Sunday, March 21, 2010

If You Can't Say Anything Nice

We all have been told that if you can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all, right? But why do some people only thing that applies to everyone else or if it does apply to them than it's only about how someone looks and nothing more. Allow me to explain.

I admittedly have a number of hobbies. Some more interesting than the others but I find them all enjoyable. The other day I was speaking to a friend "Denise" and telling her about some wonderful break through that I was having with a project of mine. She went into a rant about why she didn't understand all the energy that I put into this hobby and how it wasn't worth it. Then she proceeded to tell me about a program that she had seen that dealt with something similar and how I should have watch it because I would just give up. I did have the patience to tell her that I had watched it and that she had all of her facts wrong.

Now Denise is a negative person anyway and most of her comments are always about how she can't do something for one reason or another. I know this about her but when I share what I'm doing she normally is supportive. She tends to think for some reason that I can do no wrong but this was one of the few times she has ever rained on my parade. Yes, she does on occasion compare something that I'm trying to do with a situation that she had or one of her "friends" (she always knows someone that has done what your doing) have done and it's failed but at the end she generally finished up with "but I know it will be different for you". Which is why it somewhat surprised me when she started to rant on my excitement.

Then I thought why should I be surprised? She isn't happy with herself and her live and she was probably just trying to bring me down to where she was at. So I turned her out and started thinking. Why do people think they can say anything to you and it's okay? If she had walked in all excited about something new she was doing and I had told her how it was a waste of time she would have been livid. She would have stomped out of my house after cussing me out to high heaven and then refused to talk to me for months. Yet it's suppose to be okay when she does it. Is it because I am a laid back person or because we have been friend for so long that I should just accept her as is? Is it because she thinks her life should be the example of what not to do? I don't get it.

We all have bad days where we should stay in bed and not even answer the phone because of what might come out of our mouths. But still we get out of bed and do what we have to and try not to say the wrong thing to the wrong person. Why can't everyone do this? Why can't we all practice that age old adage? I think if we could the world would be a nicer place to walk around in or if not at least a lot quieter.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Twitter Me This

Okay so I have been horrible at posting to this blog but in all fairness I did write a book in meantime.

Anyway, I want to just rant just a little about "Twitter". I think I should start this off by admitting that I do have a Twitter account and no you can not have the name. I was tricked into opening it and I have been kicking myself ever since.

Everyone who knows me knows that I loved my Myspace account until I got sick of all the random bands, performers, and people dying to be the next Tila Tequila requesting to be my friend. They got on my nerves but because I still have love for my myspace friends I keep it open. Then I found Facebook and when hog wild. I still haven't come down from my Facebook high. I have to remind myself that I have a life and log out every once in a while just so I can actually have a life. I love updating people with what is going on. I just did an minute by minute, well more hour by hour, update of the Oscars which was so fun. I like that there are games and so many different applications that I can add to my page that seem to work more seamlessly then Myspaces apps. I log on almost first thing every morning and although I don't tell everyone goodnight as some do I usually check it at least once to see what every one's day has been like. If I had one real complain about Facebook it would be that you can't add personality to your pages like with Myspace. Everyone has that same white background but other than that it is great.

Having said that and admitting that I have a Twitter account I don't get the fascination. Sure I like updating my mood and what I am doing and I love reading what my friends are doing during the day or if they had a bad day and leaving a little note for them to cheer them up. But a page of just updates back to back to back. What is the appeal?

Sure I have updated my Twitter a grand total of 12 times in something like six months and my Facebook like 320 in the same amount of time but there is a difference. With Facebook you can go to my page and see my links and my pictures and my buttons and postcards. I have a virtual bookshelf and to many fan pages to list. You can read about my likes and check out my web pages. With Twitter where is all that? And having said all that, every time someone post their Twitter account name I feel the need to log in and add myself as one of their followers. What is wrong with me?

Isn't it bad enough that for four months of my six month membership I had to reset my password every time I logged in because I kept forgetting it because the time frame between each visit was so long, but now I am actually following people I know. And at the same time I'm not. I still don't log in everyday or even every week. I don't stop when something happens and think "boy this would be great to post on Twitter". In fact if it wasn't for the fact that people keep posting those "follow me on Twitter" post I would probably forget about it. Which leads back to the the original question of: What is the appeal?

Okay so I can get on and see that The Bachelor hadn't decided who to send home on rose ceremony night and then later see how torn up he is because of who had to leave. I can read about my favorite dance couple while they are rehearsing and I can follow every step of any movie that sounds good while in production. But do I need to? Do I really need to know what Aston Kutcher ate for breakfast or what workout Madonna is on her way to? Do I really need another place to read my friends minute by minute updates when I'm already seeing them on Facebook? Unequivocally no.

Maybe I just haven't got it yet. It did take me a while to jump on the Facebook bandwagon so who knows but I really wish someone would explain it to me.