MySpace update

My account is gone. Again.

I think I might actually contact MySpace and see why this is happening. Am I somehow unknowingly violating the Terms of Service? All I want to do is contact a guard to join. Perhaps that is too much to ask.

LoserSpace

In the world of online social networking, I have made facebook my home. In fact, I have ignored most of my friends' pleas for me to join MySpace out of sheer principle - everyone is on it, and I just don't like the way it looks. And even though the library world is all "a-buzz" about social networking and using it to reach customers, I have just never been able to bring myself to join it - even for work! But yesterday, I broke my rule and joined MySpace. But why? Why would I do such a treacherous thing? Well - it's for color guard.

Let me explain. First of all, I was in color guard all through high school, and most of college. I love it, and I really mean love it - so much so that I have been almost depressed about possibly never performing or assisting with another guard ever again. It was my life for about 9 years, and... I miss it. A lot. Anyhow, I was reading a local newspaper yesterday, and on the front page was a picture of some guys spinning flags. My heart jumped a little, and I read the article associated with it - apparently, there are two color guards in Columbus that are designed for adults who want to spin again: Flaggots, which is an all-gay men group, and Spin Columbus, which is for anyone who wants to join. That means me! ME! I went to their website, and it sounds great - but they don't have an email server set up yet, so the only way to get in touch with them is - you guessed it - through MySpace.

Fucking hell!

I actually had to talk to Jared to make sure he wouldn't break up with me if I joined MySpace for the sole purpose of messaging Spin Columbus. Of course he wouldn't (I think), but still - I really, really didn't want to join. But I also really, really want to spin. Such is life, I guess.

So I joined. (Don't hate me?) But please don't try to add me as your friend if you're on there - I'm deleting it as soon as possible.

Let me just say, the website sucks. It's full of large, annoying ads, and it's not very easy to navigate. I signed up and had to verify my email address - but once I did, it still said on my profile that I had to verify my email address. For the verification to register, I had to logout and log back in again. (It sure would have been nice to be prompted to do so.) So then I searched for Spin Columbus, and sent them a message. I also requested to add them as a friend. I felt dirty about the whole thing, but at least I was able to contact them, right?

Well, today I tried to log in to MySpace and found that my password wasn't working. I knew that I was putting in the right one (I even checked my confirmation email to be sure), but I figured I'd go through the "Forgot your password?" thing anyhow just to be thorough. However, I was told that my email did not match any registered email addresses. What?! But I registered yesterday and even sent a message to another member! How can my account just not exist anymore? Shit, I didn't even get to upload a picture! So I had to go through the whole process again today and send another message to Spin Columbus. I don't even know if the first message I sent went through - and if it did, they wouldn't have been able to respond to me anyhow. I even signed up with the same email address, password, and url as yesterday, as if I had never even joined in the first place. Perhaps it was all just a bad dream?

The weird part is, when I went to MySpace today to login (before discovering that my account didn't exist anymore), it said on the main page, "Hello, Erica" - but how could it have known who I was if my account was deleted? For shame, MySpace. I hate you even more than I already did. And apparently, you hate me just as much back.

Hopefully I will hear something from Spin Columbus, and this whole ordeal will be worth the effort. And then, I will truly enjoy deleting my account.

Sqeezing through the tubes

Sometimes, I feel like I'm all over the internets. And then, on nights like tonight, I feel like I'm lost in a Web 1.0 ocean. Thanks to much pressuring, I have finally joined last.fm - and discovered that none of my friends share my musical tastes. Sad, isn't it? A few months ago I joined Del.icio.us, and posted some interesting links... but stopped. I'm also on 43things, but I haven't been active on there for at least a year. And this blog - oh, this blog. I love it and hate it at the same time. I like blogging; I really do. So why can't I ever update? Who knows.

Apparently, I go through Internet Phases. I join a site, start updating like mad, then forget about it a week later. There are precious few sites I actually frequent, and even those change every few months. Right now, I check facebook almost daily, and a site called StartSampling. (By the by, I've been a member of that site since at least 2000 - pretty impressive, eh?) But beyond that, it's a crap shoot. I can't even update Flickr on a regular basis! I'll take pictures at an event, then wait a week or more before putting them up. I guess that's not so bad, but I feel so far behind everyone else.

I think, perhaps, I just don't let myself get addicted to things like I used to. I can't even remember to watch a TV show every week on the same night; how am I supposed to remember to visit certain sites each day? I even got a Remember The Milk account to help me remember to do things - but I never check it. Sometimes I feel apathetic about it all. Nobody reads my journal anyway, right? The world isn't going to end if I don't go on a road trip with no predetermined destination. Sure, it would be fun, but when would I find the time?

I think, perhaps, I have been spreading myself too thin. I can't join everything and expect to update everyday - I have to pick a few, good sites to be active on and monitor the rest. Yes, that's what I need to do. Budget my internet time. Or maybe I'm just lazy and forgetful. My money's on that.

In case you're wondering, here's a (probably partial) list of sites I'm a member of:

Blogger
Livejournal
Flickr
All things Google (Gmail, Reader, Docs, etc.)
facebook
LibraryThing
GoodReads
43things/places/people
AllConsuming
Del.icio.us
last.fm (newest addition! yeah!)
GrandCentral (oh yeah, that's Google now too)
Upcoming.org
Plaxo
Geni
StartSampling
Remember the Milk
Orkut
Friendster (ugh, I know)
OKCupid
Yahoo!
MSN/Hotmail (might be expired by now)
Doostang
Angelfire (old website)
Flixster
Netflix
Amazon
eBay

Think I forgot anything? Probably. But if it's something I can't remember and it's not in my bookmarks, it's not worth mentioning. I'll probably never go there again anyway.