Friday, January 1, 2010

In the Days of Old Long Since...

I love literal translations. This is the translation of the song title "Auld Lang Syne," written in part by Robert Burns in 1789, and to a lesser known poet, Sir Robert Ayton. The Scottish folksong collector and editor, George Thomson set the poem to a Lowland melody, "I Fee'd a Lad at Michaelmas" around 1796. (You did what to a lad at a party?) There is a very fine recording of Frank C. Stanley's 1910 robust performance on Wikipedia. Mr. Stanley's rolling Scottish brogue does great justice to this song, now two hundred fourteen years old. Tune in and be inspired to sing it better next year, you clamoring mokes.

Seeing as it's January 1st, I'm cleaning up and clearing out, per usual. I made two resolutions, believing for once I could handle a limited number with complete success. They are: 1) to use my treadmill everyday and 2) to stop using chocolate as a meal substitute. I have failed already even though it's only a little past noon. I do still have time to walk, but I'm not going to. Why kid myself? In defragging my computer and deleting a shitload of unused program files, useless documents, cookies, etc., I regained more than ten percent hard drive space. I know, I was surprised, too.

I've also off-loaded several people from my Facebook friends list. I will admit the allure of having 267 friends or some other insane number is quite appealing. It would make me look pretty darned popular, wouldn't it? As it stands, I am very comfortable at less than twenty friends, and I'll talk to all of them on a regular basis.

Now, this may come as a complete surprise to you, but I've never been the girl who wanted to win the popularity contest. Hey, now don't act like that! I'm sorry to rip your time space continuum all to hell. I know what you're thinking. It's like I've grabbed you by the hand to wantonly and willy-nilly hokey-pokey around the blackhole that is your reality. But, yes, I've pretty much always marched to the beat of my own drummer. There I've said it. Just deal!!

I was never in the geek squad in school. I floated amongst the advanced placement, college-bound pains in the ass, the music-focused, drama club type kids, and the business school, accounting class pencil pushers. I fit in pretty much everywhere except with the smoking area kids. I was a singer, so I didn't smoke; mezzo soprano in case you're taking notes.

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach said, "We are so vain that we even care for the opinions of those we don't care for." Ms. von Ebner-Eschenbach was one of the most important German-language writers of the latter 19th century, and is credited with the aphorism, "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." (Her picture on Wikipedia is grim and she looks like a monster, so don't look it up or you'll have the wooly-booger nightmares. It's something to do with her lips...)

Anyhow, those were my "vain thoughts," Marie, when I "friended" this guy on Facebook that we all used to call "Sammy Smellsmore." That is the barest alteration of his actual name, mind you. He sent me a friend request, but I feared he hadn't changed much for the better since high school, knowing full well I hadn't for sure. Before friending him, I checked to see who his other friends were. Seeing that some of the more popular kids from high school had friended him, I "accepted." It wasn't long before he proved himself to be the same perverted, repulsive, intrusive, disgusting, leering, icky guy he was twenty-eight years ago. I spat him back into the Internet-ethers never to be friended again, at least not by me.

I mean how far had I sunk to friend this guy I knew in my gut was going to be a pervert? Just to add another "friend" to my list? All to gather "friends" on Facebook? Looking back over this perv's list of friends, all these nice, decent people who never spoke to this guy in high school, who don't speak to him now but just want another body to add to their list.

Let's face it, I'm not the "Facebook type." My one reason for being on there is to network with family and a few used-to-be-close friends from high school and work life. It's not about how popular I think I am or desire to be. It's a vehicle for revealing the tenor of my life thus far; what I love and who I love. I share so we can all reminisce on "days of old long since."

1 comment:

  1. Been there, done that. My New Years Resolution is to not drink soda, get my excercise room cleaned up and use it, and to cut the excess sugar from my life. I will make a concentrated effort to keep my gas tank above half full, be kinder to those who (I feel)are deliberately annoying me, and pick up and put away the crap I have joyfully flung all over my house. I can and will accomplish most (ok, some) of the above. I am not perfect. I know, I was surprised too.

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