Is Posting Pictures Vanity?

A reader of my blog has recently commented that they feel it is vain to post pictures on Facebook.

I found it to be a thought-provoking comment.

Here's the comment, which was written in response to my March 12, 2012 blog entry Posting Pictures Can Be Perilous. 

"this depends on how you look at it i dont have the guts to post a pic because i think i am not vain enough to do so face book is all about being vain so all i have to say is good luck with that".

My response was this: 

I don't see Facebook as being all about being vain. For me, working from home, and being busy with the needs of a large family, I have little chance to keep in touch with the outside world, including many family members and friends who live far away. I so appreciate it when they put up photos to keep me apprised of a piece of their lives. Vanity has nothing to do with it when I share pictures. In fact, some of the photos of myself I've shared, I've done so with a cringe, knowing it isn't one of the best ones I could take, but knowing how much I appreciate it when others post photos, I do unto others, ya know? :) 

And hey, you think Facebook is geared towards vanity, check out some other sites that are even more focused on photos, like Dailybooth, Hot Or Not, and Piczo, to name a few I've experienced personally.

Furthermore, now there are also "GIF" sites, like gifyo, where people can click a button to record a short GIF file (which, in case you don't know, stands for "graphic interchange format", pronounced "jiff", and is basically a moving picture that replays over and over).

Here's a link for my favorite GIF - the Snoopy Dance - which I almost posted here but have removed it because it was distracting me while I wrote, so it might also distract others while they read.

But there I go with my digression...

Back to the topic of posting pictures and vanity.

My love for being in front of and behind cameras was alive and growing even back in the 80s.

Is it really vanity to want to show yourself to others?

Is it vanity to want to capture a photo of something that you'd like to share with others?

Are women being vain by putting on makeup to hide their flaws and enhance their features?

Are men being vain by working out and wearing tight jeans to show off their butts?

Should we all wear burqa-like security blankies and hide behind them?

Are we wrong to crave positive attention and have someone say words to the effect of "you're beautiful"?

Are we not wired to love and be loved?

 (YouTube video here, "Circle Of Friends" by Point Of Grace).

Especially with people of opposing genders, it can be awkward to say you like their pictures, lest it be taken the wrong way, unless it's meant to be the wrong way, which, in some cases, isn't the wrong way at all.

The confusion, though, I think, is a side effect of our Hollywood-ized society where compliments are often taken as "hitting on".

Heck, most of the pictures I post receive little to no comment whatsoever, and if I dwell on it, I can feel pretty sorry for myself, and question why I continue putting more of them up.

But then, see my quote above about "do unto others".

Maybe it is vanity, differing in degree from one person to the next.  Like with opinions, mine may not be the same as yours, shaped by our individual life experiences and knowledge.

I haven't answered anything definitively here, have I?  I guess I really don't know the answers.

What are your answers to these questions? 

With love,

Dig my writing?  Click "follow" at the top left, and read more in the posts listed in the right hand column.

Here are some quick links for a few of my other blog entries:

• According To Him, I'm Beautiful
• Wow, I Love Being Ignored - Don't You?
• Don't Let Me Get Me 
• Mozart And Me 

Three minutes of thoughts

Do you ever get so tired that the only thing you can think of is the phrase "I'm so tired I can't even think"?

I'm there.  I know that doesn't make sense, but it is what it is.

Am I going crazy?

I was up till 2-something last night, working and goofing around on the computer.

Does everyone goof around on computers?

Sometimes I wish I never met a computer.

But then I probably never would have met any of the wonderful people I "know".

It's like penpals, only so much quicker.

I'm sitting here listening to Anna Nalick's song "Breathe", as I often do when I am feeling like this.

And I thought, "I'll take these few minutes to write anything that comes to mind, because I want to."

If it is of entertainment to anyone else, great.  If not, please stop reading.  You will probably find nothing of interest beyond this line if you've not found anything thus far.

"And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd, coz these words are my diary screaming out loud, and I know that you'll use them however you want to."

I transcribed the above line directly from the song while hearing it in my headset.  How fitting.

These words are my diary screaming out loud.

My life is a mess sometimes.

But it gets better.

If anyone's been paying attention, they may remember that I've posted this song at least once in the past.  Here's another version of Anna Nalick's song, "Breathe (2 AM)", done a few years ago by my oldest daughter (on the far right) and others in her music class.

Hugz,

For those who like my writing, there are more entries arranged chronologically in the right hand column of this blog.

Here are a few related, quasi-related, and completely unrelated posts:

• Just Breathe
• The NEED To Communicate
• Hamburger Helper Facebook Banter
• Are You Highly Sensitive?
• Pretending Everything's Fine When It's Not

Hamburger Helper Facebook Banter

From Saturday, April 21, 2012

The following is the banter that resulted from a Facebook status line of a friend, who has chosen his name to be Sir Basil.  As in all my blogging, all other names are changed, too.

"Hamburger Helper only works if the hamburger is ready to accept that it needs help."

Lady 1:  oy!

Man 1:  brilliant

Steeny:  LAUGHING LOUDLY HERE!!!!!!!!!!

Man 2:  What if Hamburger helper comes in the form of an intervention?

Steeny:  then it would be called Hamburger Intervention.

Man 3:  Hamburvention 

Lady 2:  Lol

Lady 2:  Good one!

Fish Burger:  Ah well. I guess it's time I admitted I have a hamburger problem 

Sir Basil:  ‎"I'm a meatitarian... I eat meat. It's a personal choice."

Steeny:  "Hi, my name is Steeny." (Hiiiiii Steeny). "And I've got a hamburger problem." (Welcome to Hamburger Anomymous, Steeny). 
   
Angus Patty:  There may be another way to look at this... What is the hamburger doing that it actually needs help? I mean really - It could be doing something that benefits society, or world peace (Unless you are a cow) or... maybe it is trying to take over the world in an insidious attempt give everyone Mad Cow disease... (The angry bovine thing, not the swapped t instead of a g in the gene sequence that creates a goofy prion... Just sayin... I mean really - what would hamburger need help with? Then again... it doesn't really have any arms... 

Steeny:  That was some good questioning, Angus Patty.

Angus Patty:  I do what I can... (Still smiling about your "Hi, my name is Steeny" bit - that was funny) 

Cecily:  Angus, you're getting too technical. Look at it from a different point of view...the hamburger meat is messed up, literally it is all mashed up. There's the proof that it needs help. If it was fine, it would be steak. 

Steeny:  I was just talking on the phone to my 19-year-old, formerly drug addicted, vegetarian daughter, Nirvana (she told me to tag her here) and had to read her your status line and some of these comments, Sir Basil, as I figured she'd appreciate them.

She said (and I typed as she spoke) that the hamburger probably has self-esteem issues and self-worth issues because it was brutally murdered and it blames itself because it doesn't know any better. It was raised to be killed. How can it know anything other than that?

Sir Basil:   Your daughter is warped - I like it :)

Steeny:  oh she is indeed - my kids are my favorite weirdos! :)

Angus Patty @ Cecily:  The mind does not always reflect the body... (How is that for .. Umm... ambient?)

@Steeny LOL - I think your daughter may have something there - somehow though, I do not think Dr. Phil would touch this one... As for Dr. Laura, she may, as it is not Pork. Then again, she would do the whole "tough Love your Burger" thing... Pop doctors aside, (No, I do not mean a side of doctors with pop) Trying to help these mutilated bovine is very.... MOOOOOOOoooooooving...

Steeny:  ‎"tough love your burger" - LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!

Steeny:  and Moooooooooooooooooooving, hahahaha! this thread has been hysterical!

Angus Patty:  The interesting thing is, that Dr. Laura would probably also tell the ground beef to "get a life", failing of course, to understand the irony of that statement. "And now a word from our sponsors"... (tag in music) "At Burger King, you can have it any way you like"... No wonder hamburger needs help. It is also clearly suffering form Stockholm Syndrome.

Steeny:  Poor, poor codependent burger.

Angus Patty:  HAHAHAHA... Yeah... LOL

Steeny:  Sir Basil, would you mind if I copied all of this (removing all names, of course) to use as an entry in my blog? (This one: http://holy-sheepdip.blogspot.ca/ )

Sir Basil:  Go for it! I'll just sit here and wait for the royalty checks to roll in...

Steeny:  Excellent. I will be sure to share the wealth. I'll hold off on posting it for a bit, in case further words of wisdom on the subject of dead cows makes itself known in here.

Steeny:  Upon thinking further, I should change names, rather than remove them, lest some parts lose their sense. Does anyone have any preferred pseudonyms? If not, I will just make some up.

Steeny:  (I'll wait till tomorrow at the least, to give people a chance to see this if they're not on FB anytime soon, to think about an answer.)

Sir Basil:  Thing One and Thing Two?

Sir Basil:  Okay, you can call me "Sir Basil", ____ can be "Sir Jeffery", and ____ is "Cecily". I dunno about the rest of them :) 

Steeny:  ok! heeheheeee this is gonna be fun! (i'll wait to see if there are any objections or corrections to those suggestions, first, though). 

Fish Burger:  Call me fish Burger. :-)

Angus Patty:  Being as we are dealing with Cattle, it is tempting to try for a rugged western name... I dunno... say... John Wayne or some such... I am not thinking Sir Jeffery (The whole shtick would with what is implied would be a bit uncomfortable I think) Angus Patty? 

Steeny:  Angus Patty!!! ROFL! or vice versa for a girl. 

Angus Patty:  NICE



So, there we have it - a banter session from Facebook, unedited except for the name changes.

What did you think?  Am I the only one laughing at this?  Should I do more of them? 

Affectionately,

If you like my writing, click "Follow" at the top left of this page, or leave me a comment.



If you'd like to read more, there is a growing pile of it on the right hand column, arranged chronologically.


Here are a few samples:

• A Tea/Coffee Situation (a little silliness from my childhood)
• Wearing Masks In Walmart (a little silliness from my adulthood)
• My Attempted Weekend Getaway (an attempt to find sanity in my crazy adulthood)
• How Bloggers Make Money (some serious info)
• Pretending Everything's Fine When It's Not (some serious thoughts)

More Writing In The Works, But Not Quite Yet

Hi y'allz. 

 
According to the stats, there are still people coming back to read, although I've not posted much lately.  I do have more writing in the works.

I've been otherwise occupied, but I will be back.

I will be Bach!

And you be Beethoven.

Avec amour,

Here are a few oldies you may enjoy in the meantime:

Mozart And Me  (Surely I cannot be alone in my appreciation of this wonderful music!)
Holy Sheepdip! (a bit of back story on the title of this blog)
The Need To Communicate (some early testing-testing-1-2-3 type blog writing of mine)
Pickup Idea For Single Men (a silly little slice of life)
Short Version of My Long Story (I know a lot of my readers have been through abuse, so here's what I hope is some hope)

Plus, there's that whole pile of entries listed chronologically in the right hand sidebar of this blog.

And don't forget - bloggers make (a tiny bit of) money by readers clicking on links that interest them!

A Tea/Coffee Situation

Once upon a time, my sister and I were members of a tennis club.

I don't know how my parents afforded it, but they offered it to us and we gladly accepted, as we loved playing tennis.

My dad, who is a carpenter, built us a house in a beautiful British Columbian suburb, somehow managing to make the payments on the mortgage even though there were times when the carpenter's union had no work for him and we dug for leftover potatoes in a farmer's field in order to eat.

A picture I took of my dad in 1984 when I was standing on the deck of the house he'd built.

I didn't realize back then how poor we were.

I thought it was fun going out to the farms for potatoes, getting to spend time with my dad, digging in the dirt interspersed with playing in the nearby ditch and forest.

I like to think my dad really did love me back then.

I'd not know it if he does now.

He never - and I mean never - answers the phone when I call, and never returns my calls.

Funny how we'll still love those who don't seem to love us.

I don't chase after my dad anymore.

He's got his own life and has made his own decisions for reasons I may never know.

I still love him, though I hate how he ignores me.

I appreciate the sacrifices my dad made in order to raise me for 18 years.

Sure, he made mistakes.  Don't we all? 

When I was 25, showing him my first baby, the sight of whom moved him to tears, my dad looked at me and said, "I'm so sorry for the way I raised you.  I wish I could've done better."

I told him, "It's okay, Dad.  You did the best you could with what you had."

I think he really meant it.  I just don't understand why he has chosen to distance himself from me now.

Oh!  I know!  Maybe I could call him from my cell phone...

Wait, no... that's a tea/coffee situation.

Let me explain what that means:

You see, when I was 10-12, me 'n' my sister*, who's 18 months younger than me, were members of the local tennis club.

This ain't no tennis club, but this was me and my tennis (and badminton and assorted trouble) buddies back then.

Sis and I would go play our guts out on the tennis court, sometimes seriously, other times winging the ball over the fence as hard as we could into the forest on purpose, only to spend hours cooling down in the shade of the trees later hunting for our lost ball, coming out with at least half a dozen others -- and sometimes some empty pop bottles, too.

When we'd go into the club house, we'd brew up a mess of our favorite treat - coffee!

Yeah, I know, we were kind of young for it, but we loved coffee, with lots of milk and sugar cubes.

The sugar cubes were an absolute must.  Without them, we might as well have drank water mixed with dirt, that's how gross un-sugared hot beverages were to us.

One time when we had a hankering for coffee, we found that the sugar cube box was empty.

Our freshly-brewed coffee was sitting there smelling all delicious and tempting as we frantically dug through cupboards and drawers, hunting for sugar, but none could be found.

I said to my sis, "Oh well, that's okay... we'll just have tea."

 (I know I've put this song in another blog entry, but it fits here, too. 

 "No sugar tonight in my coffee, no sugar tonight in my tea.")

Late evening sun rays shone through the windows onto my sister's slightly annoyed face as her deadpan words came out,  "Steen.  We still don't have any sugar."

I knew that, but I'd just had to be facetious.

We burst out laughing at my mock-asinine comment, and for the rest of our lives, any time something came up where either way it wasn't going to work, we'd say, "Well, that's a tea/coffee situation."

Do you see what I mean now about my dad?  If I were to call him from a different phone, he's still not going to answer.

I have to humour myself or I'll let it get to me.

How about you?  Do you have silly things like that with your siblings and/or close friends?  Can you relate?

Love you guys.  Thanks for reading.

*For the grammar police out there, I want to mention that I do know it is improper to say "me 'n' my sister", but today I felt like ignoring the rules.  Thank you for your patience.

And if you still like my writing after all, go up to the top left of this page and click "Follow" to keep up to date with future blog entries.  Lots of old ones in the right-hand sidebar for your reading pleasure, and here are a few related and semi-related posts:

• Don't Let Me Get Me 
• No Shugga Tonight - Hot Beverages 
• Wow, I Love Being Ignored - Don't You? 
• When I Was A Teenager