hmmm...

just read an interesting article entitled 'how young is too young for facebook?'

that is a question that needs to be addressed--not just concerning facebook, but any social networking site. myspace, twitter, livejournal, and all the countless others taking up space in the interwebs. facebook's terms of use state that you must be 13 years or older to create an account. but we all know that it's easy to lie. even so, i feel like 13 is still a bit too young for that sort of thing. i mean, why should our children depend on the stupid internet for 'social networking.' isn't that part of what school is for? i didn't get facebook until college (when i was in the age group for which the stupid thing was invented). same for myspace. i'd had a livejournal from about the age of 15, but a lot of those entries became friends only or private after a near-beat-down from some stupid jock's stupid girlfriend. *yeah, i said it. AGAIN!*

we live in an age of fantasy and deception thanks to the 'net. men can pose as women and women as men. 10 year olds can be 25. 40 year olds can be 25. i could go to myspace and create an entirely new identity. i could be....a 37 year old German photographer looking for male models. it'd be simple, apart from the whole not speaking German... but you get the point. kids, however, don't. while a few of them may still live in their very own imaginationland, they don't realize that the internet truly can be, and usually is, imaginationland. they think that everyone's who they say they are. they post their pics, phone numbers, addresses, and think it's okay. then when someone abducts them, we wonder what went wrong.

admittedly, most adults aren't mature enough to use these sites. i've seen enough scantily clad, cleavage-popping pics from women and the whole "let me pull up my shirt so you can see my abs" pics from men. i only have one thing to say to that: EMPLOYERS CHECK THIS STUFF. stop being a total idiot.

it saddens me that the future of our country hinges on twilight-obsessed, technology ignorant, foolhardy kids who have nothing better to do than play around on the internet. really saddens me.

how long before texting lingo takes over the world?

because the future of our language will only contain the vowels 'u', 'e', and 'omg'

damn. that'll make wheel of fortune a little tricky...

woo! 3 followers!

thanks, rodell, lisa, and kimmi for deciding to follow my blog. that's most kewl.

still a little weirded out by the amount of action santa gets in song. women are whoring themselves out to santa for gifts. does anyone else make that connection? except maybe "i saw mommy kissing santa claus" but given the nature of other songs: i.e. the dreaded "santa baby," and other classics like...well, okay, i have to hear them at work, but i don't really know names. suffice it to say, santa gets a lot of attention over the holidays. i wonder if he gets mrs. claus nice things for Christmas?

just for the record, 20000-names.com is a freaking great website if you're trying to come up with character/place names. i've also been playing on babel fish a lot, just translating english words into dutch. that alone is fun.

3 more hours til i go home. working overnight two nights a week is starting to ravage the system...

time to go back to work on fantasy stuff. coming along quite well. i've nearly named everyone and everything i need to. w00t!

***p.s. barbara streisand has now tied celine dion for top of my despise list, simply for the atrocity that is her version of jingle bells.*