My Tornado is Resting

It's snowing. It's March in Oklahoma. Since it's almost Spring Break...it snows...every year.

I am quite tired of cold weather. I really don't have the stamina for it. The piling on of clothes, extra layers, bulky sweaters, snowdrops on roses and cabin fever kittens...these are a few of my least favorite things.

BUT!

One of my favorite Minnesotans turned me on to the most wonderful radio station ever created. The program is called "Wonderground," and you can find it at:

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/services/wonderground/

The premise behind it is that it's a station that you can listen to with your kids without going insane. The tagline is: "Non-commercial music for kids...and their grownups." I'm in love with it. I've been listening for the past two hours. In those two hours, I have been treated to: Van Morrison, The Kinks, The Impressions, They Might Be Giants, Bob Marley, The Muppets, The Shins, Kimya Dawson....um...Minnesota? Why must you be so progressive? WHY!?!?

Now, with all of this snow falling outside my window, all I can think about is having a little boy or girl, laying on the hardwood floors, coloring away and asking me questions about life and music, as I make a snack in the kitchen and this station plays.

I have many "fantasies" about my life. They always seem to include hardwood floors for some reason. Every happy fantasy I have about my future includes hardwood floors. Every, single one.

This brings me to my next topic. If anyone even reads this, you might know that I have deleted all of my "social networking" sites. I erased my Facebook page. I erased my Myspace page. (Have to pause to tell you that David Bowie just came on...uh...best "kids" station EVER.) Okay, back to my story...

So, I got tired of them. I got tired of refreshing the pages and seeing that "Christine is enjoying a lollipop" and "Marla can't believe it's Friday!" I mean, Marla...really? You really can't believe it's Friday? It happens every week, darlin'. EVERY WEEK. I think that the constant updating of statuses (stati?) is what got me. I don't care that you're doing laundry. I don't care that you finally hooked up the new Wii. Now, this goes for myself, as well. As I would update my status, I would always think, "Who the f*** cares about this?" NO ONE. NO ONE cares that I'm finally gonna get my s*** together. No one cares that I have to drive to Stillwater. This is dumb.

I will miss my constant Word Twist games. I got really, really good at Word Twist. But, I'm sure that I can find Word Twist somewhere else. Or, maybe I could start a line of games that I've come up with in my own mind and sell them to the public for tons of money. I think that Facebook and Myspace are stealing our creativity, or at least, they're stealing mine.

Yesterday, a friend sent me an email about the same, doldrumist feelings about "social networking." I think she ended her email with, "I want to plant a garden and tend to it with my hands and mix food in giant wooden bowls and hang my clothes up to dry." Completely. I completely understand this.

I watched Wall-E the other day. It scared the s*** out of me. Watching the blob people stare at screens and drink "meals" out of paper cups...the trash everywhere...the complete and total disconnect from anything human and connected and soulful completely freaked me out.

So, yes. I blame Wall-E for making me delete my accounts. I also have come to know my personality very well over the years. I get addicted to things very quickly. Food, cigarettes, alcohol, abusive relationships, Facebook. HAHA!! But, seriously. I have a problem. When something catches my attention, I think, "I will do this constantly for the next 3 hours. I don't want to do this constantly for the next 3 hours, but I will...because that's what I do."

In closing (which is the worst way to close a piece of writing, I was once told by a former English teacher), I'm killing all of those things that make me sick.

Plus, when people say, "Oh, my God! Why did you delete your Facebook page?" I like to respond with, "Oh? Facebooks? I don't like Facebooks anymore." Beau, you are a genius for always putting an "s" on the end of things. It makes it all the more funny. It makes Facebook seem like a joke. Thank you for that.

I have come to the place where I finally realized that if something "big" happens with one of my friends, I will not miss out on it. They will call me, which is how we all communicated before the "internets" took over in the first place.

My next blog will address QUITE the important issue: Adult Men Who Ignore. I think I'll call it, "Really? REALLY?! Still ignoring? Mature, very mature."

Love you all. Call me sometime.