MoD debrief and thoughts about societal isolation
The Machine of Death show was amazing and inspiring. shmitz and I had to take separate cars to fit my big cardboard machine, so it was two nightmare-parking-in-Hollywood encounters when it could have been one, but the performance went smoothly aside from that. I met and chatted with random people about the book and music and Dinosaur Comic Squishables. It was just a very open, friendly gathering of people gathered together in a tiny place on a Tuesday night. I decided to try and keep up with some of the indy artists that sang at the show, so maybe I'll go to more performances or make some new friends. Everything just made me feel so happy to be a geek, writing silly songs for encouraging people. Looking forward to seeing the video of my performance, too!
Had a nice quiet birthday on Thursday and a pleasant sushi/ice cream night with shmitz, and met with my family this weekend for lunch and cake. 29 years old, and I think I feel it. High school, getting married, and going to college seem like distant memories. It makes me want to journal more so I won't forget what I was doing five years from now, things are moving so fast.
Chatted with assassingalaxia last night about growing apart from our group of friends, and I found I had some opinions about that. Unlike life 20 years ago, the internet makes it easy to keep in touch with old friends that moved to different places. If you want to have a conversation, you could Skype or email or IM them. If you want to passively take in their day-to-day life, you can read their blog/microblog/whatever the kids are doing nowadays. You have countless possibilities to chat with them and stay informed about them. Does that make these opportunities less valuable? Are we as a society deceived that "following" someone is as good as communicating with them personally? Are we isolating ourselves from people that would genuinely care about our deeper problems, the ones we're learning are a BAD idea to put in writing on the internet for someone to find? Are we taking our deeper problems to trusted friends, or are we blaring them to the world, hoping someone will pick up the other end of the conversation? Are we practiced enough in conducting deeper conversations that we know how to do it on a regular basis?
I know that once upon a time, going to the same high school as someone and finding them ten years later was a miracle. Now it's commonplace. You contact them less than you would when you only had fewer opportunities like class reunions, because you figure you can do it any time. Maybe you don't contact them at all, because you're already in contact with other people you have more in common with at this point in your life. What's the rush in reconnecting?
It's not a rush, but I've decided it's important to me. Slowly, my friends are growing apart from me. Maybe they'll make new groups of friends wherever they've moved, but circumstances will dissolve a number of those, too. And sure, I personally don't want to maintain (or have the ability to maintain) every single relationship I've ever had. But if enough of us don't try to keep communication open, will my friends have anyone to reach out to 20 or 30 years from now? Will I? Or will we have 700 Facebook followers, but no one to talk to?
Had a nice quiet birthday on Thursday and a pleasant sushi/ice cream night with shmitz, and met with my family this weekend for lunch and cake. 29 years old, and I think I feel it. High school, getting married, and going to college seem like distant memories. It makes me want to journal more so I won't forget what I was doing five years from now, things are moving so fast.
Chatted with assassingalaxia last night about growing apart from our group of friends, and I found I had some opinions about that. Unlike life 20 years ago, the internet makes it easy to keep in touch with old friends that moved to different places. If you want to have a conversation, you could Skype or email or IM them. If you want to passively take in their day-to-day life, you can read their blog/microblog/whatever the kids are doing nowadays. You have countless possibilities to chat with them and stay informed about them. Does that make these opportunities less valuable? Are we as a society deceived that "following" someone is as good as communicating with them personally? Are we isolating ourselves from people that would genuinely care about our deeper problems, the ones we're learning are a BAD idea to put in writing on the internet for someone to find? Are we taking our deeper problems to trusted friends, or are we blaring them to the world, hoping someone will pick up the other end of the conversation? Are we practiced enough in conducting deeper conversations that we know how to do it on a regular basis?
I know that once upon a time, going to the same high school as someone and finding them ten years later was a miracle. Now it's commonplace. You contact them less than you would when you only had fewer opportunities like class reunions, because you figure you can do it any time. Maybe you don't contact them at all, because you're already in contact with other people you have more in common with at this point in your life. What's the rush in reconnecting?
It's not a rush, but I've decided it's important to me. Slowly, my friends are growing apart from me. Maybe they'll make new groups of friends wherever they've moved, but circumstances will dissolve a number of those, too. And sure, I personally don't want to maintain (or have the ability to maintain) every single relationship I've ever had. But if enough of us don't try to keep communication open, will my friends have anyone to reach out to 20 or 30 years from now? Will I? Or will we have 700 Facebook followers, but no one to talk to?