Sushi and Facebook

Last night I treated myself to some good old fashioned Japanese food. I love the sushi wrapped around my Rock n Ladies Roll that I order; the California rolls, the ginger sauce that I dip the salad into. That to me is a little slice of heaven on earth. Though when I accidentally ate some veges that unbeknown to me were next to the wasabi I thought my head was going to explode. I just sat there frozen, not sure what to do as my sinuses cleared, my ears too, my eyes flooded and I thought to myself oh my God I am going to die on my couch with wasabi oozing out of my orifices and a few errant pieces of rice down the front of my shirt.  Well, obviously that did not happen and a bite or two of brown rice calmed my culinary senses and I managed to finish and enjoy my Salmon teriyaki.

I love Facebook too, though not as much as sushi. I hate Facebook too. Sometimes it is just as mind blowing as a bite of wasabi.  I will admit it, I really do not understand Facebook, at all. I do not get the phenomenon of community boards either. I do like reading through the blogs and I am proud of my one follower; she and I go back to our teenage years. That means the world to me, though folks from all over the world read this humble little blog. My stats tell me so.

For a short time when I was sick I visited a message board every day just to break the monotony and to get out of bed and sit up for a bit. This was before my Facebook years.  I used to watch The View every day from the comfort of my couch. Many things that they said made me spring from my prone position to sitting straight up. The last straw with them was when two of them, Joy and Whoopie, actually got up and left the stage because they did not agree with something that a visitor said. That was it for me. I could sit and listen to them  drone on about their viewpoints, which I rarely agreed with, but the moment that someone said something they considered offensive they were up and out of there. I cannot imagine someone like Leno or Letterman doing that. You invite a guest on and then get up and leave because you do not agree with them? That is unprofessionalism at its very best if you ask me (which you didn't [aha, the apostrophe is working today]).  Anyway, that is beside the point now. If I have watched 10 minutes of it since that day it is a lot and they certainly do not even know that I am gone. But, the point I  was getting to was the message board. There were actually some really lovely women that I met on there and we bonded over email instead of the board.  We were just kindred souls that had some how found each other, possibly with a little divine intervention, to bolster each other so that we could heal physically, emotionally and spiritually and then move on. What I learned from message boards is that anonymity breeds contempt, malice and outright disgusting behavior. What a sad reflection of humanity they can be. I keep my distance from all community chats now.

The positive aspect of the experience though gave me the oomph to finally open my first Facebook page, my personal one. At first it was wonderful. Through it I reconnected with old high school friends, relatives that I had not seen in years, old business colleagues, even my first boss with whom I had worked my first real job in 1977. I found it very exciting. Truly, I love to hear about others good fortunes. I will cry with them through the tough stuff and if you ask me to pray for something I will, every single day, until whatever it is you want me to pray for has come to fruition or some kind of conclusion. I love, love, love the ones that share their lives, even just a bit - graduations, weddings, grandkids, moves - all the good things that life has to offer. I just love seeing what my niece and her family are up to on a daily basis and to hear what my great-nephews have said or done. I love watching my other niece live her life with the man of her dreams, her impending graduation coming, her life ahead of her. I pray for my friends that are struggling or have their kids in our military.  It is not like that though. The majority of what you get on Facebook from your friends is garbage - horoscopes of the day, game invitations, ads, no responses to personal messages you have sent them and horror of horrors the friend collectors. I know I have 2 - from the Philippines who I have no clue who they even are and besides who else would have thousands of friends?

I saw a post from a friend of mine one day. His friend was asking him how did you get 413 friends and what can I do to accomplish that as well? His answer? First it was well, get out more and then he basically said well I may have 413 friends but only 2 true ones. That got me thinking about my friend list. How many real true friends do I have on there, not including family of course, I would say 5. If Facebook has taught me anything it is that if I have 5 people in this world that I consider real, true  honest-to-God friends, then I am way ahead of the game and I am truly blessed.

Peace,

Mare