Truths

There are a few truths I live by:
When cooking, "a watched pot never boils."
When riding, "you land where you look."
When online, "the Internet is forever."

That last one is tricky. If it is true, I should be able to find my two favorite bread recipes online, even after taking a year long baking break (guess who made a disappointing discovery this weekend?). Regardless, I try and live by it. Facebook and Twitter are kept private and I have different sets of friends or followers on each, and think about my audience before I post. Despite that, I don't post anything ANYWHERE that I would feel uncomfortable having my name associated with, forever. I took a look at my various intent presences today and realized I have a different personality for each.

Facebook
I am all sunshine and rainbows. I hardly ever post anything negative on Facebook and I stay away from any controversial points of view. It is the biggest and most varied audience I have, with the least amount of anonymity. Coworkers, high school classmates, cousins, all sorts. I mostly post photos of the dog, garden updates and notes about Faux Pas.

Twitter
Twitter gets more serious. I have a much smaller group of followers, mostly just close friends and family who hardly check Twitter anyway, so I feel I can mostly post what I want. One liners about depression, not drinking, and work (no coworkers follow me on Twitter!) I can post links to womens rights articles and marriage equality statements, post some cynical retweets. Since I've posted all of the happy stuff to Facebook, Twitter gets the things I don't want to share with everyone, but feel need to be said, briefly.

Flickr
Poor Flicker, I have spent the last year neglecting it. I have no photos to show for my 27th year. I'll pay the $24.95, if someone will find my camera charger, and encourage me to develop the film I just pulled out of my film cameras.

Blog
As the most anonymous outlet I have, this blog is where I complain the most, and where I am most honest. It is interesting the way this blog has changed during the last eight years. Before Twitter, Facebook and Flickr, this is where everything went, leaving it more balanced. There were happy posts along with break up posts, and quick quips about things that people said to me at work or on a date. Now it is mostly the brutal facts that I couldn't fit into 140 characters.

I think that I struggle where other people have succeeded with maintaining a blog and a presence in other social media because of my desire to remain anonymous, and keep certain people at arms length. I am just so damn searchable!

I don't know that eleven to seven will ever be what it once was, but I hope that realizing my trends will help me change them. I don't want to bring everyone down with every post I write. Like in all areas of my life, I need to find some balance.