(or “The One SIMPLE REASON You Need to Be On Facebook”)
I’ve been thinking a lot about Facebook lately, and why it is so great. Not iPhone-great, but almost Wikipedia-great: it has changed the way I use the web, and my life in the real world is richer because of it. Also, I’ve been trying to get all my friends on Facebook. So this blog post is my attempt to convince my hold-out friends (Gretchen, Kelly & Brian, Chell, Greg & Nina!) Feel free to send it to the FB holdouts you know!
THE ONE SIMPLE REASON YOU NEED TO BE ON FACEBOOK: Facebook makes 90% of your friends much more present in your life than ever before. Seriously!
ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN:
Most of you have a set of friends that you see often: you know what they are up to, how their love lives are going, what their life is like, what movie they just saw, what they are doing this weekend. You often know what they had for breakfast. You call them, they call you, you go out with them, they come over. Things are great. This is your circle of immediate, close friends.
But all of us have friends at circles farther out in our lives. There is the set of close friends that you don’t see as often as your immediate, close friends. There is the set of close friends who live far away. And then there are the good friends who simply aren’t close friends. And so on & so on, there are circles of friends going farther and farther out. I’d imagine that 90% of my friends are in one of those outer circles.
Connecting you to these people is where Facebook really shines:
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So… there are many fun Indian traditions and holidays…. and I’ve gotten to do none of them. Zilch. None. Never.
Until yesterday 
Most of the Crew
Aparna Abuse (click image for more pix)
For some reason, as a child we skipped all the fun Indian activities and holidays. It was probably for a lot of reasons, but fundamentally maybe there just weren’t enough Indians around in North Carolina 30 years ago? Sort of a cultural critical mass problem?
Anyway, here in the Yay! Area, we don’t have that problem. And thus, every year, the kids at Stanford do a Holi celebration. Holi is the Indian festival of colors & I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do it. I finally made it down this year…..
Click HERE for more…
Here is a handy FAQ about my 40th Birthday bash, held this past weekend:
Q: Did you have fun?
A: Woooooooooooo! Woooooooooooo! STILL BASKING! I hope some of you had at least half as munch fun as I did. SO. MUCH. FUN.
Q: How many people showed up?
A: I’d LOVE to know – anybody have any good guesses? At it’s peak maybe 150? 200? Anyone? And how many people over the course of the night?
Q: Do I have to look through all 300 odd pix of your party?
A: Um. No. But I seriously recommend this quick-n’dirty little video I made. Just watch a little – All your friends are doing it. You can quit at any time. Really – go on:
Music: “Don’t Stop Believin’ In Planet Rock: JOURNEY vs. AFRIKA BAMBAATAA” by the AWESOME A Plus D – the hosts of Bootie – my favorite dance party.
Q: The video is great and all but I wanna see pix, yo!?
A:
- The best 50 shots (on FaceBook – these shots all come from the two links below)
- The best of all the photo booth shots
- The best of the random shots
Q: Wow what was the story on the awesome photo booth?
A: Mark Johnson loaned us most of the equipment, Adrian Cotter provided the rest and manned the booth most of the night. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME. And whilst I’m at it, big thanks to Marc Fong for the disco ball & lighting – rockstars all and all!
Q: Where did you get those awesome cupcakes you were giving out!? Why didn’t I get one?
A: Kara’s Cupcakes! Shocking fact: the white ones are better than the chocolate ones. Shocking. There were only 100 – and I ate one – so 99
Q: Why GLAM?
A: GLAM – because I love bright shiny things. When i turned 31 I decided to reclaim my love of all things shiny, sparkly & bright. Guys (at least straight ones) aren’t supposed to love that stuff as much as I do. Yeah. Whatever. It’s been all GLAM ever since You can find pix of them all here.
Q: Why a Day of the Dead party?
A: Why “Dia De Los Muertos?” – because I’m 40!!!! Holy Frijoles! Here’s what I wrote in the invite:
As the Wikipedia says “Many people believe that during the Day of the Dead, it is easier for the souls of the departed to visit the living.” And what could be more appropriate for my 40th Birthday? Now that I’m officially dead, the best way for me to visit with you would be my Day of the Dead Party!
Q: What was up with the alien mask?
A: Many years at my GLAM Parties I try elaborate facepaint. I always think I look hideous in the photos. This year inspiration struck. Unfortunately it struck two days before my party, so I had to scramble. And BTW, IT WAS A SKULL DAMMIT!
Q: What was the best costume!??
A: Every year, someone blows me away withe the unexpected. And this year, while Steve G’s macrame ensemble was lovely (though glam?), Adrian’s Day of the Dead work was AMAZING. You MUST check it out here.
Q: So how do you feel now that you’re 40?
A: Eh? What’s that sonny? I can’t hear you?…. hey you kids! get off my lawn!
Seriously – I’m really lucky. You all made this a fantastic birthday party. I really do put a lot into making stuff like this happen, but I get so much more than I put in because of all you fine folks. I love you guys!
(Note: Update 5/21/10 – added link to Adrian’s flickr stream of his costume & fixed typo.)
