Facebook Friend Culling

Hello blog,

I am home sick from work today, so while I sit here in my bed with a box of tissues and my waterbottle close at hand, I thought I'd share with you my plan for today.

It VERY recently occurred to me that I should probably think about deleting some of my Facebook friends.

I never thought I'd be that person.

That person who deletes you off their friend list without even telling you.


But I think I understand it now.
I'm 22 years old and I have people on my Facebook who I haven't talked to in 5 years!!!!

That is quite a long time.

That's more than my entire time at University.



I've had to ask myself, why this obsession with having more Facebook friends than other people?
I tried to justify it to myself by saying it'll help my music.
But to be honest, the people I haven't talked to in 5 years have no interest in my music.
Keeping them around isn't even helping that cause.

My other reason was because it made me feel better about myself, which in itself is quite sad.


I have 810 Facebook friends.
There is NO WAY I am actually friends with that many people.

2013 has been a year of change for me. A year of growth. Of development.
I am sorting out my life. I am learning how to manage the experiences that have shaped me.
I am coming to terms with who I am.
This year has been detrimental to me. I am very glad I have had the opportunity to look at my life introspectively and learn what makes me tick.

I feel like part of the growth for this year means that I need to do some Facebook friend culling.
I feel very iffy about it. I really don't want to be that person who deletes people off their Facebook.

But I have to. It will be something positive.

It means I'll be letting go of that idea that my number of Facebook friends equals how important I am.

Its realising that it is simply impossible to have 810 friends.


Friendships are so important to me, and in order to maintain the friendships that actually matter, you have to let go of those that don't.



I read these interesting articles on Facebook Friend Culling:
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Discerning-With-Your-Facebook-Friends

http://www.howstuffworks.com/internet/tips/how-to-cull-facebook-friends-list.htm



And there's even an app on Facebook which makes it easier:
https://www.facebook.com/appcenter/friend-cull



According to the FriendCull app, I have 443 Silent Friends (who don't seem to use Facebook)
126 Most Cullable Friends who I have little to NO interaction with
22 Least Cullable Friends, who I have a lot of interaction with. People like Aimee (who's my TOP FRIEND hehe), Lyndon, Chloe, Joella etc.
and 188 Middle Friends, who I have some interaction with.

Do you see your picture in there??????




At any rate, my eyes have truly been opened.

I don't know how I have justified having so many Facebook friends for this long. ESPECIALLY since I am so open with sharing information about myself. I guess that comes from being a songwriter and just being all: BLAAAAAH THESE ARE MY EMOTIONS. YOU CAN LOOK AT THEM IF YOU WANT.




Now the question stands, how many people do I cull?
Those who don't care about my culling will be the easiest. People I haven't talked to in 5 odd years.
But what about the people who have some sort of idea that we are still friends even though we aren't?
Hmmmmmmm.




I guess I'll just start small and see how I go.

I encourage you, dearest blog reader, to try the FaceCull app for yourself and see what it says.

It may surprise you.


My friend Katie P once told me that you either have EVERYONE YOU'VE EVER MET as Facebook Friends, or you only have your actual friends as Facebook Friends. Its either one or the other. And I think she's totally right.
She has since deactivated her Facebook account.


I'm going to go now. By tonight, I would have completed my Facebook Friend Cull, so if we are still friends, it means I consider you a real-life friend or at least a very good acquaintance.


Thanks for reading my blog. I hope I have inspired you to look at your own Friends List and maybe do some spring-cleaning of your own.

X

Life's A Funny Thing

I haven't written in awhile.
Sorry about that.

This morning everything was normal. I checked my phone to see what time it was, as I usually do.
I had a text from my mum telling me that my grandma has died and to let her know when I was awake so she could call.

So I called her and she explained what happened. She told me I didn't have to come to the funeral. I said I wouldn't be going.

But then I thought about it and decided that I'd better. If not for me then for my mother. She just lost her own mum and I wanted to be there for her.

So now I'm sitting in Wellington airport with Christian from SouthLife,  who I haven't talked to in months.

Life is so funny sometimes.

This morning was just another morning, yet life will be dramatically different from now on.

How To Not Suck At A Cafe

So, as most of you would be aware, I work at a cafe, and have been for the last four or five months.

Working in the hospitality industry has opened my eyes to SO MANY NEW AND WONDERFUL THINGS!!!!
I have wanted to write about this for soooooo long but I just never had a chance to.

So I'm doing it now.

Here goes.



I have compiled a few do's and don'ts for EVERYONE who frequents cafes. Since most people will visit a cafe at least one in a blue moon, THIS BLOG POST IS FOR EVERYONE!
And I hope you will not read it and do the opposite of what I am saying, because that is just childish and silly. And I can promise you that the cafe staff will be stabbing you in their minds.




First off.
Some of the most ANNOYING THINGS EVER for cafe staff to have to deal with are the following:




1. Full water glasses/cups left on tables
Whhhhyyyyyy?!?!?!?! You got the water, can you please please PLEASE just drink it???? I understand if you misjudged the level of water you poured yourself, but WHY do you have to leave a FULL GLASS OF WATER ON THE TABLE?!

Now I have to make multiple trips to take all of your flippin' glasses to the kitchen. You could have at least tried to drink some of it. Water is good for you, and no one really drinks enough of it. So before you get up and leave your filthy table covered in dishes, could you just drink the water in the glass?
Thanks, hun.






2. Chairs that are pushed out half a mile from the table
I know you're in a rush to leave the cafe, clearly, but you have two seconds to push the chair in under the table don't you? Oh, you don't? And you'd rather just get up and leave the chair out in the middle of the gaps between the tables causing a very dangerous hazard for people trying to carry their arms full of dishes back to the kitchen? It is very much appreciated.
PUSH IN YOUR FLIPPIN' CHAIRS PLEASE! Its common courtesy.






3. People who sit on dirty tables when there are a billion clean tables to choose from.
Honestly, why? Just PLEASE tell me what reason you have for possibly doing this?????? I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!!
You realise I didn't have a chance to wipe down that table yet, WHY ARE YOU SITTING AT IT?!?!?!
Oh, you're going to complain to me now about the table being dirty? That is just fantastic <3
I won't point out all the sparkly clean tables around you that you could have sat at instead, because you're the customer and you're always right.






4. People who buy something and then don't eat it.
The amount of wasted food in the cafe is absolutely disgusting.
What happened to the whole " there are starving kids in Africa so finish your meal"?
I understand if you eat the majority of the food and then you leave a little because its just too much food, but you barely touched your Pasta/Burger/Fries/Slice/Muffin/Sandwich.
You can always ask us for a takeaway container or bag if you can't finish it. You paid for it. Why do you want to just throw your money away?
I don't understand.
If the food is terrible you should tell us.





5. People who let their kids create a gigantic, disgusting mess and don't even bother to try and contain it.
They are your kids, you could at least try to help us keep the place at least minimally tidy. Kids are unbelievably messy. Letting them pour their fluffy's all over the table is really unhelpful. We have napkins at your disposal. You could at least TRY to clean up after them a bit. I know its our job to clean up after you but have a little consideration for the poor cafe staff that are constantly cleaning up after people's kids.






6. People getting mad at slow food/coffee deliveries when the cafe is insanely busy.
If you wanted your food and coffee in 3 minutes, you should have gone to McDonald's. There is only so much we can do in the time that we have. We are trying out best. Please don't yell at us because its not our fault and we're doing the best that we can :(





That's all I can think of at the moment. I will more than likely add to this list.
Thanks for reading and I hope it has opened your eyes a wee bit :)


LOTS OF LOVE FROM ME! <3


(I'm not always this rant-y. It has been a super long day and I NEED A DAY OFF)