I am a geek...

I have something to admit.....I'm a geek.  Now don't try to tell me you don't believe me.  I, deep down, know that I'm a geek.  And I'm starting to be OK with that.  I mean, geeks get to have fun too.  But my geekyness is starting to get worse.  I'm in IT and I have pretty much always been a geek.  I preferred books to people.  And technology to socializing.  I started a car club...which did not score me points with some of my friends. I honestly do not understand their lack of understanding.  I think it's awesome that people who are like minded want to get together to show off our cars.  Or anything else for that matter.  We have something in common and would normally wouldn't have interacted.  So I get to meet new people.  That's a good thing, I think.


But I am still a geek. I love getting a new program/computer/technical "thing" and playing with it.  I will play the shit out of something just to get to achieve something.  Not sometime really tangible but rather a sense of accomplishment.


So this should come as no surprise...I am addicted to Facebook.  I am honestly on it all day.  I will be typing up an email or uploading pictures and then switch to Facebook as I'm doing now.  It has taken me about 30 minutes to write just this top piece because I'm switching to Facebook to check on stuff.


For awhile there I was posting something every day.  I think I'm pretty witty so I was constantly posting something to see what kind of reactions I get.  I like to make people laugh and I spend a lot of time coming up with original and funny things to say...I have a big ego and am pretty narcissistic.


And yes....I play the games.  I started off with FarmTown then went to Mafia Wars.  I tried really hard to stay away from FarmVille but, and I'm ashamed of this, I succumbed and I made it until level 45 and now I can't stand it.  I then moved to Social City but I started a new game (Market Street) and so I've kind of left Social City and really haven't played it for the last couple of weeks.  But Market Street has my full attention.  And I justify this game because it's a good project management tool. Wait...hear me out on this....I have to keep track of all the merchandise and their placement in my store.  Each piece of merchandise has a shelf life and I have to manage the next batch of products to ensure that I don't have shelves with no product.  I honestly do think it will help with my project management....seriously!


I have over 250 friends on Facebook. I cannot tell you who most of those 250 are.  There are quite a few friends and family.  But most are people that are playing one game or another and wanted a neighbor.  I have gone through in the last couple of days and gotten rid of about 30.  And I still am not sure about some of them.  I will probably take the plunge and just unfriend a lot of them because I'm tired of reading their game induced postings about their levels or their size of crop.  I'm really tired of having 3,000 posts on my page about their need for a shovel or gas.  I'm tired of scrolling down my page to see if ANYONE has posted something original, not from a game.  


I actually talk to people through Facebook more then I do in person.  Not because I talk to more people but rather Facebook is my mode of communication.  I am pretty sure that a lot of people know that they can try Facebook if they can't get me through email or phone.  That's kind of nerdy, I know.  And maybe a bit obsessive.  I'm not sure how my company feels about it but we opened it up about a year ago because HR made a reasonable request to use it as a recruiting tool.  I was against it but my boss decided to go with it and shame on him.  If they did a report of who has the highest Internet usage it would probably be me.  But the only saving TOTAL grace is that I can't play games while at work.  We have that blocked.  That saves me a lot because I would be playing constantly and that's not productive for work. No matter how much I justify the project management skills it may bring me.  I don't think work would go for the game, which is a shame. We'd learn a lot!


I posted this several months ago as kind of a joke but I have to admit that it hits home.

My name is Shannon and I'm a Facebook-aholic.

Step One - I admit I am powerless over Farmville and that my Social City game was unmanageable

Step two - Came to believe that staying off Facebook would restore me to sanity.

Step Three - Made a decision to turn my Facebook account over to the care of the Internet God as I understand him.

Step Four - Made a searching and fearless inventory of my Farmville gift box


Step Five - Admitted to everyone on my friends list the exact nature of my Social City growth


Step Six - Were entirely ready to have my Facebook friends send me more Mafia Wars respect requests

Step Seven - Made a list of all people and humbly asked them to send me boards for my horse stable

Step Eight - made a list of all friends and became willing to add more

Step nine - Made direct requests to all my friends to like a new page, except when to do so would cause them to unfriend me.

Step Ten - Continued to search for more pages and when I found one...quickly sign up for it

Step Eleven - Seek constant contact with the Internet, praying that my Internet does not go down and if so, piggyback off my neighbor's wireless

Step Twelve - Carry the message of the Facebookaholic to others and to practice staying off for many hours and the power to stick with that.


May the force be with you!