you, my friend, are hella awkward.

let me set a few things straight. yes, i'm a GenYer. yes, we are wicked awesome and good for business. but we are also hella awkward. and, my friend, most likely you are too.

GenYers spend most of our days on the internet. but let's not kid ourselves. if you're reading this, you probably do too. you have a digi-positive 9-5; you write emails, texts, and generally communicate with words first--voice second; it's faster, sure. short of being Grandma who still (bless her heart) can't quite get all this new fangled stuff, you are in danger.

that's right.
you're becoming more awkward.
and likely, less understood.

that's the irony in this day and age. social networking. all points access to your friends 24/7. transparency to the enth. and yet, you still have no idea what i'm saying. and i'm an highly educated word-person-thingy.

half our country is still leaving 'h' out of "wat" and using "c" in place of 'see,' etc. there is no diction, no word choice, to convey emotion behind the txting, beyond maybe an ambiguous ":)"--and that is the primary mode of communication.

we're losing our body language, our vocal tone, our inclination to have conversations in real life, in person as well as the skills needed to decode those aspects.

we're just stuck in our heads. the Googling of thoughts, we read and intonate what we want to. personalized communication, it is what i want it to be--not necessarily what you mean for it to be. or so i'm noticing.

i had this issue this weekend. wanted to have a semi-serious chat with my sig other, who prefers only talking in txt (i prefer in-person). compromised, chatted on AIM (...no joke). and you know what? i 'walked out' of that chat not at all confident that anything i said actually was understood. the responses were just not on the level.

how do you combat your 'awkward' in an increasingly text-only driven world? do you feel less understood more frequently, or does the "140 character limit" just get you off? are you more in your head, or less? can you even tell if a person is lying by looking at them any more, or do you trust the transparency of consonants and vowels?

things to think about.

[img via.]

friday feline: kitty cat dance

epic, if only because of the voiceover. and i dance dance dance and i meow meow meow. that could be my theme song. anyway. i'm sure you are all tired of insubstantial (or absent) posts. i have 5 thoughtful ones coming. promise. it's just that my office is hella busy. tis the season?

[via @irockiroll, one of my fave people.]

twitter Secret Santa results & Feline Intervention

so by popular vote, my cat did indeed arrange the Secret Santa names. it took me a few days to sort out just how i was going to do it, but i did indeed pull it off. if you followed my twitter stream, you know that by 11:11pm on Black Friday, all the names were matched up and i began sending out all the emails. Jared coined this process feline intervention and i am much amused by the term.

so how did my cat do it? you can see the process on Flickr for the photoset. Phase I constituted getting her ready with a pregraming of catnip. i then sprinkled catnip over the "Blue Group" which had the names of all 21 participants as the recipient group. as Socks licked a (catnip covered) paper, i put it to the side, in order. did the same with the "Red Group" which was the giving group, again the same 21 names. Socks got bored halfway through the Red Group and had to be re-inspired with kitty treats.

a big thank-you to the 20 people who participated in the twitter Secret Santa along with me! your gifts should be to you by December 21st, if everyone is good. give our Santas all a follow and spread the love:

@ValeriaL, @nalei, @lovebabz, @jaredwsmith, @dnadeau, @kylecameron, @Adrigonzo, @Faris, @Dan_Rosenberg, @fawndue, @Chells, @ldwatters, @elfster, @samwithans, @heidirettig, @AllsionNadeau, @caff, @windo, @jasonoke, @cassondra

have a great season all! drink up on the egg nog, ravish the gingerbread, and stay away from the pasta necklaces <3

funny after 5: Shiba Inu Dude Cam

this is the funniest thing since the spider drawing. if you thought the Shiba Inu Puppy Cam was epic (and it is--it was even mentioned in Wired), or the supporting drinking game, then you need to check out the Shiba Inu Dude Cam. guaranteed to make you giggle, and sometimes "aww," as much as the original. these guys are crazy and i love it.

Twitter Secret Santa

or Secret Snowflake, or whatever. basically, your shot to give & get this holiday season. i am hoping that it will also encourage you to meet new people on twitter--especially if you get someone that you aren't already following!

this will be done in "real life," so the only mandates are that you're on twitter and that you send me your real life address. only 2 people will know it: me, and whomever your Secret person is who sends you stuff. me, i'll burn my copies in my fireplace Christmas Eve and put a picture up of all the addresses burning. :D

here's who is in so far:
@jaredwsmith @ldwatters @windo @kylecameron @faris @caff @Adrigonzo

want in? DM me @thegirlriot or email me @ thegirlriot[@]gmail[dot]com.

you CANNOT spend over $20 on the present.
you also should not spend less than $10.

ALL PARTICIPANTS DM or email me the following:
--Your preferred address
--3 things you like.
(not items, but things... like knitting, True Blood, and candy corn.)

my cat will then pair us all up i mean elfster (thanks Kyle!) and i will send each of you your secret person. you will be paired up by Black Friday (this Friday, the 28th). i can't monitor when you send out your gift, but it would be nice if you could have it arrive by December 21st, in time for the full holiday season. any questions, just comment! thanks.

on that live-streaming suicide...

some people found the whole thing repulsive, some folks blamed social media, but i just got really depressed and decided to watch PuppyCam after reading an article on it. after reading David's post, i decided i did want to talk about it.

i don't think it's about the fact that it was online, really. he was depressed from the outset. being online didn't make him more depressed. i really think being in a chat room didn't make him more or less likely to commit suicide. he seemed pretty intent on that, anyway. he talked about how he was going to do it, just as many people tend to do beforehand. in fact, it just seems like many other teen suicides:

"I have let everyone down and I feel as though I will never change or never improve. I am in love with a girl and I know that I am not good enough for her."

and i don't mean that in a belittling way. as some of you know, i'm a major supporter of To Write Love on Her Arms, which is a charity in support of getting people help who deal with suicide, depression, and self-mutilation, among other aspects (you can donate via PayPal here). he loved a girl and didn't love himself enough (or didn't get enough love through relationships, hat tip to @mtartag) to discover whether or not he was 'good enough for her.' and that just makes my heart hurt.

i think perhaps it was executed on justin.tv mainly as a last act of attention, of a version of love-seeking. i think the intent here was different, and in some way intriguing (after all, i favourited it on twitter), when @anniemal said "if I'm going to die, I'm going to broadcast it. I'm not going out without an audience."

and yet, the heart of it isn't the broadcast. it's just bringing it to your attention because so many eyes are on it. for once, you don't have to die alone. you can die with a thousand people watching. you are not alone. but you need to tell the kids that before they die. the take-home message isn't ban social media, but instead reach out and help them. it's in your face. don't you think it's time to believe this isn't some "stupid teen thing"?

"But love is the answer to a question That I've forgotten But I know I've been asked And the answer has got to be love." - Regina Spektor <3

PS: another effort in loving your fellow stranger, brought to you by zoomdoggle. check it out.

interlude: just beautiful image

via Le Love via @andreafjeld
check out Le Love if you want to feel all warm and glowy. or just jealous.