Remember when you were in high school?  Whether it was 2 or 20 or 50 years free video poker how to play backgammon no deposit bonus online casino 888 no download casino play roulette craps game black jack download american roulette play video poker baccarat free casino game no download online casino free money on line casino wagering roulette online online casino betting free online casino slots free craps best casino roulette gambling internet casino gambling uk best casino online full pay video poker no deposit casino code best craps game black jack tournament best online casino site craps online game newest online casino free slots no download play blackjack online free dueces wild video poker black jack gambling online video poker game free casino cash no deposit video poker tutorial play free video poker how to win at black jack casino roulette casino guide how to win at roulette rules of craps casino game online real money backgammon baccarat casino online free video poker game play free video poker video poker odds video poker tournaments catv ago - everyone remembers the dynamics of that institution.  The cliques, the clubs and the culture of a short time in history.  Since high school is the time we form lasting friendships, develop into adults and basically function in the bubble that is the high school structure most of us have vivid memories of good and/or bad times that we faced during these formative years.  Most of us are also content to leave this part of our lives in the past.  To think of it as a time that has gone by and that we never have to live again.  Some are nostalgic, but most are just happy to be adults.  That is - until the advent of Facebook.

The day that Facebook opened the virtual floodgates to the general public (as opposed to the membership that was purely the current student population of high schools and colleges) high school came back into view.  For some this might be a good thing, but for far more others it may not be.  The nature of your original high school experience will most likely colour your Facebook trials.

Let us examine exactly how this can be.  Why would the experience of high school be so very present on this new technological community?  Perhaps this is due to the nature of the Facebook experience.  Many users attempt to amass a large number of online “friends” and that means that being connected with people from high school is inevitable.  Making a decision between being friends with that individual who somehow tortured you in high school for the increase in friend stats or ignoring their request entirely can be tough.  An interesting aspect of Facebook is the fact that those who were the torturers/bullies seem to forget the way they acted back in the day.  Those that were tortured/bullied remember it a bit more vividly and, in turn, create a strange dynamic for the social networking site.

First let us think about the standard high school groups (taking a page from the secretary in Ferris Buellers Day Off) -  Sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, pinheads, dweebies, wonkers, richies.  I’ll add a few of my own (from personal experience) - Cheerleaders, preppies, smartypants, bandgeeks, bullies.  Each of these categories has a different meaning to different individuals.  If you were a “sporto” in high school you probably thought that the “pinheads” and “smartypants” were worthy of disdain.  The funny thing is that that the “pinheads” and “smartypants” thought the same of the “sportos”.  Every group was distinct and had a certain feeling of disdain toward the other groups.  A few people were good at bridging the groups by being “sportos”, “preppies”, “smartypants” and “bandgeeks” but this was a rare occurance.  Most people fit into their little holes and didn’t come up for air very often, unless it was to offer criticism to the other groups.  This is the nature of high school.  It isn’t awful looking back, but when you are actually in it there is a lot of pressure to conform.  Even the popular kids have it hard because they have to live up to a certain standard.  Not that you should feel bad for them or anything, I’m just saying.

Taking this dynamic and applying it to Facebook poses a bit of a challenge.  The reason for this is that many people who were not popular got to Facebook first.  The “geeks”, “pinheads”, “smartypants”, etc. were the early adopters of the technology and therefore have a lead on the more popular groups.  Now that these others have caught up we are getting to a point of full saturation.  This brings the idea of making choices into clear sight.  Should we be choosy when people request to be our friends.  When I began using Facebook I made a conscious decision to not accept friend requests from people I wasn’t actually friends with in high school.  This changed to those that I had some sort of relationship with (worked with them or played on a team with them).  Currently my rule is that I will not accept requests from those that I have a memory of pain associated with them in some way.  If I feel they hurt me somehow, I will reject their friend request.  Way to lower those standards, eh? Well - it is all about the numbers in the end, I suppose.

This leads me to believe that many of the injustices that were suffered by the non-popular kids at the hands of popularity have been forgotten by those that inflicted the grief.  Why else would they request to be virtual friends with these people.  The sad thing is that many of the “underdog” people have accepted these requests either to increase their numbers or simply to let go of the past.  I realize that we should be able to do that and I’m certainly trying my best, but there are still a couple of people that I just cannot bring myself to click accept for yet.

I’m getting there, but I haven’t arrived at full maturity I suppose.  Hanging on to the past will hold us back, but sometimes it is totally worth it.

Peace - Chantale

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Appropriate links:
The Ferris Bueller Page - the FULL SCRIPT is housed on this site (with some extras that were left on the editing room floor). a great site for any Ferris fan!
Facebook - come join us and see who will be your friend! Beware - it is highly addictive.

It seems that we are often blaming the victim rather than the victimizer.  Our “rugged individualism” in America has led to us not wanting to help others out that are not able to pull themselves up.  What I wonder is why, once we pull ourselves up, why we cannot extend a hand to others that may need assistance pulling themselves up.  We all seem to feel the need to fend for ourselves and not bother with our neighbours.  Now-a-days though, we need to learn how to help each other out or the whole ship called the United States of America will go down collectively as a result of our greed and self-centered attitudes.

On Friday afternoon I received an email forward in my inbox from the writer.  It had been sent to him by another individual which I’ll leave nameless.   Normally I read forwards, delete them and move along with the rest of my day.  This one, however, struck a chord deep inside me.  I could not let it pass without a response.

The forward was a list of the “11 Most Expensive Catastrophes in History”.  Things such as the Titanic ($150 million, over 1,500 people lost), the Exxon Valdez ($2.5 billion for Exxon to cleanup, 10.8 million gallons of oil spilled in the Prince William Sound killing untold numbers of sea, air and land wildlife), The Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion ($5.5 billion, the loss of the crew and the immense pain felt by millions of school children across the country who were witness to this accident on closed-circuit television), and several others.

On a side note: I added in the wildlife reference on the Valdez and the childhood trauma reference on the Challenger, they were not mentioned in the email.

This seems like a harmless list of catastrophes and actually very interesting information - Jeopardy style trivia.  However - when I scrolled down to the #1 catastrophe on the list here is what it read - “2008 Presidential Election- $800 Billion in the first two months………..”

Okay - I get it - the Conservatives don’t like President Obama.  They have made that point pretty clear.  I am actually fine with their opinion of the President as they are entitled to it, just as I was entitled to not enjoy having George W. Bush as our President for 8 years.  Mind you, the first year I did give him a chance.  We all held our breaths, crossed our fingers and hoped against hope that Bush 43 would do a good job.  That he would take the job seriously and actually try to maintain our surplus and continue to push our country in a positive direction.  As you can see from the way things were on 01/20/2009, he did not do that.  He actually pushed us in a worse direction, seemingly on purpose, which makes him one of the all time worst Presidents in the history of our great nation.  He certainly gives Hoover a run for his money.

Moving along - after reading this “joke” line in the email, I felt a surge of adrenaline like I haven’t felt since election season.  I needed to respond.  So I did.  As you can imagine, my reply was meant with a response that was less than nice.  The responder basically called President Obama a Socialist and referred to me as ignorant (if I believe that Obama will do any good).  I was going to print both my response and the return response, but in the interest of saving time for you (my happy readers) I just want to show you the last two sentences of my responder so you can see where he (and yes, I am sure it is a he) is coming from -

If you want immorality, socialism and debt then he is you man.  If you believe he is otherwise then I can only say with due respect to you - Ignorance is Bliss!

So - there you have it - apparently Obama is a socialist and I am ignorant.   What a fun response!  Do you not agree?  I was thinking of a way to respond in kind, but I thought I would take the high road.  Since I have this online soapbox on which to stand and proclaim my view I shall do it from here.  If this person doesn’t like my ideas he can respond to me through this blog.  Sign up and comment.  Sending nasty emails back and forth will get us nowhere.  Let us debate in a public forum.  I’ll begin -

Let us start by looking at the three issues brought up by my responder.  Definitions are always a great way to get to the heart of any debate.

Merriam-Webster states the following three definitions:

Immorality: the quality or state of being immoral
Immoral: conflicting with generally or traditionally held moral principles

Socialism: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

Debt: something owed

Looking at these definitions we can gather a few things.

#1 - people who use immorality in an argument against government policies are usually coming from a place of organized religion for their debate.  This is fine for their personal views, but when it effects the lives of everyone in a society we should really leave religion out of it.  Since the definition states that being immoral is “conflicting with generally or traditionally held moral principles” it should be tossed out as a debate ideal just on principle.

#2 - referring to President Obama as a “socialist” is a cowardly argument.  People who use this as a reason for us to not believe in our President do so because they understand that it is highly connected to fear-mongering.  The citizens in America tend to think that Socialism=Communism, which it does not.  Socialism can be looked at as a bridge between Capitalism and Communism, but it by no means equals Communism or even leads to it.  Social programs have been a boon to individuals in this country who find themselves in hard times.  Just because we institute welfare programs to help those among us that are needy, does not mean that we are looking to create a Communist state.  Welfare capitalism is actually a good system and we should not put down Socialism when it is a great idea to use with our Capitalism to make the country function better.

#3 - Debt - this is already existing in this country.  Bush 43 made it so.  Yes - we cannot lay all the problems of the past 8 years at the feet of one man (Bush), but we can show that his administration led us down a horrible path financially during his term.  Spend spend spend was the mantra of this supposed fiscal conservative government.  The only saving that happened was when the rich had their taxed cut to save them money.  The rest of us (the other 99% of the population, considering that the top 1% control 80% of the wealth in this country) have had to pay the same taxes, if not more percentage wise and this is where we end up.  With an economy in shambles.  President Obama is doing his best to get us out of this hole we are in, but in the meantime we need to give him an honest to goodness chance.

The responder (and many people just like him) are not willing to give President Obama a chance.  He is not willing to open up to the fact that a Democrat might actually have some good ideas.  Being fiscally conservative and socially liberal is what we need at this point in the history of America.  Anything different will harm our delicate balance.  Anything less will make us look even worse in the global scope of things.

We all need to become citizens of the world and understand that what we do here effects everyone.  The things that our administration does in the name of our country (such as needless wars and torturing prisoners even as we proclaim to follow the Geneva Convention) make us hated in the global scope.  Obama is trying to turn us around, but without the support of EVERY citizen it will be next to impossible.  He deserves to be given the benefit of at minimum 100 days to make a change. It cannot happen overnight and we need to be patient.

Open your mind to new ideas and concepts and who knows, maybe we can all get along and move forward as a collective people. Is that possible?  I hope so, but I do not think so.  Show some goodwill for once and prove me wrong, please!

Peace - Chantale

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My internet connection at home has been acting up something fierce over the past month.  A few days ago I decided to take matters into my own hands and “fix” the problem.  I put that in quotes because I didn’t actually correct what was wrong, I made it even worse.  So - for almost 24 hours our little apartment was without internet.  You would think that the world was ending from the twitter stream about this catastrophe.  The writer was having serious withdrawal and admittedly, so was I.  It is fixed (for real) now and I’m back to square one with my laptop/internet issues.  Basically, I have to reconnect to the internet every 10 minutes or so.  This is difficult when I’m attempting to write something and then save it and my connection is lost.  Otherwise, the rest of the residence is happy so that’s that.

I say all this because since I’ve had these bugs with my laptop there have been many links I wanted to share with my readers and was unable to post about.  So - in celebration of my triumph and return to square one I’m posting a short list for your perusal.  The Oscars are starting shortly, so I won’t be able to fully elaborate about the sites tonight.  Please click the links to check them out and let me know what you think of them by commenting below.  I love to get feedback and it so often doesn’t appear.

One other thing - today is the anniversary of my layoff from the bank.  If you know me, you know what that’s about.  I just wanted to put that there for posterity.  No celebration or sadness.  I have no feelings on the matter other than to say that I still haven’t found a full time position that was comparable to what I had.  Hopefully my return to school will assist with that problem, but for now I’m going to end up schlepping coffee or ringing up groceries.  I don’t mind these part time gigs, but I would love something more permanent.  Someday.  Life comes in waves and I’ve been under the water for a while now so I have to come up for air eventually.

This week in links:

stenztv - website based in Niagara Falls, NY about Niagara Falls, NY.   Great old photos and many interesting stories about the city.  Residents and visitors alike will enjoy this site.

The Printed Blog - The best of the web on your newsstand!  The world’s first daily newspaper comprised entirely of blogs and other user generated content.  Genius!  This is really an interesting and ingenious way of keeping the “newspaper” alive by incorporating the web into print.  Kudos to the printed blog for keeping publishing alive and well in the 21st century!

Merge - A new Buffalo restaurant offering vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and raw food options.  In the near future they will be holding open mic nights, so keep an eye out for that.  Get off the ‘net and get to Merge for a little in person socializing.

Peace - Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)

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Image courtesy of Hero Design Studio Buffalo, NY
Most of you know the details of last nights events.  If not - here is a link to the Buffalo News story surrounding the events of 12 February 2009 - latest updates on flight 3407 plane crash.  It is the day after and I still have no words.  I just wanted to post this tribute to those who lost their lives last night.  Please keep the families of all the victims in your thoughts in the coming days and weeks.  It will certainly be a difficult time for our community.

Peace - Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)

Yesterday was a great day.  The United States inaugurated her first African-American President.  She dismissed number 43 and can move forward in a positive and progressive manner.  Yesterday truly was a brand new day and a highpoint in our collective history.  Unfortunately, there are still naysayers and contrarians in this country who could not be happy for this one day.

On Twitter yesterday, I had a short conversation with a very bitter lady who is brainwashed to believe that President Obama will be bad for the country.  Another conservative blogger has voiced the sentiment (over and over again) that he is fearful for the next four years.

I understand where these people are coming from simply for the fact that I had a similar feeling four years ago, however I did not get on a soapbox back then and hit people over the head with my ideas.  Twitter did not exist four years ago but if it did I can safely say that I would have kept my opinions to a minimum regarding 43.  I may have voiced my dissent but I definitely would have done it in a courteous manner.  I would not have been rude or nasty about it as the above people have been.

All I can really say is that people who are intelligent make a point to look into the facts of a situation.  Intelligent people find the truth and have a good attitude about it.  Intelligent people do not talk down to those that do not agree with them.  Intelligent people are relatively easy to deal with because they look at things from a perspective of fact rather than following the herd.

On a day such as yesterday, those who do not agree take a backseat to those who do.  Politics is put aside to celebrate.  Today the work begins - cleaning up the mess of 43 and moving this nation forward.  That is the promise of the new administration.  Now it’s our turn to say get in line or leave.  We lived with 8 years of the worset presidency in history.  Now it’s our turn to celebrate.

So - what should the first act of the Obama administration be?  Healthcare?  Stem Cell Research?  Economy?  Iraq?  Employment?

Let me know what you think.  Please comment below and start a real, intelligent, constructive conversation.

Peace, Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)