It is Friday Afterall

So here is the weekly update.

I continue to Twitter and find it more dull than not. It’s like being at a party where everyone is talking, unaware that no one is listening. Because no one is listening, honest. There are the celebs and twitterati who have thousands of followers they never bother to interact with – probably because there is no possible way to have tens or hundreds of thousands of “friends” – but more likely it is about the status having massive followings brings. Followers equal importance in the Twitsphere.

But I go along acquiring followers – the majority of whom I know from some other web venue – and follow them and a couple of others who seem interesting for the moment. I am letting Demi Moore go however. By all appearances, she tweets without guile, but I dislike following people who I don’t interact with. It just has a creepy vibe to it. Ana Marie Cox will likely be history soon for the same reason. Interesting but only there to be seen. Not interact. Which makes sense because she is a journalist, but it changes the aura of the place when it’s used as a means to an end only. A person can promote themselves, ideas, causes – whatever – without “talking” at people, can’t they? 

I guess it gets back to the difficulty I have with social media in general. It’s one way.

My piece yesterday on Natasha Richardson was a “hit”. I find that interesting because I was just reading a web post on blogging and the importance of nurturing your blog’s “pillars”. Writing about death, grief and myself are certainly pillars here and those posts are the most read over time. I guess I need to tend to those topics more.

Spring Break is coming up and this means we will be heading up into the mountains soon. Rob’s nephew, courtesy of Shelley, is getting married on the 28th. The bride and groom are exchanging vows in a small, private, ceremony atop a snow covered peak. The wedding party will be traveling up and back via helicopter and a dinner and reception dance will follow. We are caravaning with the older girls a day earlier and hopefully there won’t be any snow and the avalanche threat will be low.

I debated on going. I still would rather not go anywhere for break. I am tired of long road trips still. But there is a level of anticipation among the older girls because this is the first family gathering in several years that is not death related. I think that the first wedding of a grandchild is probably fraught even with unrealistic expectations as it is, but as I told Rob, I don’t think anyone is thinking about how hard it’s going to be to attend a wedding that so many people are missing due to being dead.

People tend to be on better behavior at funerals because of the solemnity, but weddings can be free-for-alls emotionally speaking because there isn’t the same expectation of bad feelings coming up. Throw in alcohol and things could be quite interesting.

But I am going. Minimally enthusiastic – because I don’t like alcohol fueled events – but with an open mind. 

Afterwards we are heading over to Penticton for a couple of days and then hauling for home because I have that workshop on the 4th. Which is mostly done but for practicing. I went through the outline with my writing group the other night and they really liked what I had put together. Been a while since I have put together a “lesson plan” but I am pleased.

Okay, I am done. Maybe I will update on the weekend a bit more. Otherwise, look for me on Twitter. I am toying with the idea of writing a twitter fic short. They write novels for cellphones afterall.

5 thoughts on “It is Friday Afterall

  1. Positive feedback on your presentation – a pleasure to hear. Always a teacher? I think so for some of us. It’s not a bad way to approach working with groups or giving presentations.

  2. I always think of blogs as platforms for forwarding personal agendas; social networking is supposed to be just that — SOCIAL. So having people “friend” celebrities and such, knowing there won’t be a “social” aspect to it, seems ridiculous.

    I only follow people I want to socialize with on social networks like Facebook or Twitter. Maybe I’m the one who doesn’t get it? Hm.

  3. “It’s like being at a party where everyone is talking, unaware that no one is listening.” Twitter has frequently struck me the same way. Either that, or everyone is having their own little side conversations.

    The “blog pillars” thing is interesting. I’m going to have to think about that some more.

  4. I like blogging because it’s free form and there are no constraints. If I have to start worrying about pillars, blogging is going to feel like a part time job that I’m not getting paid for. But, then again, I’m constantly complaining to my poor wife that I have very few readers. I’m sure there’s a correlation there somewhere.

  5. I’ve been thinking of cleaning out my Twitter closet, too. Like the guy on the BBC who followed me because of my last name. Although he is more interesting than some other people. Facebook would bore me stiff, if I wasn’t friends with Raincoaster, who puts all kinds of neat and crazy stuff up there. Me, I’ll probably have to do a topless Friday to get my stats up. Not. Going. To. Happen.

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