I can't remember if I've written about this in the past? If you remember reading it I apologize for my redundancy. I can't check my old blog entries because my search doesn't work. A few days ago it worked and now it doesn't. Yesterday it didn't return any results for anything. I even tried SEX and STUPID and I know I've written about both, often.
Because a search is an integral component of my writing I was extremely upset. I checked the blogger help page. Using it's search window I typed, MY SEARCH BAR DOES NOT WORK and read:
1. What is blog search?
2. How do I find blog search?
3. How does blog search work?
Get the picture? Not one of the twenty responses answered how to fix the damn thing. The last one was what do I do if I still have questions? I clicked on that and a Windows e-mail opened. I wrote. The search bar addition on my blog stopped working. I clicked SEND and it didn't. Sorry..your Windows e-mail is not properly configured. Please go to the help section blah blah blah.
I have a Facebook love/hate relationship. I write four days a week and post a link to the blog on Facebook. Aside from direct e-mails the majority of my traffic comes from Facebook. I connect with friends and family courtesy of Facebook. I have reconnected with old friends thanks to Facebook. I have reestablished contact with distant family members because of Facebook. Family Feud is a game I played on Facebook. If I ever decide to play Words with Friends it will be on, Facebook.
I read about what people are watching on television and eating for dinner on Facebook. I get information on specials at local restaurants on Facebook. I can look up movie times at my local theater on Facebook. If I choose to, I can read about politics and who needs extra special prayers. I see pictures of cats and dogs, birds and chickens, ducks and horses. I can watch cute videos of more things than I can count. My window to the world is Facebook and for that, I love it.
According to records it took me ten minutes to find, I joined Facebook July 21, 2008. I have one hundred fourteen friends in three groups. I posted three hundred twenty six photos in fifty one albums and twenty three are of me. And after almost five years I still don't know how to use it properly and for that, I hate it.
When I post I don't know who sees what, when, and why. I've mentioned this a few times in the blog notes and many people comment which helps. But, I can't keep asking or I'll appear to be the insecure person I truly am. My neurosis aside I'm concerned about my lists and what I may be missing.
I don't need agita over this but I worry. I don't want to insult anyone that took the trouble to request my friendship. What happens if I put a friend on my acquaintance list? Where do I put a family member I haven't seen or talked to in years? I truly don't know how to determine the difference between a friend and a close friend. All this and I also need to decide what I see and read from everyone and how I want notifications.
I can choose to see pictures or not, read comments or not, see game results or not. I can get instant messages and private messages, e-mail messages and text messages. I can get messages on my computer or on my phone. When someone writes anything about me or even mentions my name, I can find out, or not. Someone posts a picture of me, I know it. I can choose to be informed of activity by close friends, friends, and friends of friends. Or none at all.
I truly owe Facebook a sincere thank-you. In the five years I've been a member I have had some truly remarkable contacts. I heard from a woman I lived on top of when I was 12-years old. My mother, Viola, and I lived in the upper of a two family flat. Lois and her family lived downstairs. I reconnected with Phyllis and BeDonna, and Buffy, all great friends from my teen years. Bill, who I ran around with in grade school. Bill is a graduate of University of Michigan and is now a director of mental health at a large hospital. And what do I remember? How great he was at lighting farts. He could shoot a flaming jet stream about five feet.
If you're a blog regular I know you've seen comments from my friend Avie. Her sister was my very first real girlfriend crush. Avie was with my best friend Mark and I was with her sister. I still see Mark on Facebook and when I visit Michigan. He's a special friend like Harriet. We can talk once a week or once a year and it feels like yesterday, they both stop time.
Mark's sister Marilynn posts on Facebook and the other day I connected with his second ex-wife Linda. I have close cousins and distant cousins and cousins that are no longer here, here. I have someone named Shulak and have no idea who the Hell she is. I have friends from cruise ships and friends from land vacations. I have nieces and nephews, grandnieces and nephews, children and a grandchild.
I've connected with so many people through Facebook. People that would have remained in the forgotten files of my brain. I'm thankful for each and every encounter. The folks I have continued to see and those that were only a one time exchange. It's nice to think about all the people that have come into and gone from my life. I care about each and every one. Now, if I can only figure out which list they all belong on I'll sleep much better.
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