sashinka | observation orientated, with a twist of lime | a blog

It's like buses, right? Nothing for weeks, then three at once.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about a lot of stuff. I've been on Facebook a lot. I don't know why. It's slightly addictive, but in a stupid way. I love the friends wheel app: I'm mesmerised by all the Jewish people in one section pratically solid with connectivity, and then the randomers, people I wasn't so sure I knew but I'm basically polite (and working on the benign non-stalker reality theory) so said yes to their friend requests. To friend. Who knew it was a verb.

People still send me Linked In requests, and I file them, aka do nothing. LinkedIn is basically Facebook in a suit with a two drink maximum, and I like to party. I'm informal. It doesn't do it for me.

The other thing I got into is the zero-inbox thing. It's one of those internet cults like the hipster PDA execpt this works. I took over 2000 emails and filed them in a file called archive. I now have 32 emails and I deal with them immediately, and move all the crap I didn't know what to do with into the archive file. And I use follow up flags for priorities (and purple for personal).

Writing. Yes, good question. I'm working on two things. One, "virtual worlds and the Jewish question" because there's always a Jewish question. Short answer (elevator pitch) community. Long answer: wait.

Also... I've been thinking about this. I'm basically from the film generation. I grew up at the tail end of the John Hughes heyday, and people like me, and a little older or younger, if they work in advertising, secretly, they have a film script. And all the books people I know write? They're filmic. It's not that they've got their eye on the film rights - except they have - it's just we grew up on that: old fashioned literary structures feel... old fashioned.

But younger people: twenties, teens. It's the game generation. Gameplay is where it's at.

What I've noticed, since I last had a real job (Industry Standard, 2001), is that work has got very informal. Gameish. Coffee-like. Like, you have a lot of coffee nowadays. Time was, coffee was for people on bikes. Now, everyone's meeting rooms look like Pret a Manger, and meeting is a dirty word and informality is it. I've been into a few offices recently (media companies, sure) where frankly they're nicer than my house. Of course you'd spend a long time in the office is there are nice sofas, good coffee and a party vibe.

Other thing on my mind: what drives virtual worlds, both social and gameplay, it seems, is the inherent desire for narrative. Olden days, narrative was bible stories, then shakespeare... the ageold desire to engage with the story, any story, it doesnt' go away. People don't really have religion, and they may not have literature, but the basic human desire: it's there.

I'm rambling. Semi-formed thoughts, late nights, washing to do.

Hello, I'm back.