Battling Facebook and an Update

I'm sick. Not serious sick or diseased, just worn down I think. I woke up this morning with a raging headache, and it never really went away. Lindsey is threatening to make me go to the doctor, because I get headaches a lot, but I prefer to think of it as my brainpower being too much for a mere mortal's skull.

As you know from prior posts, me at my sharpest, uninhibited by any ailments, still does not produce much more than barely coherent, often non-sensical garbage. Me under the weather promises nothing short of mental and writing chaos. So I won't even try today.

The blog has been an unmitigated success so far. I have followers from Chicago (1) to San Diego (1) and all points in between (0). I can barely keep up with the comments, much less the frequent interview requests from online, print, and broadcast media. But some conquering begets a desire for more conquering, so I continue to try and elicit readers.

Both Lindsey and I have linked to the blog on our respective Facebook accounts. I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. I loved it when I first moved to San Diego. I was on an extended vacation, Kyle and Dave both had stupid work a lot of days, and I was bored. It was nice to have some contact with the world, outside of "bro dudes" cruising the boardwalk on their boards and taco stand proprietors mesmerizing me with rapid-fire foreign language.

Sometimes I hate it, though. This happens most frequently when my "news feed" is inundated with Farmville and Mafia updates and an hour-by-hour account, complete with photos, of the activities and foibles of people's kids. I also never quite know what to do when I get a friend request from someone I barely - or sometimes do not at all - know. I feel badly ignoring the request, but I dislike enabling someone's quest to gather 1000 friends to make up for the fact that everyone made fun of him in high school for peeing his pants.

It's also inconsistent with my forward-looking perspective. Let's be honest. You are Facebook friends with some people you have not seen for a decade or more, and probably will not see again. Yet you still "like" their "I love Real Housewives" post and you still exchange those awkward, "what are you up to these days" messages. For someone always looking forward, Facebook is the antithesis of life - it holds onto the past. But still, it is nice to reconnect with people on there, especially when they are funny.

So anyway, Lindsey and I both advertised the blog on our facebook pages. The idea behind that was for people to actually visit the blog, make comments or "follow" it if they choose, and generally move to the blog, from Facebook, the discussion on the stupid crap about which I write. The result? People are actually visiting the blog and, if they can stomach it, reading my nonsense. And then they are commenting or messaging me...through Facebook.

I am an idealist at heart, but I do realize that I am waging an unwinnable war. Me taking on Facebook is the equivalent of Angola challenging the United States to a war, the Office not being hilarious, or, these days, Michigan beating Ohio State or Notre Dame fans not complaining about something. So I am resigned to the fact that Facebook exposure will not a followed blog make. And I am OK with that - not because I like losing (I hate it), but because I can continue to carry the mantle of the downtrodden against the corporate, mainstream Man.

Til tomorrow...