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Permanence - A Friday Afternoon Thinkpost.
Jun. 3rd, 2005 03:25 pmPermanence. Is there any such thing? Of course not. Nothing is really permanent, at least not to us temporarily living creatures.
I remember hearing about LJ Permanent Accounts and thinking when I had first heard of them, how great that would be to have. No need to renew. No need to worry that your account would disappear, or be on the slow servers, or lose your icons.
Now that this coming Tuesday is "LJ Perm Acct Day," I have to say I'm ambivilent about it, at best. First of all, $150.00? That would be six years at the current rate card. What will you be doing in 2011? I mean, besides the continued grousing about that monstrosity on the West Side: Jets Stadium, and next year's Summer Olympics for sure. Aside from that? Hard to know.
The fact that they gave about a week's notice to share this info doesn't help the case. I have to think seriously about this, and this is a bit on the pricey side as an "impulse purchase," which is basically what the powers at LJ are making it. And, yes, there is the small point that I would have already paid for a perm account (or at least 2/3rds of this new one), had I the opportunity to have done so as I paid for my years here to date. Bad timing on that.
Is LJ still the place to be, and will it continue to be years from now?
Certainly I like, enjoy and appreciate the people on my friendslist. But even a "friend" isn't forever, as I'm sure you know.
Sometimes, I think things like friendship and jobs and love are reliant mostly on the "fit." How do you fit in with the people you're dealing with in those situations? If you don't fit, you are removed. If you don't work in the same way, you are excised. If you don't share the same feelings, you are taken out of the equation.
The question is why? Why don't you fit? Different age group? Different social cues? Different way of seeing life? Does it even matter? The point is you don't belong there, and you are being told this in the most obvious way possible. That's a good thing, right? It has to be. It's information you need to know.
It seems that sometimes the harder you try to fit, the more out of place you appear. This only calls attention to you being considered wrong, and may only serve to speed up the process of your removal.
Finding where you actually do belong is a life-long quest. It isn't easy, because if you are not there, and you think you are, you are spinning your wheels in the sand, while you believe you're merrily traveling down the road. This is where it really gets difficult, because if you have to leave, you will come to feel you've wasted your time, and that can bring on feelings of embarrassment, resentment, or worse.
But through it all, nothing is permanent. Just when you think you have your life under control, a person, an event, a something comes along and everything is upside-down and backwards. This might actually be good for you in the long run, but it certainly changes your view, and that changes it all.
My journal has changed several times through its existence. It began as a PR attempt for a book I wrote. Then it became a typical interaction place, and a place for me to write essays about topics that were important to me. Later, it became even more social, with documentation of trips and gatherings. Now, it's... whatever it is. Even I don't quite recognize it.
Change is just a part of the trip. What it seems to call on, for me, is that you need to be ok with yourself. If your Inner Core, the part of you that the YOU comes from is able to understand, process and appreciate who you are, nothing could ever completely throw you off track. This is mostly mental, this life, and the experiences of it are, in many cases, in your own mind. So, coming to terms with that would be a crucial step in helping you down the path.
Through LJ, I have seen into many people's lives, I've met people I would have never imagined meeting, and I've had experiences that are unforgettable. Clearly, a big part of my life is invested in the things that have happened because of my journal. Where it goes from here, I still don't know.
I guess I have another four days to decide.
I remember hearing about LJ Permanent Accounts and thinking when I had first heard of them, how great that would be to have. No need to renew. No need to worry that your account would disappear, or be on the slow servers, or lose your icons.
Now that this coming Tuesday is "LJ Perm Acct Day," I have to say I'm ambivilent about it, at best. First of all, $150.00? That would be six years at the current rate card. What will you be doing in 2011? I mean, besides the continued grousing about that monstrosity on the West Side: Jets Stadium, and next year's Summer Olympics for sure. Aside from that? Hard to know.
The fact that they gave about a week's notice to share this info doesn't help the case. I have to think seriously about this, and this is a bit on the pricey side as an "impulse purchase," which is basically what the powers at LJ are making it. And, yes, there is the small point that I would have already paid for a perm account (or at least 2/3rds of this new one), had I the opportunity to have done so as I paid for my years here to date. Bad timing on that.
Is LJ still the place to be, and will it continue to be years from now?
Certainly I like, enjoy and appreciate the people on my friendslist. But even a "friend" isn't forever, as I'm sure you know.
Sometimes, I think things like friendship and jobs and love are reliant mostly on the "fit." How do you fit in with the people you're dealing with in those situations? If you don't fit, you are removed. If you don't work in the same way, you are excised. If you don't share the same feelings, you are taken out of the equation.
The question is why? Why don't you fit? Different age group? Different social cues? Different way of seeing life? Does it even matter? The point is you don't belong there, and you are being told this in the most obvious way possible. That's a good thing, right? It has to be. It's information you need to know.
It seems that sometimes the harder you try to fit, the more out of place you appear. This only calls attention to you being considered wrong, and may only serve to speed up the process of your removal.
Finding where you actually do belong is a life-long quest. It isn't easy, because if you are not there, and you think you are, you are spinning your wheels in the sand, while you believe you're merrily traveling down the road. This is where it really gets difficult, because if you have to leave, you will come to feel you've wasted your time, and that can bring on feelings of embarrassment, resentment, or worse.
But through it all, nothing is permanent. Just when you think you have your life under control, a person, an event, a something comes along and everything is upside-down and backwards. This might actually be good for you in the long run, but it certainly changes your view, and that changes it all.
My journal has changed several times through its existence. It began as a PR attempt for a book I wrote. Then it became a typical interaction place, and a place for me to write essays about topics that were important to me. Later, it became even more social, with documentation of trips and gatherings. Now, it's... whatever it is. Even I don't quite recognize it.
Change is just a part of the trip. What it seems to call on, for me, is that you need to be ok with yourself. If your Inner Core, the part of you that the YOU comes from is able to understand, process and appreciate who you are, nothing could ever completely throw you off track. This is mostly mental, this life, and the experiences of it are, in many cases, in your own mind. So, coming to terms with that would be a crucial step in helping you down the path.
Through LJ, I have seen into many people's lives, I've met people I would have never imagined meeting, and I've had experiences that are unforgettable. Clearly, a big part of my life is invested in the things that have happened because of my journal. Where it goes from here, I still don't know.
I guess I have another four days to decide.