I am...Amber Pickles...

I did something stupid yesterday.

In order to give my story a proper context, I have to first start by saying that, up until yesterday, I have resisted all peer-pressure to sign up on Facebook. I try not to be snotty about it. I know a great deal of people who love it and I am, at times, curious about all the connecting going on without me.

Part of it is a "been there/done that" feeling because I have a MySpace account. I understand that Facebook is "different," better, the new thing, I have a feeling it really isn't... I created a MySpace profile a few years ago, downloaded a few pictures and accepted friend requests from people I sat next to in choir. Another part of my resistance is, I watched a 60 Minutes episode with the guy who started Facebook who reminded me of the cagy politicians and CEO's you often see on 60 Minutes. I was also a bit startled by the fact that it uses a tracking system that monitors what you buy from other sites and sends that information to your friends. Another thing is, I'm slow and easily distracted. I don't need something else fighting for my attention.

Anyway, all of this to say, essentially, that I've had many reasons to avoid signing in. Then the nosey girl inside of me took over.

So, on an impulse, I went onto Facebook, thought I was giving a fake name with my a real (albeit older) email, and filled out no personal information so that I could "browse." Because the people of Facebook are obviously smarter than me, it instantly sent a message to everyone who had ever tried to search for me.

With the name Amber Pickles.

So, those of you who happened to wonder if I'd recently taken up a creative "side project," that is the boring story. The upside of the experience is that one of the first people to send me an email is someone who has attempted to be in touch with me on and off for a while. I have no interest in being in touch with this person. Not because of some long-simmering grudge or painful falling out, but for some more generalize feeling of not wanting to be in touch. And so I retain that right without having to deliberate over it all afternoon.

I will not be joining Facebook right away. But you can browse my not-recently-updated MySpace page...