Albert Einstein
Seriously, yes I am! I know I have been MIA for a couple of weeks and one might think the worst; like “oh dear, she must be really sick” or “oh my things must be going badly for her right now”…
Well I’m here to say NOT SO! I have been busy, busy, busy. And of course I am over-committed so unlike Einstein, for some reason I don’t have enough hours in the day to do all that I want to do and I have pushed off writing a blog. On the other hand since I am a staunch believer in the fact that people do what they want to do all the time, I may have to try to be more honest with myself and my readers.
It’s true I have been working and the fruits of those labors came true when I was able to list a property for sale in my building. It took a few visits and a lot of time spent staging it but it was well worth it. I put it on the market on Friday and the first showings and Open House were on Sunday and on Monday we had one offer, on Tuesday we two offers, on Wednesday we had three offers. On Thursday I l left town to fulfill my other business obligation. It’s not very easy to serve two masters in two different states even if they are adjacent.
Someone will surely suffer or both and neither will be happy and then I’ll be out on both accounts. So this weekend I have to settle the issue and am dreading the conversation. I don’t want to let anyone down, I commit and I stay with it, I take responsibility to a degree that actually is self-destructive by putting other people’s needs above my own. This time my own level of stress has been so great that I am going to push through my anxiety and confront the issue. So many factors to consider.
So busy with two jobs, running between two states and all the rest of life’s miseries still in place, although I haven’t written any blogs in two weeks, I have found time to play Scrabble, I did get a pedicure, I did have breakfast with a friend, I did play one game of Mah Jongg and I did go out one night to dinner and a show with friends and I did go to the doctor’s one day. Well that’s the truth dear readers and I did all that rather than try to write a blog.
Did I have writer’s block? No, my friend Gail has sent me several articles I have saved because I want to use the material. There was one reason I postponed and postponed and it began on Mother’s Day. I wanted to write a loving blog in memory of my mother but instead we were out and then back in the car to NYC and then back into a grinding routine. My birthday followed shortly after and I wanted to write about this particular birthday and my mother. I started many times to formulate it in my head. I knew it was going to be heavy and so I kept procrastinating. Memorial Day came and went and we had company and we went to a barbeque and we went out to dinner and then we worked here in NJ and then home again-still the blog haunts me.
I may have to try to write it soon, I think it will be cathartic.
This weekend is for seeing a first cousin who I haven’t seen since she was little and I have no idea of how many years have passed. She and another first cousin who I have never met – And this is on my mother’s side….the unwritten blog is sending me a message. But doesn’t it know I have to work tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night and Sunday and then drive back to NYC really early Monday so I can go to work there? Have mercy!
It happens to be pouring rain outside this morning which is making the whole yard a deep bright green. I glanced out the window and am wondering where the newspaper is, perhaps it floated away.
Have a delightful day, I’ll be back.
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Bill Ding and his band of clowns are the security patrol for this blog site. He is a favorite toy from the 50*s. By the way sometimes a blog is just an ego-maniacal stream of conscience.
Pbenjay's Blog 
The Social Network
Posted in From My Point of View - Personal commentary on Movies and Books, tagged Facebook, Harvard, Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg, Napster, Online Communities, Scrabble, Shawn Fanning, Social network on October 19, 2010| 6 Comments »
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Already touted as the best movie of the year, I really enjoyed seeing this film last week. Best movie? Well that may be a bit of a stretch… I think the most riveting aspect of The Social Network is the portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg by Jessie Eisenberg. He was quite amazing; deadpan face, a voice devoid of emotion, totally lacking in any social graces and barely socialized as a member of the human race – I really wondered if the real Mark Zuckerberg is or was like this. I mean this character is the geekiest of the geeks and the nerdiest of the nerds.
I think those of us who are extroverted and cognizant of society’s mores think those others like being that way; that it’s a choice to be weird and withdrawn. However, we’re wrong – this movie is an insight into the pain of the outcast, the overlooked and the obvious misfit.
There are lots of ways to draw attention to yourself and most people do it purposefully. For example, it was difficult to determine if Mark’s choice of shorts and sandals in the winter were an affectation ( I think not) or was he just so…., SO unaware? Or I can’t even think of the word or words that describe someone who is not just walking to the beat of a different drummer, he is actually in another band all together.
I love Facebook; it has enabled me to reconnect with old friends and neighbors; it has given me some interesting insights into my adult children’s world and I like playing Scrabble too. lol. I think what I find fun and exciting in Facebook is pretty universal…so how did this great social network have its genesis in the twisted and distorted vision of a young alienated college kid? I don’t know and he’s (Mark) not saying! The movie leads us to believe that basically the first incarnation of what later became Facebook was a website rating the hotness of female students in Harvard and surrounding schools.
Mark’s uncanny ability to write program and his roommate’s ability to write checks ultimately produced the web site that has rocked the world! And made Mark a billionaire and put some big bucks in a few other pockets too because this rise to financial stardom came with the price tag of the lost friendship of the only friend he had, attorney’s fees, lawsuits and a bunch of hangers-on who drank and drugged with his money. And while the booze flowed and the entourage grew larger and larger, he seemed oblivious to the fact that he was losing both control and his partner.
But it was all about the pain; the longing to be with a girl who would accept him for he was; a nerd and a geek and a very brilliant one at that. The website wasn’t a way to meet girls but rather a weapon; a means to strike back at all the girls who over the years had ignored him, humiliated him and rejected him.
There was one particular characteristic that I found oddly refreshing in a shocking sort of way. It was the way in which Mark spoke to people; seemingly unconscious that his words might hurt someone, or that his remarks might be inappropriate. He opened his mouth and what came out was exactly what was on his mind, he never minced words. In some instances, it was his own self-aggrandizement and his complete confidence in his own point of view that kept him from tempering his words, often insulting people with his own knowledge.
Interesting insight into Napster creator, Shawn Fanning and the seduction of Mark Zuckerberg by this high-flying wheeler-dealer Californian.
The last word – Facebook is a raving social network success in spite of Mark Zuckerberg, the most un-socialized persona I’ve ever come across.
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