FB talk

I was looking for drama and I got it big time.

Well, I just lost a friend in Facebook. Nope, this isn't just about losing a friend in your friends list but losing the person in your life through Facebook. He was a big part of my life. It’s a stupid falling out in Facebook and I just feel gutted and annoyed with myself for reacting the way I did.

It did make me sad. And it also got me thinking how most often times, Facebook destroys friendships. I think it’s mainly because people got to say what they really mean.

I was a big fan of face-to-face communication—of being able to interact personally with friends: look at the gestures, eye contact and body language, tone of voice and all that. But then, I just had an epiphany: it doesn’t mean that when you are face-to-face with someone, you are who you really are!

With that kind of interaction, we don’t get to say the things we really want to say. Sometimes, we need the FB shoutout box, or the comment threads, or the Like button. Those things become everything we really mean because we couldn’t say it out loud.

Yes, as much we hate to admit it—our shoutouts mean more than they seem. They scream our hearts and communicate our subconscious. We feel so much power and liberation with this that we use it to reveal more than we should.

With all these, people and their relationships fall out because of miscommunication, reckless verbal attacks and backfighting...

I was a victim of that. And in that moment, I wished I could sit down with my friend whom I just lost and have a bottle of beer so that we can settle everything. How I wished I could say, “Hey, I over-reacted, and I messed up, but here’s what I really meant...” and maybe I could also hear his side and understand what’s really going on...

But maybe our friendship wasn’t really grounded properly to start with—that’s why it took only a shoutout and harsh words in FB to destroy everything.

Or maybe we weren’t actually being serious. Maybe I just misunderstood. Maybe he meant differently.

Maybe...

Though at this point, I’ll may never know. But I’m still looking forward to that day when we can actually talk in person. FB talk is just bullshit.

Punching Bags

I actually started another blog which I promised I would update regularly. Well, that's not going to happen anymore. I'm sticking with this blog.

Hi! I'm back!

I guess, I was inspired from reading my students' blogs and saw how much they enjoyed blogging. It was a requirement for my subject because I really wanted them to write their hearts out. Because in our course (Communication Arts), they are always assigned topics to be written in a certain way, set to be read by the mass audience. This ultimately could wear them down.

With blogging, I wanted them them to 'work out' and 'flex' all their writing strengths, like a boxer one-on-one with his punching bag-- no technicalities or prescribed movements, just the basics. Just punch, punch, punch.

When I was reading their entries (I required 4 each month), I suddenly missed dealing with my own punching bag. Now, I'm putting on my boxing gloves again to do free-throw punches.

Well, I'm currently enjoying myself. No drama. Just life. But isn't life all about the drama? Hmmmm... I'm starting to miss it though. But when life slaps me with a whole lotta drama, I know I'm going to head for the door...So, let's just keep it this way. Stay tuned!

The earthquake and tsunami in Japan terrified me. It was devastating. I keep myself updated through CNN, YahooNews and the evening news in our local channels. It does make you wonder: Is it all coming to an end?

Suddenly, I'm so aware that we can die anytime, and I'm suddenly forgetting all the petty things I'm so annoyed and frustrated about to make room for the bigger picture--Have I lived enough? Is there anything else I have to do?

And so I stood up and wrote 'Try something new everyday" in the whiteboard hanging on the walls of my studio.

I will...