The Social Word

I'm pretty sure I was probably the last person of my generation to see "Social Network" so I hope I'm not spoiling it for any of you with this post. This was one of the most memorable movies I have seen in a long time... thought-provoking, intellectually stimulating and completely accurate in regards to understanding our generation. The movie centers around the idea of this social revolution, brought on by Mark Zuckerberg, which curtailed business values into what they are today. One of the happy coincidences of this movement has been the appreciation of language.
His story and the founding of facebook outlines our new business model and objectives that my generation has inherited. The movie mentions that there was a code of ethics inherently in business and that MZ was breaking all of these rules to create his company. Means and opportunity trump networking and impressing the big wigs. The thing about the good ol' boys is they can't  fathom reaching outside of their circle, now we're forming an entirely new circle or intricate web that is inherently social. Additionally, exclusivity has died. The importance lies in the amount of people you know and the depth of your network. And, we're forced to make more and more friends, while reading about people through the Internet without the commitment of actually getting to know them. What more do you need to know, their status on facebook or Twitter says all... Here's an example, the other day I found out my best friend from home just welcomed her nephew home, I texted her a congratulations with three exclamation points, because clearly the repeat punctuation means more. While this position might sound negative, it makes me happy that we are growing closer and closer to the English language and making sure we text what we mean and mean what we text.

Thankfully, this movement will finally show people why I've decided to commit my life to writing. The use of the language has never been more powerful. It has become incredibly transparent and as explicit as the 18th century novel. We're welcoming back a form of writing that connected people through the most distant circumstances. This writing is a way to understand the human connection in an era where we are all strangely connected.

So keep writing, texting and making nonsensical tweets ... as always, I'll write to you soon.

Nervous Nellie

You know how it feels when the bottom of your pants get wet in the rain? You come home and change clothes, but your feet still feel chilled to the bone? That happened to me for probably the first full year I lived in New York. I didn't want to buy rain boots and I thought walking 2 avenues in the rain wouldn't be so bad. Turns out it sucked, and now I can't stand that feeling. So I bought a pair of wellies and wear them whenever the chance of precipitation exceeds 40%. Problem solved. Now, imagine that cold feet feeling all over your body. No, I'm not complaining about the heat in my apartment (or lack thereof), but the literal drop in temperature through your body when you get scared.

Unfortunately, I get this feeling a lot, yep I'm a scaredy cat ... I refer to this as getting nervous. If you asked me I couldn't even tell you what makes me the most scared or anxious. In fact, I've gotten into a really bad habit of catastrophizing, which means making things far worse than they actually are. Here's an example, I went to Florida for a reunion with my besties last month and forgot a razor to shave my legs so I had to buy a different razor so I didn't look like a hairy beast on the beach. Anyhoo, all was fine until I got home and noticed these small pimple like bumps all over my legs. I freaked out. First, I thought they were bed bugs because for anyone that doesn't live in the city those things are real and run rampant! Next, I thought I had scabies, which are really gross looking. Oh and how could I forget falling out in the middle of work because web MD told me they might be small pox! Needless to say, they were none of the above and the craptastic razor I used was the culprit. I have plenty of these stories that my boyfriend and med school roomie can attest to. I think in sum anything that has unforeseen effects or multiple resolutions makes me nervous.

For someone to be so nervous about everything, NYC doesn't seem like the best place to live, but living here you become desensitized to things that should scare the crap out of you. Homeless people on the train, witnessing petty crime, black lip liner... It's all just a part of the personality of the city. I hope to never be a victim to these (especially black lip liner), but I've been told if you talk to yourself while walking down the street people leave you alone. That's the thing about NYC, you watch your back and learn to find the quickest exit, because you don't have time to catastrophize over the minutia of the city, especially since the next freak of nature is around the corner. The only thing that I do ruminate over in relation to the city, is the number of SVU episodes filmed in Washington Heights...

Reality ... really embarassing

I had a rough week. Innocently, walking out of the subway a bird pooped on my hand, this was the first in a sequence of unfortunate events. Anyone that says a bird pooping on you is good luck, has never had bird poop on them. The day proceeded to go down the proverbial crapper and I went to sleep hoping and praying for a better day. The good thing about a bad day is, tomorrow is bound to be better. I have found one sure way to bring up your spirits: the cure? Indulging in reality shows! I love watching random strangers make poor life choices to make me feel better.  I watch people duke it out on the jersey shore over a can of self-tanner or  people burying themselves in trash (which they became emotionally tied to). But, there are two shows I can't bear to watch: Teen Mom and Bad Girls Club. Teen Mom, the title is self explanatory on its ridiculousness so I'll dive into the other nonsensical entertainment show: Bad Girls...

This show is appalling, but on a small scale the relationships can be seen in real life. In the "bad girls" house you can harass a girl by throwing anything at her: milk, water, vodka, beer, BLEACH! All because you didn't like the way she looked at you -- it's fine, because there are producers to intervene when things get out of hand. It's sad because the dramatized (unnecessary) fights that happen are just hyperbolic versions of female relationships.  Take for example the ever popular "I don't like her, because I just don't"... I'm sure there are women that can admit to this or have been subject to such reasoning. However, since we live in the real world, women have to resort to subtle and snide ways to humiliate each other. This discrete battle royal is almost worse than television prompted drama because social decency doesn't allow you to retaliate, so you hold in that anger plotting for your moment to make a dig. 
I'll be the first to admit I'm not up to date on my women studies, but I'm pretty sure part of the movement was for women to band together and stop bringing each other down. In principle it's great, I'm all for it, but in practice it doesn't happen that easily. There are so many different elements that divide female relationships and yet, some things about women are predictable across the board.
As an example, the historical need to over-preform just to be on par with your male counterparts. (And sorry Black women -- you will need to over achieve in regards to your male counterparts as well as your racially opposite sisters.) I'm not going to pretend this will ever be any different or that our predictability and differences will harmonize into a real life sisterhood, but I would like to note the following:
1. Women (of all races) tend to live their life in hopes of making a permanent mark on history. Stop trying to write history, what has happened is unchanging, you have a better chance of changing the future.
2.We don't live in a scripted reality, and be thankful, we haven't been forced into a real life "bad girls club". We still have common decency and social norms that prohibit bleach from being thrown.
Oh, and a kind and smart woman told me number 3: "bird poop comes off easily"!