The Great Poke Experiment

I may be the most bored person on this planet. Despite the fact that I went to dinner and bowling, drove to Wilmington, DE and back, and then rocked it out at a Lykke Li concert this weekend, I came home  to boredom on Sunday night. And so I did what most bored people do: FACEBOOK.

Then, my roommate asked me to poke her.

--PAUSE-- What is a poke? 

The poke feature is intended to be a "nudge" to attract the attention of another user. Many Facebook users use this feature to attract attention or say "hello" to their friends. --UNPAUSE--

My roommate wanted to see where the poke showed up on her page and if she would notice it. So I poked. "The poke is nothing" she said. I see her point, the poke is small and unobtrusive...nothing to write home about. So I said:

"Well, what if I poked all my friends on facebook?"

It seemed funny at the time, but I quickly discovered that this is a time-consuming undertaking. Crazy time-consuming. So much so, that I gave up.

So I randomly* poked 130 friends, and I must say, these are the following emotions I felt:

*It wasn't actually random, I just went in alphabetical order and gave up at a certain point.

1. Fear - Will people think I'm a weirdo? Will people be like: "Who is Kristen?" and de-friend me?! I PROMISE, we met at least ONCE!!!
2. Amusement - Some of the people I'm poking...I have NO business poking. And it's funny. Haha funny. But yet, sad boo-hoo  funny (ex-boyfriends, married people, girls that I had a falling out with, members of the clergy...smh)
3. Incredulity - I can't believe some of these people friended me in the first place! We haven't seen each other in like a decade.I also encountered the "this person has not responded to your last poke"notification. Wow! I haven't poked someone in ages. That means, that person is not on facebook any longer. An abandoned facebook page identified!

But, of all these, I mostly feel the fear. Do these people think I'm a nut-job? So with all experiments, there is a waiting period. I waited 3 days to see if anything would come of my "massive" poking experiment. This is what I expected:

• To lose a few friends. I started the experiment with 370.
• To get about 20% poke-backs, b/c some of those people are peeps that I'm decent friends with
• To get a large amount of ignores (like it never happened)
• And a few outliers. People who respond with a wall post or private message asking me questions about my life and/or about why I poked them.

What really happened is presented graphically below:

I won't lie, the results are a little...underwhelming. To summarize these findings, out of 130 friends, only 32 responded. 3 Responded with a DEFRIEND! Ouch! 2 people actually wrote me a little something in regards to the poke, in addition to joining 27 others in a friendly poke back. Ultimately, all my fears and worries were unfounded, as my roommate was correct:

The Poke is Nothing. 

I shall contact Mark Zuckerberg immediately so he can rid the site of this pointless feature.

Skinny Jeans...I hate you!

I just came to this realization about 2 minutes ago: I hate skinny jeans. I didn't know it because they are so cute, and I feel cutesy when I'm wearing them...but, truth be told: they suck.

I have several pairs of jeans, but only 3 pair that I really like and wear as if they were the only articles of clothing in the world: 3 pairs of skinny jeans. A black pair, a dark blue jean pair, and a gray/white stonewashed looking pair.

I know what you might be thinking: You wear the same 3 jeans over and over again? Yes...I really do. It's not really that frequent, because there are only 2 days a week when I can actually wear jeans: Friday and Saturday. Monday-Thursday is business casual--Yay Work!--and Sunday is church attire. Also, if I don't make it out on Friday/Saturday nights, I'm wearing sweats...so they don't get THAT much play. In any case, I've been wearing skinny jeans exclusively for about 18 months, so that I FORGOT what comfort was., until just a few minutes ago.

So, the jeans I wanted to wear today are dirty, and are currently spinning in the wash. In the meantime, I put on some regular jeans. In fact, it was my old favorite pair of jeans, long abandoned in the back of a dresser drawer. And they slid on like butter, and the softness of the fabric greeted my buttocks in a lazy "hello" of non-stretch cotton. It was awesome. It was...like...joy. And in that moment, my life with these jeans flashed before my eyes. These jeans, a white tee, and flip flops running across white sand beaches, jumping out of airplanes, hiking the black hills of South Dakota... okay, the jeans and I didn't experience all of that, but there were good times, and it was like an anthem! Like a clothing anthem of "chill." Chillness that has been long silenced by the fast and sleek fashion trend called "skinny jeans."

But I want you to think about "when."

Like, when was the last time you put on a pair of jeans w/o having to jump up and down a little bit?
When was the last time you took off a pair of jeans without having to peel them off your calves?
When was the last time you wore jeans with sneakers...don't jeans go with sneakers?!*

I'm not the type to go retro. I'll keep with the trend; but I await the day when it's over and comfort is back in style.

*I will admit that certain shoes like Chucks go very well with skinny jeans. However, legit white Nikes, or any old school tennis shoe is out of the question.

That Chick is Desperate

We spend a lot of time labeling people as desperate, or worrying that we come off as desperate, but...what is desperation really?

Let's first define:

Desperate -

1. reckless or dangerous because of despair  or urgency
2. having an urgent need, desire, etc.
3. leaving little or no hope; very serious or dangerous

So here we have it. An adjective that seems (in my opinion) to define the motivation(s) behind certain behaviors: Despair and a sense of urgency stemming from a state of hopelessness. WOW.  

I got to thinking about desperation, b/c a friend and I had this discussion: Is it okay for a girl to make the first move? Should single women sit around passively waiting for men to ask them out, or is it okay to make that initial show of interest. I'm not saying chase him down. I'm not saying spam his e-mail, blow up his phone with texts...none of that. That is ruled out. However, I can't be so certain about what is ruled IN. What is acceptable? Where is the line between bravery and desperation. Ooohhh, bravery, what a novel idea! Let's define: 

Brave - 

1. possessing or exhibiting courage or courageous endurance.
2. to defy; challenge; dare.

 I really like the second definition in this. A girl who puts herself out there, is defying the norm. Challenging the societal belief that she should sit passively by, waiting for her prince to come. But what about the people who come, who are NOT your prince?! Why should we sit idly by entertaining guys we don't like, when the guys we DO like are available and in our line of sight? Why not dare to send them a facebook message versus waiting for him to ask you to dinner? 

Or is such an FB message "desperate?" Hey...is there NOTHING attractive about a woman who takes control of her situation? Who says: passivity isn't working. A person who changes tactic, is not the same as one who gives in to desperation. Desperation in itself is hopelessness. Daring to change course, is an act of hope in itself. Just my opinion. Ultimately, it's more fun to be courageous, daring than it is to just wait around. 

Thoughts?

 

 

 

Blog Catch-Up

Sometimes I'm deterred from blogging, because I can't think of anything funny. Life is inspiration, and my life...sometimes isn't that interesting. Or something interesting will happen, but I feel like I can't post it b/c it involves more than me. Of course, I could change names to protect the innocent, but people can still pretty much figure it out (if they live in Northern Virginia).

So here I am, almost 30 days from my last blog, with no material. So how about...


I'M TAKING SWIMMING LESSONS!!

I've told you before that I can't swim. Well, I'm trying to remedy this wrong. I've taken two lessons so far...and I guess I like it. What I don't like: The Locker Room.

There are people who are far too content to be naked in there. Hurry up and put clothes on! Why are you just chilling out in the buff? I mean...there are children running around! However, they are not perturbed. They are fascinated. I'm fascinated too:

1. Enter locker room - You're naked
2. Put my swim cap, goggles in locker and retrieve body wash and towel, turn around - Yep, you're naked
3. Walking to shower - You're still naked
4. Coming back from shower - Just as naked
5. Change clothes turn around - Sigh, you're naked

I think that's weird.

OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD!

He is?!! I guess I could write about that, but...eh...it's been done. I'm almost tired of hearing about it. I could sit here and spin conspiracy theories. I could quote Proverbs 24:17, or in contrast, talk about how giddy I am that OBL is no more. However, I find the whole discussion on that to be dehumanizing. For me, and for OBL. So, for me, it is already a historical occurrence. A significant occurrence? Yes. But history nonetheless. Prior to deciding to put this issue in the past, I was watching clips of families affected by 9/11 (crying at my desk, waxing patriotic, filling myself up with hatred). But where would that hatred go? Osama is dead, so it's wasted on him. And even if he were alive, is that how I want to spend any part of my life? Hating another person (who neither knows or cares about my hatred)? No. I attached this poem, b/c it kind of sums up how I want to spend my time on this Earth:

I had no time to hate, because
The grave would hinder me,
And life was not so ample I
Could finish enmity.

Nor had I time to love, but since
Some industry must be,
The little toil of love, I thought,
Was large enough for me.

--Emily Dickinson

WILLIAM & KATE GOT MARRIED!

Is that so? Well, I'll admit I couldn't quite drag myself out of bed at 4am to see the nuptials, but I caught some streaming video throughout the day. It was nice. I really enjoyed Kate's dress. Am I the only who thought it strange that her name is Catherine (with a "C")? Why not "Cate" (a la Blanchett)? Quirky. My only real question is this: why didn't they get married when Prince William was HOTT?! They waited until he was bald and shiny...But he's rich, famous, and clearly in love. You can't knock that.

I still wonder what made it all so interesting. Why do young girls all over the world get up, stay up, take off work to watch Kate marry William?

MAY SWEEPS

This is that magical time of year when all of our favorite TV shows build to an excruciating crescendo of action and drama, to leave us begging for more come September. It is also the time right before awesome summer seasons are ushered in to offer us comfy, housebound escapes from beaches, beer gardens, lake houses, and the like (The Closer, Drop Dead Diva, anything on USA Network...). The finales I will be watching this year:

The Good Wife: What will happen when Alicia confronts Kalinda? Is Peter the enemy now...has he always been the enemy? I'm excited.

The Event: Will our disparate and scattered group of heroes band together to stop the aliens from committing genocide against the inhabitants of Earth? I'm excited.

Greys Anatomy: Can they even attempt to top last years crazed gunman episode? I'm not excited.
Private Practice: Will Charlotte and Cooper make it down the aisle? Will Sam and Addison reconcile? Where is Naomi?!! Do the writers even care about this show anymore? I'm not excited.

House: Are there any predictions? All the characters are liars and and active participants in the ruination of their own lives. Cuddy is the culprit in her own bitterness/loneliness. House is a culprit in his own bitterness/loneliness. Same for all members of House's staff--regarding the bitterness and loneliness. I give 13 a pass given her horrible circumstances. Sigh, I'm not excited.

Is there anything good on?!

Okay, I'll get back to a regular blogging schedule this month, since I'm going to be getting out a little. Going to Columbus, OH...perhaps to Chicago. Will hit up a concert this month. Excitement.

Oh! I saw Peter, Bjorn, and John in concert last week, and found them to be awesome. Check them out if you've never heard of them:



This is old, but I really liked it at the concert. New album is called Gimme Some. Worthy.