The CBC and the End of First Year Law
Had I never met the Champagne Socialist, I may have dismissed him out of hand. On February 16th, he wrote:
I used to doubt the usefulness of Twitter because all it really does is replicate one feature of Facebookâââthe status update. But thatâs exactly the difference. Because thatâs all Twitter is, and because itâs much more open, it changes the way people use it. [emphasis added]
I canât stand the comparison between Facebook and Twitter. A truly interesting phenomenon is that people tend to conceptualize the internet in terms of how they use it, rather than as a concrete entity. If I ever do write a thesis, it would certainly be on Internet Philosophy, how each person uses it completely differently and adapts it to their own world view. But the internet, unlike reality, has an accessible actuality. Twitter isnât just a Facebook status update. Facebook wants your friends to know âwhatâs on your mindâ; Twitter wants to know âwhatâs happeningâ. Twitter was intended to reach a wide audience of people you both knew and didnât know, to be a realtime communication tool. Facebook was intended to let you friends and family, your (non-publicly accessible) peer group, have a glimpse at what you were up to during your day. They are separate websites with separate goals, although they are functionally similar from a user standpoint.
The author of the Champagne Socialist blog is, in his own words, a ârecent but enthusiastic convertâ to twitter, whereas I am what some would call an early adopter.  On the other hand, I came late to Facebook. I had been on Twitter, Blogger, Livejournal, Diaryland, Wordpress, Tumblr, Delicious, etc., etc. ⌠I didnât see the point of Facebook, and felt that Myspace and Friendster (which I had tried) were lackluster services. I didnât see why Facebook would succeed where they had failed, and didnât sign up until some point in 2007. Iâm still not a huge fan of Facebook, whereas most people today are what you would call Facebook Fanatics. For me, Twitter came first, and Facebook status updates âimitatedâ Twitter. For most others, Facebook came first. For the average internet user today, Facebook is where the internet starts and ends. For the average user, then, to say Twitter âreplicatesâ the Facebook status is not only fair, but entirely accurate.
(The rest of that article is good, by the way. It emphasizes the importance of Twitter in the political sphere, something I have only recently come to appreciate. You should read it.)
The point to all of this is that people use the internet in vastly different ways, a fact that has always fascinated me. Moreover, the way each person uses the internet is the way they consider âcorrectâ; I myself am guilty of this, so that when someone says something I disagree with my first reaction is to write a long, rambling blog post.
One thing I have never really been into on the internet is streaming media. I am aware of radio on the internet, but podcasts, livestreaming, and even things like ustream have never really interested me. Youtube only holds my attention for a few minutes a day, compared to the hours Iâll spend reading Thought Catalog. But a few weeks ago this blogger/ tweeter / colleague in law school introduced me to CBC Radio 3 online, and it became not only the soundtrack for my exam study period, but a staple of my morning routine. Now I wake up and turn on the CBC, to hear amazing, independent music which I would never have heard anywhere else.
So now I see the validity in the statement that Twitter imitates Facebook. The CBC was always there, always broadcasting, but for me it didnât exist until someone forwarded me the link. For most there was no Twitter until theyâd already shared with 240 of their closest Facebook friends how they rocked their Psych 101 final. The Internet exists on its own, but it also changes with you, opens and adapts to your purposes. My Internet is different now than it was a few weeks ago. My use of Twitter has changed from following comedians and other things internet to tracking the upcoming election, the progress of my hockey team, and things happening in real life. The first tab I open in the morning is no longer my carefully crafted collection of Google Reader feeds; now I head straight to the Globe and Mail and CBC Radio 3, a window into things that are actually happening.
My internet changed when I was living in a library basement for 13 hours a day. I lost touch with what was going on in the outside world. I didnât have time to sift through a hundred comics and blogs for entertainment. My iTunes catalogue became a veritable wasteland of uninteresting, overplayed music. When I had to abandon the Internet as I knew it to work harder than Iâve ever worked, live music streaming, news sites, and an adapted purpose for Twitter kept me going. Whether you get there early, late, or with the rest of the pack, the internet meets you where you are in life. As I finished my first year of law school, I turned on the CBC.
The NDP responds to our concerns regarding Usage Based Billing and Net Neutrality.
Recommended⌠why, exactly?
For the record, Midget Apple and Pear come from the Annoying Orange series, which I have never liked on Facebook. How does Facebook know that I would like them? How does Facebook know how internet I am?
Pretty sure I need to own this. Like, an actual need. Pretty sure the rest of my life will be incomplete without this dress.
go06l3 f@n 6|r1 for lif3
Me: Google is awesome, I am the biggest google fan girl. Google army for life!
@chorkins: you say âbiggest google fan girlâ as if there are so many out there.
Me: I like to pretend there are. Although a google search tells me there arenât.
Note from 2022 Rachel: HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED
In Which I Delay Studying by Talking About Productivity
Itâs amazing how specific albums can affect my productivity level. I always listen to music when Iâm studying or doing work (or cooking, or doing the dishes, or taking a shower, or drivingâŚ), and typically when Iâm writing Iâll try to put on something with sic beatz which is not-too-distracting (Iâve been on a real hood internet kick lately).  At some point during the study groove, however, I will inevitably resort to two albums to fuel my productivity. Those albums are Wincing the Night Away by the Shins, and The Shepherdâs Dog by Iron & Wine.
I first discovered these albums in third year University. I had just returned to school after a two year hiatus, and I felt like I had forgotten all together how to work. I had recently read a review of Wincing the Night Away in a magazine (like, on actual paper; I know, Iâm old), and I bought it from puretracks.com, with a coupon that I got from McDonalds (life before itunes and torrents). Post-download, The Shepherdâs Dog was a recommended album purchase. Iâm not sure why, since theyâre not actually very similar (although admittedly theyâre now back-to-back album buddies). I listened to the Shins. And then I listened to Iron & Wine. And then I listened to the Shins again. Repeat until I had written my first paper in 2.5 years, my first ever 25 page paper. That night I felt like I learned what it was like to work really, really hard on something. And since then I basically havenât written a word without this soundtrack.
My link between these albums and productivity only intensified when I was studying for the LSATand I listened to nothing except their 25 tracks for three weeks or more (thatâs actually a lie, I also did this really dorky thing and listened to foâ real white noise). I had to pause _the Shepardâs Dog_while I wrote this post because these albums are so intrinsically linked to the concept of âme working hardâ that I now feel guilty if I listen to them in a non-working context. They make me feel productive. They make me feel like I should be more productive. And when Iâm not being productive enough I know I can count on this specific album combo to make me buckle down.
Itâs strange and awesome that certain songs can be so tied to certain moments in your life or triggers in your brain. So strange and awesome, in fact, that I had to turn off my music, put aside my study guide and write a blog post about it.
What? Itâs not like the process is infallible.
[Ed. Note - In this post, parenthisis have secrets in them!]
Rock Yo Sea Legs (Crime Mob feat. Lil Scrappy vs The Shins) â The Hood Internet | Last.fm
[This mashup reignited my love of the Shins.]
[I do not do anything right now except sit in the library and listen to The Hood Internet.]
How to Date Someone Twice Your Age
I do [did] so love Thought Catalog.
I know that by posting this Iâm revealing the extent of my nerdiness, and frankly Iâm okay with that. I am so into this album right now.
Where did Wilson get the inspiration for such lyrics as âYesterday was Thursday/Today is Friday?â âI wrote the lyrics on a Thursday night going into a Friday,â he said. âI was writing different songs all night and was like, âWow, Iâve been up a long time and itâs Friday.â And I was like, wow, it is Friday!â
Friday, the gift that keeps on giving. Meet the Man Responsible for Rebecca Black, On Gawker.
Cake in a mug! Amazing! I had no Whipped Cream, so I topped this one with cinnamon and brown sugar. Yum.
Make your own cake in a mug! Itâs so fun!
ââŚand then, crescendo: âYesterday was Thursday, Thursday, Today it is Friday, Friday ⌠Tomorrow is Saturday, and Sunday comes afterward.â Itâs funny, but then not quite funny enoughâââyou keep expecting it to get more extreme, but the punchline never comes. About halfway through, you realize with a sick feeling that itâs not a parody at all.â
I love the Rebecca Black song, I love the parodies, I love the âWhich Seatâ meme and I love that naming the days of the week now counts as lyrics. Thank you, Rebecca Black, for distracting me from Charlie Sheen - while you destroyed modern music.