There are Too Many Yous

When I was growing up I heard, "You are one of a kind!" "You can be anything you want!" Those and any number of other cliches people tell children to get them to feel special and think that the world is their oyster (whatever the fuck that means). As an adult I hear, well not so much hear as just understand that you are not actually one in a million, you are one in millions and there are too damn many yous out there for anyone to consider you special.

Have you ever been good at something? That thing that everyone you know looks at you and goes, "Damn that's some good shit right there." Maybe you're thinking that you got the awesome on you and so you start to do the one thing that will strip that away by looking for other people that are just as good, if not way better at it than you.

I am pretty damn good with a crochet hook. Yeah, it's not earth shaking talent or anything but I can make some mighty fine thingamajigs with yarn. Every time I start to think I am special, I find someone just a little more special than me on the world wide webernet. There's always that one asshole that makes what you do look like it was done by a person without thumbs. If the internet didn't exist, I would never know about this person. I could go on living my life always thinking I am an awesome individual because in all honesty I've been to a lot of places with my yarn and haven't run into that many other people that can do what I can do with it. Most people don't dilly dally with yarn so they think I'm mighty interesting and give me great compliments about my work or tell me stories about how their Granny was just as bad ass or even better than me. That's okay though because it means I am just as cool as someone's Granny AND that my grand-kids are going to brag about their groovy grandma one day, double whammy. It's also okay because no one carries around pictures of that sweet ass blanket their Gran made them so I can't even honestly compare the work.

That pretty much applies to any talent. Chances are you are not surrounded by people that are all excellent at the same thing in your everyday life. BUT on the internet, they are everywhere. Think you got writing skills, yeah so does everyone else. Are you a metal smithin' sonofabitch, well you aren't the only one. Pretty good at being a mom to four kids? Someone else does crafts with and reads to their six kids everyday while never yelling. Can you do ten things at once? There's someone out there that can do twelve. There are sooo many yous out there. They are on facebook, twitter, etsy, special interest forums, google searches... EVERYWHERE you look there is another you.

We are all searching for individuality in everything from our cell phone covers to our quippy statuses and blogs to whatever sorcery can be produced with our hands but with one quick google search it's easy to see that individuality is completely lost on the internet. We aren't special or one of a kind and that is really damn sad. I feel special in real life, not special like "yeah look at me bitches" but in that way that makes me feel good and like I have something to provide.

What's person to do in order to be the you-iest you possible? I do not have the answer for that besides get the hell off of the internet, throw away the smart phone and start making your own clothes. Before you say "whoa bitch" know that I'm not going to do that either. I'll probably just forget about the fact that there are so many of me out there for a while because deep down I know that when I need to be taken down a notch, that me that's better is only a search away.

What's with the blog name?

Don't go thinkin' I'm some completely crunchy not modern kind of gal. To be honest I love, absolutely love, modern conveniences-hence the blog-I just like to adjust and examine my life according to what I want my life to be. And really I named my blog this because it reminds me of Rocko's Modern Life a cartoon from my childhood. :)

Our modern way of thinking is a huge issue with me. For instance, Google, god bless it, it has its' place (once again with the blog and all) but I really believe that the internet under most circumstances is making us dumber and more socially incompetent than ever before. No one seems to commit any information to memory anymore because it's all "Google-able." I cannot say how often I hear someone say, "Google it," in everyday situations and someone whips out their smart phone and finds the answer amongst 100,000 possible answers. I mean whatever happened to a true quest for knowledge? Today we are pulled in so many directions due to the sheer amount of information we have access to--wanna be a "scientist" then google how to buy chemicals and some lame ass instructions and go ahead and light your kitchen on fire and you'll have only you to blame. What about being a self diagnosing MD? Look up your symptoms and lo and behold a million other people have them to so find the scariest thing and get all worked up about it but God forbid you find a decent doctor to tell you it's just a vitamin deficiency. Just tell that doctor that surely you have such and such disease and demand to be treated for it because that one web quiz was completely viable.

Another modern convenience that is becoming just downright sad-Social media. I mean really we have to go online to find friends now? What if we spent half the time we spend sitting, staring at sites like facebook or dating sites actually seeking out HUMAN interaction? That's just crazy talk right? I am so tired of hearing, "Oh, I saw that on your status," or "Did you see his/her post?" Do we really need to know that much about each other? Every person's random thought or stupid post about their potty training ventures really don't need to be shared with the thousand friends they have. It's honestly not that damn important. Having a platform to get a message across is one thing but to use it shamelessly to promote your popularity or your dinner menu is kind of ridiculous. Social media provides a cold, sterile atmosphere where no one really has to be accountable for what they say. So you're pissed at someone, I don't need to know that, go tell them and either hug it out or bury that shit. So you got into some small town drama, who cares. If you looked at your friends list and deleted the people that really don't matter to you, who would be left? Accepting those random people that you kind of remember doesn't make you special, chances are they only kind of remember you, too. Close the laptop, take your mp3 player out of your ears, put the phone in your pocket and try having a conversation, forge a real bond and then to make it truly a viable experience don't post the experience later for all of the world to see.

Just one more before I go. The modern consumer. We all talk about going green. Seriously, does buying that bag made from canvas with a little bird and tree on gonna save the planet? Chances are it'll just end up in a landfill one day, too. The true issue with going green is that no one ever seems to point out that it's really about anti-consumerism. Quit buying stuff. Use what you have, trade for what you need. Use community as a source. If you're a good gardener but need some blankets trade food goods for quilting. Their are so many people out there that are amazing at something, problem is that we have access to them all, so we aren't helping people locally. Really look at green crafts some time. Look at the "ingredients" list, most of that stuff is new. Just because it's tagged upcycled doesn't mean that someone didn't just use a couple strips of magazine or an old pillowcase along with 10 brand spanking new objects. The goal of going green is to NOT buy new stuff, to look at the world and say that we have made enough trash, not to go out and buy stuff that is made from recyclables and then throw out all the tainted stuff you own.

And as a goodbye, a little about me. I am a wife and mother of four. I went from having 1 kid to four in less than a year. I am a crafty person that upcycles and uses new stuff. I have a facebook and I google just about everything. I'm not only saying that something is wrong with you, I'm saying something is wrong with me, too. I think that we all have to examine ourselves and ask what on earth are we doing with our lives, if buying crap, posting crap and googling crap is all we do, does that make our life a little too heavy on the CRAP side of things?