Post 201

Well kids, this is post #201. I must say that while my blogging routine is quite spotty at the least, to have lasted 201 posts is an accomplishment. There are many times when I open up this page, take a look at the crap I have written and ask myself why I bother. Well it's because sometimes there are posts that I enjoy writing - posts that I deem worthy of being read, that are witty, smart or cathartic. Granted there are perhaps 5 in 200 that I can look back at without wincing, I guess it's the writer's curse. It's almost therapeutic. There is an irony in blog writing though. At first you write to an anonymous audience, and it gives you carte-blanche to truly open up and expose yourself to the judgement of a group of people who you likely will never see or meet. And that's kind of fun, it allows you to go "crazy". However, once you start desiring more feedback you open the blog up to your family and friends, and suddenly there's a limit to what you can write or who you can write about.

So, if there is an irony, it's this - it's the people whose opinions you most care about whose input suddenly makes you less likely to open up...whether it be fictitious or not. Not sure if that makes much sense.

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I joined Facebook 2 weeks ago or so, and was skeptical. People said it was addictive but I said "Bullshit! You're just a weak, obsessive with nothing better to do!" Two weeks later and it is the website I most look forward to visiting every day. It's got me in its bloodthirsty hooks. It's a new-age creator of obsessives in the way email was - I may have a message, I must check it! Must check email, must check facebook. What if there's a message? What are people doing that I don't know about?

Facebook is like a virus, a virus that brings out the voyeur in all of us. It burrows into the deep-seated obsession we have with our friends lives, and makes us all the online equivalent of Big Brother. Facebook is saying "Feel free to look into my life at any point you wish" and make your judgement. I can look at your friends and their friends. I can see who's dating who, who's chatting with who, and who's posted an ugly picture that I can make fun of. It's simple yet brilliant. Who hasn't wanted to catch up with that old high school friend without the hazards of the e-mail route, and the discussions that end awkwardly after 2 e-mails? Let's keep in touch? Yeah right. On facebook you drop a line on his/her wall and they do the same on yours. No awkward ending. No need to get in touch with the person again. It's another perfect FB connection.

And that's time.