Tis the Season... for Change!

Indeed dear readers, it is the season to be jolly, for joy and merryment to be made wild and rampant amongst even the most sour of us. A season in which the joy of giving should outweight the desire to recieve. Shops will close their doors, businness will not trade, and the Christian and Western world will shut down for 24 hours.

In this season, we celebrate the birth of Christ - the Christian savior (and the Islamic Prophet).The gifts we exchange are a symbol of God giving us his only Son, and also represent the gifts offered to him by the three wise men, all those years ago in Bethlehem. Over the last 2000 years Christmas has become less about Christ and more about Cash, so one can understand then how the birth of Christ has become insignificant and replaced by a big fat man in a red and white suit - Santa Claus.

Now many of you by this point might think I have prefaced this entry to be anti-establishment, anti-corporation and anti-Santa Claus. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. I, like most other people enjoy giving and recieving presents. I like Santa and the spirit which he invokes in otherwise heartless shoppers, and I love that for the next month I can get away with wearing a Santa hat in public! No, my grope is not with any of these - its with his Reindeer.

Now, although Reindeer are native to many parts of the the Arctic circle, they are NOT native to the polar regions of the Arctic - which as we all know is where Santa lives. So why does Santa have flying Reindeer then? Did he used to use flying elves, who then formed a union and they had to bring in help from other countries? And who went and got the Reindeer for him in the first place. He may be jolly, but big old Santa clause is just that... big and old. I can't exactly imagine him stalking out the the Reindeer though the Arctic tundra in an effort to find some Reindeer to pull his sleigh. Not to mention that there is a much more suitable, and a much more strong animalmuch closer to home...

Polar Bears

Yes, I am completely aware that this is a fantasy, so using animals native to the Polar region of the Artic isn't nessecarily needed. But can you imagine how AWESOME Santa would be if he had Polar Bears? Not to mention the fear it would instill in the children you tell the story to...

Now you be a good boy this Christmas Timmy or Santa will get his Polar Bears to EAT YOU!!!" (Click "EAT YOU" for an example)

For those of you traditionalists who think its too late to change from Reindeer to Polar Bears, remember this, it wasn't that long ago that Santa Claus wore green instead of red. It was also not that long ago that he was called Saint Nick. Also, consider the potential benifits of the modern era Santa, not only would there be a new appeal to an older audience, but the youth who grow up to stories of Santa and his Polar bears would behave year in and year out! I know I would have been a much more obedient child if Santa's sleigh were pulled by Polar Bears.

Using Polar Bears would also better explain to children how he can make it to every house in just a single evening. Polar bears are bigger and stonger than Reindeer, so they can run faster, which means they should fly faster! I say if its good enough for the White Witch from Narnia (an icey cold, villainous character who used appropriate animals suited to the weather conditions) to use Polar Bears to pull her chariot, then I say its good enough for Santa!

Bring on the Polar Bears this Christmas!

The Death of an Old Friend

Today's entry into the blog is a tribute to the lost arts of the English language, and to hopefully inspire some of you - my readers - to desire a greater understanding of the language you take for granted.

Approximately 400 years ago the unified rules of grammar were laid down in stone for the English language. But as time has passed, the stone upon which they were written has worn away like a great mountain gradually wearing away to an arid plain from a millenia of harsh weather conditions. This departure of detail from the Rosetta Stone of the English language has left us with a withered and worn grasp of our great language. The many of us whom have been left this worthy inheritance can now only use but a fraction of what once gave colour and meaning to the way in which we communicate, our great squandered fortune.

This to me is quite a considerable tragedy, although I think many of you might believe the disappearance of grammar from our school curriculums to be something of a blessing. What many people fail to realise however is that a thorough understanding of the English language is what enables people to have command over those who cannot use it with the same vigour or power. In today's world we are inspired by those we believe to be great orators - we elect them for positions of great power based on their ability to speak rather than the ability to rule. We continue to be inspired by those which history tells us were powerful rhetoricians. Of course there is a great deal more to the people who inspire us than their ability to speak or write, but without these key essential abilities and a thorough grasp of the language, these people would not have been placed into a position where they could have affected and touched so many lives.

Granted, some rules in English should never have been, many of the founders of the English grammar system believed that Latin (although one of the most beautiful languages) grammar should be directly applied to English. This was never going to be a good idea as Latin and English are two different languages. Thankfully we are now at a point in time where we can appreciate each language for their separate characteristics rather than trying to superimpose one upon the other. Being at this point in time does not however give people the right to start butchering the language due to laziness.

Unfortunately laziness is not the absolute culprit when it comes to the corruption of the language. The system in which it is meant to be taught has been the major contributing factor towards its devastation for more than 30 years now. Schools have had little to no importance on the teaching of English. There has also been a greater importance on learning Japanese and Chinese in schools than Latin or any other romance language (French, Italian and Spanish). Geographically learning Asian languages makes perfect sense, however English shares so many grammatical traits with the romance languages that even a basic understanding of any would ensure a powerful grasp of English. Germanic languages also share many traits with English as it has been one of its main influences over the past thousand years.

I am part of the generation that has been forced to find these things for themselves. I have been inspired by great orators and lecturers to find out why they were so influential. It wasn't just their passion, but their understanding which led me to feel uplifted by their teachings.

Ignorance breeds ignorance, the troubling thing is that ignorance of our language's intricacies permeates every part of our lives. Everything we see, do and think is influenced by what we read, say and listen to. If you think that the rules or grammar have no meaning, or if you believe its pointless to understand what a trope or a figure is. Then I urge you to look to the writings and speeches of Obama, JFK, Martin Luther King Jr, Churchill and realise that these people changed the world, not just with actions but with the spoken and written word. They used these tools to make a difference, just as you too can make a difference by understanding them and using them for good.

Become uplifted. Become aware. Become powerful in your use of English - and then you too can inspire those around you.

I'm a capitalist whore.

That's right everyone. Just like when the great punk band The Offspring recorded Pretty Fly for a White Guy in 1998, or when Paris stopped being a city - I too have joined the legion of those who have come before me. I have become a consumerist, capitalist, commercial whore.

If you look under a couple of my blog entries, or to the right banner of my blog you will now see that you are bombarded by advertisements from Google. So yeah, my blog is now a sell out commercial capitalist whore. But for a good cause. I promise to donate any earnings from the blog to stop Climate Change! HAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!

No, not at all, NEVER! Those money hungry new age hippy Greenies can get their funding for a new pair of Eco friendly earmuffs made from alpaca dung from some other sucker!!

No, my money - if these ads ever generate it (which I sincerely doubt) - will go towards funding for a new domain name and upgraded website, with galleries, links pages, and all other great web related tools!

That's right my fellow readers - all 2 of you... with your clicks, and just by viewing the adds, hopefully this website will take on a whole new terrific (and possibly horrific) form! No more ".blogspot" (which I'm continually typing "bogsplot") - I'm taking this blog to the broader interweb!

Anyway - just thought I would tell you all I'm a sell out corporate whore before you all noticed for yourselves and thought "What the...?!" So don't think that I'm completely abandoning my quest for politically incorrect argument and jest because I have become a sell out - no. I'm just using the corporation to enable me to bring my angry rants (or what I like to think of as "not so common sense") to the wider Internet community!

Although the really depressing thing is that the advertisements are selected to reflect the topic of my posts. On one side you have me ranting and raving AGAINST fat loss websites, advertisements and products - then on the other side you have advertisements FOR these horrible conglomerate money makers... Yes... I realise the irony, and it makes me feel dirty... The interesting thing is though - while I'm promoting these bastards on my blog, I'm also using them to fund my public disapproval of them! Which to me is a blessing in disguise!!!

So click on the links! Click them with passion and gusto! Tell your friends to click on them! Because the more you click, the more you view the sooner I can rubbish the companies that are being promoted to a wider audience!

I'm a sell out - with a cause... WATCH OUT!!!

We're all fat and worthless!

At least thats what television and the internet would have us believing. Apparently we're all obese and need perfect abdominal muscles in order to be healthy and happy. Of course according to these oracles of information the only way to become healthy and happy is to purchase their new wonder drug or new machine which will give you ROCK HARD ABS in days! Now the real question is, do we believe the companies who invent the "Ab Swing" and other such "inventions" (term being used losely here) are really just caring for the health of those in the wider community? [insert sarcasm here] Ya know what? I believe they are - why else would they be working so hard to make God knows how many exercise tools for us to buy for 11 easy payments of $29.99! [end sarcasm]


The most depressing thing about this situation is that people actually buy this crap! You would be better off taking the tensing electrodes off your abs and put them on your temples in the hope the electric shock may help you to wake up!!!



But that doesn't happen as the all fashionable media tells you that you need to spend money on your appearance cos ITS NOT GOOD ENOUGH... Complete tosh... Yep - without a market these companies would stop creating all this junk - so that means that they actually make money off the gullible TV viewer.

So we know there is a market - the real question is why aren't health organisations like the Heart Foundation and other such groups that have the sole purpose of promoting a healthy lifestyle tapping into this rich resource? What I would love to see is the same aggressive advertising campaigns promoting walking...

Hi Lydia, what are you here to tell us about today?"
"Well Rob (they're always called Rob?!), I'm here to tell you about a sure fire way to get healthy rock hard abdominal muscles the easy way! Its called walking!!"
"No Way!"
"Yes way Rob! Walking at a brisk pace for 10 or 20 minutes a day will greatly reduce your risk of heart disease and also have you looking great in NO TIME AT ALL!"
"Lydia, that seems too good to be true"
"I know Rob, but wait - there's more!! If you go for a walk today, you'll not only be extending your life expectancy, but we'll let you take a friend and help them live longer too!!!"

Now - walking is easy - odds are you've been doing it longer than you've been using a toilet to poop, its been around since homo became erectus, and it doesn't cost a cent! But I think that may be half the issue. Maybe its too cheap...

For the better part of the last millenia, there has been a strange obsession with money and how if something is cheap/free, it must not be any good. This rationality tied with vanity and it makes sense that people are more happy to put a dollar value on their appearance than actually put in some old fashioned hard work.

You need to spend money to look good - and so if you look good and haven't spend money you haven't gotten your moneys worth?!?

So maybe that's why there is such a strong market out there for Ab machines. They cost money, so they must work! Of course the question isn't about if they work or not, but if you don't have the time to walk - how will you make the time to Abswing?!

People every day pay personal trainers to take them in a group (yes, I realise the irony in that statement) to a park to exercise. Nothing wrong with that - with the exception that you could have alternatively exercised in the same park for free. A quick google will bring up hundreds (if not thousands) of websites that have plenty of information on exercises you can do to get in shape, and they're a free resource also.

Perhaps the local councils should just charge people to walk in parks. Perhaps then more people would take advantage of the facilities which have been available for them and feel as though they're getting their money's worth. But I think the important thing to know is, these machines will not make you have rock hard abs just by buying them. Get out and do some walking, jogging, swimming - they're all free and fun. Once you can see yourself setting time aside each day for the betterment of your health - then by all means buy some equipment to help aid you in your search for a healthier life.

And turn off the God damned TV/computer!! Its why you're so fat in the first place!

P.S. Just kidding... ;^)

P.P.S. Thanks to Ginny for sparking the blog entry off!! Thanks!

I'm not an angry person! Am I?

Sometimes I sit back and read all the entries I've made to my blog, and I think to myself that maybe I should be on some form of behavioural modifying drugs. Most of my blog entires seem to be a little heavy, and perhaps at times just down right angry. Some of you out there in internet land may possibly be worried for my safety, or perhaps the safety of kittens everywhere after reading the below entries. But I assure you - I'm not an angry person - I just dont like stupid people.

At times I feel like Peter Griffin from Family Guy and often think that the blog isn't actually "Me and then some", but rather an extention of that particular episode...

What really grinds my gears this week is...

... the news.
... war.
... facebook (ongoing battle).

Maybe I am an angry person, in which case "Me and then some" is an apt name for the blog. I'm beginning to think as a write that the more likely answer is that I only blog to vent. When I'm happy - I don't feel the need to complain to you - my audience. Just the same way people on facebook usually only do a "status update" when they're upset and want the faceless internet to give them sympathy. Am I saying that I want your sympathy or assurance? I can't rule out the possibility (however I would like to think thats not a motive) - afterall, I do leave the options to post a comment, subscribe to my blog vis RSS feeds, become a "follower". Is what I'm doing all that different from the faux social site which I have admonished repetitively throughout the blog.

I think so...

The difference between me posting on my blog and a pointless attempt for your sympathies on facebook is that I actually tell you whats pissing me off. There is no subversive inuendo or passive agressiveness portrayed in my entries. If I don't like something. I get out there and articulate it in more than a 25 word entry on a website aimed at taking advantage of peoples voyeristic nature. I want you on the other side of this moniter to be active in my blog, but not to boost my own self esteem or to make me feel justified in my opinions as I wouldn't be writing them if I needed other peoples approval. I want people to read my blog, I want people to become enraged at the things that enrage me, and laugh at the things that make me laugh. My blog is my way of sharing my passion with you all out there.

Am I angry... I don't think so. My blog just happens to be there when something pisses me off. Its like going to bed when you're tired. Your bed only sees you when you're sleepy (or horny), but that doesn't mean you sleep all the time. It just happens to be the place you go when you need to partake in that type of activity.

No, I'm not angry. I am just alive, and real. This is me, and then some...

So this is news...

Watching the news today was quite upsetting. For quite some time I have been becoming more and more upset with the quality of Australian journalism (of course in this context the term "journalist" and "journalism" will be used very loosely). Since when has the news needed Hollywood flair, cinematography, and crappy page three tabloid style reports.

I know I shouldn't have been expecting a miracle from Channel 9 in the first place, but tonight was atrocious. When watching the news on commercial TV, you are only given 30 minutes in which time they are meant to update you on the important goings on in the local coverage area, the nation and the world. The nightly news is not some cheap, crappy current affairs programme (that comes on after the news, especially in the case of Channel 7 and 9), the nightly news is a brief overview of the goings on in politics, war, and common local affairs.

So when I turned on the news tonight and was bombarded by a story of how speeding in school zones is increasing, I was wondering if this could be counted as newsworthy. Perhaps in a newspaper where the reader is given over 100 pages in which to read what they choose, but in a 30 minute news broadcast (including ads) this seemed highly irrelevant. To go on with this apparent news report, they used amazing lines such as this...

even with a rising road toll Australians keep speeding, especially in school zones

I would firstly like to say that I in no way encourage or promote speeding. I don't believe that there is such a thing as "safe speeding" and that speed limits should at all times be obeyed. But I would love to know how many road related deaths due to speeding happen in school zones, or even if there is a link between the INCREASE in the road toll to the INCREASE of speeding offences in school zones. This to me seems like a completely redundant statement.

Now my main gripe with school zones and speeding is that if a school zone were implemented for the safety of the children leaving the school between the specified times, then perhaps there would be better notification and signage. A sign saying that "this is a school zone" does nothing for the driver who actually may have no idea of the time (without looking at a clock), have no idea if its school holidays (without having childres), and perhaps through complacency may not realise that they have entered a school zone.

Only a limited number of school zones actually have flashing lights to make drivers aware that the school zone is active. Even then, when the safety of our children is at stake, are a couple of flashing lights enough?!?!

The simple answer is NO. There is no cost too great, no precaution not worth taking when the safety of young children is concerned. So what does this mean? Does it mean that the councils and local governments don't care enough, or just don't care...? I think they do care, but not about the safety of our children. Its this lack of caring, lack of warning of school zones that leads me to believe that for the most part they are in place simply as a revenue raising mechanism. Don't get me wrong, I think the school zone idea could be great if implemented with the safety of children at the forefront of the agenda. However this does not seem to be the case, as the lack of appropriate signage places revenue as the primary agenda and the safety of children arriving and leaving school as a secondary agenda.

In light of this, and to get back on topic of the appalling state of the Channel 9 news team. In their report on motorists speeding in school zones, they showed the signage, although as I mentioned before it is sorely lacking (you'd think if they were to show such a one sided tabloid report they would at least have shown the type with flashing lights), and then they confronted some of the drivers who had just been fined by the police patrol they were with.

And here is a teacher who had two children in the car

And here is a P plater not long out of school herself

It is already quite apparent by the above that the report was never interested in showing the flaws in the school zone system in order to increase the awareness of drivers. It was simply a tabloid fabrication to entertain the poor souls who lap this crap up as news.

I'm not even going to start talking about Tracey Grimshaw and that talentless hack of a reporter. Perhaps that will be the fuel of another blog entry in the future - but needless to say she is hopeless. Never in my life have I seen anyone less interested in finding the truth of a matter. Which is obviously not important to commercial news coverage in Australian anymore - I guess she fits right in then...

Please people - expect more from the news media we are receiving in this country, and when they fuck up - send an email calling them on their shit - will take you two seconds to do and if it happens enough they may start to take notice. Watch ABS or SBS news. Read independent online news papers and most importantly stay away from ninemsn.com and the Daily Telegraph...

I will never understand how something can be happy about appealing to the lowest common denominator. The publications we read are meant to aid in elevating our minds and ability to reason rationally... Instead they nurture the bigoted, illogical, and uneducated amongst us into believing that they are the best that they can be, and it's just not right.

Guilt and Chocolate

Two things which are very closely related for many of us. Guilt, and chocolate. Some of us feel guilty after eating chocolate, while some of us are guilty of not eating enough. I like to think I'm the later, although I am most probably the former.

Although it must be said that this thread has nothing to do with chocolate - even though it has a chocolatey theme... This thread is about guilt, and the abundance of which I feel for abandoning you, my readers for what seems like an eternity.

In some ways, blogging felt like the rebound girl you have after a long term relationship. I had just ended - rather abruptly - my relationship with facebook, and felt that something was needed to fill the void. Almost how many smokers take up chewing gum, or knitting... But this should not have been the case. Blogging shouldn't have been my rebound girl, as now I feel bad for abusing its trust and taking it for a ride. I plan to make a lasting commitment to the blog, not some sleazy cure to a to a distructive faux-social relationship. From here on in, I plan to stop using cheesy pickup lines and make a stand... Blog, if you'll have me back, I swear to be true to you!

But this isn't where the chocolate metaphor ends... Just as I was guilty for not being there for my blog, I didn't want to use it to distract me from other issue. As an example, how people use food to cheer themselves up, or to create a distraction from the obvious issues which plague them. I didn't want blog to be my post relationship my one night stand, or my wonderfully distracting, comforting, soothing, tasty, melt in your mouth chocolate.

I'm a uni student, and I felt that time spent blogging was time that could have been spent studying. The study never happened, either did the blogging, and in a period where scholarly creativity should have flourished, the void created by my lack of motivation and need for "procrastudy" (see earlier blog entry) became all consuming.

So now, although I have enough uni work to last well into the coming week, I am here, seeking to repair the fractured relationship I've had with my blog, and to apologise to it, and you in turn, for being a bad blogger.

Instead of fearing chocolate, and how complacent and fat it may make me - I will indulge in the chocolate of blog, and suffer the consequences of reality!

How far...

So I was thinking the other day, as I do most days, about the human condition. Is the human race actually a greedy , cut-throat, selfish, violent, cancerous tumor? I would like to say no, but when I watch the news each night I am compelled to believe that people for the most part are inherently violent and destructive. Yes, people are capable of the most amazing and beautiful things such as love, art, music, compassion and empathy. Qualities which each person posses at birth. So why are those who seek political power and the ability to govern usually void of such amicable personal traits?

Every day in the news there is a new scandal, a new gangland murder, embezzlement, corruption and lies. Then at the end of the news presentation there is a "humanity" story which runs for the final 30 seconds of a 30 minute news programme. As if to say that the little kitten which was rescued from up a tree is meant to invoke the more noble qualities in its viewers!

In the news today, life is shit, everyone is dying or killing each other, but the little kitten from suburbia was saved from a tree - so everything is OOOOOKAAAAYYY!"

Everything is not okay. The youth of today seem more violent and delinquent. People lock their front doors and have bars on every window. Without knowing it we have turned into a fascist state, prisoners in our own homes but by our own consent! Security is no longer something which is sought for when you're away from home, but something to keep you safe IN your home.

I look at the amount of money being spent each year for the purposes of "defence" and think how much good that could do if it were diverted to humanitarian needs or even domestic education, health, roads, etc.

For the 2009 fiscal year, the base budget rose to $515.4 billion. Adding emergency discretionary spending and supplemental spending brings the sum to $651.2 billion. This does not include many military-related items that are outside of the Defense Department budget, such as nuclear weapons research, maintenance and production (about $9.3 billion, which is in the Department of Energy budget), Veterans Affairs (about $33.2 billion), interest on debt incurred in past wars, or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (which are largely funded through extra-budgetary supplements, about $170 billion in 2007). As of 2009, the United States government is spending about $1 trillion annually on defense-related purposes. (Taken from Wiki)

Now I'm not a stupid idealist that thinks that America should stop all that spending immediately - I know they must maintain their military as long as every other nation maintains their military. However this is a circular argument, because as long as anyone has a military force, then everyone will have a military force. A stalemate has occurred of which no one can get out of. Its a big game of chess but only the Kings are left.

As I said I don't think there is any way any country could divert or change their spending habits, but something has to change. Every day we hear that $2 a week can feed a child in a third world country. Can you just imagine what $1 trillion a year could do? If the USA were to spend that money on "Homeland Infrastructure" instead of "Homeland Security" I dare say the rest of the world would soon stop thinking of the average American as an uneducated stupid git.

Today's blog is full of questions which can't be answered but need to be raised. I don't think enough people actually stop to think about whats going on as we're typically too busy living our lives to care. Think about the hard questions, think about what you can do in your part of the world to ensure you, your friends and most importantly your children don't fall into this trap. Make people aware of these issues so that when the questions aren't addressed by our politicians we know that they HAVEN'T DONE ENOUGH!!

Don't become overburdened with the negative aspects of our world either. As human beings we have the ability to create the world around us that we want to live in. Create your world around you and NEVER let hate or anger rule it.

The title of this entry is "How far", and I think you can apply that question to this blog entry any way you like.

How far...
... would we be if the money spent on wars/defence were to be spent on innovation, infrastructure and humanitarian issues?
... will we have to go before more people realise there is something wrong?
... into the future will the human race last if we keep killing each other?

There is something wrong with all of us... and the longer we keep ignoring these hard and difficult questions the more difficult it will be to rectify the situation, even if it is just in our own homes.

Procrastudy... and the Messy Breakup.

Procrastudy is the act of performing other learning based activities which have NOTHING to do with the task at hand... Blogging is NOT procrastudy, blogging is just pure unadulterated procrastination.

I just wanted to clarify that I'm under no illusions as to what my time spent blogging means; and in doing so thought it would be useful to highlight a word which I invented (or at least lay a large claim to its use) - procrastudy - I enjoy listening to lectures on literature and grammar, reading "teach yourself Latin" books and listening to Latin poetry. This is what I call procrastudy. Not that learning for the sake of learning is to be avoided... it just should be avoided when there is much more pressing work at hand.

The Messy Breakup...

Today it came to my attention that facebook is stalking me like a psychotic ex-girlfriend. When I mentioned that I was no longer a user of facebook to a friend, at first there was disbelief that ANYONE would get rid of their account... Then he asked how will we stay in touch while he is travelling? This is one person in a long line of people who have asked the same question - "How will we stay in touch?"

This little dilemma of an inability to communicate made me come to the realisation about a new way of marking time... No more BC(E)/AD crap! No no no... the coming of Christ is insignificant when compared to the way that facebook has changed our lives. We need Before Facebook (BF) and After Facebook (AF) as people now believe that life can not function without it, so it must not have functioned before it. The revese is in fact true!

So back to keeping in contact with people - I find the same dilemma has encroached on the business world already with the implementation of the "Crackberry" (aka. Blackberry). When the email function doesn't work on Blackberry, professionals (regardless of how old they are) tend to go into a frenzied panic as to how they will be able to contact people. I suppose they forgot that Blackberry's also have a PHONE FUNCTION! Now the same frantic worry has moved from the yuppies of the world to the rest of society using this manipulative website as its medium. Sneaky sneaky.

Facebook may have replaced your need for email, but the ability to email still exists, as does a phone and text messaging! In years to come people may wonder "How did we ever organise our lives without it (facebook): birthdays, BBQs, parties, or even just saying hello?!" Is facebook the new mobile phone? I hope not, although just look at any iPhone and I'm sure you'll find that there is a facebook application installed... this website has even infiltrated the technology its threatening to take over!

This is the thing about facebook (and the same could have been said about the internet when it was created), it is the most impersonal form of communication. The apparent internet community which you belong to is more segregated and fragmented than the population of Sydney was 20 years ago. You may have hundreds of friends, but how many do you actually choose to see or talk to, and more importantly, how many do you no longer speak to because you can check up on them on your new online community? Anyone can type a hello on facebook but real friends call to see how you're doing. If you're feeling like shit - do you really want the 300 fake friends on facebook to know? Its not an honest attempt at communicating as its a public forum.

When the hand written letter became typed, a visual element of expression dissapeared from non-verbal communication. Then MANY years down the track, email was the way ahead, and no longer did people have to WALK to the mailbox, everything was possible from the comfort of your own home. The same also goes for TXT messaging, of course a phone call could say everything you need to - but I guess a TXT is just another way of not commiting or putting effort in. Facebook is the next step towards (or away from) direct communication. This non-commital comunicaiton is easy, lacks sentiment and is a driving force for segregation.

"Look! Its someones birthday! I'll send them a message!" Yes, we've all recieved "Happy birthday!" messages from people who are "friends" on facebook. But what you don't realise is the long the gap in your friendship, or the more remotely you know the person, the less they actually care that its your birthday and the less sincere the the message. Odds are they just feel and obligation to post this on who ever is celebrating the birthday. I myself had 5 birthdays on facebook this year... each of which were congratulated by REPEAT OFFENDERS! Some of which didn't even realise that it was the 5th time they had wished me happy birthday this year!

Often people will complain there is no sense of community anymore, well with modes of communication that don't encourage sincerity, honesty, and a valid form of EFFECTIVE communication what can we expect. The great divide between human and humanity has been drawn in the ground with a circuit board, and now the internet with the aid of facebook has firmly crossed over.

Some things just never seem permanent enough...

So facebook is now deactivated, but all that's needed is one moment of weakness - a simple sign in and its back up and running. I'm not entirely sure how happy I am about that...

When you flush a toilet you want the poo to go, and remain gone. There's no sentimentality with it - it should just be gone, and every time you go back to the toilet you want to start fresh. You don't want to grab the old poop and just throw it back in the bowl. Facebook didn't give me the flush I was looking for! As quoted from Geoff in Coupling, I have an "unflushable".

Even now in the few minutes after the "deactivation" event occurred, there is a compulsion to go back and reactive just to see if its all the same. Is it nostalgia? Could our generations limited attention spans really mean that sentiment and nostalgia can be linked to the longing for social interaction on a web page designed to exploit our curiosity?

It became habitual, open FireFox and load up facebook. Now I open FireFox and read the news, but even that feels as though there is something missing. Who would have thought that not visiting a website could be likened to stopping smoking. All the more reason to leave.

Well the way forward is hopefully going to mean less meaningless status updates in exchange for real thoughts and opinions, hours of pointless stalking in exchange for what I hope will be hours of reading.

Of course I'm a dreamer and a wanker to think that my thoughts are more significant or have more worth than any status update. Or even to think that enough people would care or be interested enough to subscribe to my blog, but that's just it - I left facebook because it was too immediate in seeking other peoples opinion. I didn't post that I was leaving facebook so people could say "goodbye" or "I'll miss you" - like fuck - you hadn't missed me for the period prior to facebook AND its not like we had physically caught up since it began!? I was doing so in order to stay in touch with those that wanted to.

The only thing facebook has over blogging is the ability to block people. Privacy setting were good - and now the true stalkers can come to the surface.

This time I will not be posting photos of me in the nude.

Something to do...

Started feeling that facebook was passive aggressive. Too many people complaining about too many things in status updates.

"Marc thinks you're an arse!" - Let alone the fact that its teaching people to talk in the third person... Every status update is one step closer to insanity...

Then of course there is posting on peoples walls! Vague threats, empty questions and meaningless promises...
"Hi, Hope you're doing well! We should so catch up!" Of course the ten year absence of me from your life meant nothing. But now we're "friends" on facebook we should definitely go for that coffee... Hell, I don't even think we were friends when we REALLY knew each other!

Quizzes, applications, fan pages! What is everyone trying to say?!
"4 friends have become a fan of AIR". Well I guess I like air... who doesn't... but all facebook makes me want to do is VENT!

Will be glad to be rid of it. Giving those who actually give a shit one week to record my contact details and then its FUCK YOU FACEBOOK and fake friends...

So this is blogging aye? I think I could get used to this... feels like AM radio, but quieter.

Facebook, passive aggressive, really not my way - I think I'll like blogging... its just aggessive, and first person. Fuck.