Facebook- the unintentional black hole of society

What am I to do with you, Facebook? You are possibly the most complicated relationship I've ever had, I swear. How much time have we wasted staring into that white and blue screen (abyss), having a false sense of security that we're truly keeping up with our friends, and of course, over-analyzing their every move (post)? I mean, we've even courted each other via facebook, all of us! Yeesh, right? I've spent quite some time blaming facebook itself for my admittedly childish behavior, but I believe I should take some responsibility here. I'm gonna say it. It is not your fault, Facebook. It's not your fault. (Yes, in my head facebook is Matt Damon and I am Robin Williams. Wicked smahhht.) We, I, just have no clue how to handle technology without reverting to a state of arrested development. Every time I sit down and log into some form of social networking, I become 13 years old again. And, as far as I can tell, so do the rest of you! Please, understand, no offense is intended, I'm sure you're all very responsible adults, but something about networking brings out our inner teenagers. I mean, I'm spending good time basically journaling online! It might be more honest for me to start each post with

Dear Diary,

Gordy looked at me twice during Earth Science. Ramona told me that she heard from Jared who heard from Aaron who heard from Sally that he totally likes me. I mean, LIKE likes me.

But you know, its okay. If anything, all this internet magic nurtures our secret neurotic and paranoid selves. But once you've checked your facebook 3 times in one day, just to see updates from someone you haven't seen in ten years or whoever you're facebook stalking at the moment, I think we might as well admit that we're not as grown up as we all want to think (or want others to think) we are.

Ahem. And to now make good use of my bloggidy (g)ournal, please come out to see Secrets of a Soccer Mom at Virginia Samford. It opens this week! I wear shorts! And we eat cookies! And there's laughter! And tears! And ladies! Super cute ladies, while we're at it.

ps. Were you at all curious at to what I'm listening to this week? No? Well....
http://www.playlist.com/playlist/19953961483

pps. And original musical theatre? Yes, please.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127032989

Later, tater. See y'all in 6th period.

Holiday

'Bama, darlin'- why are you so moody with your weather? I get the impression that because it's all hot and muggy outside that it is perfectly acceptable for me to prance around in my little jumper, until you bitch slap me with a cold chill and I'm left a goosebumped Jessicicle.

But, nevertheless, it is summer in the south, baby. Mimosas, mint juleps, sweet tea in mason jars! Fat people in little shorts, little people in next to nothing! Summer flings! Impromptu beach trips! Driving with the windows down!

How can you not love the summer? I welcome the change of the seasons- however much my sinuses doth protest (pollen, you bitch).

Speaking of change, I guess I better officially announce that, once again, I will be on the move. This time to New York City. I've been putting off saying anything, just because I don't want to jinx myself. But as soon as I finish up Soccer Moms at City Equity all my attention is going to be focused on making the transition to the big city. I don't have much to say about it, other than its a move that is way overdue, but hey- at least I'm doing it. I saw The Hold Steady perform Hurricane J on the Colbert Report and the lyrics that stuck with me are

"Hurricane Jess, she's gonna crash into the harbor this summer
She don't wanna wait, she said it only gets harder"

I'm taking them out of context. Still, I'm doing this; I'm not waiting anymore. Hurray, right?
The past few years seem to be nothing but transition, so I look forward to hopefully settling someplace for a spell. No complaints about transition- you learn a lot about yourself and others.

I think one of the hardest lessons I've had to learn is (and be prepared to be wowed by my wisdom): Having a good heart doesn't make you a good person. Stay with me. Being a good person takes real work, and not everyone is up to that task. So it is entirely possible for a person to have a good heart, but be a total asshole. I know- where the hell did that come from, Jess? Trust me, its something that has plagued me for a long time; Why the hell do the people who I believe to be good do such dickish things? And the answer is this: goodness trapped in lazy douche-baggery and an unwillingness to be consistent. As someone who is pretty much constantly changing- changing her location, changing her mind, changing her attitude- I'm not sure if I'm qualified to judge the consistency of others' behavior, but I can say that I actively pursue being honest and try to not to flake out on people I care about. My good friend Forsythe once said that in America there is this idea the only way to achieve success and peace of mind is with intense selfishness.... or something like that. She also advised me to cuss out my enemies like a redneck- which I still fantasize about doing. "Yankee rat bastard! Yellow livered jesus shit eating pissant pantywaste!"

Yeah, something like that. Although I'm not sure why my pissed off redneck rants have a touch of old south in them. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is this: I may be just another self obsessed actress (I admit it, you should admit it too), but I swear I will not take basic ethical standards, a fair temperament and an inclination to not murder people in cold blood for granted- I will always work at being a better person. Work work it.

Amen.

I suppose that starts with not ragging on others for being jerks, huh?

While I have your attention, can I give a shout out to this artist, Blue Roses, whom I've been digging on all afternoon? At first listen, she strikes me as the possible love child of Kate Bush and Jon Brion, which as you can imagine, results in a quite lovely and haunting sound.