Let's talk about the internet while we are surfing the internet!

Greetings!

I think I'll start off with how happy I am to have a space to talk about stuff. One thing I have always thought was amazing was how my generation and younger generations have utilized and continue to utilize the internet as it grows with us. The internet ages, gets better, makes mistakes just like people do, and I think it's awesome how the internet has provided the space to do literally ANYTHING.

I was raised with the internet. For a long time, and in a lot of ways, I have always wondered why that was a negative thing. I had a difficult time growing up, and my parents went their separate ways and left me to pick up where they left off. The internet in our household was always being argued about (among other things) and often I had to listen to my parents lecture me about spammy sites and mysterious viruses and how much money we were spending on games or the internet. Since we came from a place of poverty (Mom and Dad were working a couple of jobs each at any given time when they were together), it was a precious luxury to have the internet in our house (where I could literally play Neopets all day long if I really wanted to). Truth is, I spent a lot of time outside playing with sticks and rocks, and it was probably better that I at least had the option of learning something in my free time, which would always make my mom really happy (anyone remember the Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? game?). Besides playing Dollmaker games (where my absolute LOVE of pixel graphics is rooted), I don't ever really remember what else I did, after a while. My music tastes broadened because of the internet and I guess I was pretty into Myspace (RIP) and, I don't know, downloading crap off of Limewire? Let's just say when I was 12 I had no idea really what the internet could do. 

Our society as a whole was learning how to use the internet in a way that would make progress happen, and shit, I'm glad it did. Honestly who wants another Stickdeath? I can understand that folks feel like the internet has warped our idea of socialization. I often hear others scrutinizing how facebook is this great big façade and it actually stunts our social growth: "Fuck, just go outside and stop looking at your damn phone, talk to reeeaaaalll people". Facebook has also developed in the last few years into a kind of shitty "like/share if you want this puppy to live" machine, not to mention fake likes. However, I cannot imagine going back to a time without it. people wouldn't know what to do for such a long time. Even if we took the internet away gradually (won't happen ever), there are always going to be people who are making something, doing something to progress our society using technology. The internet is only a means to share with everyone on the planet what it is you are doing.

That can be good and bad. There a buttload of assholes (hah!). Some of them realize they are assholes, and some of them don't, but they are still there, with their stupid opinions that are not the same as yours, and there are even assholes who bully other people to the point of suicide.Yuck. There are lots more kinds of assholes, I just don't really feel like talking too much about them. More to the point, everything has it's drawbacks, but with this one, our culture is learning how to deal with these people, learning as a whole how to fight oppressive people and ways of thinking. In the meantime, someone is coming up with an amazing way to do something nobody has ever heard of, and that person will be able to tell everybody all about it from their isolated little cottage in, I don't know, Sweden.

Which brings me to one of my very favorite parts about the internet (along with Bub, nail poish tutorials, and shopping for things I don't need): CROWDSOURCING. Holy shit. You have no idea how often I have been brought to tears by complete strangers helping complete strangers. So much can be done for our society using the internet, just by using it the right way. I could invent a thing, and get it funded to the point of making it happen! Recently this video about solar roadways went viral and succeeded at raising ONE MILLION DOLLARS funding the project. My close friend makes a living doing freelance photography, and is currently doing a kickstarter to help her get what she needs to keep making a living. Seriously, crowdsourcing has done everything from conceptualizing a hotel to helping people get the surgeries they need to stay alive. I'm a big fan of TEDTalks (Amanda Palmer actually did one on this very subject!), and often I have found myself so overcome with joy because of stories where people came together to help one another, I have laugh-cried. I would also like to mention the time I came across the Reddit community /r/Random_Acts_Of_Pizza. I actually ended up getting a pizza for a celebration for my friend who was having a hard time making ends meet.

I love having my faith restored, and even through a lot of shitty things happen all over the place, it calms me down and makes me feel like maybe we wont wreck everything. Maybe people don't always have to suffer. And maybe, just maybe, we will continue to make progress and become a peaceful species.

http://www.milkbbi.com/

Yeah, so that's why I like the internet.

Comment and tell me one of your favorite things to do on the internet back when Geocities still existed!

XOXO

An Introduction

Hello lovelies! 

It is with great joy that I introduce to you my new (old..) blog! I started this blog in 2009, and very quickly abandoned it. I had very little resources at the time, and I created it with the intention of using it, of course, but by and by, things sometimes do not work out how we intend. Oops!

I think at this point in my life, I am lacking a lot of self-awareness. I'm growing into who I want to be, but my vision can be clouded by all the extras. Having a job, spending money, paying rent, doing the dishes, worrying about what I say in front of people, video games (that's a big one) and instagram/snapchat/facebook/my new smartphone in general, all these things cloud my vision of who I want to be. I can still see it, it's just on the back-burner a lot of the time. I can be so focused on publicizing the good parts, I don't always have enough room or time (let's be real though, I usually have the time, it's the motivation I lack) to really talk about what I did, or what led up to me taking a picture of the bajillionth flower or cat, or talking about food I ate or a game I like/dislike. With most forms of social media, nobody seems interested in what inspires me or who is important to me, or thoughts about my body, nobody seems to care about the person I want to be, who is constantly changing anyways. 

I have a few goals for this blog:

1. To post at least somewhat regularly. I'm hoping at the very least, a monthly post. It's kind of like being fashionably late.

2. To post good content. Photos from real life, long texts talking about what's been happening in my life, inspirations, and lists of my wants, needs, and ideas. Also lots of practice with html!

3. To design a blog that is visually appealing not only to me but to others.

4. To change and grow in a positive direction.

5. To use positive language and positive visual aid, and to push through my "silliness" threshold. This will help me stay positive even during times when I do not necessarily feel like I can.

These goals are subject to change whenever I so choose, but by writing them down, I am committing to them for now, at the very least!

So that's it for now, I will post something better and more to the point tomorrow after I figure out how the hell to make this blog look WAY better than it does. Until then, leave a comment and tell me a few of your favorite things! I look forward to it!

XOXO

8-Bit Operators - "Blackbird"

From the album: "Wanna Hld Yr Handheld: A Tribute to The Beatles"