Hello my friends! I certainly have missed you! Life has been a little crummy as of late, and for some reason it has been hard for me to put fingers to keyboard, but here I am. The summer is almost over. OMG where has the time gone? So very much has been going on. Sooooo...just in case you're interested, I thought I'd use this post to catch you up on my less than perfect summer.
Back in March it all started. I found out that my brother in law had cancer. That news really blindsided our family. We had, until then, been so fortunate as not to have had many crisis situations. (In the back of your mind you know that things can happen, but until they happen to you and your family you really don't get the full impact.) He was told that he'd have to undergo chemo, and the prognosis was good. So he began the necessary but distressing process of chemo. Then the next bombshell hit. My little sister found out that she has breast cancer.
We couldn't believe it. As far as we knew(at that time)there was no history of breast cancer in our family. She goes through so much constant discomfort. I don't mean discomfort like when you sit too long and your foot falls asleep. That discomfort goes away after 10 or 15 minutes. Her discomfort began with the healing that comes after a mastectomy. She couldn't sleep on the bed comfortably. Luckily she had a chaise lounge that took the place of her bed for a while. She found that her taste buds were all outta whack. She wanted to eat but nothing tasted good. There was intermittent nausea, overall fatigue. She had to shave her head, because hair began to fall out; chemo does that. When she is finished with chemo, the radiation begins. She longs for a meal that she can enjoy. Heck right now I'm sure that it would make her day if she could have a good cold glass of water that doesn't taste "funny." You really wouldn't know that she has cancer just by looking at her. Yes she wears scarves and sometimes a wig, but other than that, you can't tell. We are blessed however. My sister is doing well....considering. I understand that some people really go through a very hard time. Yet, we are blessed in many ways.
Life happens and we never know how or why. It makes us question our very existence. It makes us embrace our faith or turn away from it. It makes us paranoid. I just had my yearly mammogram. I think that I've mashed my breasts so much feeling for lumps that I've actually made them sore. I had my mammogram on a Friday, and the moment that I walked out of the office I began to obsess about the results. One of the last things that the technician said to me was "if the radiologist finds anything at all different from your last mammogram, he'll let you know immediately." My mind began to race; I panic easily. What if....
Last year there was no history of breast cancer, and now... there is. Actually, there was a history all along, several women on my maternal grandfather's side had breast cancer. For some reason, ma has never chosen to share that info with us. However, now it is in my immediate family; and that changes which box I check when I get my mammogram. Anyway, for three days I've run to the phone praying that there is no call from the imaging lab. Today something told me to check the mailbox (I don't check it every day)and there it was, the letter with my results. I ripped it open, and the box beside normal, negative, no evidence of cancer, was checked! Whew! Then I thought "what if they made a mistake?" Ok, so medication may be in my future, but I'm just sayin...
Summer is drawing to a close. My brother in law has completed his chemo, and is cancer free and on the road to being 100%. My sister only has 2 more chemo treatments to go, then the radiation treatments begin. Once her taste buds get back to normal, maybe we'll celebrate at Five Guys or something. It has been a long challenging summer. It is only by the grace of God that we've all made it through. I'm still unemployed but I'm hopeful that I'll snag that great job soon. Until next time, stay positive. And for all of you sisters out,here's a word of advice, get those yearly mammograms!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Bullying
Hey fans, well at least I hope you’re fans. I hope that you are all doing well. I’ve completed my 4 month temporary job, and the best thing that I can say is that I've met a few nice people. In any event, it was a good opportunity. Now on to the next one. This time I'd like to share with you my thoughts on a topic that has been in the news a great deal lately, bullying.
I was bullied as a child. Let me give you a little background. My father was very strict, and as a result of that my sisters and I led a very sheltered life. We were not allowed to visit with other kids and we pretty much stayed to ourselves. Despite the fact that we did everything together, we each had friends and I dare say that we were pretty nice kids, despite the fact that we led such a sheltered life. Because we stayed to ourselves, the other kids thought that we were “stuck up.” My two sisters and I sat together on the bus each day, and for some reason this made us the perfect targets for various bullies on the bus. I was the oldest and I had taken upon myself the responsibility of being the protector for my sisters. I just figured that the oldest child needed to take care of the others. My sisters and I sat together on the bus so we were an easy target for any bully that chose to harass us.
The bullies who chose to harass us actually lived right across the street from us in an apartment. Their father drove a long distance truck and they were the kind of kids who were always in trouble. We lived in the house on the hill and we never got into trouble. There were three of them, Carolyn, Donnie, and Mary, the meanest one of the bunch. I think that Mary was as angry as she was because of her insecurities about her appearance. She had what they used to call a “wall eye” supposedly they called it that because it looks like that eye is always staring straight ahead, at the wall. She wasn’t a very pretty girl either, and she seemed to be mad at the world. So, she turned some of her anger towards my sisters and me.
She pulled my hair, tried to trip me, and called all three of us names. She used to call us the Three Stooges because the three of us all sat together on the bus. It was no fun being bullied. A few times I even had to fight because someone had hit one of my sisters or pulled my hair. If I had tried to ignore the bullies, it would not have made a difference. It would have only gotten worse, so I hit back. It was no street brawl just a few girlie hits were exchanged. There was no blood, no scarring just a quickened pulse and the hope that there would be no blood or scarring. Why once Mary and her brother Donnie even tried to bully the bus driver!
They started out taunting me and my sisters and when the bus driver came to our defense they threw balled up paper at her, she cautioned them to stop. The bus driver was so distracted that we ended up having a minor accident. Fortunately no one was hurt. But that poor bus driver was shaking like a leaf. I felt bad for her because there was nothing that she could do. They hauled us all into the principal’s office. I hadn’t done anything so of course I was allowed to continue to ride the bus. The bullies did get put off of the bus, but they blamed us for their punishment. Their mother even had the nerve to call and try to threaten us. I'll never forget, my mother said with fire in her eyes "They'd bednot put a hand on you!" (Yes, I said bednot!) I had my parents on my side, and I knew I'd be alright. After a while, those particular bullies “grew out" of bullying us. There were other bullies, but I was able to get past them.
I’m sure that most of you have encountered a bully somewhere along the way. As an adult I had to step in when a neighbor's child tried to bully my son. I tried talking to the kid's mom, but she was useless. Really, it was like talking to a wall. She was so incredibly uninvolved. I just had to tell my son not to play with the kid. My son was only 4 at the time. He is a grown man now, and I hope that he hasn't had too many other "bully" experiences. I hope that when he has kids maybe they will not have to contend with bullies. I guess that bullies will never go away. Yet,we all can make a difference by being involved. There are some very simple things that might help make a difference.
Tell your children that they can talk to you. Let them now that you are in their corner. They have a right to feel safe. Make them understand that you are there for them. Bullying should be reported to an adult. And adults have a responsibility to pay attention. As a parent, I feel that it is my responsibility to intervene if I see children being bullied. Once I saw some kids beating up on another kid from the neighborhood. I broke it up and told them to go home. I don't know what happened later, but I did the best that I could do in that situation. I think that folks have become desensitized to the bullying that goes on. One doesn't need to be bullied in order to grow up. Bullies are mean; they hurt others, emotionally and sometimes physically. The thing that really bothers me is that the parents of bullies are oblivious, or even sometimes supportive of their little mean kids. If you have a kid who is bullying talk to him or her, and if that doesn't work, get him/her professional help!
I know that nowadays it can be dangerous to reprimand other children. However, as an adult it is our job to let kids know that we can help. Speak up when you see bullying going on. We have got to let our children know that being bullied is not a rite of passage into adulthood. Bullying serves no purpose. If you know of any initiative to end bullying in your church, your school or your community, get involved. We owe it to the children! Following is a link to a great website for anyone who needs info about bullying.
http://www.stopbullying.gov
I hope that you all will check me out again soon. Have a great week! How bout some "Peace in the Middle East?" for real tho!
I was bullied as a child. Let me give you a little background. My father was very strict, and as a result of that my sisters and I led a very sheltered life. We were not allowed to visit with other kids and we pretty much stayed to ourselves. Despite the fact that we did everything together, we each had friends and I dare say that we were pretty nice kids, despite the fact that we led such a sheltered life. Because we stayed to ourselves, the other kids thought that we were “stuck up.” My two sisters and I sat together on the bus each day, and for some reason this made us the perfect targets for various bullies on the bus. I was the oldest and I had taken upon myself the responsibility of being the protector for my sisters. I just figured that the oldest child needed to take care of the others. My sisters and I sat together on the bus so we were an easy target for any bully that chose to harass us.
The bullies who chose to harass us actually lived right across the street from us in an apartment. Their father drove a long distance truck and they were the kind of kids who were always in trouble. We lived in the house on the hill and we never got into trouble. There were three of them, Carolyn, Donnie, and Mary, the meanest one of the bunch. I think that Mary was as angry as she was because of her insecurities about her appearance. She had what they used to call a “wall eye” supposedly they called it that because it looks like that eye is always staring straight ahead, at the wall. She wasn’t a very pretty girl either, and she seemed to be mad at the world. So, she turned some of her anger towards my sisters and me.
She pulled my hair, tried to trip me, and called all three of us names. She used to call us the Three Stooges because the three of us all sat together on the bus. It was no fun being bullied. A few times I even had to fight because someone had hit one of my sisters or pulled my hair. If I had tried to ignore the bullies, it would not have made a difference. It would have only gotten worse, so I hit back. It was no street brawl just a few girlie hits were exchanged. There was no blood, no scarring just a quickened pulse and the hope that there would be no blood or scarring. Why once Mary and her brother Donnie even tried to bully the bus driver!
They started out taunting me and my sisters and when the bus driver came to our defense they threw balled up paper at her, she cautioned them to stop. The bus driver was so distracted that we ended up having a minor accident. Fortunately no one was hurt. But that poor bus driver was shaking like a leaf. I felt bad for her because there was nothing that she could do. They hauled us all into the principal’s office. I hadn’t done anything so of course I was allowed to continue to ride the bus. The bullies did get put off of the bus, but they blamed us for their punishment. Their mother even had the nerve to call and try to threaten us. I'll never forget, my mother said with fire in her eyes "They'd bednot put a hand on you!" (Yes, I said bednot!) I had my parents on my side, and I knew I'd be alright. After a while, those particular bullies “grew out" of bullying us. There were other bullies, but I was able to get past them.
I’m sure that most of you have encountered a bully somewhere along the way. As an adult I had to step in when a neighbor's child tried to bully my son. I tried talking to the kid's mom, but she was useless. Really, it was like talking to a wall. She was so incredibly uninvolved. I just had to tell my son not to play with the kid. My son was only 4 at the time. He is a grown man now, and I hope that he hasn't had too many other "bully" experiences. I hope that when he has kids maybe they will not have to contend with bullies. I guess that bullies will never go away. Yet,we all can make a difference by being involved. There are some very simple things that might help make a difference.
Tell your children that they can talk to you. Let them now that you are in their corner. They have a right to feel safe. Make them understand that you are there for them. Bullying should be reported to an adult. And adults have a responsibility to pay attention. As a parent, I feel that it is my responsibility to intervene if I see children being bullied. Once I saw some kids beating up on another kid from the neighborhood. I broke it up and told them to go home. I don't know what happened later, but I did the best that I could do in that situation. I think that folks have become desensitized to the bullying that goes on. One doesn't need to be bullied in order to grow up. Bullies are mean; they hurt others, emotionally and sometimes physically. The thing that really bothers me is that the parents of bullies are oblivious, or even sometimes supportive of their little mean kids. If you have a kid who is bullying talk to him or her, and if that doesn't work, get him/her professional help!
I know that nowadays it can be dangerous to reprimand other children. However, as an adult it is our job to let kids know that we can help. Speak up when you see bullying going on. We have got to let our children know that being bullied is not a rite of passage into adulthood. Bullying serves no purpose. If you know of any initiative to end bullying in your church, your school or your community, get involved. We owe it to the children! Following is a link to a great website for anyone who needs info about bullying.
http://www.stopbullying.gov
I hope that you all will check me out again soon. Have a great week! How bout some "Peace in the Middle East?" for real tho!
Friday, February 4, 2011
Dream Guy
How’s everybody? I’m ok; there is nothing spectacular happening in my life. The temporary job assignment that I’m on ends in mid March, and that’s just around the corner, so I’m intensifying my job search. Life chugs on, with me scrambling to keep up. My days are pretty much routine. I get up, go to work, come home, cook, and get ready to do it all again. Same old same old, things change but really they basically remain the same. Sometimes though, life throws you a little somethin somethin to shake you up. Last night as I slept, I had the most comforting dream.
I dream on a regular basis, it seems like my mind races all the time. Last night it was working overtime. The dream that came to me only lasted a few moments. It appeared that I was back on my old college campus, and I happened to bump into an old friend. Initially I hardly recognized him. I had nodded to him and for some reason begun to turn to walk away. He said my name aloud and we looked into each other’s eyes. In that moment we recognized each other. As he said my name he pulled me to him in a warm embrace. His lips met mine and we melted into each other. He squeezed me tighter and tighter as we kissed. In my mind I saw us embraced, woman to man, friend to friend. It seemed that the embrace lasted for a while. When we parted he hurried as though he was late for something. As he trotted away he turned and gave me an impish grin. I awakened with a comfortable warm feeling (no, it wasn’t gas, or anything else that you might be thinking.) I laid there in the dark savoring the feeling, reliving the kiss and embrace in my mind. The feeling of peace that enveloped me was wonderful. For a few moments I felt that all was right with the world. I was calm and emotionally satiated, for a few moments…Then I began to wonder.
I have thought about my old friend on numerous occasions throughout the years. As a matter of fact, I’ve thought of him often over the last year. I’ve even seen a picture of him and his wife visiting a mutual friend. It’s funny, back during the time when we were friends there was no physical contact between us. We laughed a lot, shared a lot. It was comfortable. He was a shoulder to lean on, a friend who interrupted my tears with laughter. I miss the friendship. We were friends, who lost touch. After we left school, our paths crossed only once or twice. So it has been years since we’ve last spoken to each other. He is happily married, and I…well…..I am married. I would love to reconnect with him. We just seemed to hit it off. He was a good friend; and I’d just like to talk with him, and catch up.
It’s strange, when he turned and grinned at me in the dream; it was as if he knew that I needed that moment in time. Before, he had always known the right things to say to make me laugh, and to make me feel better. He’s doing it again, taking care of me, even in my dreams. Wow, I am amazed at what the mind does to compensate for the gaps in reality. For a long time I’ve felt unappreciated, emotionally ignored. So my subconscious kicked in to smooth things out. In my life, as I can recall, this has been only the second time that I’ve had such a dream. It is one that I will likely never forget. It just had such a real feel to me. I don’t think that I’m one who is able to think a dream into existence. However, if I could, I’d conjure up my friend tonight, and we’d sit down and chat. However, that will not be the case. I hope that someday we can reconnect, but it may not happen. Perhaps he will always just exist as the friend who gave me a moment of happiness, of comfort, if only in my dreams….
Hope you don’t mind, I just needed to share with you. I woke up this morning feeling a little confused, emotionally reaching for something that wasn’t real. It was good while it lasted. Funny how a warm hug from a special friend can raise one’s spirits. Oh and btw, the person that shared my dream with me is not on facebook, just in case you’re trying to figure out my old friend’s identity. Until next time, pleasant dreams.
I dream on a regular basis, it seems like my mind races all the time. Last night it was working overtime. The dream that came to me only lasted a few moments. It appeared that I was back on my old college campus, and I happened to bump into an old friend. Initially I hardly recognized him. I had nodded to him and for some reason begun to turn to walk away. He said my name aloud and we looked into each other’s eyes. In that moment we recognized each other. As he said my name he pulled me to him in a warm embrace. His lips met mine and we melted into each other. He squeezed me tighter and tighter as we kissed. In my mind I saw us embraced, woman to man, friend to friend. It seemed that the embrace lasted for a while. When we parted he hurried as though he was late for something. As he trotted away he turned and gave me an impish grin. I awakened with a comfortable warm feeling (no, it wasn’t gas, or anything else that you might be thinking.) I laid there in the dark savoring the feeling, reliving the kiss and embrace in my mind. The feeling of peace that enveloped me was wonderful. For a few moments I felt that all was right with the world. I was calm and emotionally satiated, for a few moments…Then I began to wonder.
I have thought about my old friend on numerous occasions throughout the years. As a matter of fact, I’ve thought of him often over the last year. I’ve even seen a picture of him and his wife visiting a mutual friend. It’s funny, back during the time when we were friends there was no physical contact between us. We laughed a lot, shared a lot. It was comfortable. He was a shoulder to lean on, a friend who interrupted my tears with laughter. I miss the friendship. We were friends, who lost touch. After we left school, our paths crossed only once or twice. So it has been years since we’ve last spoken to each other. He is happily married, and I…well…..I am married. I would love to reconnect with him. We just seemed to hit it off. He was a good friend; and I’d just like to talk with him, and catch up.
It’s strange, when he turned and grinned at me in the dream; it was as if he knew that I needed that moment in time. Before, he had always known the right things to say to make me laugh, and to make me feel better. He’s doing it again, taking care of me, even in my dreams. Wow, I am amazed at what the mind does to compensate for the gaps in reality. For a long time I’ve felt unappreciated, emotionally ignored. So my subconscious kicked in to smooth things out. In my life, as I can recall, this has been only the second time that I’ve had such a dream. It is one that I will likely never forget. It just had such a real feel to me. I don’t think that I’m one who is able to think a dream into existence. However, if I could, I’d conjure up my friend tonight, and we’d sit down and chat. However, that will not be the case. I hope that someday we can reconnect, but it may not happen. Perhaps he will always just exist as the friend who gave me a moment of happiness, of comfort, if only in my dreams….
Hope you don’t mind, I just needed to share with you. I woke up this morning feeling a little confused, emotionally reaching for something that wasn’t real. It was good while it lasted. Funny how a warm hug from a special friend can raise one’s spirits. Oh and btw, the person that shared my dream with me is not on facebook, just in case you’re trying to figure out my old friend’s identity. Until next time, pleasant dreams.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Facebook and Me
How’s everyone doing? I trust that you’re succeeding in implementing your New Year’s changes. I’m doing pretty well with my exercise change. I’ve begun walking at work, during breaks and lunch. I just have to keep it up. Well, for my first blog of the New Year I thought that I’d share with you my thoughts on facebook and some dos and don’ts for using this wildly popular social site.
It’s funny, I remember what it was like before all this twittering and facebooking began. One of the first social communication programs was Prodigy. I can remember my excitement when logging on and connecting. Back then, we used a dial-up connection, and sometimes you couldn’t even get the “handshake” to say that you’d actually connected. Logging on to Prodigy took forever, but it was fun once I got on. It was great to talk to random people out in the world. I loved it! Then AOL came along. I had such thrilling conversations with folks all over the place. It was new and exciting, but the cost per hr was daunting. I remember once my husband ran up a monthly bill of over 300 dollars. Crazy! Then other social sites came about, MySpace and so forth.
I had no desire to set up a MySpace account. It seemed to me as though that type of thing was far too intrusive, and it looked like there were a lot of teeny boppers on there. For a while I resisted Facebook, for the same reasons. I didn’t want to “put myself out there” so to speak. Well, 5 years later, I decided to create an account. One of my sisters had an account and suggested that I set up one too. I found that it is actually a great way to share pictures, and events etc. with family and friends. It was fun, and then I really began to get into it. I looked up old school friends from high school and college. It was exciting to reconnect with old friends and to see how their lives had progressed.
I sent friend requests to people that I hadn’t spoken to in years. Oh BTW, just because your friend request has not been acted upon, doesn’t mean that you’re being ignored. Sometimes, people really don’t login to Facebook on the regular. One of my friends is rarely on except to check the accounts of his teens. Initially, I was hurt when a friend request wasn’t accepted. I got over that, you see I’ve found that if a request isn’t accepted it may be because the request has not been seen. However, sometimes…. Well, there have been requests that I’ve ignored, and who knows, maybe one or two have ignored me.
One lady, who had never really been my friend, sent me a request. Not only was she not my friend, she was one of my husband’s uh “dalliances” from back in the day. So you know that I wasn’t accepting her friend request! I have less than a hundred friends. That brings me to another topic, the number of friends one has. Why is it that some folks have thousands of friends on facebook? How is that advantageous? First of all I don’t need that many people in my business. Everyone that is a friend of mine on facebook is actually someone whom I’ve known well over the years, specifically family and friends. I can honestly say that there is only one person on my Facebook page that I don’t really know well. I kinda met her on Facebook through my brother in law. I’ve failed to mention that there are also those who use facebook to further their careers in entertainment and other areas, and that’s cool, but they also have to manage their accounts. You just never know who you’re letting into your world (Can you say Stalker?) Just one more reason not to accept all friend requests!
I do not “friend” folks just because I know them. Like I’ve said before everyone is not my friend, nothing personal. Sometimes though, I don’t friend people because I don’t want to mix my worlds. Work folks don’t need to look at my backyard barbeque pictures and so forth and so on. I’m just sayin….the two worlds don’t need to mix, which brings me to my next point. Don’t put anything on Facebook that is questionable.
If you happen to have outspoken friends with strong opinions that may offend, caution them about posting those opinions to your wall. If you think that the picture of you holding a bottle of liquor in each hand is cute, think again. Did you know that sometimes employers check Facebook? I don't think that they should, but they do. That's why I only friend those that I know. It’s amazing the information that folks put out there for total strangers to see. You dirty dancing with a stripper may not be something that everyone needs to see. Despite the fact that Facebook has become a window to our personal worlds, we still have power over it. We can decide what and what not to share.
I’ve noticed that some people use Facebook as a personal journal. Some use it as a way to look at themselves, picture after picture, after narcissistic picture. .. sorry… anyhoo, to each his own. Oh and to any of you who find that a particular friend (oft times a youngster) seems to always pop up with mindless silliness that you don’t care to see, use the hide feature. He or she will still be one of your friends, but you will not have to see all of the sometimes meaningless statements about any and everything. I find this helpful when dealing with my teen friends. They are good kids, bless their lil hearts; it’s just that I’m not real interested in talk about Justin Beiber and I don’t really have a burning desire to see the “Teach me how to Dougy,” video.
Facebook can be fun, but one still needs to manage it responsibly. I love the new technology, yet I still like being able to pick up the phone to reach out and touch someone. Texting can be expressive, but there is nothing like sharing a laugh out loud, or hearing the happiness in another’s voice. Smiley faces are nice, but the human voice can convey such rich emotion. I’m just sayin….I’ve even seen some of my teen nieces and nephews text each other across the room, come on now really. Can’t we talk? The times, they are a changing.
One last little thing, you don’t have to put all of the specifics about you in your profile. You can omit anything that you’d like. For instance, for your date of birth, using the month and day is perfectly acceptable. If you want someone to know how old you are, you can tell them. Do take time to check out the account settings. Well, I can tell you that Facebook is a good thing if used sensibly, and I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to share my blog with you through Facebook. Until the next time, stay safe and warm. Peace Out!
It’s funny, I remember what it was like before all this twittering and facebooking began. One of the first social communication programs was Prodigy. I can remember my excitement when logging on and connecting. Back then, we used a dial-up connection, and sometimes you couldn’t even get the “handshake” to say that you’d actually connected. Logging on to Prodigy took forever, but it was fun once I got on. It was great to talk to random people out in the world. I loved it! Then AOL came along. I had such thrilling conversations with folks all over the place. It was new and exciting, but the cost per hr was daunting. I remember once my husband ran up a monthly bill of over 300 dollars. Crazy! Then other social sites came about, MySpace and so forth.
I had no desire to set up a MySpace account. It seemed to me as though that type of thing was far too intrusive, and it looked like there were a lot of teeny boppers on there. For a while I resisted Facebook, for the same reasons. I didn’t want to “put myself out there” so to speak. Well, 5 years later, I decided to create an account. One of my sisters had an account and suggested that I set up one too. I found that it is actually a great way to share pictures, and events etc. with family and friends. It was fun, and then I really began to get into it. I looked up old school friends from high school and college. It was exciting to reconnect with old friends and to see how their lives had progressed.
I sent friend requests to people that I hadn’t spoken to in years. Oh BTW, just because your friend request has not been acted upon, doesn’t mean that you’re being ignored. Sometimes, people really don’t login to Facebook on the regular. One of my friends is rarely on except to check the accounts of his teens. Initially, I was hurt when a friend request wasn’t accepted. I got over that, you see I’ve found that if a request isn’t accepted it may be because the request has not been seen. However, sometimes…. Well, there have been requests that I’ve ignored, and who knows, maybe one or two have ignored me.
One lady, who had never really been my friend, sent me a request. Not only was she not my friend, she was one of my husband’s uh “dalliances” from back in the day. So you know that I wasn’t accepting her friend request! I have less than a hundred friends. That brings me to another topic, the number of friends one has. Why is it that some folks have thousands of friends on facebook? How is that advantageous? First of all I don’t need that many people in my business. Everyone that is a friend of mine on facebook is actually someone whom I’ve known well over the years, specifically family and friends. I can honestly say that there is only one person on my Facebook page that I don’t really know well. I kinda met her on Facebook through my brother in law. I’ve failed to mention that there are also those who use facebook to further their careers in entertainment and other areas, and that’s cool, but they also have to manage their accounts. You just never know who you’re letting into your world (Can you say Stalker?) Just one more reason not to accept all friend requests!
I do not “friend” folks just because I know them. Like I’ve said before everyone is not my friend, nothing personal. Sometimes though, I don’t friend people because I don’t want to mix my worlds. Work folks don’t need to look at my backyard barbeque pictures and so forth and so on. I’m just sayin….the two worlds don’t need to mix, which brings me to my next point. Don’t put anything on Facebook that is questionable.
If you happen to have outspoken friends with strong opinions that may offend, caution them about posting those opinions to your wall. If you think that the picture of you holding a bottle of liquor in each hand is cute, think again. Did you know that sometimes employers check Facebook? I don't think that they should, but they do. That's why I only friend those that I know. It’s amazing the information that folks put out there for total strangers to see. You dirty dancing with a stripper may not be something that everyone needs to see. Despite the fact that Facebook has become a window to our personal worlds, we still have power over it. We can decide what and what not to share.
I’ve noticed that some people use Facebook as a personal journal. Some use it as a way to look at themselves, picture after picture, after narcissistic picture. .. sorry… anyhoo, to each his own. Oh and to any of you who find that a particular friend (oft times a youngster) seems to always pop up with mindless silliness that you don’t care to see, use the hide feature. He or she will still be one of your friends, but you will not have to see all of the sometimes meaningless statements about any and everything. I find this helpful when dealing with my teen friends. They are good kids, bless their lil hearts; it’s just that I’m not real interested in talk about Justin Beiber and I don’t really have a burning desire to see the “Teach me how to Dougy,” video.
Facebook can be fun, but one still needs to manage it responsibly. I love the new technology, yet I still like being able to pick up the phone to reach out and touch someone. Texting can be expressive, but there is nothing like sharing a laugh out loud, or hearing the happiness in another’s voice. Smiley faces are nice, but the human voice can convey such rich emotion. I’m just sayin….I’ve even seen some of my teen nieces and nephews text each other across the room, come on now really. Can’t we talk? The times, they are a changing.
One last little thing, you don’t have to put all of the specifics about you in your profile. You can omit anything that you’d like. For instance, for your date of birth, using the month and day is perfectly acceptable. If you want someone to know how old you are, you can tell them. Do take time to check out the account settings. Well, I can tell you that Facebook is a good thing if used sensibly, and I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to share my blog with you through Facebook. Until the next time, stay safe and warm. Peace Out!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)