Random Thoughts

The last few days have put me into a prolonged, slow burning state of freak out. Fun.

My friend’s father passed away on Monday. My father went into the hospital on Tuesday. No details on either situation will be forthcoming. We just got clobbered by a thunderstorm which, it turns out, was rough enough to knock out the power in the hospital. The backup generators kicked in a second later, but woah.

I am planning to go to the hospital after work tonight. I need to make dinner first but then I’ll go for a quick visit before visiting hours end. Tomorrow morning is the funeral. I’ll go to the hospital afterwards. How’s that for a tough day? The last few days have been bad, but tomorrow… woah.

On less important (re: not important at all) topics, I have one more episode of The Umbrella Academy’s final season to watch. I strongly suspect that once I finish that final episode I will immediately start a rewatch of the entire series from season one episode one. I think that is going to happen.

Earlier today I was looking at Threads (the twitter alternative social network made by the same assholes who make instagram and bookfayce which begs the question why the fuck am I giving this new social network site the time of day) and I posted that musically speaking, today is a Porcupine Tree kinda day (from a mental health standpoint, of course… meaning heavy and complicated and confusing if you’re not paying close attention). TWELVE MINUTES LATER I got a notification that the Porcupine Tree instagram account had been ported to Threads. They haven’t posted anything yet but I guess I should say you’re welcome?

I don’t know what the dad situation is going to be like this weekend but I do know that Bellana, my step daughter, is coming over for a visit. All the bad, scary stuff going on feels a little more bearable when the kids come by. I am really looking forward to seeing how she did at her conference this week. I want all the sciency details.

Speaking of science, from a nutritional standpoint I screwed up yesterday. I spent the whole day at the hospital with Dad and when I left the house I forgot to take my pill case with me. I took my breakfast vitamin pills before I left, and took my lunch vitamin pills when I got home for dinner. I was going to take my dinner vitamin pills before I went to sleep, but I fell asleep earlier than expected and missed that dose. Dummy. Note to self: bring the friggin’ pill case tomorrow. Dumb ass.

What else? Word from the hospital this afternoon is that Dad is starting to show early signs of coming out of whatever was wrong. My fingers and toes and eyes are all firmly crossed. Again, I am not sharing details beyond a small hint of optimism. Enjoy it while you can.

Okay, Robert. Stop stressing and get back to work. You have stuff to do. Do it.

Myspace

Daily writing prompt

How do you use social media?

View all responses

In the early days of social media I used the holy hell out of it. Yahoo 360 was first for me. It had a blog space. I started writing whatever crap popped into my head. Not long after I moved over to Myspace and planted my social media flag there. Again, I used the bejeezus out of the blog there. Everything I posted there has been ported over here. Back in 2006 I connected with a woman through Myspace. She was nice and charming and funny and wonderful and today she is my wife. How is that for a social media success story?

By 2008 Myspace was history and Jen and I both started Twitter and Facebook (Bookfayce) accounts. I used them a lot. I mean, a lot. In November of 2008 I also started a stand alone blog on Blogger. Two of them, actually. One was public and the other was private. I kept anything related to my kids on the private account. Everything from both blogs now lives on this blog, just like the Myspace stuff. In 2009 I started an account on what might be one of the original social media platforms. Flickr. No one uses it socially anymore, mostly, but it is still the best site for hosting photos. I have a few there. By “a few” I mean over 55,000… so yeah, I use the hell out it.

When Instagram came along I sort of saw it as a companion to Flickr. I opened an account right away but closed it after a while. Then after some time passed I opened another one and then closed it. I can’t remember how many times I did that. I just didn’t like the interface. Scrolling kept “accidentally” marking things as favorites and it drove me friggin’ nuts. Eventually I just gave in and kept an account live. I still pop in once or twice a day, mostly to look at Les Pauls. I post there now and then but I don’t really interact with anyone. It’s like Flickr. It is a social media platform, but I am not terribly social on it.

A few years ago I got fed up with all of it. Facebook was turning into a cesspool as the fascist maga cult was pulling in people I knew and they were getting louder and louder and the idiotic algorithm was showing me more and more of that garbage and I just decided I didn’t want to go there anymore. I’ve missed out on a lot of family and friends stuff, but from a mental health standpoint I feel better about the world. When I started the weight loss surgery process it was suggested that I join some support groups on Facebook, so that pulled me back in for a while, but eventually I had a good enough grip on the situation that I wasn’t learning anything new anymore so I backed off again. I still pop in now and then to see what people are going through with their recoveries, but I don’t do it often. Twitter went from a similar sort of cesspool vibe to an absolutely ridiculous den of scummy bullshit when that musk putz bought them out. I don’t use that at all anymore.

I’m trying to keep my toes dipped in the social media world via a few Twitter alternatives. I want to pick one and just use that when I need a social fix, or when I am bored and want to kill a few minutes. Threads has a good music community but given that it’s a bookfayce product it makes me want to vomit when I use it. Bluesky and Mastodon are okay but I don’t really have a community to connect with on either platform so I don’t use them often. This blog cross posts to Mastodon so there’s that at least.

So the answer to the actual question, How do you use social media is that I try not to. Not really, at least. I was 100% invested in it back in the oughts and early teens, but now I just feel like it’s mostly outlived its usefulness. Instagram, Youtube, Flickr… yeah, I still use those regularly but I don’t really use them as social media outlets. I get all of my public bitching and moaning ya ya’s out on this page. I still use this thing a lot. I mean, a lot. Way too much. I mean, way too much. Part of me wants to stop entirely but I doubt I have the will power for that. Although… I thought the same thing about Bookfayce once too. Maybe… Maybe it’s time to just quit cold turkey. Probably not today though. Yeah, I am sure I can quit any time I want. You know that song, right?

Nazi Hunting on Threads

So Meta/facebook/Instagram just launched a new Twitter clone called Threads. I created an account and then immediately regretted it. I don’t want to do anything to support Meta and it’s subsidiaries anymore. I still use Instagram but it’s a terrible place. I still use Facebook, barely. I just go there for the bariatric surgery support groups. That’s about it. If I see pictures of my niece and nephews I’ll check them out, but other than that I’ve moved on.

Why then did I open a Threads account? One part curiosity, one part being that it just takes your existing instagram account and rolls it into the new service. Mostly because I am still pretty much the same social media whore who started blogging on MySpace all those years ago.

I’ve only posted on Threads once and it’s basically just my Bluesky user name. Thumbing my nose and all that. I may have found a use to justify the account though.

There is a topic getting a ton of attention on Bluesky today where people are reporting extreme right (call them what they are, nazi) accounts for spewing hate speech only to have the content moderation allow the hate speech to stay… because Meta is as nazi as the rest of them.

My purpose for having a Threads account therefore is to find examples of hate speech and report them so that everyone can see that hate speech is acceptable to the Meta folks and maybe that will bring about some sort of public backlash. Doubtful, but it’s worth a shot.

Fucking nazis.

Social Media Confusion and Collapse

I don’t think I am ready to abandon twitter completely yet. I don’t know why. Maybe that putz will sell the company for a gargantuan loss and someone who isn’t disgusting will buy it and fix all of the bullshit and I’ll want to use it again. Doubtful, but maybe. So I haven’t deleted my account, but I did delete every single tweet and mark the account as private so no one else will ever be able to follow the shell of what used to be my social media presence.

I barely acknowledge facebook anymore, though I’ve been on there a few times this week talking to other people about gastric bypass, and twitter is no longer a thing. Despite that, I have spent more time on social media this last week or two than I have in ages. Why? Because I’ve been looking for alternatives.

Post.news, Mastodon, Counter.Social, Hive. Not to mention this page, Flickr, and Instagram. Post feels like it’s in the lead for the new favorite service. None of the new guys are big enough to really know what they are going to be when they grow up yet. All but Hive have feeds that show all new posts, regardless of whether you follow the posters or not. Counter.Social and Post update at a pace where it is possible to follow along and pick out things worth reading. Mastodon is too busy to follow along. Things just go bombing by. I assume the same will happen for the other two if they keep growing in user numbers.

I guess the question I have for myself is this… why do you care? Sure, you were a social media whore 10+ years ago, but why do you still care today? No clue. No idea.

Oh well. I’m done with twitter and I’m done with facebook. Post.news feels like the new leader to me but maybe it will be something else. Maybe I’ll just post here 20 times a day for a while until I get it out of me, if you know what I mean what I mean.*

*That’s a Genesis reference. Back in NYC from The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. “Let me out of Pontiac when I was just seventeen, I had to get it out of me, if you know what I mean, what I mean.”

I Gave In to The Facebook

I had a rough afternoon today. My stomach was feeling off all day and when it came time for lunch it went bad. Not to get into TMI territory, but there was a small amount of vomit involved. I was trying to have three ounces of turkey and I only got through 1.7 ounces. I did much better with dinner. Jen made beef stew and it smelled so good. I needed to get over whatever was wrong so that I could have some and fortunately I did. It was delicious.

Before dinner though I did something I don’t want to do anymore. I spent a little time on the Facebook. I got today’s Wordle in two tries. If I get it in three tires I post it to Twitter. If I get it in two I post it to the Facebook. So I logged on and posted my success story. Then I checked notifications. Then I joined a couple of Nikon camera groups. Then I vented my food frustrations on a Bariatric Surgery group. Then I perused my timeline a little. Then I came to my senses.

I went to the Nikon groups to ask for suggestions on what the next camera should be. I went to the surgery group to say that my stomach revolted but that I will get through it. I also saw someone who was afraid that he weighed too much and let him know that when I started I weighed even more. I don’t know if it helped at all, but I hope it did. Hell, I’ve lost 140 pounds. If my dumb ass can do it then his can too.

So I cheated on my Facebook ban. Sorry about that. I’ll do better. I just had a tough day but I’m better now.

They Are Fighting Back Again

Facebook, man. I said the other day that I wasn’t missing it anymore and they were no longer trying to manipulate me into coming back to the social media teat. That was true at the time but not any more.

They are pushing back in a big way. I have received notifications emails from them three times in the last four days. Wow, desperate much? It’s over. Stop calling me. Go bother someone else for a change. Somehow I think this might be karmic retribution for something in my past.

Facebook is fighting back… does that mean caffeine is going to start fighting back too? Oh no!

On an unrelated note, there is no new Star Wars or Marvel show on Disney+ today so we won’t be having a watch party with Harry. That makes me sad. At least we know that Marvel’s Moon Knight is coming, even if it is over a month away.

One final note on the original topic. Facebook must have known I was writing this because they just sent me another notifications email. It’s the second one they’ve sent today. You’re just making a fool out of yourself now, Facebook. Stop before this gets ugly.

Banned Things

Over the last 5-6 months or so I have banned some things from my life. Well, banned or boycott. Whichever is more appropriate. How am I doing on these things?

The most recent ban started six days ago when I started working to remove carbonated beverages and caffeine from my diet. If I am going to go through with the weight loss surgery process, then these two items will be permanently removed from my diet forever and ever. Apparently they are both stomach irritants and when you surgically mangle the stomach the way I plan to, then irritants are really bad.

I first learned of this development on Thursday 2/3 and my first day without either of them was Friday 2/4. I’ve made it six days. So far so good, I guess, but it’s definitely not a second nature sort of thing yet. Not even close. My quarantine routine over the last 23-24 months has involved filling up a bottle of water before I go to bed (with grape flavoring, always). If I don’t finish the bottle then I finish it the next day, but not until sometime in the afternoon. I’d have soda, diet pepsi, in the morning and early afternoon. Caffeine and soda. Now I am just drinking water all the time so the night time water bottle carries into the morning. That probably sounds more complicated than it is, but the point here is that every morning I continue to leave the water bottle next to my bed as if I was going to have a morning soda. No. You’re not. Six days on and I still forget that I am not drinking soda anymore pretty much every morning. That needs to end.

So the dietary bans are still going well, though not quite a routine yet. What was the other ban? Facebook. August 27, 2021 was the day I sort of spur of the moment banned Facebook from my life. That was a little more then five months ago. It looks like five months is pretty much long enough to get to the point where I don’t even notice it anymore. It hasn’t been 100%, but I think I can count the number of times I’ve visited on one hand. FoMO brought me back to clear off some notifications once, and once I went on to just mention I wasn’t going on anymore. That was probably pointless. The last time was a couple of weeks ago when I found out one of my Aunts wasn’t well and I checked my cousins accounts to see if I could learn anything. I was only on for a few minutes but I’ll fess up and admit I was there.

Other than those few times I’ve been able to stay away. I don’t think about it anymore. In fact, I got a notifications email the other day for the Lizardfish group and I had to look at it twice to remember what it was talking about. Sometimes it needles me, like when a YouTube show or a podcast that I am a regular viewer/listener of makes a mention of their respective Facebook groups, of which I am a member, and I don’t know what’s going on. I feel out of the loop. FoMO starts creeping in, but I forget about it quickly enough.

So my personal cancel culture targets are still going strong. Facebook is a big nothing to me now. Caffeine and carbonated drinks are going to be tougher to deal with. I can do it though. Absolutely.

48 Days (I think)

I often start my lunch break with a visit to Google News where I just pick a handful of articles to read. I saw one today that talked about Tumblr and how, while it seems to be a dead platform, lots of younger people are starting to use it. The implication was that many of the younger people who are ignoring Facebook and Twitter are ending up there. That’s nice. I always like Tumblr, but they made the same fatal mistake that Flickr made when they let Yahoo buy them out. That mistake was, of course, letting Yahoo buy them out.

I think I had two Tumblr accounts and I am pretty sure they are both active… pretty sure. One is just a copy of this blog. Anything I post here gets cross posted there. I would tell you what the address is, but I can’t remember. I just know that when I look at this account’s dashboard there is a reference to it. The second account sometimes gets used when I work on a music project like RPM. I post daily (mostly) progress that are pretty much meaningless to anyone who isn’t me, and after a few days they all look exactly the same.

This post, however, is not about Tumblr. It’s about Facebook.

Reading that article made me ask myself how long it had been since I logged in to Facebook. Turns out it’s been 48 days. December 2, 2021. That’s nice, huh? I’ve only received one notifications email from them over that time and I just trashed it. I don’t think I ever considered my boycott to be permanent, but it’s pretty nice the way I haven’t felt any need to check in for as long as it’s been. I imagine that there is a magic number of days that the boycott will last that will fully satisfy my need to stay away and once I hit that number I won’t get pissed off at myself if I go back.

Something like that.

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