Facebook Frenzie

After much coersion, Amy and Jeff Gabbitas finally convinced me to join facebook. I must also credit Amy with convincing me to make a blog. I should definitely thank her, because it's all been great fun. Even though I really didn't need any help to clean my house less. For those of you who have not yet joined, you definitely should. It's fun, like a blog but a little more interactive. It doesn't require as much creativity, but for me that's a good thing. It doesn't require constant updating, so it should take up less time. But I spend more time viewing, since I have access to the pages of more people. I have discovered that adding to your friends list is similar to collecting trading cards. It's kind of addicting and there is a tendency to compare one's list size to others.

One interesting phenomenon is that almost my entire list consists of people whom I've met in Bakersfield. I have been reflecting today on the implications of that fact. There are several possibilities. One might be that I was a very likeable person back when I lived in Bakersfield and since then not so much. That is possible. Another is that Bakersfield people are very into joining facebook, and people I know from other places aren't participating. A third option is that Bakersfield is populated by very friendly, social, and fun people. That one is very possible. I'm sure there are other possible reasons, but the fact remains that I really like people from Bakersfield.

Utah is a lot more family oriented. Especially my rural neighborhood. Everyone in my ward has extended family in the ward, usually several generations. We spend all our time and do all our activities with my husband's family. It seems that is the way it should be, but I do miss having close friends to do things with. But I'm glad for my kids that they will be tight with their cousins. I used to not feel like I fit in with my in-laws but it's getting a lot better with time. They are getting used to my quirky ways and I am finding joy in having some family traditions. In Bakersfield people seemed to have a way of treating friends and even strangers as family. I know this for a fact because I was often the stranger. I haven't found the same to be true around here, but perhaps that's because I now belong to such a close family and so does everyone I now. We don't have many strangers, I can count the non-members that live in my ward boundary on one hand. So of course we know those few and they get a lot of attention.

Today is my birthday by the way. I've gotten really bad at celebrating my birthday. I'm in such a hectic, frenzied state of life, that I actually forgot it was today until Amy reminded me. I was going to plan something special for myself to give my husband a break from trying to please me. (I'm not good with surprises which has scared him away from trying.) I had a few ideas, but then a Work Christmas party and a school dance recital were both scheduled for today. I may still plan something for myself for friday, but it sounds like a lot of effort and makes me tired thinking about it. The holidays are kind of a lousy time to have a birthday. Unfortunately all of my kids were born during the holidays. I do work really hard to make birthdays special for them anyway. And that is one more reason that I forgot mine was today.