Observe and report

Facebook is a fascinating petri dish. Where else can you find people from all aspects of your life hanging out, sharing information and ribbing each other?

Facebook makes it possible for people to have exchanges like this:

Granted, as evidenced above, typed words and computer protection can make people say things they might not say in person, but the positives outweigh the negatives, I think.

By having friends across the spectrum, it helps ward off news insulation where you are only exposed to that with which you agree. It only works, though, if you don’t censor your news feed.

Here’s a sample of the interesting and varied people I am friends with on Facebook:

• The guy who punched me in the stomach in sixth grade
• My maid of honor’s baby daddy (and the baby too)
• An author I met at a book signing/reading
• My husband’s main gay whom I have never met in person (neither has he*)
• A woman who “met” me through this blog
• A mascot for the local Single A baseball team
• A friend’s pet bird
• A former colleague on whom I had a girl crush
• A former student who nearly drove me batshit crazy
• A drag queen
• A guy I met during jury duty selection
• My boss from my first retail job
• The girl who peed in the back of the truck on the way back from Camp Toccoa
• A fake person created by students in my Writing for the Web class
• The guy who sold me my car
• The perpetually drunk roommate of my first college boyfriend
• A woman I call “Eeyore” because of her depressing posts
• My high school French teacher
• The woman who regularly kicks my butt in Words with Friends
• The late chicken pictured in this blog’s header
• An actor friend starring in Golden Corral commercials (“Ten bucks? Bam!”)

I love these people. I love all my Facebook friends. I am constantly amused, amazed and informed by what they post.

Sure, there are a couple of people on there who also drive me crazy with their passive-aggressive or alarmist status updates. And though I try to be a little selective about the people I connect with on Facebook, there are a couple of people on my friends list whom I don’t think I actually know.

That would be OK with one woman I know. This person is some kind of friend collector. Are you friends with both my husband and me? Expect a friend request. Have you breathed in her vicinity? Friend request. Breathing in general? A request is on the way.

That seems weird to me, but maybe I’m the weird one. Thoughts?

* This is an odd little story I’ll save for another time.