Facebook cycles of life and love

I'm always at a loss for words when I see a Facebook friend change their relationship status to 'in a relationship' and immediately start gathering 'likes'. What are these people liking exactly? And why is this Facebook friend needing people to 'like' their relationship? What exactly is going on here? Is this about approval? Are they liking the fact that their friend is capable of getting a man/woman? Are they relieved that now they won't have to listen to their friend's constant moaning about how they can't get a man/woman? Congratulations, someone wants to sleep with you more than one time!! I really don't see this as a great accomplishment. And why do these people care? Does this really have anything to do with them? Are these the same people that when their friend changes their status back from 'in a relationship' to 'single' a few months later, 'like' it all over again but comment: "And by like I mean DISLIKE!" or they type a row of hearts, or "You're better off alone!" Really?...but but but you liked it when they were in a relationship. Never mind that the person they were in a relationship with was a complete ass/cheat/bore/smelled bad/talked too much/insert flaw here. It's over. But hang on, all is not lost, in a few weeks or months or days they will meet someone else and change their status back again to 'in a relationship', and you can 'like' it all over again like it's the first time you've ever liked anything.

Will work for inspiration

I am self-employed. I have been for awhile, but recent events have got me thinking it might be time to get a job — or move to Europe. One being the loss of one of my biggest clients (they hired an in-house designer). I started thinking about what I would like to do. Besides the obvious of getting a graphic design job, or something in production. I mean, what interests me, where do I see myself next? I began thinking about jobs I've had in the past and remembered some of the well, more interesting ones. Oh, you want me to tell you about them? Ok, I will. Here goes. A long time ago, a young, fresh faced Jenny answered the call to protect her community. She stepped up, swallowed her pride, put on a big security shirt and some mittens and guarded a container of frozen turkeys at the local Safeway. I was turkey security. You see, one year before Xmas, there was a scare, someone had been injecting turkeys with poison, so they hired a whole whack of young people to stand around 'guarding' these turkeys so no funny business could occur. Twelve - 8 hour shifts in a row in the freezer section later — I couldn't look at a turkey for months.
Next came this friend of mine who worked for a market research firm. Their company was studying cigarettes. They needed people to conduct a 'smoking study'. This entailed wearing lab coats, interviewing subjects that took home a pack of different cigarettes each day. Needless to say the kind of people this attracted as subjects were, well, interesting. The subjects came in and we asked them questions about the cigarette's taste, it's draw, how fast or slow it burned, etc. Of course all of us went on the study too. Hey, free cigarettes for 2 weeks AND we got to wear a cool lab coat! We would have dance parties during slow periods and of course, chain smoke — hey, we had to! I can't say I couldn't look at a cigarette again, but hey, how can you compare cigarettes and turkeys? They really have little in common. Although both jobs left me with a sore throat. Anyway, my dear blog readers, please keep me in mind if you hear of some job that is interesting, wacky or creative, it might just be right up my alley.

Social Media 1, Jenny 0

I ran into this woman last night that I've had a crush on forever. This woman is not on Facebook — for whatever reason — she isn't. So, I only know her from the last time I saw her, you know, like in the olden days. She is the kind of woman that makes you feel like a 13-year-old boy. The kind of woman that makes you feel nervous and shy and insecure, the kind of woman that feels 'out of your league'. In all my previous encounters with this woman, I've kept my distance and when we did communicate, I made sure to keep it short. One time we were on a dance floor and she danced up to me and tousled my hair and all I could do was stare at the ground like some nervous teenager. I got so shy, so soft. For those of you that don't know me, I'm not usually this way, if I like someone I will make a play, do something, make a move, put myself out there, but this girl, I don't know, she is different. But last night after some encouragement from my sober friend, I made a play for her, to no success, in fact if you were there blog readers, well, you might be embarrassed for me. I'm embarrassed for myself, but for the sake of story telling, I will go on. It was like I asked her out, then quickly talked her out of it. Yes, I had had a few cocktails at this point. It's all sort of a blur now.... So, I wandered home, tipsy and alone, oh wait, I hailed a cab after a couple of blocks because it was cold. As I stumbled up my steps, I couldn't help but think if she was on Facebook I would know more about this woman. Have some background on her that could make me more successful or if by knowing that background might make me not interested in her in the first place. And maybe I feel this way about this woman because I don't know if a cat playing with a turtle makes her smile or if she cares about shit that girls say. Running into her was the only shot I got and I blew it. I can't post something cute on her wall now, can't write something witty that makes her laugh. She can't see how cool I am, she only knows the awkward, shy Jenny I present to her. As I unlocked my door, I thought about the days before Social Media. We had to listen more. Pay more attention to in person encounters — interpret signals. And perhaps that was more interesting. Then I thought, maybe it's just me — then I ate a piece of toast and went to bed. This morning I got up, wrote this tale and posted it in hopes that you will all still love me.