And so I'm back!

Sometimes I wonder why all my friends constantly point out that I'm a geek. Then I realize I'm pretty much in love with the BBC's Robin Hood and it all becomes very clear.

Hello internet. I know we haven't talked much in awhile. I missed you, but I was busy going through the antisocial part of my year. Let's catch up. Here, I'll go first:

[craft plans]

So I'm about to start a new type of project. If all goes well, I should be able to produce awesome-looking pendants for a small price that I can then turn around and sell on eBay or Etsy. I don't want to get too ahead of myself yet, but I can't deny I'm excited.

I've also got this new fabric glue that claims it can stretch and needs no sewing. Since I'm too lazy and impatient to approach the world of sewing normal projects (much less knits) just yet (with all the other things I want to learn still lined up), this might work out in my favor. I have a dress I'm trying to copy and I already have the fabric I need for it, now I just need to glue it together. That hopefully sounds stupider than it will actually look.

The other projects on the horizon: wire-working stones for pendants (this has been surprisingly hard to pull off so far since I'm looking to make something functional and pretty), a felt purse, a clutch made from an old placemat, mom's mother's day present, a few beading projects requested by my coworkers, polymer clay beads, budget silk-screening, decoupage bracelets, resin beads and shrinky-dink jewelry.

[/end craft plans]

I also need to strategically convert an old Clash t-shirt Will gave me into a tank-top to avoid including poorly located holes (haha, I got you! The craft plans weren't yet over! Don't YOU feel dumb!) Oh, and have I mentioned I'm in love with Paul Simonon? Will's disturbingly happy about this, probably because he was afraid I was going to try to take Joe Strummer from him. Like I don't know better than that. I know my place:

1. Joe Strummer

2. Me

So, internet, how have YOU been?

...still not speaking to me, I see. That's super cold, internet.

Why Twitter Sucks

The thing I find most interesting about Twitter is its trends section, and more specifically, the way viral campaigns can influence and draw attention to whatever they're promoting. This had almost swayed me to make a Twitter account until Twitter decided to start censoring their trends.

Back in June, there was a big fuss when a bunch of people collaborated to hashtag sexual terms all at once and Twitter stepped in to remove the trends. If they're really worried about "obscenity," they can make some a filter for "objectionable" words. Preferably one users can turn on and off, like Google's safesearch feature.

Even more recently, there was a collective attempt by Supernatural fans to bring attention to the season premiere. They used the tag "LuciferIsComing," referring to, well, Lucifer coming. A bunch of Twitter users freaked out (including P Diddy. Seriously.) and Twitter soon removed the tag from its trends.

Okay. As stupid as I think that was, I get that Twitter quickly moved to placate its users who were freaking out over the tag. Ridiculous, but understandable.

Then the fans trended "PDiddyIsScaredOfHisTV." Twitter pulled that one, too. Okay, please point out all the people offended by that tag? P Diddy. P Diddy's mother. Anyone else? No? Then why pull it?

It seems to me that any website trying to hold onto an audience should be careful with its censorship. Twitter has a 40% retention rate (compare with Myspace and Facebook hovering near 70%). I can post any of the above things on Facebook or Gchat or MySpace and not have them pulled. So why would I (as a hypothetical Twitter user) choose to use a site that's going to restrict such trivial things?

I would think their argument would come down to spamming. But to me, that's the best part of Twitter: The ability to get a group of like-minded individuals working together to spread a message. If they're going to block these attempts, I don't see the point in having one.