of light posts strategically placed around this so at night it doesn't become a navigation hazard. Every day for quite a while now, while driving home through that section, I see at least one hawk perched on one of the lights. Today, in that little stretch, I saw three. They're just hanging out, watching for roadkill I assume. I wonder how many people drive under them, every day, and never even look up and see them? Every time I see them, they make me smile. They are my silent drive companions, beautiful, noble, and always watching over me.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
First Date
My teenage daughter went on her first REAL date tonight, to the movies and dinner. We've taken her and her boyfriend of the moment places before; restaurants and movies, but always with us (though we let them sit together somewhere else in the movie theater) nothing solo. I made sure she was bathed, had pants on (she has a predilection to wearing shorts around the house since they're comfy), shoes, jacket.
Then we went over some Ground Rules. Luckily she's really not a big fan of PDA (public display of affection), so I didn't have to worry about her playing tonsil hockey during the movie. Still. No tonsil hockey during the movie. Hand holding is great! No leaving the movie theater mid-movie. Be where they said they were going to be, at each step. Let me know when the movie is over. (They walked right next door to Johnny Rockets for dinner.) Let me know when they're done and his parents have picked them up.
She followed my Rules to the letter (though of course I can't verify the tonsil hockey part). She ended up going back to his house to hang out with him and his parents for a bit, then I picked her up. On the way home, she told me how funny the movie was, and how it was really cute that he didn't know how to pay for the dinner (him: "Do I pay up front, or what??" her: "No. They'll bring a check, you pay then, dear."). She had a great time, she was very grateful that I allowed her to go and trusted her enough.
When we got home, there was a huge pile of leaves on our drive from the earlier winds, and we took a few minutes to have a leaf fight.
Sometimes, teenagers aren't so bad.
Then we went over some Ground Rules. Luckily she's really not a big fan of PDA (public display of affection), so I didn't have to worry about her playing tonsil hockey during the movie. Still. No tonsil hockey during the movie. Hand holding is great! No leaving the movie theater mid-movie. Be where they said they were going to be, at each step. Let me know when the movie is over. (They walked right next door to Johnny Rockets for dinner.) Let me know when they're done and his parents have picked them up.
She followed my Rules to the letter (though of course I can't verify the tonsil hockey part). She ended up going back to his house to hang out with him and his parents for a bit, then I picked her up. On the way home, she told me how funny the movie was, and how it was really cute that he didn't know how to pay for the dinner (him: "Do I pay up front, or what??" her: "No. They'll bring a check, you pay then, dear."). She had a great time, she was very grateful that I allowed her to go and trusted her enough.
When we got home, there was a huge pile of leaves on our drive from the earlier winds, and we took a few minutes to have a leaf fight.
Sometimes, teenagers aren't so bad.
Friday, November 1, 2013
The Posts That Never Were
It happens to all of us that post online. You start a post, you get interrupted, or you can't think of how to finish it, or a million other things come up and they just sit sadly in the Drafts folder waiting to be finished.
I was reminded of this November writing thing, there's one where you have to write a zillion words in the month (that's a rough estimate, I'm too lazy to Google it), and I just found out you can also just post a blog post a day for the month. Well.. I can't commit to writing a NUMBER of words, but I can commit to writing a post a day. I'm totally counting pictures with commentary in there too, so be warned. In doing so, I logged into my sadly neglected Blog site (it's been 2 years!), and pulled up all the posts I'd ever done, published and not.
And there they were.
I didn't know whether I should just delete them without reading them, knowing the hurt I would feel if I revisited them, or cauterize that wound so I could move on with my life. I chose to read them. The excitement and optimism in them cuts to the bone. They were written years ago, when things weren't great, but they weren't where they are now. They were meant to be companion posts, the one leading to the next. They contain dreams, and a different future, and hope. I haven't felt those for quite awhile until recently, and not for these reasons.
The problem with pre-emptive writing, is that sometimes it can come back to bite you in the butt. You anticipate an event, an outcome, some THING you are excited about, and so in your excitement you write about it, just WAITING for that day all things align and that amazing Something happens and you can be all smuggy smug and hit POST and not even have to try to formulate your thoughts because you've PRETHOUGHT it and it's just there waiting for the world to read. And then.. it doesn't happen. You wait, and you pray, and you try and make it happen, and it just.. doesn't. If you wait long enough, eventually you realize it never will, and you give up. The hope dies. The posts that before were your triumphant Shut The Hell Up And Be Happy to the world now loom over you, twisting in your gut.
And yet..
There's also a sense of Freedom. You can look down the rabbit hole of where life would have taken you had you been able to post those writings, and you realize that you don't have to deal with that future. It's an alternate timeline that just never came into being. You're in THIS timeline. You know how this one has played out. Perhaps that one would have paralleled this one to an extent; it contained the same players, the same things were going on before the paths diverged. Who's to say that would have been better? It definitely could have been worse, more complicated.
And then I decide those posts can go the way of the Dodo. I can delete them, remove them from my past, and move on and look forward. It doesn't matter now what they were about, that's ancient history and ended up being just fiction. What matters now is where I go from here, I think I'm ready for a new future.
I was reminded of this November writing thing, there's one where you have to write a zillion words in the month (that's a rough estimate, I'm too lazy to Google it), and I just found out you can also just post a blog post a day for the month. Well.. I can't commit to writing a NUMBER of words, but I can commit to writing a post a day. I'm totally counting pictures with commentary in there too, so be warned. In doing so, I logged into my sadly neglected Blog site (it's been 2 years!), and pulled up all the posts I'd ever done, published and not.
And there they were.
I didn't know whether I should just delete them without reading them, knowing the hurt I would feel if I revisited them, or cauterize that wound so I could move on with my life. I chose to read them. The excitement and optimism in them cuts to the bone. They were written years ago, when things weren't great, but they weren't where they are now. They were meant to be companion posts, the one leading to the next. They contain dreams, and a different future, and hope. I haven't felt those for quite awhile until recently, and not for these reasons.
The problem with pre-emptive writing, is that sometimes it can come back to bite you in the butt. You anticipate an event, an outcome, some THING you are excited about, and so in your excitement you write about it, just WAITING for that day all things align and that amazing Something happens and you can be all smuggy smug and hit POST and not even have to try to formulate your thoughts because you've PRETHOUGHT it and it's just there waiting for the world to read. And then.. it doesn't happen. You wait, and you pray, and you try and make it happen, and it just.. doesn't. If you wait long enough, eventually you realize it never will, and you give up. The hope dies. The posts that before were your triumphant Shut The Hell Up And Be Happy to the world now loom over you, twisting in your gut.
And yet..
There's also a sense of Freedom. You can look down the rabbit hole of where life would have taken you had you been able to post those writings, and you realize that you don't have to deal with that future. It's an alternate timeline that just never came into being. You're in THIS timeline. You know how this one has played out. Perhaps that one would have paralleled this one to an extent; it contained the same players, the same things were going on before the paths diverged. Who's to say that would have been better? It definitely could have been worse, more complicated.
And then I decide those posts can go the way of the Dodo. I can delete them, remove them from my past, and move on and look forward. It doesn't matter now what they were about, that's ancient history and ended up being just fiction. What matters now is where I go from here, I think I'm ready for a new future.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Fair Food
A few weeks ago we went to the Puyallup Fair. We walked around, saw animals, crafts, LOTS of vendors, and of course, ate lots of unhealthy FAIR FOOD!! Ready for a bunch of random pics!
As we were walking in, we passed by a car in the parking lot that was rather disturbing.
Um. I think you left your kid in there?
Yeah that's not creepy at all.
This is for my friend Craig:
AAAW look, little baby pigs! They are so cute:
We stopped at a Fried Foods Vendor, and found the following:
Wait. Deep Fried, Fried Butter? Isn't that.. redundant? How.. how do you even fry butter, BEFORE deep frying it?? I'm so confused. And? YUCK
Just say NO
Not enough deep fried deliciousness? Here's MORE!
Adam wanted to try the Deep Fried Rocky Mountain Oysters ("I like oysters!") until we told him what they REALLY were ("Ewwwwwwwwww!!!")
I'm sorry, but these look like some bizarre sex toys or something:
They had this deal before the Fair, where you could buy Ride Wristbands for slightly cheaper than at the Fair for "unlimited rides". We opted not to get them, since we didn't want the kids to pester us to ride rides all day. I'm really glad we didn't, because half of the rides had these:
We watched them turn away SO many kids/people with wristbands it was appalling.
Because EVERYTHING tastes better on a stick!
Mmmmmmm Unicorns... NOMNOMNOM
This was a pic that was painted along the side of one of the roller coaster rides. WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT FOR THE VAMPIRES!
And now, for the obligatory Metal Chicken pictures. Don't know why? Read THIS, and THIS
It was a great day, and at the end of it we saw Weird Al Yankovic in concert there, where during Wanna Be Ur Luvr he came down the center aisle and sat in my lap and sang to me!! A perfect end to a great day!
As we were walking in, we passed by a car in the parking lot that was rather disturbing.
Um. I think you left your kid in there?
Yeah that's not creepy at all.
This is for my friend Craig:
AAAW look, little baby pigs! They are so cute:
We stopped at a Fried Foods Vendor, and found the following:
Wait. Deep Fried, Fried Butter? Isn't that.. redundant? How.. how do you even fry butter, BEFORE deep frying it?? I'm so confused. And? YUCK
Just say NO
Not enough deep fried deliciousness? Here's MORE!
Adam wanted to try the Deep Fried Rocky Mountain Oysters ("I like oysters!") until we told him what they REALLY were ("Ewwwwwwwwww!!!")
I'm sorry, but these look like some bizarre sex toys or something:
They had this deal before the Fair, where you could buy Ride Wristbands for slightly cheaper than at the Fair for "unlimited rides". We opted not to get them, since we didn't want the kids to pester us to ride rides all day. I'm really glad we didn't, because half of the rides had these:
We watched them turn away SO many kids/people with wristbands it was appalling.
Because EVERYTHING tastes better on a stick!
Mmmmmmm Unicorns... NOMNOMNOM
This was a pic that was painted along the side of one of the roller coaster rides. WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT FOR THE VAMPIRES!
And now, for the obligatory Metal Chicken pictures. Don't know why? Read THIS, and THIS
It was a great day, and at the end of it we saw Weird Al Yankovic in concert there, where during Wanna Be Ur Luvr he came down the center aisle and sat in my lap and sang to me!! A perfect end to a great day!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Angry
Tonight, my oldest brother sent me a picture from some old film he recently had developed. The quality is poor, considering the film was 8 years old that's no surprise. The picture is me, with my two brothers Dan & Nathan. It was taken at Christmastime in 2003. That was the last Christmas I had with brother Dan. In Spring of 2004, he died of an overdose interaction of cocaine combined with alcohol.
I looked at the picture, and Dan looks just like I remember him. He looks like he'll always look to me, because he can't age. And I love him so much. And I'm so ANGRY.
I'm angry that my brother will never be there to do magic tricks for the kids. He would pull quarters out of ears, and make things disappear. To my kids, he WAS magic. Now their memories of him are dim, they were so young when he died.
I'm angry with myself, for not calling him more often. For not taking time out of my "busy" life to keep that connection going. For not arranging to have lunch with him when he literally worked down the street from where I worked. Maybe I would have seen something. Maybe I could have helped.
I'm angry that he had just seemed to be getting his life together. He had just gotten a great job, had taken us out to dinner so excited that he was able to pay for it, it was like he had finally become a grown up. After struggling for years, selling plasma weekly just to buy food, he was on the rise.
I'm angry that a wonderful writer is no longer there to write the quirky, intellectual writings that I know would someday have been published in more than an online venue.
But most of all, I'm angry with Dan. Why didn't you seek professional help? Why didn't you come to your family for help? Why did you do such a stupid thing?? You were SO smart. I was just getting to know the Grown Up you, the older brother I could hang out with and talk to about music and technology, and you went away. IT'S NOT FAIR AND I'M PISSED AT YOU FOR IT.
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, PLEASE, seek help. Do it for yourself, do it for the loved ones involved.
I looked at the picture, and Dan looks just like I remember him. He looks like he'll always look to me, because he can't age. And I love him so much. And I'm so ANGRY.
I'm angry that my brother will never be there to do magic tricks for the kids. He would pull quarters out of ears, and make things disappear. To my kids, he WAS magic. Now their memories of him are dim, they were so young when he died.
I'm angry with myself, for not calling him more often. For not taking time out of my "busy" life to keep that connection going. For not arranging to have lunch with him when he literally worked down the street from where I worked. Maybe I would have seen something. Maybe I could have helped.
I'm angry that he had just seemed to be getting his life together. He had just gotten a great job, had taken us out to dinner so excited that he was able to pay for it, it was like he had finally become a grown up. After struggling for years, selling plasma weekly just to buy food, he was on the rise.
I'm angry that a wonderful writer is no longer there to write the quirky, intellectual writings that I know would someday have been published in more than an online venue.
But most of all, I'm angry with Dan. Why didn't you seek professional help? Why didn't you come to your family for help? Why did you do such a stupid thing?? You were SO smart. I was just getting to know the Grown Up you, the older brother I could hang out with and talk to about music and technology, and you went away. IT'S NOT FAIR AND I'M PISSED AT YOU FOR IT.
If you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, PLEASE, seek help. Do it for yourself, do it for the loved ones involved.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Social Networked To Death
I'm getting a little frustrated with Social Networking lately.
First, it was Facebook. Ok, sure, I joined, played me some Farmville, got sick of Farmville, Friended everyone and their brother, and their brother's 3rd grade soccer coach. Nifty. But have you been on Facebook lately? For every one legitimate post with someone actually saying something, there are 50 spams of "so-and-so needs a sprolecktant prefactorzizant part for their doofliggityplunk in Dirtville, Help out!" or "so-and-so just made a thousand gold widgets playing Deadliest Fungi Hunt, come join the fun!". People, I don't care. I REALLY DON'T CARE. I'm not going to play any of those games anymore, been there, done that. I understand the point of them; they are silly little things to play that are harmless unless you're pumping real world $$ into them. But just trying to wade through the pages and pages of that to glean out real postings is really annoying as hell.
Then, it was Twitter. At first I thought it was totally stupid. Why would people want to know what I ate for breakfast? Or that I'm having a bowel movement? Or that my dog did something cute today? But as I found more people to connect with, and People Of Interest to add to my feed, it got.. fun. I like getting regular updates on my internet friends, how they're doing, quick pics showing little snapshots into their lives. Sharing bits of my life. It got personal. Even though I haven't met most of these people in real life, I feel a connection to them, and really do care about what's happening in their lives, I worry about them.
Then, it was Blogging. Ok, I admit it, I'm a terrible blogger. I just don't have that much to say on a regular basis, or the stuff I do have to say is nothing I would feel comfortable putting out on the interwebs for The World (or certain peoples) to read. So I update when I can, if I feel I have something interesting to say.
Then, it was Feed Readers. These let you keep track of a bunch of blogs you want to read on a regular basis, by organizing them and keeping all updates til you mark them as read. I use reader.google.com. I have a bunch of blogs that I follow that it dutifully keeps posts archived for me til I can go there and read them all. When I remember to go there and read them all.
Then, it was Google+. Really, Internet? Yes, I get how cool it is to have circles that move, so you can micromanage every person you ever knew into nice little boxes that you can label things like, "Former Coworkers" or "Close Friends" or "People Who Smell Like Soup". But yet ANOTHER place to log in to, to check for updates, and try to keep track of? I have Google+ but honestly I never remember to check it, and have barely added anyone into it. It's just MORE WORK.
I AM SATURATED. I work full-time, and ALL "social networking" sites are blocked from work, so I can either try to use my little Droid phone to read/post updates on all these places during work breaks, or wait til I get home where I have housework, kids, dog, cooking, etc to deal with.
I know I could just NOT read all of these, just let them go for a couple days or however long as I do other stuff. I KNOW. But I'm also a control-freak, and knowledge is power, so just KNOWING what's going on is extremely satisfying to me. If I leave off a couple days then that's that much stuff I have to catch up on. I'm also a geek, so I love being on the cutting edge of new technology or apps or the next "big thing". And, most importantly, these are friends and family, I don't want to miss out on what's happening with them. But, I'm tired. I'm tired of trying to keep track of all this stuff. I wish I had ONE place I could just have everything at a click. Some master interface that would integrate ANY social networking stuff I want to do, that wouldn't be platform proprietary or suck to use.
Anyone found anything that is a MCP for all this stuff? That isn't Apple iCloud?
First, it was Facebook. Ok, sure, I joined, played me some Farmville, got sick of Farmville, Friended everyone and their brother, and their brother's 3rd grade soccer coach. Nifty. But have you been on Facebook lately? For every one legitimate post with someone actually saying something, there are 50 spams of "so-and-so needs a sprolecktant prefactorzizant part for their doofliggityplunk in Dirtville, Help out!" or "so-and-so just made a thousand gold widgets playing Deadliest Fungi Hunt, come join the fun!". People, I don't care. I REALLY DON'T CARE. I'm not going to play any of those games anymore, been there, done that. I understand the point of them; they are silly little things to play that are harmless unless you're pumping real world $$ into them. But just trying to wade through the pages and pages of that to glean out real postings is really annoying as hell.
Then, it was Twitter. At first I thought it was totally stupid. Why would people want to know what I ate for breakfast? Or that I'm having a bowel movement? Or that my dog did something cute today? But as I found more people to connect with, and People Of Interest to add to my feed, it got.. fun. I like getting regular updates on my internet friends, how they're doing, quick pics showing little snapshots into their lives. Sharing bits of my life. It got personal. Even though I haven't met most of these people in real life, I feel a connection to them, and really do care about what's happening in their lives, I worry about them.
Then, it was Blogging. Ok, I admit it, I'm a terrible blogger. I just don't have that much to say on a regular basis, or the stuff I do have to say is nothing I would feel comfortable putting out on the interwebs for The World (or certain peoples) to read. So I update when I can, if I feel I have something interesting to say.
Then, it was Feed Readers. These let you keep track of a bunch of blogs you want to read on a regular basis, by organizing them and keeping all updates til you mark them as read. I use reader.google.com. I have a bunch of blogs that I follow that it dutifully keeps posts archived for me til I can go there and read them all. When I remember to go there and read them all.
Then, it was Google+. Really, Internet? Yes, I get how cool it is to have circles that move, so you can micromanage every person you ever knew into nice little boxes that you can label things like, "Former Coworkers" or "Close Friends" or "People Who Smell Like Soup". But yet ANOTHER place to log in to, to check for updates, and try to keep track of? I have Google+ but honestly I never remember to check it, and have barely added anyone into it. It's just MORE WORK.
I AM SATURATED. I work full-time, and ALL "social networking" sites are blocked from work, so I can either try to use my little Droid phone to read/post updates on all these places during work breaks, or wait til I get home where I have housework, kids, dog, cooking, etc to deal with.
I know I could just NOT read all of these, just let them go for a couple days or however long as I do other stuff. I KNOW. But I'm also a control-freak, and knowledge is power, so just KNOWING what's going on is extremely satisfying to me. If I leave off a couple days then that's that much stuff I have to catch up on. I'm also a geek, so I love being on the cutting edge of new technology or apps or the next "big thing". And, most importantly, these are friends and family, I don't want to miss out on what's happening with them. But, I'm tired. I'm tired of trying to keep track of all this stuff. I wish I had ONE place I could just have everything at a click. Some master interface that would integrate ANY social networking stuff I want to do, that wouldn't be platform proprietary or suck to use.
Anyone found anything that is a MCP for all this stuff? That isn't Apple iCloud?
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