Bloggers…Bloggers Who Need Bloggers…Are We the Luckiest?

This blogging phenomenon is pretty damn cool!

Just give people a forum to express themselves and you’ll find that there is a whole new world of…well, for lack of a better word, entertainment out there. And I don’t use the word to belittle or besmirch (hehe—THERE’S a $3 word for ya!) those that take the time out of their day to put thought to the virtual page. In a way, it sort of validates who we are as an individual and I’m finding it so very liberating.

Of course, there is a lot of pure rubbish out there too. Some people are truly out of their minds with the stuff they fill the internet with. Cyber-trash. I suppose it’s no different than surfing the almost 200+ channels of satellite television just to return to the same 5 or 6 channels that I used to watch when I only had 20 or 30 to choose from in the first place. I’m sure it’s very easy to get caught up in it all too.

When I was first made aware of MySpace, I thought “Wow! That is such a cool idea!” A place where I can literally make my own site, fill it with all kinds of decorations and goodies and things, but mostly just junk! I made some new friends there, I learned about old friends there and I reconnected with people I hadn’t even THOUGHT about in years—maybe even decades—there.

Then people started talking about Facebook. It was a more simplistic device; it had a more intuitive ability to connect the people, places, events and hobbies together, but in a form characteristic of CNN’s Headline News rather than The Situation Room. And jumping into the fray, I too, connected with more people, my family, my long-ago friends, my newly-met friends and people with similar interests.

Somewhere in the past year, though, it has evolved into something a little more like banner ads and pop-ups on the web, rather than real information I cared about. Who gives a rat’s ass that Susie planted a new virtual flower in her new virtual flowerpot in “Gardenville” or that Rickie became a level 59 vampire in the continuing saga of “Sucker Wars!” I mean, come on people!

That’s not to say that I am not guilty—I am, but I have become ever sorrier that I am these days. I still use the old Facebook (I even advertise my blog on it, to the chagrin of probably everybody I know there, but whaddyagonnadooo?

Don’t really know why Twitter is gangbusters at the moment. To me it is a twisted combination of cell phone texting and the old “ticker-tape” stock quotation machines…and everybody is just keeping close tabs on Ashton Kutcher’s every move…like he’d have any idea who any of the over one million Twits he boasts are following his every move, hanging on his every word. As my friend Michele would say: Really? (Insert a huge dose of sarcasm to that “Really” and you’d know what I am talking about!)

I’m not sure I am smart enough to answer that question to any degree of accuracy or expertise. But I think that we, as a society, may be evolving into a new species. Technology has forever altered not only what we say and when we say it, but also how we express it, where it gets heard…and interestingly, we have no idea who is “hearing us.”

Some of us place our hearts on our sleeves and expose our inner selves for the entirety of humanity to ingest, unaware of any unintended consequences that might result of it. Others have really nothing at all to say—they just want to be heard and will say anything to accomplish it. Still others try to educate; to contribute to the ever-expanding human consciousness and knowledge of pretty much every subject imaginable. It boggles the mind because it truly is the absolute definition of the human species—to create and be creative.

Imagine what our lives would be like if no one imagined anything new…!

So why do I blog? It’s a pretty basic premise for me. This is where people will truly learn who I am. While I may post moronic, sophomoric rubbish from time to time—that’s me (I get this from my family—if you ONLY knew!)—this is where I can create, dream, relish, long, hope, cherish, despise, abhor, admonish—this is where I can be real, and therefore validated.

I blog…therefore, I think I might just really be!

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Fog…

Commuting to work is usually a hassle, and sometimes it can be a real nightmare.

That was my day today. But in the midst of all the commotion, delays, flight cancellations and the public bouncing off the walls and each other, an odd, but humorously ironic thing happened that I’m not sure many people even noticed.

I don’t have to tell you that the people of Southern California have been hit hard these past few days with Amazonian-style rainfall, thus the reason for all the airline problems. Normally, I would just fly straight into San Francisco (where I am based) from Salt Lake City, but on occasion, I am faced with being a bit more creative in my routing, especially since my own airline has drastically reduced non-stop flight frequencies to SFO. So tonight, I was forced to use my SLC-LAX-SFO routing. And getting the connection to work was starting to get really hairy, since the aircraft I was taking to LA was delayed coming in from Chicago.

Needless to say, I got on the flight and upon arrival to LAX, we were forced to sit in the “penalty box” (as they call it – an area where the plane is forced to await further movement instructions from Air Traffic Control [ATC] due to an unavailable gate, or simply congestion). Our gate was occupied and there were no others available. And it was obvious why – everything there was soaked and it was still coming down.

At last, our gate opened up and we snaked our way through the throng of other planes waiting for the same thing. Lucky for me, my next flight was scheduled to depart out of a gate just adjacent to the one I had arrived at. I walked over, snatched my seat assignment from the CSR and then waited for boarding to commence (it’s also delayed because the crew arrived late, which has been the story of the day in LA). As is typical with the very quirky Los Angeles scene, the gate area is filled with businessmen and women, executives, and of course the very self-important “Hollywood-types” all buzzing around on their iPhones or Blackberries, speaking louder than is necessary, either working some deal or complaining about the airlines.

As I stand to the side, I am watching everyone in the area and no one is just listening. How can you really, with all the PA announcements and the iPods and the cellphones and the yakitty-yak-yak-yak of the people…but no one is just listening—except me.

Los Angeles International Airport, terminals 6, 7 and 8 are blessed to have music pumped into its airspace by the silky-smooth sounds of MUZAK. Any and every song imaginable can be heard from those speakers—I swear, I have even heard the Stones’ “Start Me Up” AND Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” in orchestrated splendor from this innocuous company! But tonight, someone over at the “Elevator Music Capital of the World” must have been trying to send a little smile across a listener’s face—and their mission was accomplished with me.

For amongst all the droning and whining and yapping all around me, the sultry, reticent melody of “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” gently swept the airwaves of LAX. And though I looked around and noticed that no one else had taken notice, a tiny smirk appeared on my face and I looked out the window, grateful they hadn’t played Albert Hammond’s “It Never Rains in Southern California!”

Cheers!

The Got-it-trons

Have you ever played a brand new game with someone who was SUPER competitive? Like, when you open up the game for the first time, this person simply learns the absolute basics of the game, ignoring anything they might consider “trivial” and they do their damnedest to win, conquer or at least control the outcome?

How about this? How many people do you encounter in your day-to-day living that know everything—they already have the answer, they already have the necessary information, they have no time to have an explanation? These are the people that really have no tolerance for anyone else who isn’t up to their speed or reached their level of knowledge and/or their perceived status in the universe and they make no apologies for the manner of disgust, distain and abhorrence they feel for any such people. They live by a completely different set of rules than everybody else. They ignore the status quo or flat out deny that it even applies to them personally simply because of whom they are!

What’s worse is that in a crowd of people, they tend to be the leaders because they simply cannot afford to waste time waiting to see if anybody else will step up, and they will bend or break the rules because in their minds, those were developed for everyone else—for the masses—not for them, and their actions will prompt others without the chutzpah to cross that line independently to attempt the same, usually with disastrous consequences.

In a sometimes chaotic world, these are they that tend to cause the most trouble, be the loudest, cause the most commotion or simply ignore everything entirely and do their own thing, usually when it doesn’t sit right with them or if they feel they are being boxed in. You cannot tell these people “no” simply because they will take it upon themselves to make everyone else’s lives miserable until they get their way and are satisfied in their own minds.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the “Got-it-tron!”

I was thinking about this type of individual today because, interestingly enough, I encounter them more often than not on the road as I am driving. These Got-it-trons tend to be THE owners of the road. They are constantly “behind schedule” therefore they absolutely MUST be in front of everybody else, at whatever expense, so long as YOU are behind them. They will cut you off to keep you from making your exit on the freeway; they will ride your tail if they are behind you until you are forced, in some demented game of “chicken,” to yield to them. They will even drive around you on the right (even on the shoulder) if it gives them the advantage on the road ahead.

My thought was that many of these folks have to be Got-it-trons simply because the rules of the road just don’t apply to them (and quite frankly, I have a feeling that many of these maniacal knit-wits haven’t a clue which road rules and laws they are even breaking!). Haven’t got the time to find out! How dare they lower the speed limit in a construction zone when there is no one working on the road at 10 O’clock at night! Since when have they ever gotten a ticket for using the HOV lane as their own personal speedway?

As a person who truly believes in karmic justice, I have to wonder sometimes “when that wheel finally comes round?” I mean let’s face it, we’ve all been there; we’ve all been caught speeding or running a stop sign. A friend of mine is so often ticketed that I think they may even know his name at the county courthouse! But it never seems to be the Got-it-trons that end up with those red and blue flashing lights in their rearview mirror. There have been very rare occasions that I was ever able to witness the culprit getting his (or her) just rewards.

Now, this is in no way a slam on the police or highway patrol. I know that, especially now with the economy in such flux, it is difficult at best to be everywhere all the time. I don’t know how that can or will change, but somewhere along the road, the Got-it-tron needs to get his “come-uppance!”