In the beginning, I enjoyed it. I loved connecting with people I haven't seen since school, seeing what they were up to, what they became etc. I loved looking at pictures of their kids and their trips and their jobs. But lets face it, it is very seldom you leave a surfing session on the "book" feeling good about yourself and your life. All the couples in the photos are always looking happy and smiling. All the kids look gorgeous and well behaved. The moms well rested and the dads proud of their little crew. Look at my photos for instance, I only publish those in which I look thin and happy and not dead tired. We are our own little PR crews and it's all wonderful, but the fact of the matter is, these photos do not always portray our real lives. Some of these happy couples are going through messy divorces, some of these kids are in actual need of a bloody good telling off and most of some of the mothers (like me) are so tired they are struggling to keep their eyes open to type blogs! I guess none of us are going to publish the real photos of our lives. The ones where we look tired, the ones where we loose our tempers or the one where we cry because we found out that a loved one is leaving or that some one is sick. No, we are all loyal to ourselves and our families. We want to look good to the world. Happily married, smiley people, ready to take on anything. Personally, I find all this rose coloured editing a bit annoying, but this is not what really gets my goat. No, what gets me is that I constantly forget about these pictures are not always real. I fall for the "happy facebook life" time and time again. I mean, this social network gives people the opportunity to shove their possessions, their travels, their achievements etc. in everybody faces at every given opportunity. "Look at my new car!", "Look at the view from our new house!", "Look at this, look at that", it just doesn't stop. I must confess, I have had to hide some of my facebook friends, or let's us just call them what they are; acquaintances, purely because I can completely jealous of them. I've HAD to hide them, purely for the goodness of my soul. "Thou shalt not covet..." and covet I do, especially if I look at people's houses. It's weird, the photos that gets the green monster drooling over your shoulder, are always of the things that you most want in your life, be it a house, in my case, or a baby, in my friend's case, or a nice car or whatever.I am sure it happens to everyone, right? Facebook is a constant reminder of what we don't have, but really want. I tell you, this is simply not good for you. Now I get my husband's point.
A while ago I read a blog about the 9 most annoying people on facebook. Click on the link, it is a pretty funny read, but I have my own list. Besides the braggers, there are a small list of people that make me want to gag. I won't bore you with all of them this week, but here is my top 5 most annoying people on facebook for the week:
1. The South African Jesus Jumping Models (and Celebrities):
What is it with SA models or celebs that feel that they have to blurt out their religious views at any given moment? I mean, I am all for confessing your faith, but wouldn't it be more affective if you actually live out your faith, rather than "status update" it. I mean, it is "Shout if you love Jesus" here and "All Christians of facebook stand up and be counted" groups there, not to mention that they are all members of the Angus Buchan fan page. But then, if you happen to flick through their photographs, which they publicly display because they think they are marketing themselves (I call it vanity), they publish half naked picture of themselves in bikinis draped over half naked men or woman! What is that all about? Good grief. The Sex Kitten Jesus Worshipper just does not work for me.Is this weird or is it just me that sees this as rather blasphemous?
If you don't believe me, check out Melany Lindeque's page. I once heard a sermon from a preacher called Paul Washer where he talked about inappropriate dress for a Christian. He said that if the clothes you are wearing draws attention away from your face, it is the wrong kind of attire. Ok, he is a very conservative Southern Baptist, but I think we get the picture when we look at Melany's display of photos. The lack of clothes really does draws attention to everything BUT her face.
2. Public Prayers:
These people go hand in hand with the crowd mentioned above. I am sorry, I cannot stand this. Don't status update your prayer life. What is that all about? Jesus is not one of your Facebook friends! In Matthew 6:5 it clearly says: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
I think praying on your status updates, is the modern day version of praying on street corners. Rather let your life reflect what you believe, you do no need to status update it.
3. The Overly Politically Correct Passive Aggressive Crowd
They can be male or female, both are just as annoying. They are the ones who are supposed voice of the people. They embrace all humanist thoughts, all religions and all ideologies as long as it does not conflict with their thoughts, religious ideas or ideologies. On one hand, they support the icons of our country with soppy poems and quotations, on the other, when it bothers them, they slate the masses when they interfere too much in their little perfect lives (take the huge debate the Vuvuzelas sparked off on the "book" for example).
They are individuals, free to status update what they want, just please, whatever you do, do not take them on about their silly remarks, then it is status update war. They will try prove to you that your narrow-mindedness is the cause of all the unhappiness in the world today and can never drop something. They always have to get in the last word. They are brave enough to attack you in on the net, but meet them round the pub and it is all hugs and kisses. Hypocrites.
4. The Where-I-live-is-the-Best-Crowd:
These people can be anywhere in the world, expats or not. They constantly tell you that where they live is better than where you are living. For example: Glad I am in Australia because the weather in the UK sucks! Cape Town is the best, London is the best..blah die blah die blah.
Yes, we ALL know the the weather in the UK sucks. I am very aware that SA, Australia, New Zealand or any other place on the is earth for that matter, has greater weather than the UK. At times I am sorry that I don't live there at too, but I have to make do with what I have. I have to deal with the UK, so while I am here, please, give us a break. We have to keep a positive mindset over here, otherwise this gloom will drive us mad!
All places have their pro's and cons. We are very aware of our cons, but believe it or not, we also have our Pros. It is NOT the best place on earth to live, I miss home every day, but I do like the fact that I can go jogging at night all by myself, without a care in the world.
5. The-My-Maid (driver/nanny/housekeeper)-Is-Off-SickToday-How-Will-I-Cope-Mothers
Now if this is you, I am just plainly and simply going to hide you. I would give anything to have some help in the house, so purely out of jealousy, you annoy me.
Anyway, I will stop all this bitterness immediately. I could get into ALOT more detail, but I am probably just going to upset myself and a few of you. I am sure at the end of the week there will be loads more of these annoyances that rear their ugly heads, but for now I think I am going to avoid Facebook for a while.
O yes, I almost forgot. We did finally have our Fat Saturday again this past week. Ella is better at last and I have caught up on some well deserved sleep, so I actually had the energy to cook. Hopefully you don't see this as bragging, just as an encouragement to get all of you out there to try new things. I tried Prawn curry for the first time ever and something Jamie calls "coated ice cream". Follow the links below for the recipes. It was great.
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| Prawn Curry: Follow the link for the recipe http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/seafood-recipes/thai-red-prawn-curry-jasmine-rice-cucumb |
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| Coated Ice Cream: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/spinach-aamp-feta-filo-pie-cucumber-sala |
Untill next month
Ek stem saam!!!!!!!!! Ek het net vanoggend 'n klomp van my kenisse se status updates gehide. Net omdat hulle so annoying, upbeat en fake is....
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