How dreary to be somebody...

It's odd. I've spent over a decade online, and have been perfectly happy posting rather private information to thousands of strangers.

Yesterday, however, I had a rather... disconcerting experience. Twittering on a #feed to a bunch of fellow flybabies (people who use the techniques for organization, etc, of the site flylady.net) and someone on my Facebook asked me what #flylady was about. It's not that I'm reticent to talk up Flylady, since she and her site have been quite helpful in dealing with my ADD-like executive function problems. But it was an odd feeling to be forcibly reminded that stuff I'm doing here, or on twitter, might show up in Facebook, or Plaxo, or elsewhere, on someone's feed.

What comes to mind is from John M Ford's classic "Final Reflection" in which the saying recurs: "If I had not wanted it heard, I would not have said it." The society is one of constant observation, cameras, bugs, etc, but it applies to the Internet as well - that what I post here, or anywhere on a social network, now, will show up in unexpected places.

Although I *know* this... occasionally, I find it discomforting. Too public. Too many people following what I'm saying - and not just strangers; people I know!

As Emily Dickinson put it:
“How dreary - to be - somebody!
How public - like a frog -
to tell your name - the livelong June -
to an admiring bog!”

Ribbit.

One of my favorite people is having a sale of shinies

Elise does the most awesome jewelry. Gorgeous beadwork and delightful wire wrap, etc. Go see her stuff. They make great Yule gifts!

http://elisem.livejournal.com/1385731.html

Too much stuff

So I'm doing a leave of absence for the winter quarter from school. Just too much stuff needs to happen RIGHT BLEEPING NOW (where, NOW, means now and for the next couple of months.) Things should settle down by March, but in the meantime, just doing what I need to do to keep my head above water. I just do not have time for classes and homework and tests and papers on top of everything else in my life right now.

I'm just glad it's an option.

Yeah, this puts the graduation back a bit, but, as a transfer, there were too many core classes for my major that I would have had to make up next year anyway. So this way, I can focus on doing everything right, rather than trying to do everything at once and doing a half-a$$ed job of it.