Social Media: My Take

Oh. My. Gosh. It's been over a month! I'm so sorry little blog and to all those who have checked only to find nothing new and interesting! With that, on to the writing!

When you hear the words "social media" what do you think of? Maybe things like twitter or facebook or myspace or bkite or.... There are so many social media outlets! There are so many feelings that go along with sites, too-- people have a lot of varied opinions. Some people are absolutely addicted and participate in as many as they can find whereas others scoff and pick and choose. There was a very funny article that I read in the Sacramento News and Review about how twitter is an example of everything that is wrong with the younger generation and where people are headed. Is it a good thing that we're sharing the miniscule details of our daily lives with friends and, often, complete strangers? Another side to the coin is that we can keep in touch with friends and know what is going on in people's lives in detail with very minimal time and effort (and I mean that to be a positive point). So, what do I think?

Well, I am on facebook, I have this blog (obviously!) and I recently joined twitter. It's hard to keep up with! I used to obsessively check facebook and now instead I'm obsessively checking twitter. What kind of information am I sharing with my "followers"? Mostly pointless (but hopefully clever) thoughts. It takes up a lot of time! Also, facebook and twitter can be very creepy! And I'll be honest, I'm just as creepy as the next person when it comes to this. 'Oh, he was cute, I'll see if he's on facebook!' Or, take it one step further, 'According to Facebook, his relationship status is single! Giggle, giggle!' Then there's all the looking through people's photos and learning where they work or what their favorite book is. While this person has technically given me permission by accepting my friend request, would they feel creeped out if they knew that I was looking at every single one of their pictures at least twice? Then there are the random guys who start following me on twitter. Who are you? We have nothing in common... Weird.

Still, here I am. I'll admit that it's a little bit of an addiction, and that's one of the reasons why I'm still participating. But, I do think there are benefits to these sorts of things. I can keep in touch with friends and family who don't live near me much better. And even if we're not writing to or calling each other, we have the option of checking in and seeing what's been going on. Also, it is a bit of an outlet for creativity-- I'm able to demonstrate just how witty I am to the greater masses! Plus, I can follow some of my new favorite sing-songwriters on twitter. Anyway, I think I'll just stick to the 3 social media sites I'm currently involved in and that's plenty (or perhaps too much) for me.

Resolve (or lack of)

So. New Years. Everybody makes resolutions, right? Come the end of December, I was actually feeling pretty negative about making New Year's resolutions. Alison? Being negative?! Yes, it can happen. So, there I was looking forward to a new year and thinking about how pointless it generally is for me to make resolutions. I just break them after 3 days anyway! And then I'll adopt a new resolution or two, and that'll last about 5 days and then I'll get lazy or busy or something and that'll be the end of that. Plus, why for New Year's? What about the rest of the year? I make resolutions every other week, so why should I make them especially for January 1st?

That's how I was feeling. But usually I'm able to see the bright side and as I thought about it more I was able to appreciate the beauty of New Year's resolutions-- the symbolism of a fresh start. So, I decided I might make a couple of my own! I resolved, first, to get to work on time. Ok, so the process is on-going. Resolution 1, part B is to not abuse the snooze button as much as I used to. Yeah, about that... My second resolution is to make myself a budget. Hopefully I'll be more successful than the government of California. We'll see. It's a New Year!

Need some inspiration on Election Day?

Recently, the Sacramento Bee asked readers to send in Haikus about the upcoming election. I found the results to be highly entertaining. Some are pretty straight-forward, people sharing their opinions, but many are very clever, and dripping with cynicism that can't help but make me laugh. The following are a few of my favorites:

Absentee votes count.
Bigfoot may really exist.
Just not in this state.

Propositions, bah!
Remember Nancy Reagan?
Just Say No to all!

Lawmakers draw their own districts;
How Cozy!
Elect Rand McNally.

Click here to read the rest.

"The Drop"

Every Tuesday I go to a bar in midtown to play some trivia. This bar happens to be a Coyote Ugly style place, where the bar itself is big enough for dancing. Now, Tuesday's don't see much dancing action but on weekends when it's packed, dancing on the bar is a favorite pastime for the ladies. One clutch move is "the drop," which is to "drop it like it's hot." It tickles me because they're dropping it like it's hot. It's not necessarily actually hot, but it's like hot. But hey, good for them for getting up there in the first place, right?

Oh, State Exams

Wow. 7:25am. An oral exam. It was icky. If it were just up to my charming personality and good looks I would have nailed it, but unfortunately they wanted me to know certain things. Ah well, I can't say for sure how I did for another 6 weeks. So I suppose only Time will tell...

Huh?

5:45am. Upstairs neighbor vacuuming. Is it wrong to assume that drugs are involved?

Last Action Hero

Apparently our governor wants his term to be a little bit more like an action movie. It seems he has learned from such films as "Terminator" and "Kindergarten Cop" that if he threatens people things will get done the way he wants them to be done. And ok, I see his strategy: be so outrageous something has to happen, but really, it makes all of us peons working for the state feel lame about ourselves. I don't actually think I'm going to lose my job but it's still annoying I have to worry about it at all. Anyway, good luck fellow dispensables!

Sometimes I Feel Like...

... an Irish mummy. You know, all "bogged" down. Thank you, thank you, don't forget to tip your waitress! So, I already sort of knew that I was not much of a mulit-tasker but I'm beginning to see just how inflexible I can be! I'm so excited about my new promotion, that I now have my own work phone number and e-mail and desk and computer; but I'm still getting used to my new responsibilities. And now I'm beginning the process of moving! And I'm just a crazy emotional girl anyway! And I'm lazy! Oh well, acknowledging these things is the first step, right?

Ok, so this picture is a little creepy but it's from National Geographic and it fits the topic... sort of...

Looking for A Partment

You read that right, my sister and I have begun the arduous task of finding an apartment (or a partment). And this is how I feel about it:

It's fun to search but difficult to actually get out and see the places. Especially when you're looking in midtown. And don't totally know what you want. And have to work on the weekends. So basically I think I'm going to either settle for something cheap or just live with Dad for another 10 years.

Coming soon (hopefully) pictures of my recent day trip to the coast.

Just Call Me Leland Stanford

Last night some friends and I got together for a game night extravaganza! The only game we played (because it is extremely time consuming) was Monopoly. I was so excited even before I started because I was able to be the little locomotive game piece! But then, to continue with the fun, I was the first to land on a Railroad, which I promptly purchased. I was able to land on and aquire 3 of the 4 railroads and then I traded Rach for the other one. I had a railroad monopoly! If you know anything about railroading history in California you would know that there were 4 men, known as the "Big 4" who owned the Central Pacific Railroad. Anyway, the president of the CP was Leland Stanford, who was also a governor of California and whose family founded Stanford University. So, in essence, I became Leland Stanford last night. Or the East Coast/New Jersey alternative. It was some good ol' stuff. I made lots of money but it wasn't very fulfilling. Monopoly breeds discontent. But for a game night extravaganza we still had fun!

These are the namesakes of the gameboard railroads:

And a political cartoon made about the "Big 4" and the railroads in California:

You're Killin' Me, Smalls!

It's been far too long since I have done a blog post, and boy am I feeling it! I have like a gozillion topics to write about ranging from deep personal feelings to reality tv, but I don't seem to have enough time to write more than a few lines. So blogging world, I just wanted to say I miss you.

I'm finally street legal!

I'm sure everybody will be happy to note that my tricked out '95 Ford Escort LX (known as Tiny Dancer or Time Bomb) is now, for the first time since I've owned it, street legal. About a month and a half ago the law finally caught up with me and cited me for not having a front license plate. It was easy enough to get the new license plate but proved to be very difficult to actually put it on the car. I mean of course I never really tried to put it on my self but the two people who did had a hard time. Finally, my dad just power drilled it to my front bumper. And hey, that works for me.

Also, a very Happy New Year! The New Year is always a little hopeful and a little depressing. It's great because it's sort of a symbol of new beginnings, putting the past a little bit further behind or moving on to do new exciting things (like be a Senior Park Aide!). But then it can be depressing because I know I'm not going to stick to my resolutions to exercise and read more and blah blah blah. But hey, maybe 2008 really will be different! Be wishes and much happiness from the depths of my heart!

I'm going to jail

This is just a post to say goodbye to all of my friends and family. You read it correctly, I'm awaiting an arrest. Any day now a police officer will come to get me. What was my crime? Fraud. Or racketeering. Either one... maybe both? So I have been helping with the Polar Express train ride event at the museum selling tickets and doing will call. What does that have to do with anything and why would I go to jail for that? Well, let me tell you. My accuser is a gentleman who ordered tickets for the Polar Express and was upset that he was charged a "shipping" charge when his tickets weren't actually shipped. They were put in will call, which it said on the website when the tickets were ordered and the fee is $3 for shipping or processing. Apparently it's fraud to charge a processing fee and call it shipping. Anyway, I'm off to jail, send me a care package.

For the Image Conscious

This blog has a lot to do with things I love. I'd like to introduce you to another love of mine: art. When I was in Spain this past January I had the priviledge of visiting some spectacular art museums, including the world famous Prado. It was here that I first laid my eyes on the real subject of this blog: Peter Paul Rubens' "The Three Graces." My understanding of the image is that the woman on the left was Rubens' first wife, the one on the right was his second wife, and the woman in the middle is the ideal combination of the two of them. Here is the image.



I mean check these ladies out! It looks like there is not an ounce of muscle on all of their bodies combined! Now, I'm not advocating that we stop exercising, I just love that these are the women that Rubens found to be beautiful. Being perfectly toned isn't everything. In fact, I'd like to start a movement. I'll call it "Embrace the Muffin Top!" Or maybe that's more of a slogan. But either way, I'd like to try to live my life being comfortable in my own skin. In fact, I like my little stomach! I don't have abs at all and it's fabulous! So ladies and gentlemen that is my charge to you, be like Peter Paul Rubens and Embrace the Muffin Top.

Naps, Glorious Naps

Naps are another thing I love. Sleep. It's so good! It's refreshing, relaxing and another great advantage is that it helps me avoid problems! A nap sounds sooo good... too bad I have to sell tickets to crazy people who want to visit a railroad museum on a rainy Tuesday afternoon.

Apparently, I'm a Genius

But of course I already knew that. Thank you blog-readability-tester-thingy for showing everybody what I'm made of.

Eat that Rachel.

"Firebaugh, You Might Just Get Stuck Here!"

Alright, here's an adventure story for everbody! If you have read Rachel's Blog recently you will have read a little bit about the "Santa Barbara" trip that occurred this past weekend. I put that in quotations because we made it as far as Firebaugh (or just south of a truck stop losely related to Firebaugh proper) and ended up on the side of the road for a few hours and over night in the lovely Best Western, Apricot Inn sharing a king bed. The next day we had ourselves a tour of 2 out of the 4 gas stations, the park, the market, the cotton fields and the historic van before being picked up by Heather's dad and grandpa. Come to find out (via the visitors' binder in our hotel room that looked like it had been written by a 6th grader) Firebaugh has a history of things getting stuck there, like us, the historical van, and a river boat in the early 20th century. No adventure is complete without photo documentation so here are some of the best moments from our weekend on the outskirts of hell.

Here's Rachel with the bleeding van.

Just one example of how we entertained ourselves.

You've heard of picture in picture, well here is broken down van in broken down van.

Just look at our sweet ride!

"It's not a toomah"

So if you've spent any amount of time with me you might know that I get headaches. Like a lot. A least one a day pretty much. They usually last for 10-15 minutes making me slightly incapacitated and definitely more grumpy, but then they go away. Lately it seems like they've been getting a little bit worse-- of course, it could be that I'm a big baby. Either way, it's now and it feels bad. But the point that I really wanted to make was that I'm not sure what causes these headaches. I have some ideas though, and here they are:

1. I spend too much time hunched over at a computer.
2. It's residual pain from whiplash.
3. I have plugged up sinus issues.

Upon further thought I came to some conclusions as to what I might do to remedy the situation:

1. Give all of my computers away to the poor.
2. Go back in time and prevent the accident that caused the whiplash.
3. Cut off my head.

But please, don't pity me for my sorry state, it's really not as bad as I might make it sound. I should probably just drink more water.

To All My Admiring Fans

I can see already that this blog is going to be hugely popular. I mean I've already had 9 views, and a few comments on the blog and off. Of course, I've got my critics, too. Already it has been pointed out to me that I occassionally spell things wrong and that I need to include links when I reference another site. Well critics, just you wait! You'll see! Pretty soon I'll have like 20 profile views from people all around the globe! I'll show you what a beautiful thing this blog will be! A forum for learning and understanding, where freedom of expression reigns and high moral values are lifted up! So to all my admiring fans (which I think includes the critics, too) Thank you. Thank you for faithfully reading my blog in its first few days of life.

Thank you.