Breezes and Grass

In spite of the grainyness of the picture, the person in it gets honorable mention for making feel a lot better before I finally collapsed into sleep.

So did picking up this new book to read. I admit, it's a dense read. That said, I like the person the book is about and it's easy to follow. It's just dense.

I've been thinking about my hiatus from social media. I've come to a very solid conclusion in my absence there. To explain, I posted something short and semi-cryptic about July and then got offline. I simply didn't want the fanfare. No need for a dramatic, "I'm going to be super deep and cool and go find the true meaning in being alive so I'm getting off social media" announcement. Instead, I just did it and left a note to a few people beforehand to give me emails or mailing address and I would send them letters. Remember that solid conclusion I came to earlier? Here it is: when people can't see you, they don't care. That was me editing that statement, by the way. Here's what else I've learned:

• It is mildly offensive to people to suggest writing a letter or an email if you have twitter, facebook, or a phone. You would think that it wouldn't be. You would think that people, wanting to communicate, would be fine with any of those options, but....
• It doesn't count as meaningful or effective communication if it doesn't allow for instant feedback. I want to further comment that people simply will not make the effort required to regularly talk if you aren't on facebook and twitter. What. The. Fuck. I'm not even trying to modify this. Is this seriously what communication has become? It's not "call me" or "write me" or even "I'll see you around". It's "facebook me". Man, fuck all that. I'm dead serious.
• "Out of sight, out of mind" is reality as we know it. If you aren't online, you can't be seen. If you can't be seen, you don't exist. If you aren't posting all the time. Commenting and liking all the time. You simply do not exist. I don't understand this. Considering the amount of times I've been told, "hey, those things you write are awesome", "you're a cool person" and the like, it is almost surprising how little I hear from the same people when I disappear for weeks (it's been almost four now and I have another two left to go). As a matter of fact, not one word until today because some app I used posted to FB (accidental; I went out of my way to turn that off).

Also, I seem to be Captain Jack (as in Harkness). That is so... what is the word for this. Mind you, it wasn't even that it was said or by whom, but why. I'm floored, but in a good way. It certainly made things a bit different for me last night and today having that to think on.

I'm going to miss Alessio. He's been a riot and it was good to see him. He even came by the house and got some of his stuff back. I don't know what I'm going to do with these boxes, but they have got to go somewhere. SMH.

I also saw Gary today. I wasn't expecting that. It's been a couple of years since I saw him last. Go figure. It's good to know he's doing well, though.

Back to my programming and thinking about my crew.