It looks like the header at the top of the page reads "Face to Facebook 'minus' 365". That might work!
I'd been thinking for a while about making a change to the project. 2010 is just about halfway finished, and I've had quite a wake up call regarding the timing of this experiment. For some reason, it seemed to me in the planning stages that meeting up with 311 friends in 365 days was at least plausible. "I've got weekends, I've got the summer, I can head out after work a couple of times a week...", I told myself. I also hadn't considered that my own schedule wasn't the only one that I had to... well, consider. Add to that, that I am a person who loves structure. I like calendars and lists and plans, even if I don't end up sticking to them. The "year" idea gave me a measurable goal, but didn't account for much more than that. I would end up rushing at the end of the year to cram in a bunch of people for micro-meet ups, which would be more about checking names off than getting to know people. What is some of my friends were unavailable until Jan. 1st 2011? Would I delete them to release myself from the responsibility?
Now I'm ready to stretch this out. I'm going to extend this project to give me and my friends (and my "friends") ample time to meet up and get to know each other... if they so choose. It also helps with the fact that my friends list has grown from 311 to 370+ since this began. Now this is more of an ongoing mission, rather than a race.
So to all of those people on my friends list, I look forward to seeing you sooner... or later!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Greatest form of flattery?
Just saw a commercial for this phone called the KIN, and am wondering if their marketing people stopped by my blog before starting this campaign. I've been calling it a project or a social experiment, they call it"The Journey".
They have all of the flash, glitz, catchy hipster music, pseudo documentary styled shaky yet professional camera work, witty dialogue (and monologue), and relatable, comedic situations that leave my humble blog in the proverbial cyber dust. I started thinking... "Wow, that's like what I'm doing!", then, "Wait... that's... what I'M doing.", then finally, "...Shouldn't I be getting a check, or a free phone or something?" I wondered at first if this was a legit project, and if the people undertaking "The Journey" were actual people like me, who had a hunger to explore their digital/genuine or supposed relationships/friendships... and who happen to have a dope looking phone and computer program to help them. The more I watch though, the more I quickly realized, that this is a very slickly made campaign, with actors that look like people you or I might have on our friends list. Anyway, I'm taking it as a compliment for now, and am secure in the knowledge that what I'm learning and gaining from my own project, is more valuable than a couple thousand youtube hits, and a fancy phone.
They have all of the flash, glitz, catchy hipster music, pseudo documentary styled shaky yet professional camera work, witty dialogue (and monologue), and relatable, comedic situations that leave my humble blog in the proverbial cyber dust. I started thinking... "Wow, that's like what I'm doing!", then, "Wait... that's... what I'M doing.", then finally, "...Shouldn't I be getting a check, or a free phone or something?" I wondered at first if this was a legit project, and if the people undertaking "The Journey" were actual people like me, who had a hunger to explore their digital/genuine or supposed relationships/friendships... and who happen to have a dope looking phone and computer program to help them. The more I watch though, the more I quickly realized, that this is a very slickly made campaign, with actors that look like people you or I might have on our friends list. Anyway, I'm taking it as a compliment for now, and am secure in the knowledge that what I'm learning and gaining from my own project, is more valuable than a couple thousand youtube hits, and a fancy phone.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Finding 2
Face to face conversations are much better than IM convos... much more enjoyable anyway. I like when more of my senses come into play to help understand all of the nuances behind what someone is saying/feeling. Emotional response > Emoticons :)
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Making new friends by keeping the old
Have you known most of your FB friends for a while? Months? Years? Decades? I've got some that fall into each category. Last night I finally got to have one of the meet-ups I've been trying to plan for a very long while. After finding several classmates from my kindergarten class (at Hackensack Christian School) on FB, I started to think that it might be pretty neat to get together with as many of them as were willing, and see how and what everyone is doing face to face. The initial excitement happens when requests are accepted, pics from over two decades ago are posted, and comments are flying back and forth between classmates from forever ago. It dies down over time when the novelty wears off, but not so much for me. Eventually I posted an event page for a mini-reunion and tried to send out invites to every classmate I could find. Over a couple of months, several people expressed interest and even excitement, though unfortunately not everyone was able to, or interested in making it. Some people are traveling or living far away, and some are probably just not as enthused as I, about the prospect of meeting up with people you knew when you were 4. That said, I had a great time out with two of my former classmates: Jennifer and La Toya.
We all met up for dinner in town, as we're all pretty local. Jens' friend Jenissa came along also. She is an HCS alum as well, though after I'd left the school in kindergarten. Jen, Jenissa and La Toya all spent several more years than I at the school. It was funny hearing stories about kids, teachers, etc. that I'd only known briefly. Felt kind of like hearing the continued plot of a cancelled sitcom, and thinking... ahhhh, THAT'S what happened to them! We looked and laughed at some old pictures and told stories from the early 80's. The food was great! ...it complimented the company well.
Jen works in the drug... er... pharmaceutical industry. I can't remember what our conversations were like back in school, but it turns out we've STILL got a few things in common these days. We both dig country music, though I defer to Jenns' passionate devotion to Nashville and Mr. Brad Paisley. It took me a while to come around to country, but as of a few years back, I'm sold! She's also a 'Lost' fan, and is currently a fraction of a season behind me, and the rest of the viewing public that is currently caught up. Apparently she got sucked in just as I did. She has a ridiculously handsome iguana, is lots of fun, and has awesome energy. We talked about bowling and *gulp* ...karaoke in the future.
I've known La Toya since kindergarten and through the following years as well. She came into middle school with me and our families have had ties for a while as well. It hadn't been that long since I'd seen La Toya, but it's been recently that I found out that we share a passion for art. She even told me about some work she'd done that I'd admired in high school, never knowing it was hers. I work and am friends with La Toya's mom Theresa as well. My girlfriend Danielle (who also came to enjoy dinner along with her mom Candy) is very close friends with Theresa, so expect to see her up here for a meet-up as well. I know I'll be seeing La Toya around again. We bump into each other every now and then, but this was the first time I can remember sitting down and hanging out. ALSO, La Toya has a great smile (see above), very much like her mom. The night really turned out great.
Coolest surprise of the night was when our friend and classmate Kera showed up. She could only stay for a minute, but I think it was great that she popped in to say hello. Hopefully we can get her and a bunch of others out the next time we try to do this. So to my long lost and seemingly forgotten friends, hidden among the hundreds of other FB friends... hit me up! What's 24 years?
Face to Face #10: 2 friends
Friend count: 15
We all met up for dinner in town, as we're all pretty local. Jens' friend Jenissa came along also. She is an HCS alum as well, though after I'd left the school in kindergarten. Jen, Jenissa and La Toya all spent several more years than I at the school. It was funny hearing stories about kids, teachers, etc. that I'd only known briefly. Felt kind of like hearing the continued plot of a cancelled sitcom, and thinking... ahhhh, THAT'S what happened to them! We looked and laughed at some old pictures and told stories from the early 80's. The food was great! ...it complimented the company well.
Jen works in the drug... er... pharmaceutical industry. I can't remember what our conversations were like back in school, but it turns out we've STILL got a few things in common these days. We both dig country music, though I defer to Jenns' passionate devotion to Nashville and Mr. Brad Paisley. It took me a while to come around to country, but as of a few years back, I'm sold! She's also a 'Lost' fan, and is currently a fraction of a season behind me, and the rest of the viewing public that is currently caught up. Apparently she got sucked in just as I did. She has a ridiculously handsome iguana, is lots of fun, and has awesome energy. We talked about bowling and *gulp* ...karaoke in the future.
I've known La Toya since kindergarten and through the following years as well. She came into middle school with me and our families have had ties for a while as well. It hadn't been that long since I'd seen La Toya, but it's been recently that I found out that we share a passion for art. She even told me about some work she'd done that I'd admired in high school, never knowing it was hers. I work and am friends with La Toya's mom Theresa as well. My girlfriend Danielle (who also came to enjoy dinner along with her mom Candy) is very close friends with Theresa, so expect to see her up here for a meet-up as well. I know I'll be seeing La Toya around again. We bump into each other every now and then, but this was the first time I can remember sitting down and hanging out. ALSO, La Toya has a great smile (see above), very much like her mom. The night really turned out great.
Coolest surprise of the night was when our friend and classmate Kera showed up. She could only stay for a minute, but I think it was great that she popped in to say hello. Hopefully we can get her and a bunch of others out the next time we try to do this. So to my long lost and seemingly forgotten friends, hidden among the hundreds of other FB friends... hit me up! What's 24 years?
Face to Face #10: 2 friends
Friend count: 15
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