8,677 days on Earth – Canmore, Alberta, Canada.

I’ve treated social media in the same way that I treated class participation grades as a student.  And what couples those two things together is tug-of-war.  When instructed to grab a position on the rope, I’ll head near the back, but not far enough to be the anchor.  Ideally, I’m in the 2nd or 3rd spot in front of the anchor.  It’s in this key position that one can grab the rope with tense muscles and gnashing teeth, but not actually pull the rope with little chance of anyone noticing the lack of effort.  The anchor is the most important position – being able to simply loop the end of the rope around themselves and lean backwards.  In my experience, the largest person is chosen as the anchor, and since I was usually the largest person, I was often chosen as the anchor.  Being the anchor is one of the rare times that the fat kid has a chance to prove themselves and be celebrated for their weight – but only if the tug-of-war match goes in their favor.  The fat kid in this scenario will be so focussed on victory that they won’t notice my lack of effort, but only if I’m not directly in front of them.  So the only threat is the one or two directly behind me in the line, and only if they look and see that my hands aren’t blanched with the same struggle as the rest of our teammates up the line, which is rare if played off with enough pseudo-gusto.  It’s likely that we’ll still put up a good fight, but we’ll probably lose with my lack of effort unless some other complacent twerp on the other side is pulling the same stunt as me.  Maybe we even win and high-fives all around to the huffing linebacker, beads of sweat rolling down his face – and I won’t even wake up the next day with an ache in my lower back.  A well-earned victory.

In class as in social media, I tend to have good attendance – I’m there enough to see how things are going, but I don’t want to waste the effort engaging or conversing if it’s not required, just as I’m not going to expend any energy pulling on that rope than what’s minimally required of me.  I tended to coast just enough to eke out that pity-A/B grade, and I have no regrets.

Mark Zuckerberg has yet to give me a grade after all these years, and this has been difficult.  I don’t like social media.  But I like the people that I have on them, and I don’t want to lose touch.  I don’t want to comment on your meme nor is it likely that I want to have a one on one phonecall with you.  I’m only friends with people online that I consider friends or respect or have a crush on or don’t want to face the discomfort of being confronted about defriending.  I’ve left less than 6 YouTube comments in my life, and I never seed a torrent once it’s completed.  I’ve been at points in my life where I’ve checked Facebook multiple times a day, but rarely give input.  I can’t bring myself to share a meme or comment on your photo, but if you’re my friend on social media, I think you’re cool, and this is my way of liking your photo and trying to stay in touch.  I’m writing with friends in mind on the off chance that any of you are interested in what I’m doing or what I have to say, but I don’t expect that from any of you.  I’ve never followed a blog.  I think they’re narcissistic and I’d rather read a book.  But I enjoy writing, so here I am.

I’ve got a van that I turned into my house-on-wheels.  I’m still figuring out the quirks but it feels right.  I’ve been living in it on and off for the past month and a half, and have been writing this in coffee shops in Canada while I charge my electronics.  I don’t see myself living in anything else in the near future.  I don’t have to live with roommates, I own it, I arrange the layout, I can move constantly.  No rent, no internet, no electricity.  Fargo is a beautiful place and I’m thankful for my time there and the friends that I made, but I allowed myself to become stagnant there.  I want to create as much and more than I have in the past, and I don’t think I can do that in Fargo anymore.  I’m going to wander around for awhile, but I’ll be here.

Much love.