Monday, September 6, 2010

And Twitter, too

So KarenG's a superstar. I picture her doing the Molly Shannon "Superstar!" right about now...

And I'm sending her all the B-love for giving me an excuse to befriend some of you cool folks I've been seeing around the blogosphere w/o seeming creepy or stalkerish...

In my ice distribution, I read a funny post where one of my new blogging buddies was feeling "old" because she didn't get Yo Gabba Gabba (Vicki).

You know what made ME feel old? Twitter.

I'm sure I'm over-thinking it. And friends I hang with in person always give me heck because I don't text either.

But that's largely due to the fact that the mobile communication industry still hasn't streamlined their product.

I mean, seriously, people. You buy a PC, regardless of brand, and you know how to use it.

You buy a Mac, you scratch your head for six months, you figure out how to use it, you fall in love with it, you realize there's no software for it and the only people using it are graphic designers, then you go back and buy another PC and fondly remember the days when you had a Mac and it was SO COOL.

Sorry... digression.

But am I the only one who is tired of having to learn a new phone every two years? My contract's up, but I'm holding on to my little pink flip phone til it thunders.

Which brings us back to Twitter. You're really supposed to tweet from your phone, right? And anybody can follow you. You don't "lock" your tweets. That's like blocking anonymous comments on your blog...

See? I am trying. It's just weird to me. Because, for one I'm not convinced I'm that interesting. And for two, well, I end up knowing all this personal stuff about people I don't really know.

Like for example: Natalie Fischer had a cold last week.

[Fast bkg: I did a webinar w/Ms. Fischer a week ago (Thanks, Candy!) and she specified we had to have a Twitter account. I've actually had a Twitter account for three years so I went back and played with it, added Fischer as one of my "Follow"s, and now I get her updates all the time.]

I now know Ms. Fischer's a recovering Cheez-It addict (like me) and when she was sick her boyfriend brought her liquid Nyquil. This made her very unhappy...

(Personally, when I was pre-kids and sick, I chugged liquid Nyquil like it was Coke. It was the night time sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, why am I on my bathroom floor? medicine. Remember that?)

But good lord, we are not friends. She is not my agent. She might possibly be my agent one day, but at this point she's a total stranger to me. And yet I know all this about her life... I feel like a creepy stalker!

On Friday, when I sneaked a Cheez-it while packing the girls' school snacks, Natalie Fischer crossed my mind...! And I'm supposed to be doing this with hundreds... thousands of people?

All charting my every move?

So in the same way I argued with Vicki--"all the music for Yo Gabba Gabba is by Mark Mothersbaugh! They have Biz Markie doing the beat of the day!"--feel free to argue with me about Twitter.

Help Grandma understand The Twitter, people. Did I just hear thunder?

B-love~

32 comments:

Vicki Rocho said...

Hey...something we can agree on! I don't tweet either. I have an account but I don't even know my password anymore.

Oh, and thanks to you "Don't Bite Your Friends" has been running in my head ALL weekend. I'm sooooo going to have to get even!

Kittie Howard said...

I tweeted for a bit, then dropped it. I've got a life to live, not tweet! Thanks for speaking out.

S.A. Larsenッ said...

OMGosh, you crack me up! I'm so on the same page as you. Totally true. I've been tweeting for about three months and I'm still not sure what the deal is. I've been told not to use it solely for self-promotion; peeps don't like that. Then I've also been told not to put too much personal stuff--opinions or griping--on there. Okay, so what???

Natasha said...

Here's the deal, Leigh. When you figure out what to do with Twitter, you let me know, and I remain your BFF.

Mason Canyon said...

Your post had me smiling because I've found someone who looks at technology the way I do. LOL I had my cellphone until it died and the only reason I changed phones (which I dislike) is because my phone was no longer made or had batteries for. So I was FORCED to change. I'm on Twitter, but I'm not sure what it's all about.

BTW, nice to meet you. I came by way of Rayna's site.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

LTM said...

@... everybody! LOL! no no no---see you're supposed to be convincing Grandma why she SHOULD be on The Twitter. :D

@Vicki: Party in my Tummy?

@Kitty: Solidarity! ... no, wait. See above... ;p

@Sher: omg! Then I would totally do it ALL WRONG... Isn't it supposed to be one of our mkt tools? %p

@Rayna: Deal... only. I was hoping we could reverse it... :D

@Mason: welcome! I actually like getting new computers & ipods... (that reads like it happens way more than it does...) I just have some sort of phone block. I'm convinced it's b/c there's no consistency in them. :o\

Candyland said...

HAHA! You're so crazy! I use Twitter for blog linkage and random crap. And I like liquid Nyquil!

Unknown said...

I've just learned how to tweet and chose some online twitter buddies to help me through the process. Now I'm addicted and can't help it!

It's all about learning each step and even though I've got this blogging thing down (I think) and twitter I had to ask for help!

Shelley Sly said...

I just discovered your blog through the BBQ going on at Karen's, and your post really made me chuckle. I haven't gotten into Twitter yet (and I'm of the *cough* "young" generation that's supposed to get it) but I feel a little funny not only reading these little tidbits about people's lives, but also being expected to share my own. Do people really want to know that I'm eating Honey Nut Cheerios right now? (True story. I totally am.)

Anyway, love the blog and definitely following! :)

Unknown said...

I've got to say, I'm new to Twitter (and FaceBook, as of last week) and really enjoying it. Although, I do feel a hundred times less clever than the other tweeps out there... But, I don't have internet access on my phone. I do everything from my trusty desktop. That's going to have to wait, until I can afford web service on my phone, and until I have completely figured out Twitter and FaceBook.

Speaking of, I'm @NicoleDwrites on Twitter, and I'm checking out your FB as soon as I send this, via your sidebar badge :D

Happy Labor Day, Grandma!

Tina said...

Hi Leigh, nice to meet you! Rayna gave us the award today, so I thought I'd stop by. LOVED this post, and the humor in it. I'm still in the stage where I adore my mac to death. I used to be where you were with cell phones, and then my brother gave me his used iPhone when he upgraded...and I'm hooked. Completely. I bought the book, "The Missing iPhone Manual" the book that should have come in the box. It was a hoot, and I learned about all the bells and whistles of my new toy. Twitter? I don't get it. Seriously. Isn't facebook personal enough?
Tina from Life is Good.

Kath said...

Hi Leigh, I've popped over from KarenG's BBQ and I have to sing the praises of Twitter. I found KarenG and her blog through it and, after 7 years of trying to find a local writer's group (I live on a mountain in Wales) I've now found one through Twitter. They're all on Twitter. So, what I can't have IRL, I have every time I drop in to tweet. Twitter keeps me sane-ish!

RosieC said...

Whoa! Hold the phone there, Leigh! I love my Mac, there's plenty of software for it, I don't do graphic design, and I will never buy another PC again because I don't get viruses and my computer doesn't flash the blue screen of death when I try to open the smallest of applications.

*breathing* *recovering-from-the-run-on*

Okay, rant over :)

I can't say I get Twitter completely, but I think you can get out of it what you put in. You don't have to put in that you're a recovering Cheez-It addict if you don't want to. I use it mainly to promo my blog or promo other people. I occasionally add the writing-related post when I'm excited or frustrated, but I'm never going to Tweet about my diet. And I try to only read the ones that "matter" to me. I'm following a stupid number of people--writers, agents, publishing houses--so selectivity is key. Beyond that, I don't really use it. It's impersonal and weird and I don't want to pay for the internet time on my phone.

This is my third contract renewal and I'm only now getting a new phone. I only started texting about 3 months ago. I'm not technology superstar, to say the least! :)

PS--I also chug liquid Nyquil :) Nothing better when you're sick!

LTM said...

@Candy: you are! ;p

@Jen: secretly, I'm staying away... I fear I'd become an addict as well. She doth protest too much~

@Sly: see, that's the thing. I think they DO! ;p

@Nicole: we're all hooked up now! Just... you know. Don't hold your breaf awaiting greatness. ;p

@Tina: That's what I need--an iPhone. And an iPad. Again, no breafs are being held. ;p

@Kath: So it's the Welsh who have the market tweeting corner. No, I see how that could work. I also have no writers' group, but blogging has filled that need for me~

@Rosie: You didn't pick up that I'm a nostalgic former Mac owner? Yes, they are very good. But alas, I had to go back to the PC game. *sigh*

Downloaded Tweet Deck... I feel the time machine wheels a turnin. And nothin but love to Fischer. Just an example of common tweets I've been seeing~

Julie Musil said...

I don't get the Yo Gabba Gabba thing, but I'm usually the last to get everything!

I'm with you with the new phones. I got the same one as my 13 year old, and had to have him teach me everything. Pathetic.

When I first started my twitter account, I didn't get it. But now I love it! I use #amwriting when I tweet, and chat with other writers, compare progress, encourage each other, etc. Plus, some pretty cool links come across tweet deck. I miss a ton of stuff, but I catch a lot also. It's like a high speed version of blogging!

Anonymous said...

I rarely if ever ask for anything, but how the heck do I get a Yo Gabba Gabba award? I love that show. Even that green and yellow thng with no fingers. "There's a party in my tummy. So yummy, so yummy."

Stephen Tremp

Creepy Query Girl said...

I'm still not great with twitter or even my writer's facebook account. It's just too.much. It's fun for a while if I have absolutely nothing to do and am bored out of my mind. But then I see all these professionals that amuse themselves by sending silly messages out into the netherworld or to eachother and i suddenly feel like the creepy uber geek peeping through the window at the cool people partying it down.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I received the "You Rock Award." Very cool. I like to rock and i humblu accept this prestigous award. I couldn't have achieved this without the help of Barky the Dog, that strange bearded man in a trenchcoat standing on my street corner and yelling at cars and pedestrians, and my editor Al Gore. Thank you again.

Stephen Tremp

LTM said...

@Julie: I keep saying I need a teenage boy/son to teach me all this gadgetry... And now I feel like you swooshed the curtain back for a brief second and then closed it again... What's this #amwriting???

@Stephen: You've given me an idea... ;p and you're welcome!

@Katie: OMG! You + Me = same person!!!

RosieC said...

No, no, no. There's no "had to go back". No. I refuse to admit that such a thing is at all possible. I deny any benefit whatsoever to PC usage, except for the fact that perpetuated PC popularity continues to distract hackers from my macbook :)

COME BACK!!!!!!
(obsessed much, Rosie? Uh, yeah)

And, yeah, apparently I'm a little slow on picking up the subtlety. Perhaps it was my fried brain from classes on labor day :)

Carolyn Abiad said...

Can't help you with the Twitter business either. I have an account, which I hardly ever check and usually forget the password for...got a new phone though! It's awesome! It plays music and everything, lol! Yeah, my son thinks I'm an antique.

Now I need to go see what the BBQ deal was all about.

LTM said...

@Rosie: Now I can't afford to! :D no worries~

@Carolyn: But we're all hooked up now! :D I'm wanting an iPhone next~

(THAT'S when it'll all start, I'm sure.)

RaShelle Workman said...

Ha ha ha ha!!! Ya cheez-it crazed stalker!!! I am a gadget nerd. I'm also not that interesting. Sometimes I sit at my desk for thirty minutes trying to firgure out what the hell I should tweet about. It's weird, but kinda funny. I don't get twitter either, but, I kinda like it. Ya didn't want to know she had a cold, but yay, you got to know. LMAO. Do you follow Maureen Johnson and Daphne Unpheasable? Those two are hilarious!!!

Sorry, I was no help at all.

I love my iphone, but I always think of "what's-her-name from Sex and the City - whe had no idea how to work one. I think you could handle it, but maybe you just don't want to. And that's okay. xoxo

LTM said...

RaShelle: Well, I like the gadgets I can figure out. But I don't think phones are intuitive... Or maybe whoever designs them has a different brain than me. NOT surprising.

I hardly follow ANYBODY! But I'm hanging back on Twitter. I think it would eat my life. Even more than blogging! ;p

who on SATC had an iPhone? I have major iPhone (and iPad) lust~

Angie Ledbetter said...

In my typical bass-ackward fashion, I was on Twitter long before facebook, which I just joined a few weeks ago. Ack! Twitter's easy and non-intrusive, IMHO. And, no ma'am, none of them there apps is going on my phone...which the dawg ate yesterday and caused me to have to get a new fangled one. *wahhh* I want my old solid-body-one-step-above-a-Jitterbug-unit back!

Karen Jones Gowen said...

I have a pink flip phone too, and it was my absolute favorite until it went through the wash. Dang it. As for twitter, would I be the superstar I am today without it? Probably not. But I have a love hate relationship with it. Sometimes it is fantastic, other times craptastic. And yes, I look just like that when I dance around my living room.

RaShelle Workman said...

Wasn't it Sam - when Carrie is trying to call Big on their wedding day, Sam hands her a phone. I thought it was an iphone. Maybe not. LOL. =D

LTM said...

@Angie: omg--lol! The dog ate your phone... I went MSpace > FB > Twitter (neglected) > blogging... I think if I'd stuck w/Twit, I probably wouldn't blog. Sad thought~ :D

@Karen: I KNEW it! :D superstar~

@RaShelle: I really liked the first movie, but I only saw it once... can't remember! ;p

Cruella Collett said...

I feel exactly the same way about Twitter. And yet I don't mind when it's Blogger or Facebook, even though there are plenty of people out there who can read what I write without me knowing them personally. And worse, there are people out there that I DO know personally that can read it... Still, it feels more controlled, somehow. Like Twitter is more of a giant tsunami, everyone is in it, and your Tweets may drown or pop up again somewhere else entirely, without your control whatsoever (also not unlike Bloger & FB, but still - I don't feel that way about them...)

I tried Twitter, just to see what it was all about. Months later I can't remember the password to my fake account, and I think it's probably just as well. I might make a new account sometime in the future, when I feel I have something to promote, perhaps. At the moment I'm just glad there is one time sucker I just. Don't. Get. Yay!

LTM said...

@CC: I'm sure I'll end up tweeting before it's all over with, but for now I'm like you--I've got enough time suckers going to be worrying about that one! :D

Stina said...

I tweet, but I don't follow agents. Okay, I follow one or two. I don't want to know about their lives, like they don't care about mine. I'm more interested in publishing related stuff.

LTM said...

@Stina: Hey, girl! Welcome--I tell ya, I had to stop following agents on Twitter. It just raised my blood pressure... why aren't they reading my sub??? LOL! :D