"About Me ."

Define yourself in a short phrase. Tell us all about yourself in a few short sentences. Somehow, find a way to convey friendly, optimistic, compassionate, loving and more in those few words. The definition of concise, maybe? Pretty wild stuff.

I've recently started up a few new networking profiles, on archh.com and Google Plus, specifically to try to boost some connections in the architectural community. I've previously wrote an average-lengthed 'about me' section on LinkedIn, but should I just copy and paste it? About me sections are not easy to write. Because it's true -- you want to say so much, but not so much that someone can't be bothered to read it. Maybe Twitter hit the mark. In a world where no one wants to spend too much time on any one thing, Twitter makes you be concise. Either that or it just makes you talk about stupid things like what you ate for breakfast.

What sorts of things do you think about before writing an about me? How does that change depending on whether the account is for personal versus professional reasons? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Do You Portray Yourself Accurately Online?

For those of us who regularly interact with various outlets of social media, it's important to remember the kind of person you're portraying online. Yes, it's possible that sometimes you want to just mess around and not portray yourself. Or, even worse, you might want to hide the person you really are (it's amazing the homework potential employers do, stalking you on Twitter and Facebook and everything else under the sun to find out the "real" you). Even on Blogger, some people choose to conceal their real identities. Whatever their reasons are, that works for them. But for someone like me, I'd like to think that I am equally as much me on my blogger platform as I am in real life. Though sometimes, we might just portray a more cheerful attitude here, or something that is more friendly than we might be in real life.

I'm not sure why that is. It's possible that being more friendly means that we will, inevitably make more friends, or gain more followers, or gain some more interwebs rep. After all, who wants to read someone's stories that are constantly morbid, whiny internal monologues spewed out on a page? Everyone has their ups and downs and it's really cool that a lot of people are more than willing to share everything from joy to tears and everything in between. It's cool being a part of others' lives, if only through reading their stories. It's sweet getting a comment from Twiggy in Beaufort, or smiling after reading about the best part of Angie-from-Toronto's day, or sitting and pondering Keith-from-Kentucky's latest words of wisdom. I hear about the deer (and see loads of pictures too!) from Dave, I read about the best places in Colorado to ride a Harley from Steve, and realize that even forgotten places like Oklahoma can be beautiful, thanks to Carlotta. Also, huge shoutout to my other Canadians, The Management (whose name I promised I'd keep a secret, what a poop she is) and her ginger man (love you both). There's the adventures of Lainie and Jackson, told by the entertaining Sarah from Arizona (????), and the poems and haikus of Stephanie from Pennsylvania. There really are so many people out there, all with their own stories, and their own exciting adventures. 

Of course, if these stories aren't really who we are, then we've created an entire false world for ourselves. Yet I have a feeling, that these stories and people are about as real as it gets. And I applaud all of you for that. Keep doing what you're doing, friends. I'm loving every minute.

passive social media .

Now that social media has taken over the world, it's pretty easy to blast your emotions out over the internet. It's funny also how easy it can be misinterpreted. I got rid of my Facebook profile almost two years ago, but I have since made a Twitter, and kind of enjoy it. Though of course, Twitter provides the same opportunity to passively blast emotions. I do it all the time, so don't think I'm being hypocritical, either.

employed .

I have never had a job while at school before, and heck, I've never really even looked. I don't like searching for jobs, and I'm not one to pester people into giving me a job. I don't want to get hired because they are appeasing my annoyance, but rather because they want me to work for them, and they value me as a person, both in employment and life in general. That being said, I wanted to look for a job this semester, because, let's be real; after getting back from Spain AND buying a car, my funds were running a little low.