The Electric Slide All Over
Today I called Michelle in Hong Kong to test my new calling card. I felt all international going to the Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix (Yes, we have something that cultural, for those of you who like to make fun of our little oasis in the desert) to buy my Hong Kong calling card. I made friends with a few of the Disney people there in HK, and they are all too slammed busy to answer e-mails since the park opens soon. So I figure I can reach out and touch them through the airwaves; they may be busy, but they are still a chatty bunch. In calling Michelle, I actually went through this thing of being concerned because I didn't call my forever-friend Kraig first, because it turns out I didn't have his number saved, and then if he hears from Michelle that I called HER and not HIM, then how would he feel... (Just when I thought I was over taking care of other people's imaginary feelings that only exist inside my busy head...)
That's Kraig in the photo, whom I have known forever, and is one of my very best friends.
Anyway, it was great to talk to Michelle, and I also got Kraig's number (uh oh, now he knows I HAVE it but didn't call, but I was on my way to a class and was almost there when I hung up with her - SIGH - NEVER MIND), and I also got Flip's blog site. Flip is also in Hong Kong, a delightfully witty person who lives in the same building as Kraig, Michelle, and Chris.
Chris, Flip, Michelle, and me "downstairs," a.k.a. 2121 Bar.
So now I have TWO blog addresses - Michelle's and Flip's. Very exciting, I just doubled my blog journal reading opportunities. You see, I had heard of blogs, read about them in Consumer Reports, I think, but hadn't actually been to one, ever, until a couple of nights ago. So this is a whole new world of communication to me.
So I go onto Flip's site, which is artfully displayed in the fine black background like mine, and I get to read what he's had to say about his stay in Hong Kong too. Then I click on a comment there, and I find that takes me to a profile, and then a link to that person's blog, someone else I met in HK. But off of hers is a link to someone I've never heard of, but who apparently also works for Disney. So this can radiate out like 6 Degrees of Separation in reverse, and before you know it you're engrossed in the ramblings of someone you have never met, never will, and it feels a bit like watching them through their windows in the dark. Sort of interesting, sort of creepy.
But what I realized when I backed out of the blog surfing, (other than the fact that I should just route my friends to the writing and photos of these guys in HK that I mentioned, because it seems redundant for me to recreate descriptions of the same places I went), is that I feel like I did the first time I saw people do that thing together. I was 23 years old, at a dance, a new song starts, and people pour onto the dance floor. Hm, now granted the song is just starting, but it doesn't seem to be that great of a dance tune. Whatever, there's no accounting for musical tastes. But then they line up in straight rows and begin to sway in unison as if someone is choreographing this. It's been a normal dance thus far. Did I miss an announcement? Is there a cue card somewhere beyond my line of sight? What is happening, and should I be going out there too? They all start to step and spin more or less together. They aren't well-practiced as a group, but they clearly are all attempting the same pattern. Now I took dance for a lot of years, but we didn't cover this. WHAT ARE THEY DOING, HOW DO THEY ALL KNOW WHAT TO DO, AND WHERE WAS I FOR THIS LESSON?! Apparently I expressed this out loud, as someone leans in to kindly inform me "Oh, that's the Electric Slide." Okay, question one has been addressed, but the informant is of no help with questions two and three. As I watched this ritual in a mix of amusement and horror, I vascillate between deciding they were a bunch of nerd-hicks for actually knowing this dance, and alternately wondering what is wrong with the path of life I have led thus far that would have sheltered me for 23 years from exposure to this "everybody knows it but you" thing I was witnessing.
Yah, so that's how I'm feeling about blogs - like there's a secret society of bloggers, everybody knows about it, and I finally stumbled into it the other day. I'm a little late, but at least I am not nearly as judgemental of blogs as I was of the silly slide dance.
Can I just say that "blogging" feels a little egocentric. A bit of me cringes that I am writing "all about me." I know who my friends are that want me to do this, they have always liked letters and e-mails from me, but I guess it's different when I address a specified person and put their name on the top. Then it's communication. This just feels like oration. And I'm not so sure than anything as worthy as Sermon on the Mount is going to come out. But at least you might be amused, and a good laugh can be worth more than a profundity at times.
That's Kraig in the photo, whom I have known forever, and is one of my very best friends.
Anyway, it was great to talk to Michelle, and I also got Kraig's number (uh oh, now he knows I HAVE it but didn't call, but I was on my way to a class and was almost there when I hung up with her - SIGH - NEVER MIND), and I also got Flip's blog site. Flip is also in Hong Kong, a delightfully witty person who lives in the same building as Kraig, Michelle, and Chris.
Chris, Flip, Michelle, and me "downstairs," a.k.a. 2121 Bar.
So now I have TWO blog addresses - Michelle's and Flip's. Very exciting, I just doubled my blog journal reading opportunities. You see, I had heard of blogs, read about them in Consumer Reports, I think, but hadn't actually been to one, ever, until a couple of nights ago. So this is a whole new world of communication to me.
So I go onto Flip's site, which is artfully displayed in the fine black background like mine, and I get to read what he's had to say about his stay in Hong Kong too. Then I click on a comment there, and I find that takes me to a profile, and then a link to that person's blog, someone else I met in HK. But off of hers is a link to someone I've never heard of, but who apparently also works for Disney. So this can radiate out like 6 Degrees of Separation in reverse, and before you know it you're engrossed in the ramblings of someone you have never met, never will, and it feels a bit like watching them through their windows in the dark. Sort of interesting, sort of creepy.
But what I realized when I backed out of the blog surfing, (other than the fact that I should just route my friends to the writing and photos of these guys in HK that I mentioned, because it seems redundant for me to recreate descriptions of the same places I went), is that I feel like I did the first time I saw people do that thing together. I was 23 years old, at a dance, a new song starts, and people pour onto the dance floor. Hm, now granted the song is just starting, but it doesn't seem to be that great of a dance tune. Whatever, there's no accounting for musical tastes. But then they line up in straight rows and begin to sway in unison as if someone is choreographing this. It's been a normal dance thus far. Did I miss an announcement? Is there a cue card somewhere beyond my line of sight? What is happening, and should I be going out there too? They all start to step and spin more or less together. They aren't well-practiced as a group, but they clearly are all attempting the same pattern. Now I took dance for a lot of years, but we didn't cover this. WHAT ARE THEY DOING, HOW DO THEY ALL KNOW WHAT TO DO, AND WHERE WAS I FOR THIS LESSON?! Apparently I expressed this out loud, as someone leans in to kindly inform me "Oh, that's the Electric Slide." Okay, question one has been addressed, but the informant is of no help with questions two and three. As I watched this ritual in a mix of amusement and horror, I vascillate between deciding they were a bunch of nerd-hicks for actually knowing this dance, and alternately wondering what is wrong with the path of life I have led thus far that would have sheltered me for 23 years from exposure to this "everybody knows it but you" thing I was witnessing.
Yah, so that's how I'm feeling about blogs - like there's a secret society of bloggers, everybody knows about it, and I finally stumbled into it the other day. I'm a little late, but at least I am not nearly as judgemental of blogs as I was of the silly slide dance.
Can I just say that "blogging" feels a little egocentric. A bit of me cringes that I am writing "all about me." I know who my friends are that want me to do this, they have always liked letters and e-mails from me, but I guess it's different when I address a specified person and put their name on the top. Then it's communication. This just feels like oration. And I'm not so sure than anything as worthy as Sermon on the Mount is going to come out. But at least you might be amused, and a good laugh can be worth more than a profundity at times.
posted by TravelPhotoWriter at 1:00 AM
2 Comments:
OH MY GAWD!
Jen , you are off to a fantastic start! Looks like you have found your perfect outlet for communication. Trust me, you'll get over the 'You sent the link to my blog to who?!?' soon enough and be on your way to orating with the best of them!
Ok, thats me. Strange..... no, not me, well... Ok. And, yes I am hurt that I didn't get a call. Hmmmm.... but not really. I mean, I only put you up for how many days? And by the way, if you look at the bottom of all of those emails I sent you.....
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