Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Glorious Weather, Lemons, and Facebook Status Updates

Today is the sort of day that pretty much mandates rejoicing and reminds me of one of my favorite quotes:

"...if you ever took truly to heart the ultimate goodness and joy of things, even at their bleakest, the need to praise someone or something for it would be so great that you might even have to go out & speak of it to the birds of the air."
-Frederick Buechner

Today I avoided office drama/stress and slept until 9:00, did some planks and work, took a nap, worked some more, ran errands with windows down & music blaring, bought strawberries for $1.50, and have knocked out a solid third of my "accomplishment list." Any minute now, I am going to resume working....

Evidence that "trivial" is still on my mind: The residents of my hometown seem to have learned recently about Facebook, so I'm "hiding" people from my news feed more often than ever. The status updates and quizzes (because who doesn't want to know which Lord of the Rings character she is most like?) are killing me. I've learned that "Candy" gets her upper lip waxed, and in the most inappropriate waxing revelation yet, I learned that another acquaintance's husband gives her Brazilian waxes, saving their family $75/month. Way to go with the budget cuts dear Facebook friend, but that image almost made me throw up (since you guys don't know her I'm assuming you'll be ok). And then the ones that just generally annoy me include this one: "Buffy Beebop is coloring my hair, tanning, then to the shower, head to the dreaded Wal-Mart, going to dinner at my mother in-law's, and this evening heading to work!!!"

One of my favorite status updates of late: Brian "I was really wondering what are everyone's top 5 brands of pastrami. Oh, you've already taken a quiz letting me know? Thanks..."

Given my annoyance, you might think my Facebook status updates are clever and witty. Au contraire, they are not, but I do manage to avoid detailing every single thing I've done on a given day (that's what blogs are for, duh. See the third paragraph of this post.) or matters of really personal hygiene. I am so glad I have standards. Gah. Maybe I should tell my hometown about blogspot....

p.s. I'm grateful that I was able to attend church at Cross Point on Sunday. Pete reminded me that God is far less concerned about where I'm going than who I'm becoming. And he pointed out that we're often seeking God--not so that we can know Him--but because of what we think He will give us. I'm totally guilty and needed that gut check.

13 comments:

TC said...

I do manage to avoid detailing every single thing I've done on a given day (that's what blogs are for, duh. See the third paragraph of this post.) ROFL

Hilarious. At least with blogs... we can choose to read or not read :) Status updates are a little harder to ignore.

I never do one. I have never, ever changed my status on facebook.

Jennifer said...

Oh my goodness I am having the same problem and was going to post about that exact same thing! I have to be on FB because of my Young Life girls, but I'm so tempted to delete my account because of everyone's stupid quizzes!!!

HappyascanB said...

I've learned my lesson about status updates. I once posted "bethany heard too much today" b/c one thing that really bothered me was a coworker questioning if my friend really was saved (she'd been baptized the day before at church). How dare her! Wouldn't you know, though, that that same person commented on my status, "I'll come see you in the morning." and she did! Wanting to know what I'd heard the day before! I avoided the confrontation of telling her it was her judgmental words that bothered me most! I block all those quizzes and apps, but it seems I'm always getting new invites. That is annoying!

Scotty said...

There seems to always be something going around (and hidden), whatever the new hot quiz is. Right now it's the Top Five one, who knows whats next..

Tiff said...

Okay, that last comment about seeking what the Father can give us instead of just seeking the Father--Jad and I were just talking about (it's Keller's fault, you know). And I'm pretty lame b/c I don't Facebook. This is why--I don't want to be found and the people I keep up with I love too much to water that down. That's my take.

Ally said...

TC: That's an impressive accomplishment! Keep up the good work :)

Jennifer: Ha, ha. I just keep hiding the people who post them.

B: Now just think, FB could have led to confrontation and reconciliation :)

Scott: Yeah, most of them seem seriously lame.

Mamacita: Keller brings up a lot of uncomfortable thoughts like that. And that's a great reason not to be on Facebook, and definitely something I've thought about. I do, however, love the way we use it to plan parties and connect people.

boohoo said...

Hahaha I know exactly what you mean about random, rambling status updates. One of the people on my FB List must update every other hour and it's always the same bloody thing! Mamacita's take on FB is exactly why I didn't join until a month ago. And the people who swore to me I had to get it so that we could keep in touch better actually still don't bother with me! :/

Aaron said...

No, that's what Twitter is for!

I log into FB sporadically. Usually about one, maybe two hours a week.

In other news, Andy Stanly is finally on Twitter. Hell just got a notch colder. ;)

Ally said...

Ys: Why update if it's the same thing every hour? I guess some people like to fill up our news feeds....

Aaron: Exactly. But some people seem to link their Twitter to FB. And yeah, the Andy Stanley news has been all over the web this week. You'd think he was God or something. Of course, Oprah joining is somehow news too.

cat_chaser said...

Facebook? No thanks ( for now)! Call me old school, but I don't like "facebooking around".
Also, I care a good deal about privacy.

Jennifer Owens said...

The facebook quizzes crack me up, but I have to admit, they're a guilty pleasure for me. I mean, earlier today, I filled out my favorite five candies ever. THis may or may not have to do with a certain amount of boredom at work....because when else would I think about such things?

Thomas said...

An idea - we should be Facebook friends.

Bone said...

Most of my Facebook status updates are quotes from that week's episode of The Office. Sadly, hardly anyone who comments on my status updates watched The Office.

I never took the LOTR quiz because I've never seen nor read LOTR. But I did find out once that I'm Donna Martin on 90210.

Donna Martin graduates!