And now, a rant about self-inflicted facebook problems
My restored previous draft reads:
Man
I can't remember where I was going with it.
Man, I like facebook and all, but I really really hate making events on facebook. This is mainly because I worry too much about it and so it takes forever. Firstly there is the describing part. This is the bit where I try and make the event sound good. And I'm terrible at making things sound good, or, you know, saying nice things in general. This is probably due to years of overusing sarcasm in daily conversation. For some reason 'we are having a party, people like parties, so come along, there will be booze and food', is never good enough. You have to make it sound unique, and yet amazing! But you don't want to promise more than you can give. So if you say 'there will be lots of cake' you have to be prepared to bake more than one cake. And of course you don't want it to sound like you spent all evening getting it just right. So this bit normally takes several drafts. It's worse when it's something I'm not the only instigator of, because then I'm not just making the event for me, I'm making it for the other people, and so it really matters if no one turns up.
Then there's the picture bit! The picture bit, I admit, I'm fine with. I haven't yet developed overthinking anxiety about which humorous irrelevant image will be most likely to entice potential party-goers. I'm sure it's just a matter of time though.
Then there is the invites! This is where the overthinking comes into its own. So you've got your close friends who of course you want to invite, and then you've got friends you don't know quite so well, and then you've got the people you're not quite friends with but would like to get to know better, and then you've got people you just recognise, and then people you don't know at all, and maybe at the end you've got your arch enemies. And there's like a spectrum, and they're all your friends on facebook. And you want to invite your best friends but it feels a bit wierd inviting people you don't know at all. The question is, where do you draw the line?
Because if you invite Harry and Hermione to your party, then of course you have to invite Ron. And if the three of them are invited then if you don't invite Neville he's going to feel a bit left out. But if you have Harry and Ron and Hermione and Neville, then you've got most of that social circle and it would be a bit of a snub not to invite Seamus and Ginny. And so one, and before you know it you're inviting Voldemort to your birthday party.
That harry potter analogy was surprsingly clunky, but that is kind of how social circles work, right? They're all intermingley. Actually I probably could come up with a self-contained group of friends (even though the self-containedness would be mainly in my head), where I'd feel reasonably secure that I hadn't left anyone out. But the thing is when it comes to big party events you want to invite people you haven't seen in ages, or want to get to know better. And that inevitably involves going into murkier friendship waters. And so, I spend ages staring at a list of names, adding and de-adding, trying to steer a course between leaving people out and inviting people I don't actually know. Until eventually I think 'oh what the hell, invite whoever and let them sort if out' and click send.
If I have ever invited you to a party, or not invited you to a party, I AM SO SORRY. I don't know what I was thinking. I got myself in a big mess over the whole thing. I hope we can still be friends.
So, anyway, yeah. There's a party at my house on saturday. We are celebrating not having to write things. Woo!
In other news, I have been mainly sleeping and drifitng around in a semi-coscious daze, and my new computer is pretty sweet.
Man
I can't remember where I was going with it.
Man, I like facebook and all, but I really really hate making events on facebook. This is mainly because I worry too much about it and so it takes forever. Firstly there is the describing part. This is the bit where I try and make the event sound good. And I'm terrible at making things sound good, or, you know, saying nice things in general. This is probably due to years of overusing sarcasm in daily conversation. For some reason 'we are having a party, people like parties, so come along, there will be booze and food', is never good enough. You have to make it sound unique, and yet amazing! But you don't want to promise more than you can give. So if you say 'there will be lots of cake' you have to be prepared to bake more than one cake. And of course you don't want it to sound like you spent all evening getting it just right. So this bit normally takes several drafts. It's worse when it's something I'm not the only instigator of, because then I'm not just making the event for me, I'm making it for the other people, and so it really matters if no one turns up.
Then there's the picture bit! The picture bit, I admit, I'm fine with. I haven't yet developed overthinking anxiety about which humorous irrelevant image will be most likely to entice potential party-goers. I'm sure it's just a matter of time though.
Then there is the invites! This is where the overthinking comes into its own. So you've got your close friends who of course you want to invite, and then you've got friends you don't know quite so well, and then you've got the people you're not quite friends with but would like to get to know better, and then you've got people you just recognise, and then people you don't know at all, and maybe at the end you've got your arch enemies. And there's like a spectrum, and they're all your friends on facebook. And you want to invite your best friends but it feels a bit wierd inviting people you don't know at all. The question is, where do you draw the line?
Because if you invite Harry and Hermione to your party, then of course you have to invite Ron. And if the three of them are invited then if you don't invite Neville he's going to feel a bit left out. But if you have Harry and Ron and Hermione and Neville, then you've got most of that social circle and it would be a bit of a snub not to invite Seamus and Ginny. And so one, and before you know it you're inviting Voldemort to your birthday party.
That harry potter analogy was surprsingly clunky, but that is kind of how social circles work, right? They're all intermingley. Actually I probably could come up with a self-contained group of friends (even though the self-containedness would be mainly in my head), where I'd feel reasonably secure that I hadn't left anyone out. But the thing is when it comes to big party events you want to invite people you haven't seen in ages, or want to get to know better. And that inevitably involves going into murkier friendship waters. And so, I spend ages staring at a list of names, adding and de-adding, trying to steer a course between leaving people out and inviting people I don't actually know. Until eventually I think 'oh what the hell, invite whoever and let them sort if out' and click send.
If I have ever invited you to a party, or not invited you to a party, I AM SO SORRY. I don't know what I was thinking. I got myself in a big mess over the whole thing. I hope we can still be friends.
So, anyway, yeah. There's a party at my house on saturday. We are celebrating not having to write things. Woo!
In other news, I have been mainly sleeping and drifitng around in a semi-coscious daze, and my new computer is pretty sweet.