Myspace: Wanted Dead or Alive?

Probably dead actually. I have to say that for awhile there, I fell onto the Myspace bandwagon. But now? I think I'm over it.

I missed out on the whole Myspace thing to begin with... when I came back to the states, I had no idea what this internet social networking thing was. And it seemed a little creepy to me due to pedophiles, child predators, and just dirty people. Then I was little intrigued when you had to be a member to see people's myspace pictures, so I created an account just so I could see people's pictures (a little stalker-ish, but I wasn't hurting anyone). After that, I kind of felt obligated to create a myspace page, decorate it all fancy, and actually use it. I went a little crazy with the decorating for like 3 weeks-- wanting to change the background, the layout, and the music. And then, I stopped. I just lost interest. It wasn't fun anymore. Well, I can't really say that it was fun outside of the design part for me.

Myspace, I've now realized, is it's own world. You definitely have to be into it if you're in it... otherwise, you're really just wasting time. In the beginning of my myspace foray, I had people from my high school wanting to be my "friend," but really, I had a hard time figuring out who some of those people were! This whole farce of myspace friends is just weird to me. Which makes me think... if we weren't friends in high school, we probably wouldn't be friends now. I don't want to be mean, but as a self-proclaimed anti-social, I'm not really one to want to start random friendships with people. Sure there's people on there that I am actually friends with, but really, just because we went to the same school doesn't mean I knew you. My high school was kind of big (not in ideas, mind you, but in population), and I'm pretty sure I didn't like school in general, so there are definitely people I didn't know. It's the same with those people who are living in DC and who randomly ask me to add them. WHY? Because we live in DC? It's not like we live together. Last time I checked DC is a pretty big city.

So I've lost the interest in Myspace because I don't think it's a social network that's actually helping people come together. Though only speaking for myself, I found that Myspace just brings along a bunch of creepies looking for very unsavory things. However, my sister has found people from her high school class that she actually knew and wanted to get back in touch with... so maybe Myspace works for some. To me, though, myspace is dead. I'd rather contact my real friends through email. :)

To see some creepy stories about Myspace read these:

Myspace Murder Plot

Weirdos at Home

Is there LIFE after KIDS??

Something I've been wondering for awhile... as I love working with kids, but really don't want any of my own. Do parents get to do fun stuff after they have kids? I know all parents in the entire world think "oh, having a baby is one of the best things that I ever did... it changed my life." Well, of course, it changed your life-- you had to be responsible for another human being and you had to feed it and educate it and worry about it.

But my question is... can you still be selfish after you have kids?


I was at a concert this weekend-- annual Joy of Christmas choral concert at the National Cathedral (click here for a virtual tour)-- and saw something that made me wonder. There was a group of families-- maybe about 2 families, each with small toddler-ish kids. One of the moms showed up 30 minutes late (which at that point, do you really want to go to the concert at all??) with kid in tow. She sat down, the kid got antsy and she left. SERIOUSLY... they left. After sitting for about 20 minutes. Another kid in the group, after the choir (who weren't bad, definitely not Raffi... but at least it could have put a kid to sleep) finished a hymn, the kid yells, HE SUCKS. Yeah... that's pretty good raising of a kid if they are saying things suck at the age of 2. So after trying to quiet the tyke down to no avail... they left too. Pretty soon... the entire group was gone. Tickets wasted, parents without the concert they were hoping for.

So when you have kids and you have to watch them and entertain them... does that mean you don't get to do the fun stuff you always wanted to do? Does your life essentially stop once their's begins? Interesting, and just a little sad.

Is this why tons of families in DC and other metro areas have nannies (also, note, a lot of them here are filipina nannies)? Does having a nanny give you the time to be selfish again?

Awhile ago, there was a story of a woman who climbed Mount Everest. Her name was Alison Hargreaves and she was a mother of 2. She summitted Everest without oxygen (no small feat, in case you didn't know, considering Everest is 29,000+ ft. tall). Her husband, a climbing photographer, stayed home to watch the kids. The same climber summited K2 in Pakistan. Shortly after summitting, she died, along with 3 other climbers in a sudden storm. She was criticized (yes, after her death) for taking on such a dangerous sport while being a mother. Is that fair? She was a climber before the kids and a climber after the kids were born... did that make her a bad mother? Was she supposed to stop when she had the kids? Something to think about... FYI: her son has an interest in climbing now, too.

I like kids... but I also like being able to do what I want. Does that make me selfish? Yeah, I guess so. I like being able to sit through a concert, even a choral one-- which I've decided I don't like, if I want. I like the choice. If I had kids, I'd probably still sit through the concert... but my kids probably wouldn't be shouting that someone sucks in a very quiet cathedral.

Back in the saddle...

Hi ya'll. So I know... where the hell have I been lately? I leave you (all 3 of you) with rants about TomKat for like 3 weeks or something??? Sorry about that.

I have to say it's because I've been busy. Busy gym-ing, watching tv, working, etc. A 10-second catch-up:

Thanksgiving was awe-some (she says in a sing-song-y voice). Had a lot of fun... and we convinced Joy to come down to surprise the parents. Good eatin' and fun NC times-- Tanglewood (the lights that Mom wants everyone to see every year) and Biltmore Estate. See pictures at the left.

Joined a gym and have a trainer for a few sessions. She's from NC, too. Been working out 3 times a week... and I still don't like gym-ing, but it needs to be done.

Took a day off from work and Gordon took a sick day (which we proclaimed as Senior Skip Day-- Gordon didn't have one in high school!) and we played around in Virginia. Visited the George Washington Masonic National Memorial and the new-ish Air and Space Museum out by Dulles airport. See pictures at left.

Movies I saw and liked: Casino Royale (not as cute 007, but more classic James Bond action), The Holiday (a cute romantic comedy where Jack Black shows that he can act normal-- sort of). Movies I didn't like and wasted my time with: Hoot (seriously, Jimmy Buffett can write better songs than those on the soundtrack-- right???)-- a conservation-y for kids flick that definitely has some homosexual undertones which was just out of place for the genre.

What's next? Keeping up with the blog better-- I promise! Seeing more movies-- looking forward to We Are Marshall (what day is it? game day!). More gym-ing. Holidays in NC again-- yay!