NEW SERIES: Life In Terms Of...

So I thought I'd start up a new series - we've already got the lists of things to do in the face of boredom (and I plan on adding to that still... :D ), and in the interest of relieving boredom with a laugh, I thought I'd try something new.

So here it is - "Life In Terms Of...": Finding ways of explaining life through ordinary things that probably don't have anything to do with it anyway.

And up first? Life in Terms of...WEBSITES.


So, can you sum up life in the terms of a website? I happen to think so - and my examples are obvious: the 2 "super-ultimate-might-as-well-be-god-because everything-is-possible -on-them-websites" known as MySpace and Facebook.

I have to admit - I have been sucked in by both. I was fully taken in by the MySpace craze, starting as far back as when I was in high school over in SoCal. Of course, eventually the hype died off and logging into MySpace became a chore. And I'm a lazy individual so [chore = something I don't do.]

And now the same has happened with Facebook, only instead of hype pulling me in, it was my fiance. And again, the same thing happened - hype dies, using becomes a chore. Only much much quicker this time...

But enough about my experiences - on to the topic: can one relate a website to life? I happen to think so. MySpace for starters - on the MySpace site, you have at least one of the fundamentals of life: Interaction. You have the ability to interact with your "environment" by designing your page which also helps to define your individuality. You can interact with others - whole conversations of a deep and personal nature can be carried out with comments where only you and the rest of the world get to see them. You can upload photos, advertise a party and even write a suicide note. All this and more is possible in the world of MySpace. I still remember people asking my why I wasn't at some event or other. When I said "Where was my invite?" I'd get "I put it on MySpace, didn't you check?". On top of that you've got advertising, product placement, cliques, dating, instant messaging, email, music, art, acting, movies, stupidity, stalkers, and identity theft - all wrapped up in an HTML/CSS package. Hell, with a list like that, all you're missing is food, water, and air (and only because someone hasn't figure out the programming code for them, I'm sure).

And then comes Facebook. Remove the indiviualized pages, and a bit of the identity theft, spam and stalkers and you've got the same experience, but "BETTER". ** By "better" they must mean something that I'm not capable of comprehending, but that's just me. I must give credit where it's due though and point out that Facebook might as well be Life 2.0 with its slicker coding and better security. But I digress.

So, in simple terms (i.e. without whinging about trendy websites), how does life relate to websites? Well, when you break up the PURPOSE of a website, maybe the answer gets a little clearer... For instance, a website, in most cases, is an effort to gain recogition, but that's not all a site's purpose is limited to - some are a voice trying to be heard, some are there to pose questions, some find answers, and some just ARE the answers. Heck, there's websites to find your true love too. And, of course, Google rules them all.

Life? Well, I'd say a fair few people out there are searching for recognition, identity, individuality and answers. Some want to be heard, some want to hear, and in the middle of all this "life" you've got God running behind the scenes. Just like Google.

And that sounds like a nice conclusion to take out of context : "God is a lot like Google."

Or is it the other way around?

**Note how I didn't mention viruses in things removed. Mainly because if you focus on the negative impact on a company's productivity level due to Facebook, it pretty much becomes a virus on its own :p .**