No way. Newt Gingrich has that beat by a mile.

That’s teh worst in my book.

how they excel at improving morale. fuckers.

oh yeah, and my deadbeat dad, bless his cold little heart, shortly after my terminally ill mother’s death and i had nursed her singlehandedly in extremely onerous circumstances, sent me an email “get over your anger [about me being your deadbeat dad] and do something useful with your life.”

i took his advice and dumped him. in email.

touche you miserable fuck.

mikey

Life’s too short to do anything but laugh about it. Or maybe write some country songs.

I’ve been doing exactly that. Wanna put some GeeTar to this little number?

Maybe you just don’t git it
But I’m tellin you boy I’d hit it
‘Cause she’s hotter than the surface of the sun
But I guess it’s not to be ’cause she’s a nun

Maybe you just don’t git it
But I’m tellin you boy I’d hit it
‘Cause she’s hotter than the surface of the sun
But I guess it’s not to be ’cause she’s a nun

But ya know, I’ve come through it with a grin and I wish ‘em all well. Life’s too short to do anything but laugh about it. Or maybe write some country songs.

It’s definitely easier to keep in touch with people via e-mail, MySpace, Facebook, etc. It’s also true that I’ve met people via the Internet that I wouldn’t have met otherwise, or probably would have been much less likely to meet.

But there are unfortunate consequences as well. I was talking about the “mask effect” in my previous comment, and I happened to see this story just today.

Now, the girl was having problems, and it’s unfair to blame the Internet for her suicide. Yet at the same time, I think it’s safe to say that Internet communication facilitated this kind of vicious prank. That’s the thing: with Internet communication, you can misrepresent yourself that much easier.

Furthermore, I’m not convinced that using the Internet as a buffer to avoid conflict is a healthy thing in every case.

Nah, there are even shittier ways to dump someone. My ex simply blocked my calls. Then, when I did reach her thru an intermediary, she agreed to meet with me to “talk.” She never showed.

I hate the “ignore him/her and he/she will go away” method of indicating you don’t want to see someone again. It’s really frustrating when someone simply does not have enough respect for you to be able to tell you he or she doesn’t want a second date, doesn’t want a relationship anymore, etc. Yeah, it’s an uncomfortable experience, but dealing with uncomfortable circumstances and owning your choices is part of life.

Oh, did I mention I was in the hospital at the time?

I think I’d almost welcome being dumped via text messaging. At the very least, I wouldn’t have to make a special trip to get shit on.

Grandpa bought a rubber!

Warped sure, but in a good way. Martin’s albums were seminal texts for me.

Telephone

Paper and wire killed my brother and my sister too
And if you don’t watch out
You know they’re going to get you too
And if I don’t watch out
You know they’re going to get me too
Telephone
Telephone
Telephone
Telephone

Well I strangled the cord
Ripped it off of the phone
And I saw the bone
And I saw the twinkling lights
It must have been rats [?? is this right? - any ideas?]
‘Cause it sure was a drone
It sure was a drag
Paper and wire killed my brother and my sister too
And if you don’t watch out
You know they’re going to get you
And if I don’t watch out
You know they’re going to get me too
Telephone
Telephone
Telephone

And I strangled
And I ripped the cord
And I saw the bone
And I heard these tweetin’ things
N twinkling lights
N there was nobody home
Where are all those nerve endings coming out of the bone?
Telephone
Telephone

Well I ripped the cord right out of the phone
And I saw the bone
Dammed gleaming white bone
Telephone

Paper and wire killed my brother and my sister too
And if you don’t watch out
You know they’re going to get you
And if I don’t watch out
You know they’re going to get me too
Telephone
Telephone

And I can’t get away
And I can’t get away
It’s like a grey adder at the end of the hall
It’s like a plastic horned devil

Captain Beefheart

My kid and friends, with their cell phones and Facebook pages and email, stay in touch with much greater ease than I was able to do at that age.

I’m not sure what this does – does it just extend the amount of time before old friendships inevitably fall away? Or does it keep old friendships strong? Does it prolong the peer-pressure-cooker of high school, or does it broaden a kid’s world. I don’t know.

Loved the youtube video. too funny!

The fact that electronic communication also enables people to establish relationships that they otherwise wouldn’t is not being addressed.

These tools enhance and enable communications, duh, that’s what they’re for. That some of those communications are going to be negative, including gossip, crudity, and bad news like “it’s just not working out between us,” should surprise nobody.

I know that my virtual social life has been greatly enhanced since I quit just playing video games and got online. Blogs, IM, email, chat/vidchat, are great ways to open up socially, meet and interact with a lot more and far more varied sorts of people than I would otherwise meet if my circle were restricted to the people I actually see in my neighborhood or jobs.

I’ve been on both ends of it; it’s not such a bad thing to break up electronically if that’s how you met in the first place.

I’m sorry. It’s “…and then I throw dog poop on her shoes…”

I was gonna say.

Sometimes I wonder whether memorizing stuff like “that cat was the best fuck I ever had” when I was 9 has warped my outlook on life. Hmmm…

I’d think it would be much more surprising if that evolution didn’t happen.

To say “we didn’t do it that way” is disingenuous. We didn’t have the capability to do it that way.

If it works in the new generation’s culture, then it works. And there’s a whole lot more evolution to come.

Oh, and to be honest? When I have bad news for a client, I tend to email rather than call. Why NOT avoid that unpleasantness if you can?

mikey