Facebook, Invader Zim Style

Once upon a time, I really liked Facebook.  Facebook was new, it was pretty cool and everyone was on it!  Or at least everyone who “mattered.”  Facebook was the gateway to virtual popularity since you could friend anyone who went to the same school without seeming really creepy (MySpace anyone?).

When Facebook was at its best, it had just added the photo capability.  It was great; you could upload photos, look at friends’ photos, comment on them, write on their walls and message your friends.  That was perfect.  It did everything I needed it to do; I had a place to stay in touch with people and put up my photos.

Then Facebook introduced this weird thing called applications.  At first, it was kind of amusing; “Hey look, someone threw a cow at me! I can high-five them back!”  Or I could send my friends fake alcohol; obviously the epitome of cool.  Now there are way too many applications and most of them serve no purpose or serve the purpose of advertising for businesses.  Neither of these reasons are why I’m on Facebook.  Now I’m on Facebook because I can keep in touch with people.  I don’t have time browse through profiles or monitor my applications.

Here is what I equate Facebook to: Invader Zim.  Normally Invader Zim is an alien of average size, this is the representation of the “before” Facebook:

In one episode of Invader Zim, Dark Harvest, Zim decides that to be more human he needs organs, lots of organs.  Zim starts collecting organs from fellow classmates, unbeknownst to the classmates, of course!  Zim become this over-sized, bloated alien mass, much how I feel Facebook has become.

So…that was my Facebook rant.

The Problem with Quitting

Quitting an activity has always been very hard for me.  It’s always an agonizing decision.

I remember when I came to DePauw and I wanted to continue playing my French horn and swim.  This was an impossibility as both practices occurred at the same time and missing one for the other wasn’t something my coach or director was fond or supportive of.  I loved playing my French horn and I was decent at it (of course not after a summer of not playing, but before that).  Maybe I felt like I had played my horn too long and I needed to focus my energy on a different hobby, I’m not sure, but I decided to stop playing my horn and quit band.  This was an awful decision.  I remember telling the director of my decision and practically breaking down in tears because I had been playing an instrument for so long.  Of course, little did I know that I should have kept playing my horn because I loathed swimming for DePauw, but I guess it’s one of those things you (really, I) learn.

When I quit something, the decision is always so hard and it usually involves tears at some point during the process.  Even when the organization is so wrong for me that other people are completely aware of it, I still don’t want to quit!  I get this awful feeling of failure and ask myself “Why couldn’t I make this work?” and “Why did this fail?”  This is even when something is so obviously not working well with my life.  I guess I feel some sort of twisted loyalty to an organization.  Sometimes I just have to learn to let things go, particularly when it will improve my life.

Semester Goals

As my last semester at DePauw, I’ve sent some semester goals for myself.  When I refer to myself, I actually mean Shela and me.  These goals are rather informal, but we’ve been trying really hard to do things pertaining to these goals.

Goal #1: Be more social

There are lots of people that Ashley and I know and we would like to spend more time with them.  We’ve started having people over for dinner a lot.  So far, it’s been really enjoyable.  We get to share a meal with someone we like and talk about what’s going on.  Plus it encourages us to cook more than just mac and cheese, which we adore!

Goal #2: Have intellectual discussions

This goal sounds really dorky and we both realize that, but it fits us as people and it’s a great goal because we get to do so much with it!  We’re both in a women’s studies class and we’ve enjoyed the discussions that have sparked out of this.  Interestingly enough, these intellectual discussions outside of the classroom is an issue DePauw’s president is attempting to address.  Shlea and I feel we have been doing a great job of being intellectually engaged outside the classroom.  It’s great to have a friend that to discuss things with in such an open environment.  We both know there is no judgment and we’re able to share differing view points without anyone leaping at our throats or talking down to us.  I feel these discussions have taken our friendship beyond a social aspect to a level that shows our friendship will last beyond college years.  I think that’s a pretty good outcome.

Overall, I think we’ve done quite well in trying to reach the semester goals so far.  I regret not being a senior sooner so I could have figured out these goals earlier!