I have always thought for most of my adult life that I am pretty good at making friends.  I tend to keep the same friends for years.  I tend to make wise choices about who I trust.




I must admit that I am not sure I have ever been able to get a handle on Internet friendships.  By Internet friendships I mean friendships that I make where I know the person only on the Internet.

I tend to misjudge the friendship. For example, on xanga I am always surprised when I read a relationship as friendship and then I happen by a post written about me by someone who acted like a friend.  In other words, I am not sure I can read friendship and loyalty on the Internet like I can in real life.  Maybe there are just an inordinate amount of dysfunctional people on the Internet.

I remember being friends with a guy on xanga.  He told me he was more open with me than he was with anyone in his real life.  Then one day someone forwarded a screenshot of a comment he made about me.  I remember just being shocked by the statement.  I guess it was naive.  But I tended to trust the person.  We used to IM almost every night.  (I know this sounds like a gay relationship in retrospect).



(Here is a photo to make up for the last gay sounding paragraph).

I was friends with a lady and we talked all the time.  We were good friends and I enjoyed the time we spent talking.  But then one day, she went sort of crazy.  She acted like I betrayed her trust by not talking to her for awhile when I was busy at work.   At no time did I feel different about our friendship.  I just got busy.

I think my approach in real life has been "friends for life" and I am not sure that approach works on the Internet when someone can shut down and remove everyone from their Internet life instantly. 

It appears on the Internet that it is too easy to misunderstand a friendship.  You are never really sure whether the other person is rolling their eyes at you or if they have a smile on their face when your message pops up.  You can't read their body language.  You can't tell if you are making them mad when you are unaware that they really do care who becomes the next president.

I appreciate the friends I have made on the Internet but I also wonder if I am cut out for the short term mentality of Internet friendships.

                                                                

I must admit at times I wondered why I was still on xanga.  I wondered if I was even making a difference anymore.  I wondered if anyone would notice if I was gone.

Then I went to Starbucks tonight to buy a hot chocolate and I noticed they had brand new furniture.



Exactly one day after I posted about the crappy furniture there, they replaced it.  Here is the link:  Link  And they replaced it with all leather seats.

Then I noticed an article on buzzfeed.  They were talking about our old favorite social networks and where they were now. 

They mentioned xanga and my site:




They took a screenshot of my article titled "The White Man's Burden" on Top Blogs and mentioned it was the top post for the day.  Here is the link:  Link

It just hit me how awesome it is that people went from thinking of xanga as an old shrinking social network to thinking we are a bunch of racist.  And it just warmed my heart. 

Clearly I really am making a difference.

                                                                                                               

The state of Texas may raise the speed limit to 85 mph.




A bill has passed the House in Texas and it might pass the Senate which will allow the speed limit to increase.  Here is the link:  Link

Is 85 mph too fast?

                                                                            

I guess people think Miley Cyrus is looking too skinny in recent photos taken of her.



Here is the link:  Link

Does Miley look too skinny?

                                                            

So I am sitting in Starbucks sipping on my hot chocolate and all of a sudden I realized that one of the ladies who works here is here on her night off. She is dressed in ordinary clothing instead of the typical outfit.

Do you ever visit your work on your day off?