Goodbye Facebook

I've had Facebook since High school and my usage of it hasn't varied much since then. It's been hard to keep in touch with certain people so it has that use, but the main purpose that I had for Facebook was that it served as an online scrapbook, a collection of stupid, silly, and bizarre images that I've found online plastered all over the place.

I watched my "Facebook Look Back Video" to confirm this, almost a decade's worth of nonsensical pictures and news posts.

Seriously, who else would share something like this?

But the other day as I was scrolling through to see what everyone else was up to I stumbled across a picture. Or rather, a series of pictures.

Of my ex, Theresa and her current boyfriend.

I should be over her, I shouldn't care what she's up to, or who's she's seeing. I should be happy for her, and they certainly looked so happy together. Meanwhile I'm in my room, in front of my computer still single, slightly bitter, and lonely almost a year and a half since our breakup. She on the other hand is about to celebrate her one year anniversary with this guy.

But it wasn't just the pictures that I saw, there were comments too. Comments made by our mutual "friends" who took her side after our breakup and encouraged her to find someone new so quickly. "You two are so cute together!" they coo and gush.

I need new friends.

I want to say that I wasn't bothered. That I shrugged my shoulders and went on to whatever it was I was doing. But I didn't. I just sat there in my chair, not upset or angry, instead I was just kind of numb. I stared and started thinking.

I began to question why I even still kept my Facebook account. It was primarily used to communicate with Theresa and our mutual circle of "friends". But we've drifted apart either due to being busy (e.g. Theresa), or because I've made an effort to shun you (e.g. everyone else).

The rest of my friends that I actually want to talk to have other means of contacting me should they find the need. Honestly, Facebook is a major distraction and I would probably be better off without it. The world can use a break from my antics, and I need a break from them.

So I disabled my Facebook account, for better or for worse.

My reasoning may sound a bit odd, or silly, but it was enough for me. A bit of a tipping point really. Will I ever go back? Maybe. Maybe if I get super buff I'll get vain as well, post a few pictures. Or if I win the lottery, or if I become the next Youtube sensation. What I'm trying to get at is that I'm going to need a pretty big reason to rejoin Facebook.

It was pretty funny actually right before I clicked "Disable Account". Facebook makes the effort of displaying pictures of your friends who are "Going to miss you!". And right at the end of the list was a photo of Theresa.

And I started to laugh. No she won't.

No she won't.

An Assortment of Things

I've been mostly silent lately due to a lack of things to talk about. Well, not so much a lack of things, but rather, a lack of significant enough things to talk about. These last few weeks have been quiet for me, what with midterms brewing around the corner again I don't really have much time for hobbies.

At least, that's what a sane and responsible student would say.

This is what I say instead.

Thanks to my brother, Brian, I've been indulging in an old vice of mine. A decade ago I used to watch a lot of anime, but by the end of High School I dropped out of it and lost interest. It just wasn't for me anymore. Plus, I took a peek at what was being released and it was meh.

But then 2013 came online.

A lot of people are hailing 2013 as a revival of sorts, a lot of stellar animes were released that were unique in terms of both art and story. I guess people were tired of having to chose between either "cute" high school girls doing "cute" things or buff guys training harder to beat up other buff guys.

Unfortunately, none of the ones that I liked this season are PG so I'm not sure I can really share them on my blog. You either get an excessive amount of violence, fan service, or both. That doesn't deter from the fact that I really liked them and they're good, but I need to keep my blog family friendly.

Does this count as family friendly? Anyone who recognizes the reference gets 100 Dogecoin.

I also used to play a lot of Starcraft 2 back in my undergrad year. I liked it, it was a challenging and stimulating game that forced you to make decisions based on what your opponent was (or wasn't) doing on the fly. Failure to do so would mean a crippling defeat in the next few minutes.

Seriously. I have had games end in 6 minutes and 30 seconds because of a minor detail I missed 6 minutes into the game. Starcraft is an unforgiving and relentless monster and that's part of the reason why I stopped playing. I started getting angry, frustrated, and I just didn't have fun anymore. Enough was enough and so I stopped.

And my brother, the bad influence that he is, has converted me to League of Legends. A game that I swore I would never touch because I hate working with teammates.

But it's fun. I'm enjoying it. Every game can turn out vastly different, there's a variety of ways to play, a variety of characters to chose from, you can make mistakes early in the game and still win, it was easy to pick up, and if you want to goof around and play a round for fun, great. Starcraft didn't let me do any of these.

Starcraft also didn't let me play as a pyromaniacal little girl and her stuffed bear.

Though these indulgences may have to taper off in the near future. Second round of midterms may be coming up and I got an invitation to start marketing again. Anyone remember me doing that? The pay is good, hours flexible, and I could always use more money.

Hopefully things warm up though. It's been frosty over here and I'd rather not be outside in minus 30 degree weather.