The Facebook paradox

I've been actively (very actively) participating on Facebook for about two months now, albeit under a fake name. I'm presented with the networking dilemma of people telling people that I'm there and then I get friend requests from people I'd just as soon not share anything with. Ever. Why don't they know this?

The more people I "friend," the less freedom I have to say whatever I want to say. It doesn't give me a greater voice--it subdues the one I already have.

Oddly enough, I have far more friends on Facebook than I do in real life.

On the other hand...I have been able to reconnect with lots of my long-lost friends from Chile. I lived there for a year in 1978-1979. I fled high school and my family in an attempt to prevent my imminent suicide. Maybe a change of scenery...

I hated my host family, but my classmates rocked. I loved them all. And then once I got back, we lost touch. Years later, through the power of the Internet, I found my best friend from that year. It was a bit more complex than that, but the important thing is that I found Lorna, and Lorna told Lucy, and Lucy told Emma and Maritza, and Dasy, and Cecilia...

Of course, my friends don't speak English, so my much-forgotten Spanish is getting a workout. I live in fear that they'll appear in pop-up chat, because then I can't even pretend that I depend on the dictionary and Babel Fish translation. The Spanish is killing me.

I am thrilled to have renewed these connections with the Chilenas, but not so excited about some of the other people who have tracked me down. And coworkers? Don't I see them at work all day?

Bedtime. Last night I was in terrible pain, and I only slept about four hours. I must sleep.