How do
you tell someone what The Journey is, 9
months away from the 10 year anniversary,
if they've never seen or heard anything
about it?
You
don't. You show them a video.
So,
uhm - watch it... then jump down a
bit.
You know I
intended to make a brand new video including the
Philippines news story on me, but I just couldn't get
over how pitch-perfect that little introduction
I made in 2007 was. However it's kinda missing
what the meat of this project is. Simply put, this
site chronicles what changes someone's character when
they pursue their dream... for life. I've sacrificed
so much to continue, I'm clearly a different person...
and a bit curious at just how far it will take me. In
fact, I presume that's why people keep reading.
What will happen next?
So why
a group on Facebook? Absolute desperation
at trying to communicate to everyone.
I mean, just this:
"Hey,
new entry and video."
That's
all I've ever wanted to say. Just be that
guy that pops his head in twice a week and
says "hey, update..." and then moves
along. As the years have passed since The
Journey began this has become increasingly
impossible. The more following, the bigger
the lists and the more impossible to send
an email without getting blocked. I've
done everything from break up the lists,
use different email sending applications,
even attempted an RSS feed (which I
will have by the end of the year for
search engine optimization purposes only)
only to have it all fail. The truth is,
the people that follow this story don't
even know what an RSS feed is. And 2200
friends on Facebook is worthless when you
can't even email them more than 20 at a
time. However with a group on Facebook you
have the ability to message at least 5000
members (after that you're screwed however
- Facebook, really?) so "The Journey
Group" was born...
There
is a wonderful silver-lining to all this
work however: The Journey Players.
Something I started back in 2005 when
The Journey had it's own message board
(spammers eventually ruined that), it was
giving the "players" in this crazy
story a name, number and the ability to
interract with people who were reading it.
So often I was asked "what Jess must
feel..." or "whatever happened to so and
so" and personally - I wanted a forum
where people could respond to things as
well. No matter how much I try to
show things from other people's
perspectives - it's still coming from me.
So with the Journey Boards I was able
to let people defend themselves or discuss
things. It was really nice and I hated to
have to take it down but the robots and
spammers were impossible to
moderate.
With
Facebook however, I'm able to select
"Officers" and give them titles - so
voila, if you look to your right - all of
the Journey Players I've found so far are
represented in the order that they appear
within The Journey. You can find a year
and entry # under their name and I'm sure
if you send them a nice note, they'll add
you as a friend. Or, actually, maybe they
won't. People are fucking strange about
Facebok. It's like a perfectly kept desk
where everything is symmetrical and
someone asks to put their stapler on it...
and mofackers go MILTON on you. So add at
your own risk. :-)
Which
I'm also finding out from thie
GODDAMN SITE. Talk about love/hate.
Facebook is about as Gestapo as you can
get man. Imagine this, I wanted to
add the people that joined "The Journey"
as friends. Crazy idea huh? But alas -
started getting warnings for "misusing the
site". Basically, adding them too fast. My
own members of my own group. (sigh). So
I leave the site for 24 hours, nope -
not long enough. I write to Facebook,
nothing. I finally give it 2 days and
everything is fine - but still, nothing
from Facebook. I keep writing them
because I cannot afford to lose this
account. Nada. So I try a different
approach:
Instead
of "adding" the members, I write them
a message asking if they can add me -
voila it works! Until I get another
warning for once again, "misusing the
site". I go to write to them for the 5th
time, and notice someone sent me a
message. I CLICK THE NOTE and
get another warning. Now, the reason these
warnings are bad? If you get a certain
number? Your account is completely
deleted. They will not tell you the metric
for that happening, they won't even tell
you the metric which GIVES you the
warning. You're just screwed. Facebook is
like having a really hot sister. You're
just completely schizophrenic about it.
(obviously I'm an only child, because
every guy I know who had a really hot
sister told me it's just never an issue...
but I have yet to believe that's possible)
Heh.
So I
guess if you're reading this and you're
not my friend? Please add me... 'cause I
can't apprently
WRITE YOU TO ASK. (sigh)
Oh
and, don't be afraid of actually starting
from Entry #1 in January 2000 and goin'
through it. More people do it than you can
imagine and now that every video is
embedded right in the entry, you can whiz
through 'em. I absolutely love hearing
people's initial reactions to things that
happened years ago. :-)
Anyway, I have
little to tell newcomers about what's coming next -
because I haven't a clue. I can tell you there's a
huge announcement next week, but after that? Anyone's
guess.
