Facebook

Now Playing Hey, Soul Sister by Train via iTunes

So a few people have been shocked (as I am) that I deleted facebook. There wasn't a real, official reason. It is extremely out of character for me to get rid of something like that.

I deleted on a whim yesterday. I hand't even thought of doing it before. As recently as a week ago (during Quit Facebook Day) I thought the idea of not having facebook was ridiculous and could never imagine it. Then in the shower... random I know... yesterday I kind of decided that I didn't need or want it anymore. Even then I acknowledged I'd be back in a while. But not now... or too soon. So yesterday I spent my only twenty minutes at the computer deactivating my facebook. WHAT?! Shocking :o But there were a few things behind it that I only realized after doing it.

First, a few times a year I filter facebook friends. I usually do it during the biggest vacations of the year when I have time: winter and summer breaks. I did it a week-or-so ago. But I barely removed anyone... I realized that anyone I want to keep in touch with I usually do via chat or phone calls or just in person. Everyone else doesn't really matter enough to bother with.

Second, it's main purpose has become wasting time. My time spent on facebook completely depends on the amount of free time I have. For this reason I'm barely on it during school but summer vacation drastically changes this. This summer has been an exception and I've been too busy to spend very much time on facebook because I've been at Babson.

Third, facebook has changed a ton since I started using it during sophomore year of HS. It was a people's social network then. A few friends, status updates and pictures. Then applications came along. And for anyone who has seen "Unforgivable" on Youtube you'll recognize this... PISSING ME OFF. I hated applications only used one or two of them ever. Then came the marketing. Companies invaded facebook and I was forced to LIKE things that I didn't really give a shit about. Just because I'm interested in something doesn't mean I LIKE it or want to BE A FAN of it on facebook. My interests are too broad and large in number to keep up with all of them via newsfeed.

These changes have rendered it annoying and much less useful. I never thought I would say this but Twitter has taken a lot of what I liked about Facebook, simplified and compressed it and put it into a more useful package. The only thing Twitter is missing is Photo Albums. If Twitter had albums I would never go back to facebook.

That said, for all of you who want to know why I left facebook... I left planning to go back. That doesn't guarantee I will but I never thought I could just quit cold turkey, even if I can do things like that.

Summer!

Now Playing Daylight by Matt and Kim via iTunes

I haven't been good about taking pictures this summer and I'm trying to get a few of fun activities that we've all been doing. Thank god for the amazing camera in my new phone!

A bunch of us spent a while at the beach yesterday and it was incredible. Great weather the water was warm (for some of us) and the sun felt amazing. We spent a little time at my house for drinks and had ice cream and snacks at a beach-side restaurant. We had fun and enjoyed time with each other that we would never have time for during the school year. One of my favorite things about the summer is spending time with people that I wouldn't normally see. Usually it's because one or both of us are too busy with school and our various activities.

Naturally the day wouldn't have been complete without blasting some great music with the windows down. It was a classic summer day with great people. My business casual summer began very slowly and pretty boring. Once the second week of June rolled around though it became just what I was looking for by staying at Babson. Of course I still miss people but it has been very entertaining and I'm sure the rest of the summer will continue that way. Here's to more beach days :)

Identity

Now playing Emaline by Ben Folds via iTunes

When I was little I read a poem or was given a poem or something written from the point of view of a young child. It was a memory, actually written by a middle-aged man. The poem described roles in life and how a person can have so many identities (both at once and at different times). Anyone in my Organization Behavior class will remember our session on this topic. Most of us are nearing the end of our student identity. It’s a fascinating concept to me that identity can change. Really, fundamentally change as a person grows and ages.

My identity as a teenager recently ended. I think that is the core reason that my 20^th freaked me out so much. It seemed like a fundamental change to who I was.

Anyways, back to the poem. This man wrote the poem and it was a description of a moment from his childhood when he observed his mother. His mother was unaware that she had an audience. I don’t’ remember any language or anything too specific about the poem but the description of his mother had nothing to do with the fact that she was the author’s mother. This was the focus of the poem. The description and verse focused on the fact that at that moment she was merely herself. The woman was alone in her own body, focused on her individual moment. She was not a mother then, she was not a wife. It must have been weird for the author to observe his mother like this. But also very educational. I remember that even as a child, I was definitely 10 or younger, this fascinated me. Now I understand why and I think it’s an interesting interaction between psychology, personality and identity.

I think one aspect of the poem that is interesting is that the mother was alone. She was herself doing whatever she felt because no one was around (that she knew of) to affect her behavior.

Is this a form of insecurity? Do people tailor their behavior to those that are around them? I hate ‘fake.’ And although I see this as a form of being fake (as opposed to your true personality/behavior) I consider this completely different and am not bothered by it nearly as much. Maybe because it’s more natural and common.

I just looked up wondering what else I had to say about this. I’m sitting in a local district court for jury duty. (ugh). People watching is prime even if there aren’t many people here. I don’t know whether it’s my psychology interest or sociology or whatever but people fascinate me. Just standing in the lobby before we even came in was nuts. Literally… some of the people there are crazy. But watching people and trying to “figure them out” is really fascinating (not fun though) for me.

I think I’ve mentioned this in a previous post. In middle school I won my first academic award and in the speech a teacher gave about me he said he was afraid that I “had them all figured out.” At the time I just thought it was funny. Now I think it’s hilarious albeit very true. I’m not claiming he was right. I’m not sure if you can really benchmark whether or not you’ve figured someone out. Although I do feel like I’m better than average at it in many ways.

Have you figured me out? I’m probably one of the few people that I can’t quite figure out. But after 20 years I’m well on my way.

Anticipation

Now Playing: Class again... Strategic Problem Solving

I'm dying of excitement for my new phone tomorrow. But I always appreciate the excitement leading up to things like this. Whether I'm getting something I'm excited for, going on vacation, or anticipating a family member visiting half the fun is always in the anticipation.

I'm not usually a member of the early adopter category but this phone is something I've waited for forever, and I'm excited to be one of the first people to have a 4G phone. No doubt I won't be the only one, many Sprint stores have already sold out of the Evo. Good thing I preordered mine last week! I had two or three phones before this one that I had planned on getting but when I found out that this one was coming out I decided to forgo them and get this one instead because it is so much more advanced and feature packed compared to the other ones.

I'm sure once I get my phone tomorrow I'll be just as excited trying it out. Playing with the fancy, HUGE touchscreen and trying to convince myself that I don't mind the touchscreen keyboard will be fun. Exploring apps and personalizing my new toy will also get me all excited. I'll have to relearn to use my own cell phone because of the new OS, which I know a pretty good amount about already: part of why I like the Android OS is how easy it is to use (as opposed to the BlackBerry which it took me MONTHS to really figure out completely). I'll spend time using the powerful camera/camcorder and figuring out how to video chat with the second, supplementary camera. So many cool things to explore with this new phone is what makes the anticipation half of the fun. I know I'll love the phone once I get it and I can't wait to enjoy it but at the same time I'm sure I'll be a little disappointed that the excitement of the anticipation is over.

Can't wait!

Fun Stuff For All of June!

Now Playing: err Class? I'm in Strategic Problem Solving

So I posted a status on facebook a little while ago that said that the next few weeks are awesome! And finally they are! The last week or two has been insanely boring. I haven't been working nearly as much as I would have liked. I haven't had class in a week and no one's been at school (including me for part of the time).

But the tides are about to change. The next two or three weeks look like they're going to be absolutely amazing. Literally one exciting thing or event after another for the next two weeks. First, tonight I'm having dinner with a friend from Babson that I haven't seen since before the end of school. We also didn't get to see each other very much second semester because of how busy we both were. Then I'm getting my long-awaited new phone on Saturday. I think I'm probably more excited about this birthday gift than I've ever been before (except if you count my license). I'll probably spend this weekend at home, depending on my work schedule. Then next week I'm going to an ice cream sampling thing in Boston with a friend from school. On Wednesday a bunch of us are going to see Shear Madness in Boston, a different, cool comedy show. Although the second half of next week is kind of quiet, it will be good to relax in preparation for Miguel visiting!

Miguel will come on Saturday night in anticipation of my birthday celebrations on Sunday. I'm really excited to celebrate my birthday this year with a ton of friends from both Babson and Swampscott. A bunch of us from Babson are going back to our house for a cookout where Swampscott friends will meet us for the afternoon and evening. It'll be nice, all of my closest friends (with the exception of five... all of whom will be away or live far away and aren't here for the summer) will be there. I think it's especially nice because Miguel and one other friend will be here from fairly far away. I'm really looking forward to it and it will be a nice way to spend my birthday. :)

Then the next day Danny is visiting for the night at Babson which will be fun as well. Then on Wednesday some of us are going to the Red Sox game! Amidst all of this Hannah will get back which will be nice as well and will definitely prevent boredom at Babson that has been so prevalent so far. All in all June looks like it'll be a great month. I'll definitely update the blog with pictures and shorter posts about some of these happenings as they occur.