Facebook Schmacebook

So, after almost one whole week of signing up to spurt out my little commentaries on "FB" and catching up on snippets of other people's info, photos etc and even posting some of my own photos from my UK trip last year (so family can see them....finally) - I've decided that I still don't think Facebook is really for me.

Maybe I'm fickle....and it was 'fun while it lasted', but I have to admit the novelty has quickly worn off and I still don't much like this slightly in-your-face feeling of being notified of every little update from everyone else's friends of friends of friends etc. - most of whom are still complete strangers to me. Perhaps I really am just anti-social after all.

But added to that, I got playing around on FB last night - doing the inevitable 'where are they now' search of friends, ex-friends, ex-friends-friends and ex-boyfriends - when I realized that your privacy settings on your own site aren't necessarily in place if someone goes to one of your 'friends' sites and then follows your comments on there....and then they can read your notes, see your photos etc. Like a back door to getting into your Facebook page - uninvited.

Which is sort of how I got caught up in evesdropping (what would the FB equivalent to that be, I wonder) on the lives of people I knew - at Uni, at school ......and when I worked in the Maldive Islands many moons ago - 16 years almost....eeek! To my significant/surprising envy, I discovered that many of them are still globe-trotting, visiting some outstanding places and obviously have some spectacular photos and experiences to share.....all of which merely served to add fuel to my fiery wanderlust and itchy feet.

 Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland 

For ten years I too was one of those people, to the extent that some of my relatives nicknamed me the Globetrotter. I lived and worked in France (Paris + Bordeaux), Germany (Trier/Mosel + Bonn), Switzerland, Belgium and the Maldives for several months at a time before finally moving to Canada.

 Maldives, Indian Ocean 

I successfully found jobs based in England that still took me all around Europe - sometimes several times a week/month. I spoke French and German fluently every day - flipping seamlessly from one language into the next depending on who I was talking to. I even found I could make up some Spanish, Dutch and Swedish based on what I knew of French & German. And yet it also feels so horribly long ago too.

I sorely miss using the languages - there's so very little opportunity here although I did manage some TV/Film translations and a stint in tourism for Intrawest for a while. There are aspects to my current job I quite like, but the company is moving more and more into projects with Alberta's oilsands and gas companies which I find hard to accept. You don't have to delve too far into their work to discover that oilsand projects are devastating to the environment - tantamount to raping and pillaging the land and wildlife as far as I'm concerned (and as far as David Suzuki is concerned too).

I'd be lying if I said I don't feel glued to the spot sometimes when I know there's still so much out there. And suffice to say, I want to travel and live somewhere else for a while. I go through this feeling quite regularly actually, it never really goes away, and each time I do, I start to panic about time and opportunity running away and life passing me by. At the same time, I get nervous of kidding myself about the grass being any greener so I try once again to just shut up, stuff it down and wait it out.... 'This too shall pass' right?.....but that's also what I'm afraid of. I'm not sure I want to keep letting it pass, I want to act upon it.

I know Lorne's feeling the same and since we sadly lost Otto (who's health was a major priority over us making any major life changes) the thought has once again crossed our minds to make a move, go on an adventure. So much to see that it often feels like there's too little time - unless you win the lottery, of course.

Anyhow, that's the dilemma....simmering away on the back burner.....again!

But for today, I think me and FaceBook will probably break up.


(P.S. Within minutes of posting this I thought I'd quickly google my blog in case my boss can find it.....and I came across another Katrina Wright.....doing something I'd love to do.....or should be doing. Heck, Lorne's an Editor - maybe we should do this together. Is it a sign?)

The deed is done

I finally succumbed to peer pressure - how could I legitimately continue to snark about something I've not yet tried?

I hereby confirm that, on the 30th day of this, the month of January, 2011, I did officially and (somewhat) voluntarily lose my Facebook virginity. Echoes of shock, horror, disbelief and utter sarcasm have since emanated and ricocheted across the globe, ruffling the virtual pages of aforementioned Book of Face. Oh how the mighty 'luddite' has fallen.

I'm still overwhelmed by the sensation of so much 'noise' coming at me from everyone's news stream (she wrote, trying to get jiggy with the terminology, but likely failing miserably). Notes appearing on my wall....getting emails about notes on my wall, inviting friends and getting notes, emails and postings that they've accepted the invite.....and then getting notes about things that their friends have posted etc. I suspect I haven't yet figured out my notification settings properly because it's like being bombarded with he said, she said, this, that and the other.

I'm not sure if I'm replying to people's comments directly to them or am I posting to their 'wall' for all to see? Can everyone else see the comments I get? I haven't figured out that part yet but it's weird to read a series of incoming postings from a bunch of strangers who happen to be friends of a friend of a friend of a friend...of another friend...who's also a friend....of a friend who's a friend of someone I know. Am I meant to still care about friends 17 times removed?

I'm really not sure this Facebook mallarky is something I'll continue with - I'm still inherently creeped out by the whole idea - but I might have gained half a point on the street-cred meter and at least I'll get up to date with some of what's happening in everyone else's life, rather than feeling so sadly out of the loop.

But you know what, it actually was kind of fun today, just throwing out a sporadic thought, observation, criticism etc and seeing what came back.

To join or not to join......that is the Facebook question.

I think it was 2002 when a new no-smoking bylaw came into effect in Vancouver, banning smoking in pubs, clubs, cafes etc etc. As an ardent lifetime non-smoker, my immediate reaction was "Great, no more smoking in pubs....and a long-awaited end to enduring cigarette smoke in my face and coming home stinking like an ashtray!" Experiencing this new bylaw in practice however, I discovered one major social setback that I hadn't even considered. Before the bylaw, I would regularly enjoy a few beers with Vicky and/or friends, boyfriends etc in the comfort of the local hostelries, where we'd sit and chat, laugh and eat and drink amid the sporadic (and sometimes overwhelming) clouds of another round of cigarettes being shared. While I’ve always hated cigarette smoke - particularly having it blow in my face and the stench of it in my hair and on my clothes - there was nonetheless something oddly comforting about it. Nostalgic even. As the evening progressed the smoke over a few beers would bother me less, mainly because, at the pub, it was all just part and parcel of a couple of hours socializing. What was I going to do, not go out because of the cigarette smell? But it wasn't until it was banished by Big Brother's Bylaw, that I fully appreciated just how much cigarette smells also symbolized the aroma of hanging out with friends, or family, relaxing, laughing, having serious conversations or simply idle banter about the mundane and the ridiculous.

Once the bylaw had its new stranglehold and Vancouver’s Fun Police no doubt patted themselves on the back for their latest ‘victory’, I couldn’t help noticing that it suddenly felt like everyone was actually smoker - maybe they had been all along, but while they stayed seated at the table, you actually got beyond noticing it any more. So I was about half way into my first pint when I found myself suddenly abandoned, waving goodbye to the smokers, who - banished to the outside now - huddled together for a group nicotine hug on the sidewalk, passing the lighter among them and tossing their heads back as they savoured that first puff. With their common thread of being antisocial ‘delinquents’, sent outside to continue their disgusting habit - I confess I watched them with a certain amount of envy that mingled with a strange sense of social awkwardness. Left behind at the empty table, I felt instantly recognizable as a non-smoking goody-two-shoes. 'They' had all the air of being the in-crowd, bonding and making new friends amid their swirls of chatter and cigarette smoke. Meanwhile, I caught myself, an instant Billy no-mates, now scrutinizing the condensation as it ran down my beer glass or staring at every cobweb, paint chip, dusty picture frame and torn beer mat or focusing on the menu even when I wasn’t the least bit hungry. If the desired effect of this new bylaw was to deter people from smoking, then it was failing pretty miserably in my book. It almost made me want to start! - just so I could be part of the mini crowd that gathered out on the patio or in front of the door, laughing and chatting come rain or shine.

So where am I going with all this??? Ahh yes, Facebook (aka Crackbook). It's something I've felt uncomfortable with from the start and those who know me have heard me belittle and grumble about it, having intentionally and stoically avoided it for as long as I can remember. (When the heck did it first start anyway?) And yet now basically everyone I know is on it. It seems that whenever we get together in person, they're already way ahead of me in conversation, laughing and sharing their latest insider knowledge about each other's lives. When I look blank or confess to being out of the loop, I get the ol’ “oh, you’re not on Facebook”. Heck, they even know stuff about me before I get chance to open my mouth. Lorne and I met up with friends for dinner recently and they were asking me what I thought of Port Townsend and commenting on the photos etc before I’d even breathed a word about it…..because they’d read it all on Lorne’s Facebook page several days ago already. (Since Lorne succumbed to the ‘cult’ last year already and he actually knows more about what Vicky, Mark and Graham are up to lately than I do!) Suddenly it seems everyone has all the ‘Breaking News’ on friends, neighbours, co-workers, relatives and relative strangers – from across the city, other countries, and even on other continents. Heck, for all I know, even from galaxies far, far away in as much as all this is alien to me.

So here's the thing......having lived a good 36 years without smoking a single cigarette, I suddenly discovered (while honeymooning in Cuba) that good cigars are really quite outstanding.......and having spent my whole life adamantly swearing off and never touching a single drop of Scotch/Whisky, Lorne helped introduce me to its wonderful and broad range of exquisite tastes and I can’t wait to take this new-found knowledge and appreciation on a few 'educative' distillery tours.

Could it be ... the time has come the Walrus said.....for me to venture into the dark and long-snarked-about territory of the Facebook world???? Is that the Fat Facebook Lady I hear singing...or rather, chanting…"One of us.......one of us.......one of us........”?

Besides, I guess I have no excuse any longer, because as Graham carefully pointed out (in a note on Lorne’s ‘Wall’), they even make keyboards for my Doomlord-size hands these days.