Leave no trace

The ability to erase oneself should be left in the hands of the person doing the creating. Meaning, if I write a blog today and take it down tomorrow, Google (or whomever) shouldn't have it indexed or archived or anything in a few weeks. It should be gone. I'm not a reporter, I'm not famous, I'm not really even that interesting. So why, oh why, does a blog I wrote about one of my cats 4 years ago, that I personally took down, still exist?

There are so many people out there who are looking for that grand marketing scheme - the next big band who is trying to get viewers, an up and coming author who is trying to sell a book, or even a model attempting to get potential clients to view her portfolio. And yet it seems as though the nameless, the unknown, the "nobodies" of the Internet are the ones left standing. Each time we have something to say, no sooner is it out of our fingers and whooshed out on the web for the world to see (well, most of the world), and then we eventually decide to remove it.

But wait, what's that? Ghosts of the past. Fragments of who I used to be strewn about the 'net. A snapshot from wild times working at Woodstock '99? It's there. A blog about my sick kitty? Totally there. I poem I won an award for when I was 14? Yup, still there.

So perhaps the best Internet marketing plan is the antithesis of everything we've ever been taught about spreading information. Perhaps my work, and that of others, would best be found by being deleted. What if I were to post this blog, leave it up for a week, then delete it. And repeat. A few more times of this, and my same content would be indexed and archived a multitude of times all over the 'net. A later Google search would reveal not one, not two, not even three, but several pages listing the same exact content. Not only that, but linked directly back to this blog would immediately up my rankings in the Google search engine - the more "link backs" the higher the rating and listing of a page. As far as Google is concerned, my posts are worth more "dead", than "alive".

That said, it brings up another related subject. Googling potential candidates for jobs. It's difficult enough to get a job, what with todays economy biting the big one, and many lower and mid-level jobs being outsourced and shipped overseas... not to mention the fact that we're sort of forced into this "uber-educated" society at the moment. Got a Bachelors degree and no job? No problem - finance that Masters degree with a grant, student loan, or your credit card. Upon graduation we are essentially left with kids in adult bodies running around with an internship or two under their belts, no real world experience, and an "entry level job" that was once slated more for the Associates Degree or High School Diploma types.

But now, oh thank you Lord Technology, we have a way to search about people before we even get to meet them. Check out their MySpace to see just how much partying they do on the weekend. Check out their Facebook to see how far left or right their political views swing. Google pics to see if there can be found any evidence to support that hot new intern really is worth playing "Secretary" with. Essentially, Google allows employers to inquire about age, ethnicity, relationship status, sexuality, etc. in the privacy of their own office. There is really no way to prove discrimination. Google makes life more difficult to navigate. It adds more hurdles for those who have made poor choices, and sometimes even adds hurdles to those who haven't made a choice - who are simply born female, or Hispanic, etc. People who've been in the job scene for many years just don't understand why today's youth are returning home to live in their mid to late 20's, or why jobs aren't as easy to find as they once were. It isn't simply that jobs are more scarce, but it's even that employers have a better pool of candidates AND the ability to be more choosy.

One could argue that this is a good thing. And yes, when used properly, it is. An employer can screen a potential candidate to see if they would fit in well with the office culture. Perhaps it's an office that has "Beer Thursdays", and you want to make sure this person won't be uptight and uncomfortable. It's something you may not really feel safe bringing up in an interview, but something that could be fairly easy to figure out, provided the person has enough data about them on the 'net. It could also be used in a "wrong" way, too. For example, a smaller company that has a new insurance policy for their employees may not want to hire a pregnant woman. It may not be fair, but that one claim she files for pregnancy exams and birthing costs could full well be the tipping point between going from the black into the red for a company just starting to really grow. Or it could be used in blatantly nefarious ways. Is "D Riot" a girl or a boy? Is she/he Muslim? A bigoted boss could easily turn away an amazing candidate based on these search findings. Perhaps he only wants to hire Christian employees. As much as some would suggest that this is his prerogative, the bottom line is that this is ILLEGAL.

The only true way to avoid any of these scenarios (the good or the bad), is to avoid the Internet as much as possible. Don't use Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Friendster, IRC, ICQ, AIM, MSN Messenger, etc. Don't search the 'net while logged into gmail. Don't use your real name on your computer, e-mail, router name, or anything. Don't use your blackberry to send messages. Don't give your e-mail address out.

The grand marketing scheme - attempt to erase yourself. Someone will find you.

The best way to avoid any of the negative scenarios mentioned above? Go analogue.

Carpe Diem... and a handfull of other cliche's

There comes a time in everyone's life where they throw their hands into the air and exclaim one or more of the following;

"I've had enough!"
"This year I am going to do X, Y, & Z!"
"Today is a new beginning"
"Things are going to change"
"Seize The Day"
"Nothing goes right for me"
"I am not where I want to be in my life right now"
"I can't believe it's been 10 years (or 5, 20, etc.)"
"I'm almost 18, 21, 25, 30, 40, or any other magical age"
"Time flies"
"High school was the best/worst time of my life"
"Things are so much harder nowadays"

It is at these times when we fall into some sort of human instinct that tells us, eventually, to DO something about it. Sometimes it comes under the guise of a New Years Resolution, other times it's a Birthday Present to ourselves, or maybe, even, an engagement. Sometimes we publicly put it out there in the hopes that verbally casting into aural reality will make things happen. Other times, we blog about our goals/needs/desires/intent.

Regardless of the methodology or reason, the intent is always the same - to do something DIFFERENT.

I've repeatedly come to sudden "a-ha!" realizations about life being cyclic, almost oblong, in an orbit of life and patterns. Some we repeat the exact.same.way.exact.same.way. overandoverandoverandover again. Others we mODify EaCh TiMe ArOUnd, and yet keep repeating them in some way or another. There are even a few we refuse to repeat, simply placing on the proverbial horse blinders and ignoring the curse as it passes us by. And some, we simply blindfold ourselves in the hopes of forgetting what good (and bad) we are missing. And yet none of these tactics work to change things NOW. They simply teach us lessons for later, and/or save our skin until the next time around, the next temptation, the next repeat repeat repeat of the same old shit.

So what is there to be done? Someone, somewhere out there, was wise once, and said "The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing and expecting different results".

Well, what if we try different things and expect (and/or get) the same results? What then? Is that, by nature, the definition of sanity? And if such is true, should we just continue trudging through life in our semi-repetitive states?

A few years ago (ok, maybe more than 10... OH MY LORD, IT'S BEEN 10 YEARS ALL READY!), I was an impressionable young teen. I babysat for a young mom, and in her possession she had this book entitled the "Celestine Prophecy". While I'm not going to go into how much of these theory's are real/could be real/are completely bullshit, I will say this - there is one point within that book that just makes so much sense. It's basically about how the type of person our parents are (and their needs) sculpts us to make our own needs as well as abilities to draw others of both extreme opposite and extreme similar abilities towards us. In the best case scenario, we fit into these others much like a puzzle piece meeting one of it's matches. While they may not be the final piece in the puzzle, they are regardless integral to the final product.

In similar vein, I'm trying to reconstruct my life like a puzzle with missing pieces. I just KNOW some pieces are out there floating around in the world's version of ebay or goodwill, while others are just under my nose. Remember how easy the corner pieces were to place? I think of those as my inherited traits. Those edges who clearly matched other edges, and you could group together by colour? Those were my flawed attempts at dating people who were horrible for me, or my repetitive attempts to change my life by doing the same thing again and again and expecting the same results. But remember those beautiful pieces with a bit of a flower on them? How much you wondered exactly where it would go and how excited you would be to get that one into place so you could appreciate its beauty? Those are the pieces most sought after, and, unfortunately, every puzzle only has so many of them.

The good news? Each puzzle can also only have so many solid coloured, plain, repeating pieces, only so many corners, and only so many difficult places to fit.

The ironic part? Sometimes puzzles can have a piece that fits, but actually belongs to a different puzzle.