You can file this under “things that I’m ashamed to look upon, but can’t help myself”. Things like the ubiquitous car wreck or one of those daytime battle-of-the-cretins shows. Like a lot of people, I’ve made friends with a ton of folks on FB that I barely know in real life; a few of them I don’t know at all but they requested my friendship and I accepted because we know the same people and, being a working musician, I need all the reach I can get when promoting my gigs. It hasn’t helped much. What I notice among so many of these familiar strangers is that their lives are festooned with drama and discontent. Each day it’s a different gripe.  Monday it’s their neighbors. Tuesday, their work. Wednesday it’s their family. Thursday it’s that friend that up and did them wrong. Maybe they’re down on themselves on Friday but right back to espousing how others have failed them on Saturday. If we’re lucky, in honor of the sabbath, they’ll have sort of a nice Sunday. My true-to-life friends and I have something in common in that we seldom share our deepest misery on social media.  We prefer the old-fashioned way.. bellying up to a bar and getting crap-hammered.  I’ve been guilty of following these daily woes a little too much, I’m afraid. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the feeling of smug superiority it brings but lately I feel like I’m just taking part in the Great Exploitation.  Time to thin the herd of FB and leave the rubbernecking to others.

To others: If you find yourself complaining about everyone and everything every damn day.. it’s you.  Not them.

My advice to myself: Stop wasting time and being an ass. Don’t peer through the cyber curtain into the living room of others.