Tuesday, September 28, 2010

What we write

It takes tenacity, determination and complete focus to put word on paper. It becomes even harder if you don't want to focus on world issues (world peace, going green, the Japan vs china tiff) You also don't want to focus on your own life as a person, it feels like you are opening your life's door to criticism and ridicule, however stellar a life you have led, exemplary in-fact. It is human nature. Someone will see the tack in your eye - and pick it!

And so you write about wayward issues, about the completely rude taxi tout your friend told you about, or perhaps, about the pump attendant who wanted to rob you silly, thinking you were still in a state of doze, (given it's morning) but the way you jumped out of the car and shrieked at him when you realized you were being robbed surprised not only you, but the attendant as well, and so you blog...

The randomness with which you blog will surely, and slowly, lead to it's (your blog) death. At a certain time, after a number of posts have been written, and the deep satisfaction has spread like coffee in your system in the morning, the word tap will dry out. Taxi tout won't be worth blogging about anymore. You won't feel the inspiration to do so. You just won't!

Like they say, pointless meanderings akin to most blogs end up no where.

How much higher can you hike the skirt of your life? Afraid they will see something and judge? So you stop.

Once you delve into writing, you feel that your followers expectations are heightened. Their awareness of your prose skills will influence your next blog entry, so like an antelope caught in the headlights of a car, you freeze, more because you feel their eyes boring into you (into your blog)

Of course it's easier to have a mini-series-a following of stories with a protagonist featuring, his/her life played out, but this will happen only if you can follow a lead properly, if you can finish what you started. So because you don't want to bite into something you may not chew properly and effectively have your shallowness displayed for all and sundry, you freeze.
Of course you want to spice up your story, let the protagonist be a heart-breaker, perhaps a serial dater or have some riveting character or proclivity that will have your reader hooked, but you don't want your reader to super-impose this onto your real life, which may or may not be....

And so your tap dries out.

I once asked a pal why he doesn't blog anymore; he said he realized mid-sentence after a year of blogging that he was actually not good at writing about himself, and so he abandoned ship. I challenged him to write about issues far removed from his personal life, all he could think of was 'the going green campaign' and of course he wouldn't be bothered...

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Facebook = Shallow

It's addictive. It's catching, it's wrong.
It makes you wanna log on in the middle of the night, just to see what is going on. That is Face book, ladies and gentlemen.
There is something exhibitionist about it, makes one pour out their day for everyone to know, maybe to chide a counter parry, match and counter-match. Who happens more, Who is having more fun?

There are these two young'uns who live on Facebook.
One goes "I am at Mr Price at Nakumatt, this shirt looks stunning"
the other goes "Nakumatt, Mr. Price, i love, love, the clothes"
Needless to say, had you been tasked with profiling them, you would gather information right up to when they fart, exact time.

The exhibitionism that face book encourages is shameless. It makes you wonder if we actually live private lives, or if, at all, we want to live private lives.
You would know when your mere acquaintances fall in love, what kind of love thereof, segue, when the heartbreak (that will follow, as sure as day follows night) happens.
The frivolous existence that FB (acronyms now, please) has created reminds of some semi-living thing swimming on the surface of the water, too lethargic to dive to the bottom, to get it's hands dirty, to get to the deep of things...

Quick lust, they call it. Anonymous dates with all the wrong people, morbid looking people with veneers of models on their profile pages. Unabashed alias profile information, creating false liberties for some who have the time, (and the energy) to maintain two profiles. With the second tucked away safely, only to be used on those restless weekends (we all know those)

A friend of mine once got a very controversial message on FB. Perhaps he was adding friends too quickly, or his friend requests were being ignored more than accepted, or that someone had slyly reported his account (could have been a jilted lover) but the FB team proudly sent him a message as he was trying to add someone, it went; "You cannot add anymore friends at this time, this could be due to two reasons
1 - You are adding friends too quickly
2 - Your requests are being ignored at a high rate"

Then the FB team went forward and said, (and this really takes the cake)

"Please observe these rules;
1 - Do not use FB for dating or business!
2 - Do not add friends too quickly"

It is like the FB team went and knocked it's head on the wall of self righteousness and got flashes of sanity. I mean, isn't this the same network that asks you to specify whether you are in a relationship or not? If they don't, then why the hell do they want you to tell the world about your relationship status?!
I wonder.

Face-book is a bad apple, it's indulgences are like those of bad food. Sweet, and yet ultimately dangerous.