Mootpoint

It’s almost the shortest day (tomorrow I think), and the combination of the rapid onset of winter, reaching the halfway mark of the coursework part of the programme, and my high levels of procrastination via internet, are combining to deliver me into not the greatest place. Which is a real pain, as everything was good just a few days ago. Ah well, they’ll no doubt be all good again in just a few days.

But, while I’m in the right sort of headspace for this sort of thing, it has got me wondering about what does and does not belong on the internet, and how each of the multitude of forms of communication at my fingertips should best be used, and whether they should be used at all!

At last count, I have three active email addresses, one blog, a LiveJournal account, a Twitter account, a MySpace account, a Bebo account, a Facebook account, and a Last.fm account. I’m on ICQ, Skype, MSN Messenger and Gtalk. Along more traditional lines, I have a landline and a cell phone, although as I’m no longer working, I don’t have a fax or an office phone. You could even send me a *gasp* letter, if you felt the need. Oh, and, failing all that, maybe even grabbing a coffee and having a chat would do the trick.

I don’t think I’m missing anything above, although I didn’t go into the fact that things like Facebook have multiple ways of contacting or “interacting” with people, so they count for more than just one entry, really. And I don’t think I’m the most connected out of the people I know either!

Sometimes, when faced with all these ways of communicating with people, (oh, and when I say “communicating”, I guess I’m including passive forms of communication where you tell the world about who you are and what you’re doing, rather than only messages directed at specific people), I get the feeling you get when you walk into a room that’s full of heaps of people you know from all the different parts of your life. That uncomfortable “who am I” feeling, when you suddenly realise that you’re actually several different things to several different groups of people. And I wonder whether that’s a good or a bad thing, whether there’s a reason for that – should you keep all the bits separate?

Maybe the online personality, such that it is, is something that you develop through these sites. Are people really the way they say they are, online? Or does the slightly removed, almost anonymous effect mean that people develop a different identity when using a blog or a Facebook account? And does this online personality change from medium to medium? Are people different on MySpace to how they are on Twitter? (And while I’m here, one “blogs”, right, so does that mean that one “twits”? Cos that, given some of the entries I’ve read, would be oh so appropriate.) Or perhaps you become like those people who seem to have sorted out their “photograph face”, who have that smile that they use in all the photos that get taken of them that you never see them use at any other time? I know people who are totally not who they appear in real life when they appear online, whether that be a blog or otherwise, as I’m sure everyone does.

I’d love to know what effect on people’s identity formation sites like these have had, whether they have an effect at all. Or perhaps not? Thoughts?

Then I begin to wonder whether any of it is worthwhile, or whether it’s be a much better idea to cancel all the accounts and restrict myself to the odd email, a phone call or two from far flung places, letters (remember the joy of opening a letter, actually handwritten for you by someone?) and face to face only, so when I run into an old friend who I haven’t seen in years, there really is a whole pile of stuff to talk about. Totally drop off the face of the earth, or the internet, to be more precise. (Kind of like how there are two types of traveller, the ones who you keep in touch with online all the time so it’s really just like they’ve popped into the next room for a bit as opposed to travelling halfway round the world, and the ones who when they go away, they go away. I think my Dad falls into the second category, although I’m sure that’s at least partly because he probably hasn’t quite figured out how to use internet cafes yet.)

But would that just mean that you drift apart more? I guess, then, that another question to ask is how much more groups of friends stick together, or whether people now operate with a much wider group of friends and acquaintances now than they ever used to – what are the positive effects of all this sort of tech?

How has it changed how individuals conceptualise self? How has it changed how we all “stick together”, as it were, in society? I know there’ll be stuff out there written about it, books, articles, studies, documentaries, piles of the stuff, hours even, all available at a click of a button or a quick trip to the library. But I’m really not in the mood for reading or investigating, just for musing.

So, one thousand words written today, and none of them to do with either the budget or Fisher and Paykel Healthcare. What did procrastinators do before the internet?

(And then, just as I finish writing this blog, my cell phone alarm goes off to remind me that it’s a friend’s birthday. A friend in far away places, who I can send a quick message to say that I’m wishing him well precisely because of the forms of communication I’ve talked about above. And it reminds me that perhaps I think they are good things, when you get right down to it. Happy birthday Corey!)

As for the song of the week, the one that matches my current mood, (although not, I’ll admit, the content of the blog) is Sting’s Shape of my Heart. Not Damien Rice for a change, but really damn good, and this version is especially cool.

The interesting thing about having written down a plan for life, being a required part of a course last semester and all, is that when opportunity knocks, there’s actually something to measure that opportunity against. It’s no longer just a case of going “Woohoo! Opportunity! Go!” It’s a (slightly) more measured response, with pros and cons and the whole shebang, which can then be measured against the existing plan to see if it is better or worse. The plan provides a baseline comparison, as Si put it.

So when the opportunity to go to apply for a PhD scholarship at Limerick (as in Ireland) University, writing a thesis on the aviation industry and the EU’s energy policy (I mean seriously, how cool would that be? Very cool!) arrived in my inbox, after the initial rush of “Exciting! Yeah!” passed, there was some yardstick to measure that new future with my current future. It didn’t measure up, as it turns out, so I think I’ll let it pass. More money, that’s what I need, so a job (shock horror) would be more appropriate at the end of the MBA, rather than yet another thesis.

And thanks once again to the TBALC brains trust, who are an excellent resource for offering advice. It really is quite amazing the range of responses you get from a somewhat similar group of people!

Probably the best idea was from Claire, who declared that if I was to be based in Ireland, I could spend three years stalking Damien Rice. Fanboy that I am, it’s an ever so slightly creepy plan, but, it does make for an excellent segue from talk of a PhD into your Weekly Dose of Damien. (Well, everyone but Scott, who refuses to click on the YouTube video links. And don’t worry, I’ll get sick of this schtick soon enough.)

This week, it’s a version of one of my favourites, La Professor La Fille Danse….

Don’t ask me to sing the French bit at parties.

So, other than PhD dreams, this week hasn’t had a whole lot going on.

One expedition of note, our second visit to Fat Eddie’s on the weekend wasn’t quite as successful as the first, especially in terms of the number of bartenders to people wanting to be served. Took some time to wave down the bartender, and in the meantime I started writing a journal entry about supply and demand for my Business Economics assessment in my head. Quite apart from the fact that that last sentence was intensely geeky, the journal in question is really interesting (no, wait, I’ll get to the interesting bit) as it’s made up of everyday observations put in terms of whatever economic theory we’re studying at the time, and reading back through it I realise that around 90% of my entries are about either (a) the fact the MBA is sucking up all my time and money (which in actual fact it isn’t, I just like to complain), (b) musing on carbon sinks and carbon trading, or (c) bars. Seriously, it’s like a glimpse into my current state of being, where life is tending to revolve around these three themes. I’m actually not terribly upset about this.

But wait, more stuff happened as well. Like the Felt website being launched. You should go there and check it out, as it’s a friend’s new business, and if I haven’t spammed you about it already, I probably don’t have your email address. Tell all the crafty type people you know. Do it!

And what else, hmm. Facebook. Yes, that happened. To me even. *Shakes fist in Si’s general direction*

So, Dad hopped on the plane for Melbourne this morning, the first part of his round-the-world, seven-month-long, I’ve-just-retired-and-god-I’m-bored trip. It’s a pretty cool itinerary he’s got, but I seriously hope he manages to make it through some of the less than safe places he’s heading to in one piece. As Liz (his partner) pointed out, he may ask for a lot of advice, but he seldom takes it, and I hope that doesn’t catch him out. Hmm. And that he makes it through the full seven months.

All going well, hopefully he’ll come back just that slightly more open-minded and world-wise. Nah, who am I kidding, just as long as he has fun!

What it does mean is that I’m now very completely the only member of my family left in Christchurch. So if one of the reasons for traveling is to get away from the family, well, I seem to have accomplished that already.

Sunday was a very slow, low day, thanks to excessive amounts of alcohol consumed (reading back through blogs, this would appear to be a common theme, ah well, you get that I guess) at Mary and Charles’ going away / we’re engaged party on Saturday. Congrats and huzzah and all the rest to both of them (Tim, we’ve almost reached the “letting the side down” stage I feel), and another bon voyage to Lisa and Dan and the rest of the Loopen crew who headed off to South America this week to tour a show and generally have an awesome time. What’s more, between bouts of hangover and some frenzied cooking, one exceptionally good discovery of Sunday was a series of YouTube videos of a Damien Rice concert I hadn’t stumbled on before.

Here’s one of them now.

Well, I liked it, (and I’m pretty sure there’s a bit in there that reminds me of the Neverhood soundtrack). The others vids are pretty cool as well – although a lot of them have the annoying thing where the camera focuses on the guitar, but only on the hand strumming, not the hand playing the chords. Grr, so frustrating.

And, firmly lodged in the “And that was a good night” files forever more, the 48 Hour Film Competition Christchurch regional finals saw TBALC’s “Painkiller: the Sick Sense” nominated for best script and best use of prop, and winning the best use of character! Fan-frickin-tastic, and great job to the whole team, as I’d hazard a guess that the strength of our film in these areas was largely the result of the full team brainstorming efforts at the very outset of the competition. Watching the other finalists, especially the likes of The Outwits’ winning film, it’s pretty obvious that these were the only kind of areas where we could really compete given our editing-in-our-lounge technical styles, and it was pretty gratifying to hear the crowd laughing at all the right places… Congrats to all the other finalists as well, especially Matt’s team who took away a couple of awards as well.

So, next year…