Jul 16, 2009

Farewell To Facebook

First, I want to say thanks to those who made the effort to follow this link (probably all two of you ) but that's OK, because I am writing this partly for you but mostly for myself.
As most of you know writing is my passion...other than my wife, it is truly the only thing that I love, the one thing that I could spend the rest of my life doing without ever getting bored. My mind races all day long wanting to permanently record my thoughts, tell my stories, make people laugh, make people cry and bear my soul...it's cleansing for me...it's happiness for me and always challenging for me. I want to be able to finish a novel I have committed to do and start several more.
But I have strayed from this passion. I have let it slowly decay as I found other diversions to escape the challenge of pulling the words from my mind and tongue and placing them in a readable form.
And sadly, Facebook had become one of those diversions.
Why all of the melodrama?
Why not just stop spending the hours I accumulate each day thinking of gags, commenting on every item on my Wall, typing then deleting and typing and deleting until what I think is the perfect one-liner? Or why not just cut back? Just have 4 drinks a day instead of 5.
Well, with an addictive personality like mine, I can never get enough. I always have to have the funniest line, the last laugh.
Even this posting has become part of the melodrama itself but I knew it was the only way that I could stop and say I'm done. I'm finished. And say goodbye to you and at the same time invite you to my world.
Here in my world I can be me. I can say what I want to say. When I am happy...I will be happy. When I am sad...I will be sad....I can laugh, I can cry and I can say naughty, naughty words without any worry of hurting someones feelings....This is my safe haven...my port in the storm that I can anchor my ship when seas become treacherous and then sail away to whatever island paradise I choose.
Sound odd? It is....but then so am I. Odd in a way that makes me want to entertain you and entertain myself.
Another reason for this melodrama is that it will allow me to thank the friends that I have met in the last couple of months..some new, some old, and even some that are imaginary and FB didn't have the space or platform to do so.
Although I have referred to FB as an imaginary world..it is far from it.......I have actually heard the sounds as people have "stomped, stomped, stomped" out of a room. I have embraced your political passions when you have openly expressed your opinions. And I have cried, when I heard your positive results from medical tests and thanked God you were okay. It is a real world even though I have never met some of you and others I haven't seen in 40 years.
Darla, ....see, I can't even break away from the Lil Rascal name that you and Pam fought for, you have been an inspiration....you restored my youth....you helped me regain my sense of humor...you have been my wingman when my FB foes tried to take me down....so many gags, too many late night chats and too many giggles that often left me spewing coffee on my monitor as I tried to suppress my laughs. Thanks so much for challenging me to be funny...and improve my typing
Ed,.....who we immediately designated Bu'wheat for our Lil Rascal skits...(did we ever actually have any?)...you have been my conscience in this fantastic on-line world. Whether we like it or not we have to hear both sides of an argument...I hope we can bring you back from the "dark" side.
ML,.....thanks for allowing me to be a friend once again...with your retirement your gonna have a lot of time on your hands and I hope you can fill the void I leave on FB.
Pammie......isn't it strange that we have never met....wouldn't know you if I saw you.. didn't know you after I saw your picture, I thought you were somebody else ...sometimes I think you are still trying to fool me.......I feel like we have become friends and I would be invited over for one of those afternoon "salty dogs"
Any there are many, many more of you who have listened to my craziness...have had their Walls cluttered with my quips and have often left me more confused than you.
And to Pattye...who has been such an understanding wife as she has watched me spend hours at my keyboard smiling as she knew that I was doing what I love to do...tell my stories......and make you laugh.
Pattye will keep my FB page open so she can continue to play her/my role in the continuing saga of Mafia Wars and it will give me a chance to keep tabs on some of you....it will be hard for me though..kinda like an alcoholic hanging out in a bar with the temptation of taking a drink...but I'll be strong and all of my energy will be spent here.
I'm happy I was able to bring chaos into your world. If I have left you with some broken pieces..well, for this I am sorry. My intentions have always been honest and true.
So.....let's stand and raise our glasses and give a toast to ....friends and humor...for without either of these we would be lonely and sad people.
I want so much for you to visit me here in my world....tell me when you think my musings are funny and when they are not...allow yourself to laugh, cry or even get angry...but tell me...and continue to be my friends.
And now I bid you adieu.........FB will certainly live without me, maybe not as funny...but it will survive.

Tom

2 comments:

Ed Stout said...

Tom/Skeeter

My first response was "say it ain't so." But after reading your heartfelt words, while I'm still saddened, I understand. Moreover, I'm impressed with that style and thought process. You should be a writer.
Maybe if we'd both thought less about drinking, screwing off and hanging around the park in our "younger and more vulnerable years", we'd have been on that stage at FHS with that National Honor Society crowd. As I've told you before, I have real regrets about that wasted time. On the other hand, we got to know "The Jer" and "Burglar Bob" etc. and maybe that's more important in the overall scheme of things than getting to know Hawthorne and Melville in those early years. This may not make much sense and perhaps its a rationalization, but, hey- that's the way it was/is.
You'll be missed on FB, but I hope you'll stay in touch in other ways. I've added your blog to my favorites. You're in the top three: Daily Kos, Huffington Post, and Skeeter's blog, 2/3 dark side, 1/3 light.

Ed
1-2-3-AXE

MaryLou said...

Tom,
Believe it or not I "get it". You unexpectedly showed back up in my life when I was going through a very difficult time. You were able to take my mind off the sadness and make me laugh. Thanks! I have enjoyed reconnecting with you these past few months and I will continue to send you emails (when I deem them worthy) and I hope you will do the same. Your friendship means alot. I look foward to hearing about what is going on with you and your family. AND REMEMBER: IT IS OK TO SAY "NO" TO PEOPLE!! FB won't be the same....but, I did enjoy meeting some of your friends!
MaryLou