Facebook, With Reservations

So let me say something about Facebook.  I resisted it for a long time; stubborn I suppose but I finally succumbed and opened a page for the Thoroughbreds team.  I was hoping it would help with recruiting and fundraising and it may yet but by doing so, I also acquired a personal page and an instant bunch of 'Friend Requests' to go with it.  Strange that I hadn't even posted anything yet but there they were.  Some were from family and some from people at work so I confirmed a few and skipped the rest.  I guess that's what Facebook is supposed to be about so I figured I'd run with it and see what happened.
Well, as it turns out, I'm having kind of a hard time on the biggest-thing-that-ever-hit-the-planet-or-at-least-the-internet network.

See the problem is, there's just not that many people I know or am looking for.  How do you socialize with nobody?  The first thing I noticed once I got a page was an ad over on the right that offered to search for long-lost classmates.  Chris found a bunch of people from her school when she got on and re-connected and that's great.  I on the other hand, didn't really hang with a whole lot of kids back then so I'm not sure who I would search for.  I wasn't on any sports teams, wasn't in the band or plays, never made academic honors, didn't get in trouble or party much and never moved on to college or the military.  The long and short of it was; I hated high school and couldn't get out fast enough.  Hence, my circle of friends had a very short diameter.  There were a very few I ran around with I guess but when I got to be a senior, I went to work and they went to parties...we didn't have much in common to reminisce about.  Besides, I haven't seen or heard from a single one of them in the 30 plus years since I graduated.  I don't see why I would look for people I hardly spoke to in the hall.  A couple of my good friends that I do miss are dead and even Facebook doesn't claim to be able to find them.  I guess there are limits...

Browsing around a little more, I looked at the search box at the top of my page and kind of wondered whose name I could type in.  There must be someone.  I ran the old memory back a few years, looked at the box, looked at the keyboard, went back a ways further and looked at the box again.  It stayed empty.  The circle is apparently still pretty damn small.

Maybe I'll come up with some names eventually or I suppose someone might show up and surprise me (other than the total unknown that popped in this morning with a generic 'Hi there' message and a prominently well-endowed, clothing-less profile picture).  I might be a noob but nothing screams "SCAM" to me quite like an unsolicited personal message from a big-breasted blonde who 'only wants to be my friend' but doesn't have a name.  I thought Craigslist had the corner on the phishing spammers but at least Fb let me block this one with only two clicks.  I'm trying to keep an open mind and give it a chance.

It isn't all bad news anyway.  I've exchanged some posts with a few people, put up some pictures, sort of poked my way around the gadgets and that's been pretty cool...a strange way to interact with people but kinda cool.   I'm not sure about it yet but it might just turn out to be a pretty quiet place on my laptop with an empty box at the top and a really small circle on the wall.