I was inspired to write this post after reading Jay Baeur’s recent post where he questioned the following premise: “interacting with more people is inherently better than interacting with fewer people.”
His questioning came on the heels of the suicide of Trey Pennington, a popular Social Media Personality. Many online felt they knew and were friends with Trey and therefore were shocked by his death. This led to Jay’s statement “Social media forces upon us a feeling of intimacy and closeness that doesn’t actually exist.” He goes on to say that with some of the people he “knows” he hasn’t shared a meal with them, met their daughter or been to their homes. He closes with “You think you know someone, but you don’t. And that’s social media’s fault. But more so, our own.
So this post is to Jay and to all my readers. I might not be able to invite you all to my home… But, here’s to getting to know each other better and to bridging the gap between the online and real world.
43 things you didn’t know about me
- Many people probably don’t know that I am 43 years old and very proud of it!
- In American time zones, I am a night owl, but in the Middle East times zones, I am a morning person.
- I would probably kill to protect my kids
- I am fortunte to have several dozen wonderful girlfriends.
- I like buying gifts that have meaning well in advance, as I hate buying a gift just to give a gift.
- Likewise with special event dresses, I would prefer to find that perfect dress in advance of the event. How often can you find what you want the week of?
- I am very passionate about all that I do in my life and the people in it. Sometimes to a fault.
- As of late, I take great offense if you RSVP to my dinner party and then don’t show and don’t call! Before, I used to let it go. Now I don’t. It is rude.
- Nothing empowers me more than hanging out with like minded women.
- My wardrobe has a lot of black in it.
- My style is classy chic or classic with an edge.
- I love dogs but don’t and have never owned one that I remember.
- I want a yellow Labrador retriever one day.
- Not too fond of cats. Hate having my extremities swiped at by little claws
- When I was 5, I wanted to be a doctor or a dancer. Thank God for my current choice, as I would be a starving artist.
- If I had a choice now and weren’t in health care, I would have been in the arts: musician, artist or photographer. It is my truly undeveloped side…
- I dislike business meetings in general and tend to be the “mover of the meeting”
- I love to sleep. It is like a drug… the addiction to it. I think this comes from the years of sleep deprivation
- Never wake me when I am sleeping unless the house is on fire.
- I have fallen asleep: standing up, while on dates and at the concert for the Grand Opening of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame… all due to the sleep deprivation of medical training.
- I don’t get mad at my friends for not calling and can always pick up where I left off with a true friend. Remember this and never apologize.
- I have few pet peeves but, I hate when people get on an elevator before you get off.
- Another pet peeve is when people over talk me or 3 people talk to me at once.
- I am type A in my work but type B on vacation. I unwind the minute I walk on that plane.
- My favorite vacations have been sailing from Miami to the Bahamas sleeping under the stars along with mountain biking the White Rim Trail of Utah sleeping under the stars and the undeniable quietness of it all.
- We had 3 weddings. All a blast and all very different: A potluck dinner on our rooftop deck overlooking downtown Seattle (75 guests), a formal wedding in Cleveland (235 guests) and a wedding on the waterfront of Mt Manganui, New Zealand (35 guests)
- My husband and I enjoyed our weddings so much that we have decided to have periodic renewal of the vows. The first was at the 7-year mark in Singapore. I planned it as a complete surprise.
- I played softball since I was 6 years old, almost always shortstop. During fast pitch, I was pitcher.
- My favorite colors are red and purple.
- The favorite thing about my son is that he is so sweet.
- My favorite thing about my daughter is her unique personality.
- My favorite book is Blindness by Jose Saramongo.
- My favorite movies are Life is Beautiful or Cinema Paradisio.
- I love all sorts of music including a little bit of country. My favorites change so much so it is impossible to list!
- I would love to adopt the little girl we are sponsoring in Ethiopia but she has a mother which is where she belongs. I hope to help empower her so she can be all that she wants to be.
- A perfect day when I was single was to read the New York Times with a good cup of coffee from Cup of Joes in German Village (Columbus, OH). Then to run, bike and blade the Olentangy River Trail, pick up Katzinger’s for lunch, watch a movie, sleep, then go out to listen to local bands.
- A perfect day now that I am married with kids is simply spending all day together as a family.
- I love bargains. Given the time, I am pretty good at finding deals.
- My husband and I don’t buy each other anniversary presents we choose an experience to mark the day instead: dinner out, or a few nights away.
- I wish I had learned to be an entrepreneur earlier in life.
- I blew my ACL skiing the saddle run on Blackcomb Mountain in white conditions when I first fell in love with my husband.
- Soon I will be training in functional medicine as I don’t believe that my allopathic training is enough.
- When we return to the USA, I would invite Jay Baer for dinner. He might just come. And we might even become good friends.
Your Turn
Tell me something I don’t know about you or tell me what your thoughts are about online relationships?
Thanks for posting those interesting characteristics about yourself. Enjoyed reading them, more so as I am a Physician, and have lived in the middle east. I particularly relate strongly to the 40th point as I have taken my first few steps towards it, so if you ever decide to become one, I will be happy to help
Wish you and your family best,
FB
Thanks Farhan for stopping by and sharing!
I am also at the beginning of this entrepreneurial process. I will however for now continue clinical medicine as I enjoy it so!
Where in the Middle East?
Thanks for the well wishes!
Rajka
Hi Rajka,
Good to know that you are in the entrepreneurial process. Is it healthcare related or something else?
I was in Saudi Arabia, before settling in US.
Thanks, and stay in touch.
Farhan
Hi Farhan. You will laugh. The first is this site. I have a couple sponsors lined up and am narrowing down what exact type of educational product is needed for the site.
Have not excluded paid services though doubt.
Have a second idea but must first get this one going.
Rajka
Thanks for sharing YOU with us, it was very interesting to read indeed. That’s alot of weddings, must’ve been exiting, almost like the very first time planninge etc.. We’ve had two and I would love to do it all over again, thanks for the inspiration.
Also the posts are very helpful even though I don’t reply all the time, but they really make u look at things from a different angle.
Looking forward to the next one.
Peace!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! I am pleased you find the posts helpful!
Here’s to future renewal of the vows/re-celebrations of weddings!
Rajka
I have never met you personally… too bad because we have a lot in common. I love reading your posts.
Thanks so much for the compliment! That is nice to hear that we have a lot in common!
I really enjoyed getting to know you a bit more! Very inspiring about the weddings. Me and my husband have been together for 22 years but married for only one so far! That was on a days notice with many of our friends in Bangkok. We are planning to have our second wedding in the UK with our families and maybe now I’ve read your post a third in Doha…. a fourth in……… and fifth…………..! So much fun!
Wow together 22 years! For us: 11 years married, 13 years total.
Enjoy the third and fourth and fifth! It is a blast to celebrate over and over again!
I truly hope they are not, Rajka, I do consider you as a friend
As you mentioned earlier we ‘grew up online’ together and this means a lot to me.
Aww thanks John!
And you know you are always closest to those you “grew up” with! Means a lot to me too!
This is really interesting! I am here from Alltop and looking through the comments, it’s nice to see our communities overlap. I’ve just been commenting over at Ameena Falchetto’s blog about authenticity online, a similar topic to here. I find online authenticity, the concept of online relationships (business and friends) and the development of the online community as a proper community not just a place where people dip in and out of, all really interesting subjects. You might enjoy the short story The Machine Stops by EM Forster.
Interesting list of 43 things as well!!
Hi Michelle! Thanks for stopping by and commenting. It is nice to know people can find me via Alltop. Love that Ameena Falchetto!
I too believe you can find authenticity online and what is so lovely is that you can do it on your own time! Helps when you live many time zones away!
Just had a look at your blog. Very nice indeed. Can’t wait to have some time to poke around a bit. Just subscribed via RSS.
Thanks for the short story recommendation of the Machine Stops. Just picked it up for kindle for .99! It will be a good little read as we get away this weekend.
To online networking!
Warmest,
Rajka