??

“ . . . no, for real,
Are you kidding me?
No wonder there's panic in the industry
I mean, please . . .
Do you want a piece of me?
I'm Mrs. Lifestyles of the rich and famous
I'm Mrs. Oh my God that Britney's shameless
I'm Mrs. Extra! Extra! this just in!
I'm Mrs. she's too big, now she's too thin
You want a piece of me”

“I rock a lawsuit when I’m going to court
A white suit when I’m gettin divorced
A black suit at the funeral home
And my birthday suit when I’m home alone
Talkin on the phone
Got an interview
With the Rolling Stone
They’re saying,
Now you’re rich and
Now you’re famous
Fake-ass girls all know your name and
Lifestyles of the rich and famous
Your first hit aren’t you ashamed?
Of the life
Of the life we’re livin’
I just wanna live
Don’t really care about the things that they say”


I have to say I am genuinely shocked and taken aback by the level of fallout I have received from my decision to leave the MySpace world. I expected a few queries here and there from people who know me in real life and who avidly get on social networking sites. What I did not expect, however, is the bizarre and uncomfortable level of fallout that I have experienced. It has been so odd and so needless. There are some people who, in spite of the fact that I have said adamantly that it’s not anything personal against anyone but a decision I made for myself, have chosen to take it very personally. There are people who are refusing to speak to me at all. There are people who having nothing to say to me unless it’s something negative. And I am not talking about teenagers here. I am talking about grown-ass people. Have we really become so socially inept that the only way we can communicate is through a damn website with cheesy comments and photo ops? Really? People used to say that email was too impersonal. I would say at this point for me, emails sent directly to me privately for my eyes only are many great steps up the ladder from bullshit posted on a social networking site. I also don’t get why people feel the need to editorialize and read more into a situation than is necessary, e.g., in this case, I must have left the site for secret and terrible reasons. It couldn’t be the superficial obvious answer that I am busy and tired and want to exist as an adult so I got rid of my profile. No, no, it couldn’t be that. Given the choice time-wise of keeping a profile going or keeping this blog running, I chose the latter without difficulty. I was talking with a friend this weekend about the level of grandiosity people can fake on the internet and how many times someone’s photos on their profile do NOT match their real life appearance. There’s a man we call “Bobblehead Kyle” because we met him one night and he had a bobblehead. He was a MySpace friend that attempted to become a real life friend. A bunch of us got together one night for drinks and the person who showed up was not the person I knew from MySpace. He was dressed like a trucker and he had a head that was too big for his body. He’d also grown a wooly beard. It was all very alarming. Oh yes, and he also smoked like a chimney, which I find gross and repellant. He had a chin like a shelf and his whole head was so large that it looked like a bobblehead screwed onto an anorexic man’s body. We laugh about it now but at the time it was awkward and confusing for all parties involved.


Speaking of outings and discussions and my newfound joy of living off the social grid (so to speak), we went to see A Perfect Getaway this weekend. We weren’t expecting much and what we got was crazy. I won’t be a spoiler but what I think this film has in common with Orphan and Knowing is that it takes you on a good ride until the “twist” ending comes and you’re left scratching your head like, “What just happened here? Laaaame.” Nevertheless, the character played by Timothy Olyphant was the star for us. Had it not been for his character, I think I would’ve fallen asleep. We gleaned a lot of quotable quotes from him. I plan to introduce myself to strangers in other states and other lands from now on as “an American Jedi.”