random things

I am one of 150 million active Facebook users.

I joined the ranks 15 months ago and am proud to say I have 120 “friends.” Some people I know staunchly refuse to begin this second job, one that consists of status updating, wall conversing, tagging, posting news and video links, sending private messages, sharing pictures… and the latest craze: making a list of twenty-five random things about yourself.

Other friends have jumped in with both feet. I love reading what they are doing on any given day. I love studying their prized pictures of family, vacations or newly created artwork. I love connecting with people I haven’t seen or heard from in years. I love finding out about not-to-miss events or groups I can join and support.

(No, I am not on the payroll at Facebook.)

What I love most about this phenomenon is that people are THINKING!! WRITING!! And SHARING!! (Facebook is not new. High school and college kids have been using it for years to connect with one another. By the way, I feel certain that now with so many 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 somethings having contracted the Facebook fever, the younger users will move onto something else… let’s hope so; it’s too easy for parents to stay abreast of their kids’ foolish antics and innermost thoughts heretofore only shared at slumber parties.)

So, back to the twenty-five random things I mentioned in the first paragraph of this post. A few days ago, a good friend asked me to make such a list. I did. Next thing I knew, many of my Facebook friends were doing the same. These have made for entertaining and enlightening reads. I would like to share some of my favorites from various lists made by various people. These revealing snippets point to the fact that we all have it in us to think about what matters in our lives, to actually craft those thoughts into words and then to boldly share them with others.

Here are some of the greatest hits from the lists I have seen so far:

I pray even though I am agnostic.

I look in the mirror each morning and pull my face into the position it was 30 years ago, knowing full well that with the economy as it is, and with as much as I hate medical procedures I won’t do a damn thing about it.

I believe that if more people embraced foreign travel the world would be a different place.

I don’t know that I believe in religion but I do believe in a state of grace.

I think it's the civic duty of every single literate person to read at least one newspaper every single day.

I think a proclivity for exaggeration is generally underrated and is a worthy attribute in a person.

If you leave me someplace I will be there when you return.

I stuck Red Hots up my little brother's nose when he was sleeping.

I go to movies to cry.

I think libraries save multiple lives every day, and are the single most important thing that society must support.

My mother once used masking tape to fix my little sister’s hemline. I have learned lots of great tricks from my parents.

I was in the fourth grade and playing outside on the school playground when I found out that Kennedy had been assassinated.

If my brother jumps off a 45-foot rock quarry cliff, then I will too.

I like to stay up late and write because I feel there are fewer people using the airwaves and more room for me to think.

I talk to my father, even though he died many years ago.

(And here are some from my own list)

I am getting age spots on my hands. This I do not like one bit, especially when my husband reminds me that they are also referred to as liver spots.

When I was little, I pretended I had a horse. I rode him everywhere. When I went somewhere in the car with my family, I tied the horse to the back bumper and frequently glanced out the window to make sure he was still with us.

I don’t know if I really believe in God, but when I bite into a perfectly ripe avocado, I think there is no way that I cannot.

I would like to be buried in my cowboy boots.