fishing around for comments on a saturday afternoon...
I gain a lot of amusement and fodder from reading livejournals and blogs and such. I'd say that's a good amount of the time I spend online--besides searching for music/watching movie trailers. I always analyze most of the entries I read, sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. I like to be the outside observer, always have. When I was a kid/teen/now, I used to go to all of these events (weddings, fundraisers, social bullshit) with my parents and I used to watch people and try to peg them. My skill has been finely honed over the years, but that's mostly because sadly, the people who share the social scene with my parents fit into a slim category of depressed, unhappy, putting up appearances, conquered the social scene because they married up, numb, aggressive, or wannabe queens of the hierarchy. It is a miserable existence. Trust me. There is a much more diverse community online for me to work with.
Unfortunately, I don't read every single entry from every single person, frankly, I just don't have time or energy. Usually I'll comment on the ones that I do read because I always have something to say about something. And, I think it's interesting the stories people choose to tell. I am a skeptical person by nature, so when I read things I always ask myself, is this what really happened or is this a singular viewpoint. And it is usually the latter, we write how we see things, and sometimes that's just the way it goes. Especially the entries that are like, "Oh, the funniest thing happened to me today...I'm such a loser...haha"--it's very selective and motivated. And usually, you're not going to write about a mundane event that made you look like an ass unless it is trivial and you can laugh about it.
I really love it when I know someone really well, then read his/her journal and find that the "blogger" is not like that at all. People who don't know them know this persona who may be nothing like the real person. I know some people who are better illusionists than David Copperfield through their blogs. Case in point, I think I come off a little nicer/smarter (maybe not)/funnier in my journals than I am in real life. Hopefully I don't come off as a pseudo-intellectual, because I really hate that. I mean, I don't go around throwing out Vonnegut or anything. My guilty pleasure, although I feel no guilt towards it, is reading books geared towards fourteen year old girls. I don't really remember anything I've read though, so that doesn't really matter anyway.
That brings me to another point. Do we really actually get to know the real person behind a blog? From a lot of blogs, I can get the gist of a person's personality, but I don't know anything about their practical existence. I don't know the route they take to work or what brand of coffee they like to drink. We tend to write about out of the ordinary things that happen to us, not the banal details of our everyday lives. People say what they want others to read, and if they have something that might make them insecure, they put it behind a "friends only" lock. Even though I wish I knew more about practicalities, I wouldn't really read about how someone went to the post office and then went to Starbucks and then made dinner...it'd all be lost on me.
I don't really have a point after that spiel, I rarely do have one anyway, but here are some everyday facts about me that you wouldn't gather from reading my journal.
-I haven't eaten a bagel in 6 years.
-my number one pet peeve is when people use "your" for "you're." I hate that
-the city I'd most like to visit is Prague or Istanbul.
-my favorite place I've been to is Santorini, Oia, Greece.
-I will not eat cupcakes, unless I'm in a situations where if I don't take one it makes me look rude; I don't really like cake unless it's from a specific bakery in OC
-I drive a 2004 silver Honda Accord with a dent in the side from when I scraped it against a pole in our dorm parking structure.
-I love to give my two cents.
-I got rejected or wait-listed from every Ivy League school I applied to (includes Stanford).
-I am utterly impatient.
-I like to be by myself, but as a kid, I was completely dependent on others.
-I haven't ridden a bike about 10 years (the last time, I fell and skinned a good portion of my leg).
-I can cry very easily (in just about every movie--ask my guy friends about the time I saw Spiderman with them), and sometimes on cue.
-I'm pretty sure I own 40 + pairs of shoes (not including the many pairs of $3 target flip-flops)
-In my life, I've played less than 5 videogames (Halo, Tetris, Duckshoot, Super Mario Cart).
-I am the darkest (not in terms of skin tone) person in my family.
-I have seen pretty much every Mary-Kate and Ashley video/movie ever made
-I don't remember lines from movies (unless it's a huge catchphrase, like anything from Austin Powers) or plotlines of books I've read.
-For about a year, I didn't really go out on the weekends because I had SAT prep classes on Fridays and Saturdays.
-I think these facts are some of the most superficial facts about myself and they probably sound very contrived.
-this was from ohnotheydidnt a few weeks ago, but the three celebrities I would sleep with are: Ryan Gosling (only when he looks scruffy/dirty), Adam Brody, and probably no third. Honorable mention goes to Topher Grace, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, Zach Braff, Hugh Grant, Ethan Hawke.
After saying all of this, I want you guys to comment. I want a reaction, and some info about the people who are reading this journal. I know you like the OC, I mean, I don't think you'd add me if you didn't--but I want to know other things besides that. You can put some random facts about yourself, or copy one of the ones I've written (the last one is a good one to start with because celebrity lists tell me a lot about a person). Please, I'm begging you, comment!
x-posted to my personal journal bsb182311
Unfortunately, I don't read every single entry from every single person, frankly, I just don't have time or energy. Usually I'll comment on the ones that I do read because I always have something to say about something. And, I think it's interesting the stories people choose to tell. I am a skeptical person by nature, so when I read things I always ask myself, is this what really happened or is this a singular viewpoint. And it is usually the latter, we write how we see things, and sometimes that's just the way it goes. Especially the entries that are like, "Oh, the funniest thing happened to me today...I'm such a loser...haha"--it's very selective and motivated. And usually, you're not going to write about a mundane event that made you look like an ass unless it is trivial and you can laugh about it.
I really love it when I know someone really well, then read his/her journal and find that the "blogger" is not like that at all. People who don't know them know this persona who may be nothing like the real person. I know some people who are better illusionists than David Copperfield through their blogs. Case in point, I think I come off a little nicer/smarter (maybe not)/funnier in my journals than I am in real life. Hopefully I don't come off as a pseudo-intellectual, because I really hate that. I mean, I don't go around throwing out Vonnegut or anything. My guilty pleasure, although I feel no guilt towards it, is reading books geared towards fourteen year old girls. I don't really remember anything I've read though, so that doesn't really matter anyway.
That brings me to another point. Do we really actually get to know the real person behind a blog? From a lot of blogs, I can get the gist of a person's personality, but I don't know anything about their practical existence. I don't know the route they take to work or what brand of coffee they like to drink. We tend to write about out of the ordinary things that happen to us, not the banal details of our everyday lives. People say what they want others to read, and if they have something that might make them insecure, they put it behind a "friends only" lock. Even though I wish I knew more about practicalities, I wouldn't really read about how someone went to the post office and then went to Starbucks and then made dinner...it'd all be lost on me.
I don't really have a point after that spiel, I rarely do have one anyway, but here are some everyday facts about me that you wouldn't gather from reading my journal.
-I haven't eaten a bagel in 6 years.
-my number one pet peeve is when people use "your" for "you're." I hate that
-the city I'd most like to visit is Prague or Istanbul.
-my favorite place I've been to is Santorini, Oia, Greece.
-I will not eat cupcakes, unless I'm in a situations where if I don't take one it makes me look rude; I don't really like cake unless it's from a specific bakery in OC
-I drive a 2004 silver Honda Accord with a dent in the side from when I scraped it against a pole in our dorm parking structure.
-I love to give my two cents.
-I got rejected or wait-listed from every Ivy League school I applied to (includes Stanford).
-I am utterly impatient.
-I like to be by myself, but as a kid, I was completely dependent on others.
-I haven't ridden a bike about 10 years (the last time, I fell and skinned a good portion of my leg).
-I can cry very easily (in just about every movie--ask my guy friends about the time I saw Spiderman with them), and sometimes on cue.
-I'm pretty sure I own 40 + pairs of shoes (not including the many pairs of $3 target flip-flops)
-In my life, I've played less than 5 videogames (Halo, Tetris, Duckshoot, Super Mario Cart).
-I am the darkest (not in terms of skin tone) person in my family.
-I have seen pretty much every Mary-Kate and Ashley video/movie ever made
-I don't remember lines from movies (unless it's a huge catchphrase, like anything from Austin Powers) or plotlines of books I've read.
-For about a year, I didn't really go out on the weekends because I had SAT prep classes on Fridays and Saturdays.
-I think these facts are some of the most superficial facts about myself and they probably sound very contrived.
-this was from ohnotheydidnt a few weeks ago, but the three celebrities I would sleep with are: Ryan Gosling (only when he looks scruffy/dirty), Adam Brody, and probably no third. Honorable mention goes to Topher Grace, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, Zach Braff, Hugh Grant, Ethan Hawke.
After saying all of this, I want you guys to comment. I want a reaction, and some info about the people who are reading this journal. I know you like the OC, I mean, I don't think you'd add me if you didn't--but I want to know other things besides that. You can put some random facts about yourself, or copy one of the ones I've written (the last one is a good one to start with because celebrity lists tell me a lot about a person). Please, I'm begging you, comment!
x-posted to my personal journal bsb182311