Blue-Footed Musings

Today I wrote a list of things that I hate about Twitter and then deleted it. There was no need to bore you with it, especially not when the gist was so simple. What it boiled down to was that Twitter brings out the worst in me while also negating some of my greatest strengths and taking up too much of my time. The same thing was true of Facebook, so I gave it up, except for the occasional check-ins to keep up with our local school community. It’s time to give up Twitter, too, or at least restrict my usage. I want to take what’s good about Twitter with me, though, and here are some thoughts on that matter.

• I like knowing what’s going on in the world, but I can get most of my news from the newspaper.
• I’ll miss having an easy way to stay in touch with friends, but I’d rather talk face-to-face or on the phone with my friends and family more often and make new friends in the real world.
• Twitter has broadened my perspective. I like listening to voices that are unlike my own and hearing stories that teach me about other cultures and ways of looking at life. Some of voices I’ve enjoyed the most on Twitter are from people whose work is published elsewhere. I will listen for their voices outside of Twitter.
• I am an opinionated person, and I like to write about my opinions. If I’m going to spend my time that way, I might as well do it right and either post my thoughts here or submit my writing for publication. Sure, actual publication would offer a scary number of opportunities for making an ass of myself, but most of the good things in life come with risk. At least in publication I’d have an editor, and if I ever got myself into hot water, I could blame them. That’s what they’re for 😉

If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor.

Neil Simon

I recently read the opening chapter of a science fiction novel in high spirits. It was all about a crazy fictional author, and I couldn’t wait to read about his wild adventures. Only I realized by the end of the “chapter” that it was actually an introduction written by somebody else, and the “crazy fictional author” was actually the real author of the rest of the book. I didn’t even want to read the rest of the book after that, but I forced myself to give the first few paragraphs a try. They were awful by comparison. Such disappointment I have not felt in a long time, and I returned the book to the library unread. On the bright side, the guy who wrote the introduction is also an author, so I can add his name to my list of authors to read someday.

I understand why the Hogwarts first years are nervous about being sorted. I wouldn’t want to face the Sorting Hat myself. I’d be crushed to be placed in Hufflepuff and terrified to be placed in Slytherin. Only Gryffindor or Ravenclaw would do, but only half the kids can be sorted into those two houses. Half the kids have to go elsewhere.

Hufflepuff is, let’s be honest, the uncoolest of the four houses. It’s for the mediocre and the dull, for the kids who aren’t brave enough, smart enough, or interesting enough to get into the other houses. It’s terrible to say so, because Hufflepuffs are good, hard workers, the kind of people without which this world would grind to a halt. But, J.K. Rowling herself made it clear that Gryffindor was the best house and Ravenclaw the second best. Hufflepuff is meh. You can tell just by the name. It’s the only one that’s silly.

I am tempted to say that I would pick Slytherin over Hufflepuff, that I’d rather be evil than dull, but that’s not true. I like to flirt with danger. I can be rebellious. But I’m certain the other Slytherins would scare me and that I would balk at doing anything truly evil, which would make Slytherin an intolerable place to be.

Which leaves Gryffindor, for which I am not brave enough, and Ravenclaw, for which I might not be smart enough. So, there’s a very good chance I’d be a Hufflepuff, crushed.

In the end, the problem with the four houses is that they’re too much like cliques. Cliques tend to generate strong feelings. And the Sorting Hat, to a degree, has the power to decide if the feelings will be good or bad. So keep that Sorting Hat far away from me!

Plus, I doubt it’s ever been washed, so ew 😉

They say that practice makes perfect, which means that if you do something often enough you’ll get good at it. So how come I can’t even eat without getting food all over myself? You’d think I’d have eaten food often enough to be good at it by now. Oh, but wait. This makes sense. I wasn’t paying enough attention to what I was practicing. I was actually practicing getting food all over myself, and now I’m really good at it. So what they say is true. Practice does make perfect, and now I’m a perfect slob. 😉