Exercise for the Brain

I like to read people's profiles. I learn all sorts of things that way. It's like my dad when he was a kid. No, I don't think they had the internet back then, but he used to read the encylopedia just because he got bored and he felt like learning something. Well, this is the same sort of thing. I get bored, and I think my brain needs exercise (to compete with all those push ups, ha...) so I read people's profiles. I have 182 people on my buddy list, and I doubt I've ever talked to more than 50 or 60 of them. On a regular basis, I'd say I talk to no more than 20 of them in any given week. None the less, I on average have 50 or 60 people online at any given time, and so I take the time to read profiles and away messages, gathering ideas for my own and just laughing in general.

I learn a lot about people's lives this way. It's sort of like eavesdropping for the soul. I learn about breakups and hookups, likes and dislikes, friends and enemies, who's gay, who's at college, cool websites, class schedules/grades, people's blogs, people's cell numbers (you really shouldn't put those in your away messages...), people's hobbies and interests. It teaches you a lot about people, and on top of that, it's fun because they're all different! And at least some get updated, so you always have something new to look at!

My favorite things people put in profiles are quotes from conversations they had earlier. For one, they're really funny, and for two, you learn a new person's screen name, and you get to play the fun guess who they are game until you learn enough about them from their own profile to put two and two together. It's because of this very game that I never put my name or anything truly give-away in my profile. Stalkers scare the crap out of me. I can put whatever I want in her because it already says my first and last name, and it's secret anyway, so who cares?

My favorite away messages are never "I'm at such-and-such so call my cell." Those are boring like nothing else. My favorite person's away messages are my 12 year old cousin, Chassie's. She has the largest variety of funny and off the wall away messages. In fact, I've stolen at least four from her becuase I liked them so much, and no one would know. Runner up for my favorite away messages have to be Ryan Acosta's (once again, someone on my buddy list whom I've never spoken to.) He's also very creative.

So here is a set of rules for the AIM profile business:
1. Thou shall (not will, not may) always change their profile at least once every other day, or else it's not worth looking at (same goes for blogs, btw)
2. Thou shall include quotes or funny antecdotes for my amusement
3. Thou shall include some profound quote or song lyrics or poem or analogy that pertains to their most troubling area of life (this is just good for the growing process, not for me)
4. Thou shall never, ever, for any reason write anything mean about another person in their profile.

And Then...

Days always get better. Believe it, trust it, rely on it to carry you through the bad. And remember: Smile, someone loves you.