Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Distillation and/or Concentration of Social Abnormalities in The 21st Century.

Nothing happened today. I went to work. I came home. My head is starting to clear, but I didn’t run (at least not yet). I didn’t go to Georgia to get my malt liquor because my wife wouldn’t let me (hater in da house). So I was stuck for something to write about, and then I signed on to Facebook and had an epiphany. High school graduation is the peak of maturity – and bone density, but that’s another story. We continue to be shaped by our experiences after high school, but our personalities are done. Think about it. Is there anyone from your high school that you knew that you’ve changed your opinion about? Is there anyone from your high school that was boring or self-centered that isn’t now? I know I’ve mellowed, but I’m still the same jackass I was in 1988. I’m basically – we’re all basically – scotch. I hang out with most of the people I liked in high school, and the people I have friended on Facebook from high school that I don’t hang out with I’m remembering why I didn’t hang out with them in high school. I would think that it was just me, stuck in a Rico Dynamite vicious circle of not being able to let go of the past, but the stuff that makes these people dorks now is the same stuff that made them dorks twenty years ago. I was caught up in a friendnado a month or two ago and added about forty friends in the span of three weeks. I thought it would be a good idea if we could all get together for dinner to reminisce. Fortunately, I’m not dumb enough to need Twitter and came to my senses before I started making reservations. I didn’t go to my high school reunions for a reason. I have connected to about ten people that I hadn’t seen since the ‘80’s that I would like to see. I have about ten friends on Facebook that I hang out with in real life. That leaves sixty people I’ve (re)connected with that I kinda wish I hadn’t. And two who I need to keep tabs on because the wheels are going to come off at some point, and I really want a front row seat. Yes, that’s juvenile, but I just explained how I stopped growing when I was eighteen. I think Facebook can be a good thing, but like everything else in the world today, people are overdoing it. Having 1100 friends doesn’t mean people like you. It means they don’t know that you can’t tell when they’ve ignored your friend request. But now I do. And not only am I going to de or unfriend you. I’m going to blog about it behind your back. Go Robert E. Lee fightin’ Generals!!! Class of ’88 MF’ers.

3 comments:

MJ said...

Every blogger whose any blogger is doing a Facebook post these days and yours is a good one. I'm planning some covert unfriendings as well. As a wise man recently said to at dinner, "if we weren't friends then, why would that change now?" I had been feeling guilty but I think I'm over it now.

JSG said...

Hmm. You've got me thinking. I don't mind the HS friends. It's interesting to see that journey, especially 25 years (OMG) hence. The unfriendings that worry me more are former students. Adults in their own right and it was nice to have a chat, but I really don't need to see the pics of beer binges etc. But how to unfriend the 23 year old who remembers you with awe as The Best Fourth-Grade Teacher I Ever Had?

MJ said...

I meant who's in my comment and no, I can't let it go.

JSG--unfriend the 23 year old. They won't notice if they already have more than 200 friends. :)