Bored With Facebook

I like Facebook. However I also find it rather tedious. It interesting to read about many others daily lives, several of them are witty and catch your attention. However, I primarily find myself wondering: what interesting or witty thing could I write in my status update that would garner comments. The online equivalent of "Pay attention to me! I'm relevant!" I even posted as a status update some time ago that I was feeling rather irrelevant with an ellipse inserted within the syllables of the word irrelevant to symbolize a trailing off of relevancy.

I'm paraphrasing now, but I once saw written a comment about Facebook as the place where you go and confirm that your friends from high school and college are leading as uninteresting lives as you do. A bit cynical, but dangerously close to the truth, I'd say.

I don't think of it as an indictment of Facebook as a Web 2.0 application or as a networking device, or of the people who frequently read, write and contribute to their page on a daily, hourly or minute by minute accounting of their thoughts. I feel that as many of us journal our typically American and suburban lives, working, playing, eating, going to movies, raising children, going to church... that we're somehow dilluting the importance that our own existence brings to other people by distilling it into what is essentially powerpoint presentations of our lives.

Be relevant! Tell those people on your Facebook friend list what it truly means to you that they are your friend.

Hobbies, Conversations and Nostalgia

“Let’s move one place on.” – Mad Hatter, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

I need a new topic of conversation. I need a discourse that doesn’t involve city planning, work related activities…”Stephen, how is everything at the city you work at?” or the predominant topic of conversation…”Stephen, how are the kids?” Work is fine, if a little repetitive and stale, but that’s why it’s work and the kids are fine. One talks a bit too much and the other likes teasing the first. I am on a search for a different conversation though. Not one to replace the previous two as they are inherent to the life that I have, but one that may be interesting to share, learn from and advance different ideas with other people.

What I need is an active hobby.

I’ve collected many things over the years, Videos, DVDs Comic Books, Star Wars Stuff, Books, CDs – now digital files, but many of these things have been transitory for the most part and not very interactive. I’ve gone to conventions and the like, but while I’ve been a collector and enjoy reading, listening and watching the media I’ve collected, I’ve never been at such a level that I’ve made that to the exclusion of everything else – or been able to make a larger connection to a collecting community other than a few friends. Many times I find other collectors either extremely too involved and narrowly focused or they have a tendency to not be able to communicate about anything else at all. Again, with some very specific exceptions.

The long and short of it is that I’d like to find a hobby that gets me out and involved with other people on a regular basis that discusses other things ancillary to the prime focus in addition to the hobby itself. I’d like it to be creative and active rather than passive (like most of my collecting hobbies are now).

I used to build and paint model aircraft. I soon figured out that particular hobby is not very compatible with small kids. My anachronistic B-17G (one I painted with Normandy Invasion Stripes – no B-17s were used in the invasion) was an early casualty in the child rearing aspect of our lives. One of my sadder childhood regrets was the accidental damage and then subsequent destroying of a balsa-wood Piper Cub that my father built. Only years later did I find out that my Grandad had flown real planes like that and my father had built it as memory for himself. I suppose I really hate that aspect of exuberance of youth without the emotional maturity to foresee the consequences of value or history. I disliked it in myself and my peers and now I have to hold myself differently for my own kids.

Speaking of nostalgia, my wife and I have very different opinions about it. I have a higher concentration of nostalgia for places and specific things. Meredith has nostalgia for people and experiences. I make emotive connections with a place – walking up the many stairs to the top of Mont St. Michel in France – woe to that blundering idiot of a fellow A&M student I was walking with who could not place himself in 13th Century France – while Meredith needs the interaction with people to hold onto those emotive memories.

Bon Soir Ma Petite Chou

La Danse de Mardi Gras

Les Mardi Gras ça vient de tout partout
Tout l'autour au tour du moyen
Ça passe un fois par ans
Demander la charité
Quand même si c'est une patate
Une patate et des gratins

Les Mardi Gras sont su' un grand voyage
Tout l'tour autour du moyen
Ça passe un fois par ans
Demander la charité
Quand même si c'est une poule maigre
Et trois, quatre coton d'maïs

Capitain, capitain voyage ton flag
Allons su' l'autr' voisin
Demander la charité
Pour eux autr' venir nous r'joindre
Eux autr' venir nous r'joindre
Ouais au bal pour ce soir

A Long Walk Off a Short Pier

I have had a series of interesting and yet, disturbing dreams lately. The most interesting one came the other night where I was attempting to become a public speaker about relationships. The unique "hook" I had come up with was a basic analogy.

Our relationships are like bags of potato chips. 

Are you done laughing? Don't worry... I'll wait. 

Ok. 

So the point of the excercise was that I would begin speaking about relationships, the stages of beginning - the fluidity of maturing the connection - and either the contentment or obversly, the ending of a relationship. Now, you're still asking why potato chip bags. 

Once you find the right potato chip bag you have to open it - like beginning a relationship. Sometimes the bag is difficult to open and you mess it up spilling chips all over, sometimes it opens easily and you start with fresh, chips.

But sometimes you eat too many - too quickly and you're left with the crumbs. Other times you forget about the chips and they become stale. Many times you're looking for the right dip.

Then the dream became rather too capitalistic for me. It was surprising. I had negotiated a deal with Frito-Lay that I would be sponsored by Ruffles chips as long as they had exclusive rights to market and I would only use Ruffles brand in my lectures. I even went the Oprah route and everyone leaving the speaking engagement would get a bag of chips.

Of course, telling this all to my true friend and main relationship, brought guffaws of laughter. She even came up with all sorts of tie-ins to the catchphrases of chips. Relationships have Ridges - You Can't Eat Just One. Leave it to my wife to give it that extra amount of innuendo. 

I won't EVEN go into the greasy fingers. 

Perhaps I should go to bed earlier and get better sleep.

All Hail.

Sometimes I amuse myself. A friend of mine wrote a "how are ya doing?" email this morning and I replied back with the following. He and I both are political science/history/urban planning nerds and make jokes about the future propensity of our progeny going on to win major Nobel awards or the like. Below is my rather pedestrian email updating our current life...until I was inspired by what to write about Ford. I giggled at myself for a good five minutes. I hope you like it as well.

Working at my new city is going great. Not much going on in the development review side of things…financing being what it is. But I’m keeping busy with working on a sign ordinance revision, gas well ordinance revision and attempting to figure out the Council’s direction in a masonry ordinance or to go all the way to architectural design standards.

In addition I’ve been working a bit on the consulting side, helping out a friend rewriting a Unified Development code and possibly will be working on a small town comprehensive plan for a suburb of Denton.

Meredith is doing well. She has three classes this semester including two sections of Business Law. I’m trying to get her interested in applying at the Junior College a bit closer to the house so she isn’t having to drive so much.

We’re working on getting Alexander into a private Kindergarten for next year as the local public school doesn’t offer full day Kindergarten yet, and the timing wouldn’t allow Meredith to teach during the day at all. There is an Episcopalian church school right behind the house…it may be our best option.

Alex is starting to really become interested in reading for himself. We work on letters and sounds during the day, but our reading at night is much more focused on story and comprehension. Currently, we’re finishing The Hobbit and have read A Wrinkle in Time and other fun fantasy works.

Ford has decided to screw the proletariat and set himself as dictator for life although he prefers the term “Great Leader.” With a support staff of Mickey as his Minister of Communication (propaganda) and Elmo as his Minister of Harmony (enforcer) he believes that in five short, but glorious, years the workers will enjoy nothing but bananas and freshly ground peanut butter in union with their brethren. Or else.

I didn’t get out to El Paso as my city is in austerity times with the travel budget. Although, Meredith and I are planning on going to Denver for the CNU conference in June and making it a working holiday.

Best Regards,

Stephen

I have nothing to say...

Quick note. Still here. Lots going on. Meredith has been appointed to the Texas State Board on Midwifery. She just got back from a flying trip to Austin and back (crazily enough she took the guys) and had a great, if tiring time. I got myself appointed to be a parish delegate to the Diocese of Dallas convention in October and I'm still working on a gas well ordinance. 

I had a great time over at Justin's parent's house for his birthday and the Super Bowl. Fantastic broccoli and cheese soup. 

And been watching old British Sci-fi shows on my new half terabyte hard drive. Amazing. To think I was awed by having portable 1GB drives.

South Carolina Days Four, Five, Six and Seven

On Tuesday we left Saluda County and drove south to Beaufort South Carolina, my Father-in-Law's hometown. His sister hosts an annual oyster roast for the New Years celebrations. Much of his extended family come to the celebration. We came down a day early so that he could help in the setting up during the day.

We stayed "aboard" the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort. They have an on-base hotel with very nice rooms that had kitchenettes (so we could have toasted eggo french toast sticks for the kid's breakfast). We had adjoining rooms to Meredith's parents. The entrance to the air station has a motto: "The noise you hear is the sound of freedom." It also has several aircraft including a F15, and a F4 Phantom. Wednesday morning, we took the van to Hunting Island and toured the state park there. Alexander, Meredith and I went up the 167 steps up the Hunting Island Lighthouse and looked over the Atlantic Ocean. Afterwards we toured the other buildings on the site. Alexander was startled when a motion sensor on one of the buildings activated an automatic voice to a manniquin that started speaking about the lighthouse.

We then all went on the beach and beachcombed for a while finding all sorts of treasures to bring home.

We had lunch at the Shrimp Shack - Meredith and I both choosing a shrimp burger. Lovely.

We had a nice evening for new years, the kids played football in the yard, the adults huddled around a campfire in the back or in the garage with propane heaters. There are lots of stars in the skies above the Low Country with so much of the local area either rural or marsh delta.

Thursday we spent at Meredith's Aunt's house watching the South Carolina Gamecocks get beat in the Outback Bowl - then drove back to Saluda in the evening.

Today we went out shopping and tomorrow we'll go visit some cousins and Granddaddy Rentz as well. Since we'll be travelling on our wedding anniversary, Meredith and I might go out to an early dinner and a frosty beverage with her cousin Laura tomorrow evening.