My 'Social' Life

So I'm a sucker for social networks. I like to share my thoughts and views and anything else- you're reading my blog, you should know. And of course, now more than ever there are many different ways you can do this. Obviously the main one for me is Facebook, because that's the network most people I know are on, and naturally I want to have someone to talk to. I sometimes get carried away, other times I find myself not posting things lest I spam people. Other times I troll my friends, which is fun. 

For most of my sport-related comments, and other inane-but-interesting-to-me observations, I take to Twitter. I follow lots of sports people etc there and interact with a few of them, so I tend to use it mainly for that- as I wrote about recently. Obviously there is this Blog, which I use for longer, more reflective pieces like this. I try to mix it up sometimes but feel like a small post isn't worth it. Unfortunately it means my posts become quite a mission and that sometimes puts me off writing.

Very recently I've gone onto Tumblr, which is an interesting mix. I'm still finding my feet, so it's a bit of a mix of sorts at the moment. It's pretty cool though and there are lots of interesting pics etc out there. I have a Youtube channel, though I rarely upload anything. I do 'like' a lot of good videos, which automatically shares them to my facebook so I like that. I also have a profile on last.fm, which is fun if you want to stalk the music I listen to and see the ridiculously large number of plays Billy Joel has in my library. I apparently have a Google+ page but I couldn't care less to be honest.

Almost all my above accounts are under my 'internet name', stonygrangey, whose origins I explained previously. My tumblr is a bit more personal and is provisionally titled 'Life, Love and Loneliness' which I think is a fair reflection of me. But I'm always open to suggestions. So that's about it, that's about as much of me as you'll find on the internet. You can probably find more stuff under stonygrangey, but you'd have to be a high level stalker to do that. Also, this post is pretty much a stalker's dream isn't it? Maybe I'd like being stalked, get some attention for once! But not in a weird way, that's just creepy.

Q.E.D.

My 15 Minutes Of Fame

A little while ago now I had another brief spell of fame on the Internet. It seems very much that Andy Warhol's view of the view is very much coming true, and in our viral Internet age almost anyone can become famous- if only for a very short time. This time was a new venture for me, because it was the first time I did anything meaningful and noteworthy on Twitter. My account is sporadically updated and often neglected; I usually say stuff on there when I feel that no one would care if I wrote it on Facebook or I'd already written too much there.

Anyway, this particular moment was quite special; set against the backdrop of India's ODI against the West Indies, when Virender Sehwag was well on his way to scoring only the second double ton in one day internationals. Naturally, a lot of cricket fans who weren't in India took to the Internet to keep in touch with the game, and one of the places they went to was Twitter- fair enough, it's fast, quick and updates very often. I was lucky enough to have got a stream for the game that wasn't overloaded and saw the last 10 or so overs of the game. I made a few innocuous comments in the lead up, but it all started when Viru crossed the magic 200 mark.


Naturally, everyone who was a cricket fan was on Twitter commenting and congratulating etc. For want of something to say, and since I'm always trying to be funny (but not always rarely succeeding), I posted this little gem:

Yes, very funny, hilarious. I naturally tagged a couple of my favourite cricket tweeters, who have sometimes retweeted me but nothing more came of it. But this time, they did and a lot came of it. Sunny (@sehwagology) retweeted me and since everyone was focusing on Sehwag at the time, everyone was reading his tweets. Just like that, the retweets and mentions started flowing in. Half of twitter users just press the retweet button, others still do the RT thing. The guys at Alternative Cricket (@AltCricket) then gave it their nod:

The hits started rolling in, I got lots of mentions, retweets and favourites. I even got a few followers! Obivously the timing plus the combination of India, cricket, Sehwag and Tendulkar in a tweet has a lot of pulling power. I was pretty stoked when cricket 'celebrity' (*cough*) Pommie Mbangwa retweeted me!

So there was quite a brief burst of interest in this, and I have no way of telling how many people saw this, retweeted it from other people etc, but it got around the tubes a fair bit. so much so that some bloody idiot had the nerve to pinch my idea and send it into the Cricinfo commentary, which they duly published. I should sue him. But yeah, I was pretty proud that it was my idea that was making the rounds! As things settled down, not much more happened but it was fun looking at all the tweets etc! Now as it stands I have this to remind me of it:

Since Twitter was updated they don't count retweets past 50 but it was definitely way more than that! So anyway, that was my brief 15 minutes of fame on Twitter, and I'm pretty proud of it! I think most people who try will be able to get their own brief spell one day. Let's hope so!

Q.E.D. 

A House Full Of Memories

When I was a wee lad, one of my favourite holiday destinations was my grandparents' house. I lived for 4 years in Wellington, so this often involved a car trip up to Auckland and several days' stay at their place. I spent several Christmases there and many other holidays. My grandparents were every bit your stereotypical grandparents- spoiling me and my brother at every turn. The memories are all the more special for me because my grandfather passed away when I was still young, so those are the only memories I have of him. My grandmother to this day remains one of the nicest, kindest hearts in the world.

The house itself is very special to me; as it turns out, it's now where I'm living. And not only that, I've lived here two times before, moving out but coming back again. So it's fair to say I've spent a bit of my life here. My family has always lived in this house, since it was built over 40 years ago, so it's pretty important. When it was first built, it was one of several prototype houses built based on models from Australia; the company that built it would go on to become one of the biggest around and many houses all over Auckland are based on the design of this very house. When it was first built, by all accounts it was on its lonesome and surrounded by paddocks. Now we're in a quiet but full cul-de-sac.

Being in Howick it's still on the fringe of Auckland, which means you're removed from all the hustle and bustle of the city. Which is good if you like the quiet life, not so good if you're always in town. I quite like it and am very happy here, it's a lovely quiet neighbourhood and the neighbours are really nice. I actually feel home here; I never felt at home living in Otahuhu but here it feels right. I have a great affinity with the house.

One of my clearest memories of my childhood comes from this house. In the kitchen, the cupboards are high up and I could never quite reach the bottom shelf where the glasses were. I'd always have to ask someone to get one for me. I remember keenly anticipating the day when I would be tall enough to reach them. Finally the holidays came where I was tall enough; I went into the kitchen, opened the cupboard and found that, quite innocently, all the glasses had been moved to the second shelf and were well beyond my reach. Life can be funny like that!

Q.E.D.