October 31, 2007
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Absence
Happy Halloween, one and all!
As a far more well-known author said a century or so ago, the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
And as one of my favorite philosophers, the French sage La Rochefoucauld, once observed, "Absence increases large passions and diminishes small passions, as the wind fans a fire but blows out a candle."
So most of you have probably not even noticed that I was gone.
I've been spending a lot of time on Facebook recently. "Now why," I'm sure you'll ask, "would an old fart like you, John, be hanging out on Facebook?"
Well, it's fun. You can play "Scrabulous" with people. You can take various tests to see how well you know your friends, how compatible you are with them, etc. You can send them hugs or beer or....well, anything you want. I sent one guy, someone I know well whom I was pretty sure would get the humor and not be offended - a hand job.
Here on Xanga one has to write thoughtful essays. And sometimes I just get tired, or haven't anything to say, or feel that you've already heard everything I have to say. I might want to just hug you or send you a condom as an extra-special gift, and I can't really do that on Xanga.
Xanga's weakness is also its strength, though. On Facebook you're pretty much limited to people who are already your friends, as it seems rather hard to go about making NEW friends on Facebook. Sure, you can have a million friends in your "network" if you want, but they're merely friends of friends of friends, and you don't really KNOW them. You don't want to be sending THEM a tube of K-Y Jelly. You don't have anything to say to them at all.
Here on Xanga we get to know one another, often fairly intimately, through our essays and the comments thereupon, and we can actually make new friends. So if we're willing to put the work in, Xanga can pay great rewards.
I reckon I'll be bouncing back and forth between the two worlds. If you like to play Scrabble....errr, Scrabulous....come and find me on Facebook. I've got a surprise gift waiting for you.
Meanwhile I'll be getting around to your Xanga sites and leaving my pithy little comments every once in a while.God bless us every one.
P.S.: I continue to be grateful to anyone who is still listening to my world music show at WEFT on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 PM Central time. And of course there are the podcasts....
EDIT: Several of you have expressed varying degrees of interest in Facebook. Unless you went to my college or high school or work at my company, I don't know how to find you unless you send me an e-mail. Once you're in my webmail address book, then Facebook can track you down. I have no idea how civildis found me yesterday. You can't simply search for a person by name on Facebook.
Comments (18)
Where are the podcasts?
ryc: I buy meat on sale, and actually, with all the processed/refined/high carb foods I'm not buying, I save money!
mmm facebook? been thinking of trying it, but figured why would an old fart do such a thing? now I have an example to follow and just might give it a shot!
No. I didn't notice that you were gone. And no. You don't HAVE to write essays on xanga. I'm content to stick with the tagline I made up write from the start, "reporting news of the bizarre", though if I'm writing a personal blurb, that counts as "news of the bizarre", almost by definition. Next story: video of the tornado on Mars.
Good Morning
I just tried to download the podcasts, and I'm not sure yet if it worked. Can you put them on itunes, or have you?
I love Scrabulus, but only as a tool to show off funny and clever vocabulary words. I hate it when someone takes forever to put up a 7 point word on the triple word score. I'm sort of on facebook, so I'll give it a shot.
Never tried facebook, John...maybe one of these days. I'm glad that you've updated finally. I agree with you about Xanga and friendships. So true.
RYC: Ass. And no, I've never made any money off of it or using it...well, not mine anyway. However, if I was in better shape and what not, I'd be a male dancer at on of those Chippendales (sp?) places. And yes, the tattoo removal techniques have improved lately. The ones I had removed from my hands years ago left ugly scars. These days they are easily removed (with a lot of return visits) and leave little or no scars. But damn, John...$$$
I don't every write thoughtful essays...
Now I do love some scrabble... lol
I've tried Facebook, Myspace and a couple other sites, but none of them work for me like Xanga. I find it too difficult to make new quality friends anywhere but xanga. I think I'm oceanstarr on facebook too if you want to look for me.
great. yet another site to get addicted to. thanks.
that is a wonderful quote!
I'm going to find you on facebook now.
It looks like I'll take a sneak peak at Facebook too. You aren't the first to note the differences between it and Xanga. In fact, it was suggested to me a couple of months ago as something I might want to check out. S
Oh yeah, I forgot. I have a devil of a time with the podcasts, but I have no clue why. I'll be listening for only about a half hour this afternoon (yes, pesky clients again - but since we like their money, I guess I'll just have to miss most of the show!). Susan
Search "Daniel M. Vaccerelli". I'm the only Vaccerelli on facebook, the rest of them are VaccArellis. It's a family divisional thing.
Well, now I know my problem... my essays aren't thoughtful. And, yes, I missed you.
Well, damn! I can't wait to get to Facebook and see what you'll give me...:)
I too have dabbled in facebook although I much prefer thoughtful essays when there is time for them.
i'm on facebook!
which is obvious. actually, i think there's a link to my profile somewhere in my layout; scroll over and 'facebook' ought to pop up. otherwise, maybe i'll track you down through dmv.
There is a reason that Xanax and Xanga start with the same letter combination.
Xanga is my Xanax.
But Facebook is my Viagra.
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