Sometimes, Whenever I Encounter Someone New, I Might Flip Through Their Last Few Tweets/posts To Catch

Sometimes, whenever I encounter someone new, I might flip through their last few tweets/posts to catch up on them. Just a few, you know; maybe their last hundred or so. Until I get a good idea of the person, or until I get bored :P

Last night I had the drive to update a few things around my blog and such, so I decided to be narcissistic and do the same thing for myself.

Normally when I do this for other people, it's people who post things regularly - at least once a day, usually more. I could go PAGES back and still be in the same month as I started. Not so with me, as I don't really post all too often. I was expecting that, but I wasn't expecting the magnitude of it:

I had barely started before the timestamps read August 27, half a year ago.

...maybe I should post more often.

“This week I’m gonna get out and be social again! I’m gonna make new friends and smile at passersby and chat up my friends and be a ray of sunshine to everyone!”

the other six days of the week: “Shut up with all the noise, leave me alone”

[WillWare is sitting in his room, alone. Enter Smart Alex.]

Smart Alex: Hey look, you're in your room by yourself again. Looks like you've been busy, eh?

WillWare: As a matter of fact, I HAVE been busy. Been hanging with friends and getting work done. It's been a productive couple of weeks.

Smart Alex: Wow! Impressive. Sounds like things are going pretty well for you, for once.

WillWare: Har har.

Smart Alex: Ever start any of those projects you've been jabbering about so much?

WillWare: No, not yet. Haven't found the motivation. I'm enjoying the ride right now.

Smart Alex: What's to lose? What, are you afraid something's gonna come along and kill your progress? That's never stopped you before, heh.

WillWare: ...

Smart Alex: ...Wait, you're serious.

WillWare: A little bit, yeah...

Smart Alex: Come on, dude! It's not like the universe is going to kill you if you try something new.

WillWare: It's not about trying something new!

Smart Alex: Then what is it? Scared? Too much work? Not enough people breathing down your back? I bet I can get someone on your case if you--

WillWare: I'm scared I can't finish what I start, okay?

Smart Alex: ...Something from the outside, or something from the inside? Cause I've got a pet snake, I can make it something external.

WillWare: [mutters] where the hell did you get a snake

Smart Alex: Tell you what, I can make this one easy. Finish this conversation.

WillWare: ...what?

Smart Alex: Finish this conversation with me. Right now. That way you've finished something. Confidence!

WillWare: Is this a trick? [glances around for camera] Are you setting me up?

Smart Alex: What? No. I'm trying to be nice to you. I know that's not exactly normal of me, so you should take advantage of it.

WillWare: But--

Smart Alex: If you doubt my generosity on this one, I could just stay here for a few hours and leave on my own terms.

WillWare: ...Um... Okay then. Thanks for coming by.

Smart Alex: See you later! And do get some work done, won't you? [Exit.]

[WillWare pulls out his computer and starts clicking away furiously.]

Smart Alex: [from behind] How's it going?

WillWare: HOLY FRICK-- [jumps] WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!?

Smart Alex: Good, you're hard at work. Get back to it!

[Smart Alex pats WillWare on the back before leaving. WillWare grumbles as he resumes working.]

Internet grammar

The way we use the Internet has fundamentally changed the way we use language. That's a pretty obvious observation, sure, but there's subtleties that some people may not pick up on.

If you were to give any formal writer a deep look into these kinds of changes, there would probably be lots of cringing involved. But if there were a person who could catalog the new ways people have shaped language, it would actually help in being a much more effective writer. It would be especially useful for things like public relations, advertising, or blogging. I'm not just saying this to help people attract the "young, hip" crowd - I'm bringing this up because it seems no one else has extensively looked at these trends.

Consider the following example. I'm writing an IM to someone I know. This person just sent me a picture that I don't get, so I inquire:

"What is that?"

There's a few different ways this can be altered by looking at just punctuation and capitalization, and they really change the way someone might read it.

"What is that?" - most inquisitive, mildly serious, a touch formal "What is that" - almost matter-of-factly stated "what is that" - muffled, least serious, monotone

These are the ways I read it, and it may be different from others, but the subtleties are there among everyone's writing styles. Other, more deviant variants include:

"wat" - joking, possibly sarcastic "What." - joking but still heavily inquisitive "What is THAT." - most serious, threatening tone "What is that...?" - trailing, most confused

I could go on and on about each particular part of the variations, how they play off each other, where they apply to more formal instances... but I think the point is pretty clear.

These are fairly recent phenomena for the most part, so it's possible that people haven't had the time to really look at them. However, I think that it would be a huge benefit to do so, even if different people may use them slightly differently. If nothing else, it'd make for an interesting study.

me: This post is really cool. *like*

me: Haha, that's hilarious! *like*

me: I can relate to that. *like*

me: AWWWWWWWWWWWW~ *like*

[later]

friend: But yeah, I can't really draw hands that well, I have to practice up.

me: I found a great tutorial for that on Tumblr! One sec, lemme find it for ya.

me: *searches for a few keywords*

me: Can't seem to find it, let me dig through my likes...

me: *opens likes*

me: *scroll*

me: *scroll*

me: *scroll*

me: *scroll*

me: Heh, I remember that one.

me: *scroll*

me: *scroll*

me: *scroll*

me: *scroll*

me: *scroll*

me: *scroll*

me: *scroll*

me: Oh here it is! Check this out-- wait where did you go

I've gotten into a bad habit of not forming opinions of things anymore.

Asking the opinion of someone with a working social disorder is a recipe for disaster. If the two don't agree, it almost always becomes a spirited debate, and that requires a lot of energy. In my case, I usually end up tired and frustrated, ruining the rest of my day. Either that, or I can't formulate my arguments right (because of how-do-I-social disorder), and then I say something completely wrong, which the opposing party latches on to and beats me over the head with.

Even if we agree, the discussion doesn't stop there - no, we discuss why we agree, and the above still applies. At best I come out of it exhausted, at worst we disagree on a minor point and I have to tell the other person to stop for the sake of my sanity. Of course it never stops immediately and by this point I'm so irritated I end up yelling at the other person who clearly is just being nice about the whole thing and we just get angry and all I want to do is STOP--

...okay, deep breath... whew~

So what's the easy answer? Not having opinions, of course. Not even being able to see both sides or anything like that - just not having an opinion whatsoever. And it seems that I've gotten so sick of debate that my brain has chosen this route.

At first glance this seems like it might actually be a good idea... except for the part where my opinions of things are crucial to my understanding of them. If I like something, it has added to my life in some way - I've laughed at it, or learned something new, or grown from it. I like it because of these things. Even things I dislike at least show me what not to do in the future.

When I don't decide whether I like something or not, my brain doesn't register that any of these things have happened. It had no impact; it's become a worthless consumable. I might as well have never done the thing in the first place.

I suppose I should kick this habit early so I can continue to have opinions. Maybe somewhere along the way, I can learn to articulate them better. If I get good enough, I could do blogpost-like exposition on the fly! Maybe. It'll take a while.

...did I just discuss my opinion of opinions?