The Great Debate

Wherein we will debate the greatness of 8.

Nahhh... not really. I was just fishin' for a title. No, today you will all be treated to a bit of a rant.

I often surf the internets (as Tiff likes to say), and almost daily find myself waiting for the content of the pages I'm hitting to load. What's the big deal with that you may ask? Well... I guess it all boils down to this...

Why is it that all the crap you don't really care about always has to load first? The banners, the borders, the ads... well... they all seem to be first on the list. The actual content that you want to see like a new post or topic always comes in very last. And heaven help me if it's a graphic heavy site. I know, I know... I live in the stix. BFE if you will, and for this "luxury" I'm forced to endure less than stellar internet service, but gadfry... it does get old.

But as bad as blogger is, it is much better than myspace. Myspace might possibly be the worst of the worst. The few times I've ventured over there it's been horrible. Not only do you have to wait until all the overabundance of crap that everyone throws on their sites loads up, but also the crapload of "cutsie" flock-shot comments too before any type of post appears. I don't know how people can actually stand it over there, but it could just be a generational thing.

Sometimes... less is more.

I've Got Friends in Low Places

Over at Beth's little blog, she was lamenting... actually she was freaking out, about having snakes on her lawn.

I happened to mention that I had a Bull Snake out on my driveway that day, and she was kinda freaked out that there was even such a thing as a Bull snake. Well...

Today some friends stopped in, and as they were driving into my yard, there it was again. So they got out and played with it for a wee bit, then came on in.

We vizted and shot the shi... ermmm... talked about random stuff for a while and then a storm blew in.

As with most storms in this area, that means a whole lot of wind, dirt, and a few drops of rain. But it was dirty enough that we came in from under the back awning and finished up in here.

So they decided to head out, and as they were leaving, one of them says, "I'd shut your back door if I was you, or that snake's gonna be living with you for the next few days." And right there NEXT TO THE BACK DOOR was my friendly little 3-4 foot bull snake. Then he pushed it's tail with his toe, much to my chagrin. Why? Because it headed toward the door! Not only that, but I was in standing next to him and not in a position to shut it!

I quickly sprung into action and headed ol' snakie off at the pass, or at least the screen door, and encouraged her to seek an alternate route, which she did.

So I had to grab the ol' camera and show off my newest pet to all of you. Enjoy!
In hiding.
Making her escape.

The fleeting glimpse.

Like Butter, I'm in a Role...

The interweb is a funny thing. It's an anonymous world and that lends itself to a great deal of... well... anonymity. With all that in mind, it's easy to develop an online persona much different than your real life personality.

There are some of you internetters that are the "what you see is what you get" types.

There are others of you that utilize this little world to become that which you want to be, rather than what you are.

Me? Well... I'm a combination of the two.

I first really started to come online a few years ago when I was into a science fiction show (quite possibly the best series ever) and missed an ep. Now, I'd lurked around this bulletin board dedicated to the show for a while, but never joined into the fray until then. I needed someone nearby to hook me up with that missed ep, and had to join the board in order to talk to anyone, so I did.

I found a gal in Utah that was a real sweetheart and sent me a tape of the ep. But I figured that I might as well jump around the board and engage a few of the regulars and see what was up. I was such a noob I didn't know how to post, PM (personal message) or use smilies.

The thing was, these folks were really a great bunch and schooled me quickly in all the intricacies of an online bulletin board. It wasn't long before I was hangin' out every night and started to make some good online acquaintances. I say acquaintances because we were awfully friendly, but it's hard for me to call anyone I've never met a "friend". I liked 'em, and I think they liked me, but... *shrug*

It was there that I met g_s, JG, Whosie, grinner, ShawnaTums, Blackthorn, Miss K, and later on KTM, PinTA, fermicat, BC, and KelleyRed. It was "fun times". Shoot, g_s posted his pic and even spawned a calendar. It was a blast.

It was there that I first started to develop my online reputation. Now I'm not going to tell you what that rep was/is, I'd hate to spoil your opinion of me like that. :P It still follows me around a bit.

But I will tell you this, I'm quite a bit different in real life than what you all see here. It's not that I lie online, it's just that most of you get to see a different aspect. Truth be told, my blog personality is a lot different than even my BB personality was. There's reasons for all that, but I won't reveal them. A magician never reveals his secrets... right?

So anyway... I typed all of that to ask this... Is your online persona a reflection of your real life personality? Are you quiet and shy in real life, but charming, warm, and witty in the etherworld? Are you a cast iron wench in real life AND online? Inquiring minds want to know...