shutitdown: taking one for the anecdote

Results tagged “shutitdown”

Mom: Hey, why are you calling me a slut on your blog?
Mom: Blowing people in the soup kitchen?
Mom: That's a little harsh, even for shutitdown.

I was just reading this really good blog by a 23 year old American living in London. Her blog is what mine could have been like if I wasn't such a pussy. My blog, like the rest of my life, is dominated by fear and shame with a pretty serious side of self-loathing. Having a good blog requires a complete faith in one's own abilities as a writer. Because in order to truly have a good blog, one has to really, truly believe that their own writing is good enough to be worth the humiliation of complete self-exposure and the wrath of one's friends.

For example, my friend the other Lina was great blog material for a while. It was great having a foil--a blond, Swedish version of myself. But after I hired male strippers for Lina's college graduation party, she finally (was) revolted. She accused me of deliberately posting unattractive pictures of her, for one. And perhaps more shockingly, she suggested that one of the main reasons I had hired strippers for her party was for blog material. This stung, partially because it was probably true. But the valuable lesson I learned from this incident is that it's better not to tell your friends that you have a blog so you can post as many unflattering pictures of them as you want and tell all the weird stories about their fucked up sexual experiences and they will never get mad at you.

My mother has also gotten irritated with me because of my blog. She doesn't like how I portray her as a caricature of herself. I tried pointing out that I don't like how she behaves like a caricature of herself, but to no avail. She decided that she didn't like it when I posted little vignettes about her shrieking "big black cock" without mentioning once how she cooked for the local soup kitchen. Or if I do write about how she works for the local soup kitchen, but imply that she blows everyone that comes in, that bothers her too. There's no winning with some people.

One of my friends who has one of those really personal type blogs, like, she talks about her feelings and every time she is within spitting distance of a penis, told me that she feels really weird reading my blog because it's so personal. I don't get this. I think it's really hard to read my blog because it's so fucking boring--I never post about anything really interesting and personal because I'm too scared about the fallout. I don't want my dad to think I'm a slut and I don't want my mom to bitch at me about calling her a slut, so there's not a lot left to say, is there?

I can't write about any of my friends that know about my blog, which eliminates most of them. And I've gotten so paranoid that I don't write about the ones that don't know about it, because I'm certain they will find out and whine. And I can't write about my job, because I work at a company with a "blogging policy." And I don't like writing about how badly my dating life is going, because my ex-boyfriend that's stalking me (still) reads it and I don't want him to think that our relationship failure was like, my fault or something. And I don't write about my past, because I'm scared that it will come back to haunt me. And I don't want to write about how precisely I'm completely wasting my life, except in the vaguest terms, because it makes me feel like a complete asshole. Mainly because I'm entering middle age and living my life like a 19-year-old with a trust fund. I'm basically a fat, aged version of an American Apparel ad campaign and I have no idea how it happened.

Two and a half years ago Brandy was a snotty, alienated fourteen-year-old who posted worrying comments on my site. Now she's all grown up and posting gems such as the one below.

Lina, do you ever read a piece of writing and feel that your soul has become just a little bit emptier? It's exactly that feeling that makes your writing so unique.

For this, she is the shutitdown commenter of note. Thanks, Brandy, you always brighten up my day.

I decided I couldn't update until I re-did the page. Those weird shrimp things were starting to creep me out big time.
Today I was talking to Fran about something or other, and she mentioned a dearth of "material." This, I feel, is a problem. I, on the other hand, have an excess of material because of my unpleasant habit of "living life for the anecdote."

Unfortunately, I have too much material. Sadly, I feel unable to harness the power of said material as it always causes problems. My friends don't like it when I post their secrets, but their secrets are so much better than mine. Every time I write about my family, I get a barrage of enraged emails and instant messages. Since I talk to most of them so rarely, the amount of material I get from them is limited. The rest isn't worth the grief I would get from writing about it. Today I realized that I had inadvertently given the Pole a clue to this site, and had to go through and delete all references that referenced him in a positive light. I can't write too much about my exes as they are the only ones that regularly read my site (and my cousin Laura, props!). I worry if I say the things I want to say, one of them may, god forbid, contact me. I don't write about the things I do and say because they are either so boring, racist or liable to get me fired or destroy my future political career. I mean, should I really post about the handjob class that I took or about my incredibly self-destructive shopping problem? Like I need to give my friends and family any more reasons to shun me.

The only decent news I have right now is that I tried *snowboarding*. Yes, I know it's unbelievable. I managed to stay upright for more than 30 seconds at a time, but was so scared every time I started picking up speed that I would immediately throw myself face-first into the snow. I emerged covered in bruises, nearly unable to walk, but with a sense of quiet dignity--victory over inertia and the psychological inability to try new things.

In other news, I've Googled variations of the term "live for the anecdote," and it appears that I was the first to coin this term on the Internet. If you find out different, don't tell me. Let me have my moment.

Small but subtle changes are going on here at shutitdown. I added an option so if you want an email notice of when I update my page. Don't worry, I won't use your email address for anything creepy. I swear. ;) Anyway, you can sign up in the left hand toolbar.

Thanks to davidc for being a genius.

...how much I like Ruca. Other than that, I don't have a whole lot to say.

I already have about 80 pictures from my first few months in California. I am going to put them up in my Yahoo Group which is where I host all my photo albums. So join if you haven't already, and maybe if I decide to get off my fat ass I will upload all these pictures.

In other news, I have been told that my apartment looks like a "sex den," so maybe I will upload pictures of that too. Maybe.


Check the braces (9th Bday).

I just added a new album to my yahoo club of baby and growing up pics. Some very bad hair phases.

So I just made a Yahoo club/group. I already put up 4 new albums in it, including an album of like 100 webcam pics. If anyone joins and expresses interest, I will put up an album from my awkward teenage years. Haha.

Right now I am the only member so I feel stupid. So go join, okay?

Oh also, these are some links that I have been meaning to put up for a while. Did I miss anyone?
exploited.org.uk
explodingdog.com
chickenlegs.net
makesmeangry.com
camrecord.com
wondergirl.org
allupenya.com
unclemelon.com

Ok, would it be too retarded to make a Yahoo club? I think they are really lame, but I want to post more pictures and if I made a club I can upload them there and don't have to pay for bandwidth. Also cam chats? Well probably not because I hate the cam. haha. I was looking at Ruca's ghettofied pictures in her Yahoo club and that's what made me think about it.

But seriously folks, whatchoo think?

Also, I want Uncle Melon to be my daddy. Even though he thinks sugar gliders are rats.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Does anyone know how I can set up a webcam in my glider cage? It would have to be a infared one or something because they sleep all day. Do tell, it would be much appreciated.

Sick of wishlists? Want to actually make a difference? Help me apply for college. And don't forget HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU.

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