Vileplanet

SO the pre-wife and I have decided to look into making our own gummi bears for a little project.

No problem! Let’s check Allrecipes:

Uh… Ok, I’ll bite:

What.

So, lately I’ve been thinking a lot about Facebook.

I’ve had some issues with it. Namely, I seem to be running into a situation where I have too many friends saying too many things for me to keep track of and run damage control on.

It’s an interesting problem. On Facebook, a lot of people feel like they can say whatever they want without risk. It’s like Facebook isn’t even real to them. You could say the same thing about the entire internet, but with Facebook, for the first time, you are part of the largest social network in the world. Previously, if you ran in any online circles, they were usually a small to medium sized group of like minded people geared towards a specific purpose. Now, you have your highschool friends and co-workers on the same network as your family.

I’ve tried dealing with this problem by filtering my privacy settings, but that just offended people.  I think some of them felt like I didn’t value their input or even friendship, and that I was doing them some grave injustice, when all I was trying to do was separate my communities.  My father doesn’t need to know all the latest taunting jokes about sexuality.

Back to the actual problem. People don’t seem to have the same filters online as they do in person, and they don’t really bother to think or care about the impact of their words. It seems to turn into a competition, where you are pitted against your friends to prove you are wittier or smarter than them. There was even a recent study by Stanford that says seeing the happiness of others makes us depressed.  I think, on a psychological level, a lot of us even feel the need to compete with that perceived happiness, and somehow win a non-existent competition. I’ve been part of this same problem as much as anyone, and the only solution I can think of is to shut up.

I’ve known people who had a similar issues with Facebook, that just outright deleted their profiles. I don’t want to do this. I use Facebook to stay connected with people, and I don’t have a viable alternative for that.  From now on, I’m going to try my best, and probably fail, at using Facebook as a tool to communicate with people I care about. I’m going to try to avoid making status posts that aren’t absolutely necessary.  I’m going to confine my joking and most of what I would usually post to Twitter. Why? Because when I make a post there and someone responds to it, it doesn’t become a public forum with an open invitation to have a discussion that will inevitably devolve into mayhem or hilarity.

I’m not going to silence myself, but I am going to try and find the right place for my voice, and Facebook doesn’t seem to be it.

This is me, I guess.

I’ve been pretty introspective lately.

I’ve started to consider the things that truly make me happy and what doesn’t.  What I need to improve and what I need to change.  I started on a journey of physical self-improvement about six months ago, and I’ve achieved good results.  Now what?

Well, as it turns out, there is a lot more to work on, and today I begin that journey.  I will be unemployed in about six months if the estimates I have received turn out to be true.  At that time, I will be faced with some serious questions.  Do I move? Do I sell or rent my house out if I do?  Can I even find work where I live?

Instead of waiting six months, I believe I must meet these challenges head on and start planning now.  My current plan is to look into going back to college and hopefully securing enough in loans and grants, in addition to working a part time job,  to continue living where I do.  If I can work that out, I will likely attend classes at The University of Louisville and get a formal education in Computer Science.  Failing this, I will go back to the drawing board, but I will do something.

One thing I have learned is that I have to keep moving or I will never get anywhere.  I firmly believe life rewards those who don’t give up, even if it takes it’s damn time.  We have to create our own happiness.  We have to keep positive and keep pushing forward.  To do otherwise is to lay down and die.

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