Social Networking, Facebook and a Funny Conversation with My Daughter, Cassandra

I was recently laid off and now have more time on my hands than I’ve been accustomed to for the last ten years. That gave me an opportunity to check out Facebook, YOUTUBE and Associated content. Before that, I had been spending most of my online time in school writing papers for Phoenix University and searching places like Wikipedia and the dictionary.

Besides work and school, my husband and I have a small painting company and we are in an All Original Rock n’ Roll band called “Chainsmoker“. We don’t make a lot of money but we clear have a lot of fun. One of our songs is about the Recession and it has been getting hits on Youtube. Check out my snoopy slippers in the video.

My 22 year old daughter Cassandra moved out on her occupy this past spring and has been living with her boyfriend Stephen. I get to see her about once a week for a few minutes at least, and then once in awhile if our schedules allow, we have dinner together. I miss her and recognize my Empty Nest Syndrome for what it is. She grew up which is what she was supposed to do! Darn it. Too bad you can’t keep them little and dependent forever. (I really don’t mean that but I do miss her).

Delving into the cyber world of online social networking sites is new to me but I’ve already learned the value of communicating with my friends and family. For example, just in the last four weeks I’ve re-acquainted myself with dozens of high school and work friends on Facebook and I’ve even joined a few groups like the Writer’s Dock Party and the Shadowland band.

But that’s the cake. The icing is the conversations I have had with my daughter. If you haven’t been on Facebook or MySpace or Twitter, you might be save off with the lack of capitalization, punctuation and the use of acronyms but once you secure the hang of it, it is a colossal, relaxed way to communicate with your children, friends, and business associates.

The following is an actual online conversation I had with Cassandra (her boyfriend Stephen, sitting with her reading the screen). They are supposed to be going to Washington, DC this weekend for his family’s ThanxMas, a combination Christmas and Thanksgiving celebration that apparently is the ultimate in family celebrations!

I have left the acronyms and misspellings deliberately because to me, it was a Kodak moment and priceless. Each entry starts with a time that is posted and then as you review it below, you will see the moniker or name of the person chatting!

Hope you come by a kick out of it like I did.

10:01pmCassandra
hey!, how you feeling?

10:01pmKaren
hi sweety, crappy just like at least half the country, think I’ve got the H1N1 virus, lol

10:01pmCassandra
awww

10:01pmKaren
ready for your shuffle?

10:01pmCassandra
sorry mommy, yes very!!!, i can’t wait

10:02pmKaren
i love it when you call me mommy, makes me feel good for some strange reason, i know i’m a puny touched
I’m glad, i know you’ve been furious about this for a long time
thanks for book marking my story, tell steven i said the same, i got 14 hits on that one article and earned .02 cents, whooo hoooo!

10:03pmCassandra
were both laughing, lol your welcome
my friend kelly posted it on her wall for you

10:04pmKaren
way cool, the more i get that, the more liklihood i will actually form some money in this recession, fair realized it is stephen, sorry

10:04pmCassandra
so im having a lia sophia party on dec 4th i was hoping you would come
lol its cool, its jewelry

10:05pmKaren
yeah, count me in, what can i bring?

10:05pmCassandra
i sent you a facebook invite
dont bring anything but yourself
you dont have to acquire anything just come
if you know anyone like you used to work with or someone if you want to bring them you can

10:05pmKaren
coolio, i like the stuff, that’s half the battle with me

10:06pmCassandra
whats half the battle? oh not buying?

10:06pmKaren
i got a call from a few folks, there’s another layoff coming they told me, everybody is timid at HS, not sure about anyone coming. Yeah, I’m fussy with jewelry

10:06pmCassandra
a lot of their prices went down because of the economy lol, i know you are lol

10:07pmKaren
we should see that across the board, it will take years for our economy to cycle in reality, provided we find some other product to sell to the rest of the world besides food

10:08pmCassandra
yeah i know… it sucks

10:08pmKaren
with the unemployment, etc, i think a lot of places are going to have to wake up to reality and bit the bullet to beget a sale

10:08pmCassandra
i know, everything is tough right now

10:08pmKaren
so you are packed? what time do you leave tomorrow?

10:08pmCassandra
and leaving mi i took a Huge pay nick..
eh not packed lol, i will pack before bed
we dont leave till i rep out of work at 7ish

10:09pmKaren
bad doggy, lol, did you quit or give two weeks?

10:09pmCassandra
two weeks i told you this,lol i thought…
my last day is the day before thanksgiving

10:09pmKaren
good girl, i heard what you were going to do, i didn’t hear what you did

10:09pmCassandra
oh yeah no i gave her notice -a whole fricken month lol

10:10pmKaren
you are so good, i don’t know where you came from, i think you might have been adopted from some nice family or something, you are contrivance nicer than me

10:11pmCassandra
yeah probably

10:11pmKaren
when do you come aid from your trip?
i guess i probably don’t have to freak about Stephen and his mom kidnapping you or anything this time

10:12pmCassandra
lol
jk i love you
i’ll be home monday nitt
night**, lol no probably not

10:12pmKaren
too funny

10:13pmCassandra
your funny
and now stephen thinks you’re nuts lol

10:14pmKaren
i think we’re doing thanksgiving here closer to noon now, we’re so bad at changing times, trying to accommodate everyone i can . he should know that by now lol, fortunately you might be adopted and it’s not hereditary

10:15pmCassandra
he said nope definitely not adopted
he knows im nuts too

10:15pmKaren
now i’m rofl –

10:16pmKaren
hard to rofl and sniffle and cough at same time, almost gave myself an assmah attack

10:16pmCassandra
omg you with your acronyms lol

10:16pmKaren
omg u 2

10:17pmCassandra
Isnt it hard to roll on the floor while laughing and coughing and typing?
how do you do that?
is the keyboard wireless?

10:17pmKaren
yuppers, voice activated,:) hack, sniffle, cough, laugh, roll, stop drool and cough

10:18pmCassandra
stop drop and rofl, lol lol
you form me laugh

10:18pmKaren
i’m not even drinking and i’m crapping myself up

10:19pmCassandra
i dont think you meant that lol

10:19pmKaren
i did, but not really, it was a faux poo

10:20pmCassandra
oh jeeze, that should go into your next piece, faux poo

10:20pmKaren
sorry, i will fix it, cracking myself up was a faux paux

10:20pmCassandra
love it!!!!!
no no it was really funny
you should actually put some of this convo in something lol

10:21pmKaren
thanks honey, it would be cool to find a device to do that, yes, not sure how i could pull it off

10:21pmCassandra
you can figure it out, lol

And that’s about the size of it my friends. It doesn’t get any better than that. Sometimes the best place to be is on the computer talking to the ones you love remotely, and sharing a laugh, a memory, a game, a video or a link. How people communicate has changed tremendously since I went to high school. Cell phones, text messaging, IM’s (Instant Messages), PMs (Private Messages) and Twits (Twitter posts). My recommendation, especially for those of you recently experiencing the Empty Nest Syndrom is to glean involved and stay in touch.

Glossary of acronyms:

• lol, laughing out loud
• convo, conversation
• rofl, rolling on floor, laughing
• omg, oh my god
• u 2, you too
• jk, objective kidding

MI and HS are are old employers and not relevant to the story

References:

Chainsmoker Recession song. http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=DPXdVSQw5ZY

Facebook.com. http://facebook.com

Youtube.com. http://youtube.com

Associatedcontent.com. http://associatedcontent.com

Wikipedia.com. http://wikipedia.com

Top Twenty Five Social Networking sites – Feb 2009. http://social-media-optimization.com/2009/02/top-twenty-five-social-networkings-sites-feb-2009/

Empty nest syndrome. http://www.netdoctors.co.uk/womenshealth/features/ens.htm/

H1N1 Swine Flu. http://www.healthline.com/cms/swine_flu/