Moving From One Party to Another

    
      When I first started using FaceBook, I jumped into it with the attitude of regaining friendships from school some 38 years ago. On paper it seemed to be perfect for someone such as me who's health placed a shadow of doubt when it came to longevity. I have been completely retired for a number of years and have adopted the title of housebitch. This leaves me with TONS of free time on my hand since my chosen career was not one that left me a wealthy old codger traveling the world. Instead, I clean the house, keep an eye on my youngest son, and spend an inordinate amount of time on the internet.

    So, when given the opportunity to become reacquainted with folks I roamed the halls of high school with, I jumped at it. Oddly enough, many of those people changed over the 38 years since graduation. I'm darn sure I'm the same. Ok, maybe there has been an adjustment or alteration over time. A little.


    As my list initially grew, the conversations were usually no different than if we were standing around holding a drink and repeating "Hey! Remember when.....".  Over time the general flow of coversation became more fragmented, which was to be expected. But, before long there were times I caught myself thinking "Would you JUST SHUT UP!" And I have no doubt that same thought was born in someone else's mind reading my posts. 

  Then come the lies. "Awww. Such a darling baby." when in truth, you're thinking "Yikes! Your grandson looks like my bulldog, lady!" And then...I wish I had some sad music here...then comes the inevitable death announcement or, worse, the somber remembrance of someone long dead with the suggestion of making it known that you too are missing someone that may or may not be in heaven and the strange "like" that someone does. I mean, they "like" that somebody is dead. 

   So, I've begun to spend more time in a smaller clique now. Coincidentally, kind of like everyone did  in high school. And I spend more time talking with people who I can really relate to now. Oh, there are some folks that even after 38 years still make my day a bit brighter and so I keep FaceBook. But, I'm confident the people that are with me on Google+ are sincerely interested in me. They must be. Nobody has said "Would you JUST SHUT UP!"
  

Welcome to Me

  I've begun this blog so many times it's becoming my version of  "Groundhog Day", and I believe that the problem is that I had set out to use this medium as a means to express my own slant on current events and comment on social issues.  I realize that while I do intend to occasionally let loose with my opinions, I  prefer to just write whatever strikes my fancy at the moment.

   Sometimes, I prefer to relate past experiences which are always based on truth but with a healthy dose of rampant lies in order to maintain some level of interest regarding the reader. I have always preferred to make people laugh as opposed to convincing them that my opinion is the only one that makes sense which is true if just to me. I'm sure most people just view me as a verbose old man and ,quite honestly, I can live with that summation. 

  I tend to be very critical of people today in expressing other peoples' opinions as their own. In this era of social networking with little or no actual personal contact, it's much too common that we see someone posting something someone else said rather than expressing their own thoughts. It has also led to the endangerment of conversational etiquette because threads aren't seen by all as being the written form of conversation but as just one comment followed by another comment with no real bind between them. They disrupt the flow of the conversation with either a snide remark or a weak attempt at humor.  I call that "thread hijacking" and is, in my opinion, nothing more than an attempt to garner attention. 
  However, I do respect the attempts that some people make in expressing their own ideas  and observations, even if I don't agree with them or if the writing style is bland or shallow and not representative of a person speaking.

  I do hope you'll return often and that you enjoy my musings.