Time to Piss People Off...
Nov. 18th, 2002 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vianegativaThe pet peeve for my weekend can be summed up in one phrase:
"Don't you read my live journal at all?"
*sigh*
Most people this weekend said that in a joking fashion, but one or two people posed that question to me as if their LiveJournal was some sort of textbook upon which there would be a closed book exam. I had to alternately restrain myself between laughter and holy wrath after it had been said the fourth time in as many hours.
I LOVE LiveJournal. I often refer to it as the "Ultimate PDA For My Friends" because it helps me constantly stay abreast of events in the lives of those I love & care for. I try to read everyone's journal faithfully.. with 131 journals to read, that can get very hard at times. when someone asks me about what I wrote in my journal, it thrills me, because I don't really expect people to keep up with my journal, which is the distillate of my life. So, all my quibbles, foibles, and other drama ending in -bles are not something I expect others to have committed to memory.
Let me share a typical conversation with you:
Me -- Let's go eat some seafood for lunch.
Xtreme LJ'er -- OH MY GOD! Don't you read my journal?
Me -- Um, yeah....
Xtreme LJ'er -- Then you SHOULD recall that precisely 8 months ago, in journal entry # 9765872-B that I recounted a traumatic experience with my Aunt who was eaten by a giant lobster. Don't you read my journal? (raises hand to forehead in a maudlin expression) oh, no one knows the real me...
And on it goes.
Look, I understand that when one expresses deep emotional stirrings and receives vicarious support, praise or condemnation from other LJ'ers that it creates a false sense of intimacy. One may be prone to the assumption that since someone follows their journal that they are now the librarians of the minutiae of their life. I despise it when one LJ'er assumes that your reading a journal has now topped you off full of facts and events that make up the journaler's life.
I read every journal as thoroughly as I can. Honestly, I DO feel a strong sense of connection to people whose lives I read about on a daily basis. I will NOT, however, act apologetic or as though I'm a penitent friend because I have not remembered EVERY journal entry or detail an LJ'er has put to this vast electronic media.
Many LJ'ers I talk to have been ruffled when I forget something major about their lives; a history or event that strongly shaped them into what they are today. That I can understand, that I can sympathize with. However, to those who use LJ as a means of creating friendships without having to deal with someone in a conventional social manner I say thee NAY! Be of the understanding that your journal is not a substitute for talking to people, but rather a supplement. Also understand that because I read your journal I'm not obligated to know EVERYTHING about you.
So next time I get an offended huff because I don't know that purple daises signify your yearning for your second-grade teacher, you'll kindly understand why I turn on one heel and walk away. Or bitch slap you. I haven't decided which yet.
"Don't you read my live journal at all?"
*sigh*
Most people this weekend said that in a joking fashion, but one or two people posed that question to me as if their LiveJournal was some sort of textbook upon which there would be a closed book exam. I had to alternately restrain myself between laughter and holy wrath after it had been said the fourth time in as many hours.
I LOVE LiveJournal. I often refer to it as the "Ultimate PDA For My Friends" because it helps me constantly stay abreast of events in the lives of those I love & care for. I try to read everyone's journal faithfully.. with 131 journals to read, that can get very hard at times. when someone asks me about what I wrote in my journal, it thrills me, because I don't really expect people to keep up with my journal, which is the distillate of my life. So, all my quibbles, foibles, and other drama ending in -bles are not something I expect others to have committed to memory.
Let me share a typical conversation with you:
Me -- Let's go eat some seafood for lunch.
Xtreme LJ'er -- OH MY GOD! Don't you read my journal?
Me -- Um, yeah....
Xtreme LJ'er -- Then you SHOULD recall that precisely 8 months ago, in journal entry # 9765872-B that I recounted a traumatic experience with my Aunt who was eaten by a giant lobster. Don't you read my journal? (raises hand to forehead in a maudlin expression) oh, no one knows the real me...
And on it goes.
Look, I understand that when one expresses deep emotional stirrings and receives vicarious support, praise or condemnation from other LJ'ers that it creates a false sense of intimacy. One may be prone to the assumption that since someone follows their journal that they are now the librarians of the minutiae of their life. I despise it when one LJ'er assumes that your reading a journal has now topped you off full of facts and events that make up the journaler's life.
I read every journal as thoroughly as I can. Honestly, I DO feel a strong sense of connection to people whose lives I read about on a daily basis. I will NOT, however, act apologetic or as though I'm a penitent friend because I have not remembered EVERY journal entry or detail an LJ'er has put to this vast electronic media.
Many LJ'ers I talk to have been ruffled when I forget something major about their lives; a history or event that strongly shaped them into what they are today. That I can understand, that I can sympathize with. However, to those who use LJ as a means of creating friendships without having to deal with someone in a conventional social manner I say thee NAY! Be of the understanding that your journal is not a substitute for talking to people, but rather a supplement. Also understand that because I read your journal I'm not obligated to know EVERYTHING about you.
So next time I get an offended huff because I don't know that purple daises signify your yearning for your second-grade teacher, you'll kindly understand why I turn on one heel and walk away. Or bitch slap you. I haven't decided which yet.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
let's just face facts!
Date: 2002-11-18 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Here you are wasting precious time writing essays about "lord knows what," when you could've spent that time productively - reading and MEMORIZING - my little LiveJournal.
And it's only 6 entries long - at that.
You have thoroughly offended me, sir. I cannot abide this compromised position. I insist you pull over and take me to a hotel or a bus station this instant.
Hee, hee.
no subject
Date: 2002-11-18 07:30 pm (UTC)=D
no subject
Date: 2002-11-18 03:57 pm (UTC)Friendships are not boolean variables stored in databases. People are not a set of chronologically filed descriptions stored in text.
Boolean Sex Machine with a side of Terminal Drift
Date: 2002-11-19 04:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-11-18 04:00 pm (UTC)-Grizz
no subject
Date: 2002-11-18 04:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-11-18 07:44 pm (UTC)RIGHT ON!
no subject
Date: 2002-11-18 08:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-11-18 09:38 pm (UTC)You nailed it.
table turning
Date: 2002-11-19 06:58 am (UTC)Re: table turning
Date: 2002-11-19 04:42 pm (UTC)No one owes me anything for reading my journal & I don't expect it. :-)
no subject
Date: 2002-11-19 08:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-11-20 09:54 am (UTC)So yes, I agree with you. I myself try to read as many LJ's as I can, I just have trouble replying.