Collecting Friends/Social Networking

I ran across an interesting post from the Seeded Buzz blog networking site entitled, 356 Facebook Friends, Don't Know My Neighbor's Name. It appears that the full post has been removed, so I didn't read it. It did make me start thinking about my own list of friends on Facebook and the contrast between the online world and the actual world. I tend to favor the actual world I walk around in, because that's where true interaction happens. The world I walk around in is filled with reality and choices on how I see that reality, how I let it affect me. At best, the online world gets close to real when I'm using it to stay in touch with people that I've had in my life in the world that I walk around in every day.

I have a little less than 300 friends on Facebook. All but a handful of them are people that I've known from various times in my life, many are people I used to work with. One person requested me as a friend because he has the same last name and it turns out that we have a thing or two in common, such as a love of music. He also looks a bit like my relatives on my father's side of the family. A couple of people are on my friend list because they liked my comments on a mutual friend's page and then requested me.

There are times when Facebook can be a grand waste of time - I try to distance myself from that kind of involvement. I'm not a fan of the games and applications that find ways to access more information - and I don't see that changing. There are people who have nothing but updates from the game applications they play on their page..."John Q. Public just finished building a barn in Farmville", "John Q. Public just robbed a bank in Gangsterville"...Meh. Who cares? Not me. I did try one mob game that I kept getting requests to join with various friends and I think I lasted about a month with it. I dropped it because it just didn't appeal to me and I haven't looked back. To each his own...

I don't really talk to most of the people on my friend list, but there are a few that I interact with regularly. I like having contact with people who mean something to me from various points in my life. It's nice to know that I haven't been forgotten and letting someone know that I still think of them. I would much rather interact with anyone in person, but sometimes distance prevents that. Social networking is a bit like pen pals on steroids - no physical contact, merely sharing thoughts and pictures and not having to wait for a hand-written letter. It's a little bit sad that today's younger people may never experience the feeling of opening a hand written letter from someone who cares about them - indeed the very thought of such a thing may never cross their mind.

I generally don't request friends on Facebook unless I know them or know of them, so all but a few of my friends there are people who know me. I have no idea what the ratio of me requesting/them requesting is and it doesn't really matter. I could tell you where I know each Facebook friend from and I could share a story or two about them all, some would take a bit longer than others. I read something once that referred to Facebook as a "glorified photo sharing site" - I kind of disagree with that. For me at least, it's an easy way of staying in touch with people that have shared places and times in my life with me - and that means a lot to me. I also know the names of both neighbors on either side of me and a few others...

Buzz, Crop, Seed

Those three words together make this sound like a post about pot - it's not. Those three words together make me sound like someone who smokes pot - I'm not. Why then, am I using those words together at all when I can just picture lovers of herb being disappointed that their google search has led them to this post? I recently joined a blog networking site called Seeded Buzz. I'm not quite sure that I get it, at least in the way the site hopes I get it - revenue folks. What I'm getting out of it so far, is an idea of what different people write about. Sometimes that helps, sometimes it inspires. I'm not so sure that I want to consistently write about things that someone else writes about and dedicate entire posts to my version of their post, but it's interesting to get a glimpse of others and what they write about. Maybe my time around people who smoke pot can't help but come to mind when I see the words seed and buzz standing next to one another. If I see the word buzz and the word Woody together, well, I can't help but think of the movie Toy Story and no, I've never watched it while I was buzzed.

What you're supposed to do on the Seeded Buzz site, is find posts (seeds) and write (buzz) about them and link the writer's blog. I guess it helps build a larger audience for your own blog, surely that would help if your blog is actually generating revenue from ads - this one currently isn't. Last night I was up far too late browsing seeds in search of something interesting. I found several posts, some of which were a little misleading with their titles given the content, some better than others. What I'd like to do here is drop a handful of seeds at a time from a few titles in one fell swoop. If anyone from Seeded Buzz is reading, don't worry - I'll link the blog titles. If anyone is still reading with the hope of an altered state meaning of the words buzz and seed - leave now, or prepare to be disappointed.

Moving on, here are the titles of some seeds/posts that I found interesting enough to say a thing or two about and some of my thoughts on them:

1.  Secret Tips To Overcome Failure - There really are some good points in this post, but lately when I think of failure, I think of a Sean Penn quote from a Rolling Stone article that really hit the nail right on the head: "Fail all you want - but fucking TRY."  We miss 100% of the shots we don't take - that's another quote, one from a friend who used to be my boss. Secret? Not really - one simply has to want it. Failure means you're trying - I'd rather fail at trying something I really want and I hope I always keep trying.                                          http://www.lookingformylife.com/home/2010/4/8/secret-tips-to-overcome-your-fear-of-failure.html, http://www.todaysleaderonline.com/archives/2010/08/286/, http://www.sugarfilledemotions.com/2010/04/i-am-a-failure/  
2. Why did you give your blog a name? What does it say about you & your blog? - My memory is a bit vague on my answer to the first part of this question. I remember typing in a bunch of stuff and having it come back as unavailable. I got tired of that process - and maybe I should've gone into the process a bit more prepared, but that really is how I arrived at the name of this blog and yes, I've thought better of it a few times. What does it say about me? About the blog? I dunno and I'm not going on Dr. Phil to find out.            http://www.practiceofmadness.com/, http://whereeveryouhangyourhat.blogspot.com, http://www.sugarfilledemotions.com/2010/07/what-does-the-title-of-your-blog-mean/
3. It Just Bugs Me - Lord, could I ever ramble about things that bug me - in myself, from others. It bugs me when something in my refrigerator smells - and for two reasons: the first being that I let it get to that point, the second being that it's already too late to stop that smell from taking over the kitchen. Run. Honorable mention goes to whatever it is that causes the horrid stench is often not easy to find. That one is on me. In others? Laziness and being proud of it, someone not knowing the difference between to/too/two, you are/you're, affect/effect - and insisting that they're right or answering such an edit defensively with something like "Whatever..." Can you dig it? It bugs me when I lose my temper - even if I may have been justified in doing so. It bugs me when someone who is waiting on me responds as such to the following question:    Me: Hi, how are you doing? Them: I'll be doing GREAT just as soon as I get out of here! Really?  http://ladaisi.blogspot.com/2010/11/it-just-bugs-me.html, http://www.beautymadefresh.net/2010/11/balance-yourself-out.html, http://conanhughes.blogspot.com/2010/11/making-things-work-out-for-you.htm
4. What are you thankful for? Oh man, is this one cool or what? On my worst days I hope I can always look around if I'm in a funk and find something to laugh or smile about. On my friends' worst days I hope I can always help them find something to laugh or smile about. What am I thankful for? Damn near everything I hope, because all of it means I'm alive. The old adage about the glass being half empty or half full is, to me at least, a win/win situation - simply put, it's "do you want to bitch about it or do you want to see it as a good thing?" Think about it - if the glass is half full, you've still got something to drink if you're thirsty. If it's half empty, well now you're not so thirsty, you had something to drink in the first place, and there's still a little more...so it must be good!                                                                     http://www.cheremichelle.com/2010/06/185/, http://www.cjpwisdomandlife.com/2010/11/being-thankful.html, http://www.practiceofmadness.com/, http://www.sugarfilledemotions.com/2010/06/a-time-to-be-thankful/

There you have it folks, I just planted a handful of seeds for a crop and maybe tonight I'll get home from work and get buzzed, er, buzz them. How'd I do? Have a great day!

Another seed/topic

*sigh* - alright, here's another topic I found interesting on the Seeded Buzz site: Authenticity in blogging. Not sure I gave that much thought really. To date I follow very few blogs - one of them is my friend Dianne's food blog and I've no reason to question the authenticity there, another is by a woman who lives on San Juan Island and posts amazing pictures of wildlife native to the San Juan Islands - no reason for doubt there either. By the way, those two blogs, respectively are: A Stove With A House Around It and Orca Watcher, and I highly recommend both. The post about authenticity in blogs is http://www.puttingthefunindysfunctional.com/2011/01/authenticity-in-blogging.html and there's an additional post at http://rantsnrascals.com/bloggers-and-integrity.

I don't want to say too much here - I view my own blog as authentic, but for one post that had me attempting to write humorously about horoscopes, and I don't see horoscopes as holding much in the way of authenticity, but that's just me folks. Everything else here is pretty much me - I may go so far as giving a specific person's first name and some of you who read this blog may actually know that person if you know me. You may also know exactly who I am talking...er, writing about even if I don't mention a name. Some of you have actually told me that you like having a cameo in a post or two. This blog is the real deal folks, rambling and all. Truth be told, I'd love it if more of you actually commented here as opposed to commenting on face book - but whatever works for you! Should anyone want to question the authenticity of anything I've posted here, bring it. I can 'splain anything that's here.

I'll close this post with my thoughts on authenticity of bloggers that sell things and therefore get paid money from others. There's no wiggle room here - if you're selling something to someone and using your blog as a means of doing that, then you need to be 100% authentic. Don't rip people off. It's that simple! So there you have it - the blogs I read and/or follow are authentic and so is this one!

New stuff/mix tapes

I recently joined a blog networking site called Seeded Buzz, and while I'm not sure just how much time I want to spend reading blogs on the web, so far the site has been very inspiring. I am finding it interesting to see how others write and what they choose to write about. The older I get, the more I feel like I can't possibly read enough, learn enough and write enough. As my writing heads in different directions, one of the things that I've always loved about writing is simply getting my thoughts out - either for someone else to see, or just to release it and/or gain a better understanding for my own well being. Sometimes that helps more than others.

Ok, so this Seeded Buzz thing, right? The first post, er, seed, that inspired me to write about is one entitled Mixtape (http://ladaisi.blogspot.com/2010/12/mixtape.html) - a bit coincidental as I recently did a series of three posts about a playlist (the current medium for mixtapes) that I did for someone.

I found some interesting points to ponder in this post; having cassettes around, music collection that is a combination of store bought and burned - no one uses the terms recorded or dubbed these days, and listening to music with tunnel vision until you get sick of it. Seeing as how I have real work to do, I'll attempt to plant my first seed while I wake up with my coffee...

My own music collection has taken various forms over the years, as well as enduring growth and shrinkage. I was going to say that I have a very large music collection - but then I read a comment from someone who has 8,000 or so CD's...

No matter, most people would say that my music collection is both impressive and large - I'm not concerned with size so much as I am with the enjoyment factor, which is very high. I've spent a fair amount of money on recorded music over the years. I've made lots of mix tapes that have either served to save me from radio deciding what I listen to while driving, or to hip someone to music that I enjoy and think is worth sharing. In terms of the medium that my collection is made up of, I never thought I'd say it, but iTunes is a very convenient way to manage/enjoy a rather large amount of music. A lot less hassle. I grew up in the vinyl era and at one time had a lot of LP's. No matter how convenient dropping the bulk of vinyl may be, I still miss the format for the cover art and liner notes. I also still refer to music as albums, though that seems to be fading off a bit. I skipped the whole 8-track thing and I'm glad I did. When CD's came out, it didn't take me long to, as one friend put it, take that quantum leap. I very nearly caved and bought one of those 3" mini CD player/recorders - but the same friend busted my chops enough to make me realize just how foolish that would've been. I may actually have a cassette or two laying around somewhere, but I couldn't hazard a guess as to what might be on the tape. Being the giver that I am, I tend to burn or loan music quite a bit. These days my collection is listened to mostly on the computer and it's made up of near equal parts of mp3 and hard copy compact discs. I have a cross country move in the works and I'm seriously considering jettisoning the hard copy stuff - but I have attachment issues.

I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took me to realize just how cool an iPod is - and I'll use my good friend Doug's line here - it's pretty damn cool to be able to carry around an entire music collection in something that's basically the size of a pack of cigarettes. My iPod is currently an 8gb iTouch, so I can't carry my entire collection around - but carrying around the 1,000 plus songs that the pod lets me do while being about the size of a candy bar (much better reference than a pack of smokes) is much easier than having the number of CD's in my car. I still have a ton of CD's, but I have to say that I like the convenience of the mp3 tunes and for the most part, I haven't really noticed the sound quality not being as good.

As far as listening to music I love with tunnel vision, I like to think I'm pretty good at taking steps to avoid that - but it does still happen now and then. When I was in college and INXS came out with the Listen Like Thieves album, I knew I was in danger of playing What You Need to the point of getting so sick of it that I'd never want to hear it again. I couldn't stop - great guitar riffs always get me, ergo my playing that first cut to the point of not wanting to hear it again. Since then I try to ration myself - and I'm lucky that there's so much music that appeals to me. I've often said that nothing works for me all the time, but when it does work, it works very well. I'm a moody music listener and there's always something playing - and it always has an effect on me, at least to some extent. That being said, having a large music collection and being open to new music is a bit like having a well stocked refrigerator or pantry - it's nice to have choices to make in different directions.