9 Nov 2018

 (This could be me whining about my lack of social connection...)

(...Or it could be me bewailing my poor financial decisions...)

(...or maybe a rant about the world, rarely composed here, out of fear of Internet debates...)

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Assuming that most have skipped past this post now, not feeling interested enough to expand the “read more” bit...

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I do not have Earth-shattering news to share. I do not make much effort to keep up with the regular news.

I question if Facebook is trustworthy enough to still use for communication beyond cats and cuisine. I do not think they have their users’ privacy as a priority. Yet, I wonder if there are other social networking services out there with a sizable fraction of the Facebook audience share. Instagram, perhaps..?

I do miss having easy access to real life socializing, via growing up in a small town, or living in co-operative student housing. Even there, though, we are limited by what our minds can think or what our hands can mold.

Have I mentioned that I have not read books in quite a while? My mind loses its focus easily, and I get pulled in all sorts of directions. Plus, I have not really had a great reading room in my homes, these past 8 years. This is disconcerting, a bit; because I do enjoy good fiction.

I also do not get to see a lot of movies, because of time management and money management issues. I really do enjoy watching movies (and plays and concerts and such)... it’s just sitting there out of reach.

A lot of regret over disappearing activities and vanishing societies.

Would things be different, with a car? Probably. Yet... my budget has me so boxed in, that I can not see a viable way of financing a car. They have been handy in the past, when i’ve had them, though...

A lot of doubt, in my mind, if living in Austin and the Texas suburban sprawl fits the ways that I interact with my environment. Would New York be better, with its pedestrian infrastructure? Would another country do well, too, with different customs and different ways of socializing?

Would moving close to my family of origin create a real social network?

I could try to use a phone as a phone. I could try to write long letters again, to long-distance friends. With each connection, though, my addict mind screams for more, and so it’s an hour on the phone, or a higher postage rate for the letter...

Why do I want to connect? Because I do not want to hear my story, how my day went... I want to learn your stories, your thoughts, your struggles.

“And now for something completely different...”