Drama.. just plain Drama.

I have been keeping up on most of my social networking sites, though last week I was gone for most of the week and so most of it was left to sit. So a few days were spent off being minimally linked to the outside world - which was awesome, by the way!

So I work the last two days of last week and finally get to sleep in on Sunday. When I wake up, I'm welcomed with 'you have an important email' from my mother, before I could even sit down in the living room. So I log on and check, only to find some rambling message which was a forward from my mom's Facebook account.

The message was a lengthy list of accusations against my boyfriend by his ex-girlfriend's mom. To clear things up, His ex's mother was keeping track of his facebook page and after some situations, felt it necessary to find the links through his site to my own site and my mother's. As a 'good mother' she sent this note to my mother to warn me about some things that supposedly happened.

My boyfriend and I weren't contacted, until the message was forwarded from my mother to us. Which began an afternoon of worry and trying to sort out what was really going on. So much for my day off from work and worry!

None of the accusations were true, and it just goes to show that you should be careful about who you friend! The lady had sent me a friend request, which I denied and I'm sure was why she couldn't send me the message. But since when was it her business?

Tired of News

When the Iraq war first started, I remember spending a few days straight just watching and waiting to hear any real news on what was going on. I had a friend who took part in the opening attacks and I desperately wanted to know what was happening. My news network of choice was CNN, who repeted the same news about every two to three hours around the clock.

Ever since then? The news is boring to me. I still do read through the daily news stories on AoL news when I log on, but I've stopped watching most news programs almost entirely. Why? Because most of it is overhyped and dramatized for viewers. All too often they have that one or two little extra news stories that are so important that they have to tell you to watch 10 hours from then. "Do you have a cannibalistic newt living in your digestive tract? Find out at 11".

If it's that important tell me now. But then there are websites and networks that are dedicated to tell you everything they can up to the minute. But then you run into stories about absolutely unneccesary people doing stupid things for attention. Then we get people like the balloon idiot who will do anything to get attention, even get his own children to lie for him when a nation full of people think his kid is inside and in danger.

The actual news is rarely ever either considered news or on the news. The fact that there were 3 confirmed cases of Swine Flu in Goodrich hasn't reached the news. Which, in my opinion, is overhyped and although people should take it seriously and act cautiously, I question how really severe and horribly dangerous this is or if it's another piece of information made for TV.

A Blog post about... Blog posts?

Does anyone feel a little overwhelmed with the blog posts?

I have been doing an ok job about keeping up with them until recently. Part of it is the fact that I've been more in absorb info mode than really responsive mode. I'm checking out a lot of these sites and playing with them enough to get a feel for what they do and what they can do. However, I don't have much to say about them because it's still mostly figuring them out and by the time the next post is due, I'm already thinking about the homework and everything for the week after.

I'm an English major that doesn't like to write. What I mean by that is I don't like journals or daily writing requirements. I find myself more focused on getting something down for class than actually being any form of creative about it. I know that sounds horrible, but while I feel like I'm keeping up well with the blog posts, other things seem to be getting in the way. Because of that, most of mine lately have been lackluster and quite nearly boring.

For instance, this week I spent every day either at work or at school, and when I wasn't in either of those, I was trying to get ready for my best friend's wedding. Tuesday was ok and I did spend a great deal of time playing around on Goodreads, but by the time Thursday/Friday/Saturday came around, I was so focused on the desire for sleep and the temptation to throw my friend's fiance out a 6th story window, that I bypassed the homework. (Probably not the best thing to admit publicly, but it's true)

I'm just wondering if anyone else has run into this issue? Am I a horrible student?

Linked In

I've checked into the site off and on during the week. I was quite happy to be accepted into an equine group the next day after signing up. I requested about three but the one is the only one to respond and actually very warmly.

It actually reminds me a little of the general message board forums that I've been part of for a number of years. Even though my job has nothing to do with my interest and area of expertise, I have offered a few responses to the discussions when I have something to offer.

One thing I noticed is that it's a little bit intimidating joining these groups. It's not so much the established group, but a site like Linked In asks for your expertise in something and it's always a little bit intimidating to consider your advice to be 'expertise'. For instance, there was a man who wanted to go about leasing his horse but wasn't sure where to begin. Since only one other person responded, I felt a little more confident in responding with my own experience with leasing (which eventually lead to my parents buying a horse for me).

When do you get to be an expert in something?

Do I want to be Linked?

Although I can see the opportunities for having such a strong identity online in some capacities, I tend to wonder if I really need such an identity. I have had my share of 'identities' online either through my aquarium forums, pet forums, and online role-playing. While none of them were too overly taken seriously, I almost loathe the idea that I can be judged by so many strangers all at once.

Job hunting was hard enough after I got my two BAs. I went nine months between school and work with over 300 resumes/applications being done. Almost every job that I heard back from after the interview said that I was in their top two or three candidates, but they always had someone better. Do I really need to go through the same thing online? Do I need people comparing and judging me while I sleep?

Also, there's so much pressure to be careful about what you put online. One wrong picture could spell disaster either from not getting a job to being fired from one. I'm not saying I want to post pictures of myself drunk all the time, but why does it reflect poorly when I do have a life away from that professional life? Poe used morphines and opiates while he was conducting his greatest works. I like to think I have better standards than that, but we still regard his work highly despite his personal downfalls. Roman Polanski has created some of the best films of all time, yet whenever he's given an award, we have to bring up that he raped a young girl. What is the difference between the two? One is regarded despite his downfalls and the other's follows him whenever his name is mentioned.

Are we just left to figure that judgment isn't fair and we can only do what we can to present ourselves as the angels we try to be? Or is there a way to accept that we're all human and we all have personal lives where we test out our theories and make poor judgments?