tele-stalking

the topic of blogs came up the other night, and one friend admitted to being keen on keeping up with what folks are doing without having to be nosy. typical midwesterner.

i liken this to a mild form of e-stalking. bloggers can now experience the same creepy feeling that was formerly reserved for those in stardom - people know all about you, but you don't even know who they are. this is, imho, a good thing, as it builds sympathy for the rich and famous, and sympathy (along with empathy) is a key ingredient to a compassionate and enjoyable world.

so.

back in the day, before this whole internet craze, if someone wanted to stalk you they had to drive by your house, or conveniently show up at places they knew you'd be, or call you. i've had a tele-stalker on my land line for years - 16ish. i answer the phone and there is dead silence on the other end. sometimes i hang up right away, or sometimes they hang up right away (but then it could have just been a wrong number. maybe). sometimes i don't hang up to see if i can get them to hang up first (tip: go to the bathroom, check back, pay bills, check back, and so on).

but maybe it's not really a tele-stalker. it could be dozens of random people calling in hopes of hearing my witty answering machine recordings. "hello. i'm out cavorting. when i'm done, i'll call you back if you leave your name and number." i mean, who wouldn't call just for that? but then again, the average american watches 4+ hours of tv every day, so maybe this is sufficient to be called entertainment.

i wonder if there is a way to make an rss feed to announce every time i change my message? then everyone wouldn't have to call and be disappointed because the message was the same as last time.

meantime, keep calling, keep blogging, and ride your bike.

and always remember: just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.