I'm back (sort of)

Another month is about to pass with an abysmal number of entries. I know I shouldn't feel this guilty, it's just a blog, but it feels like giving up and maybe I've just given up on too many things lately. I see my friends on TV, they're creating TV shows and acting in big feature films and I wonder if I've made the right decision.

I started exercising again which always seems to be the first commitment. A person who can commit to exercise, it seems, can commit to anything. Maybe it's because our everything in our culture is created to allow us the luxury of not exercising. We are encouraged to use our brains, not our bodies for work. We drive, instead of walking or biking, to that job. At jobs like mine, a big beautiful cafeteria full of good - and healthy and cheap! - food is at my doorstep so again, I can return more quickly to sit at my desk. Once I get home, I've already spent the last ten hours training my body to sit, it takes a mentally strong person to say "now, I'm going to move only for the sake of moving."

I finally got an Internet connection this week (like getting a membership to the gym) thought that would instantly restore my blogging activity. Blogging, it seems, is like exercise - once out of shape, it's harder to do. But there are other barriers. I found myself one day feeling a little overexposed after someone I met found my blog. I've always thought of this project as my secret identity. A place where I can talk about things without worrying about people getting bored and without being judged. Once my identity is discovered, I don't feel safe anymore. I can't write about trouble at work if I think my co-workers are reading. I can't write about sex if someone I might want to date is reading.

So today, I Googled myself to see just how exposed I am and discovered the root of the anxiety. A number of sites that I have information on, or buy from, have chosen to use my name, my location, my interests and my purchases for marketing. It seems that someone might want to buy a book from Amazon because I bought it, or join a Meetup because I'm in it, or put their resume on LinkedIn so they can link to me. It's funny because my name has been on the Internet for a long time associated with acting jobs but that never felt invasive I guess because I was playing a character. But having my personal habits show up online as a piece of advertising feels like too much. And why can they do that without asking?

The privacy settings for these sites are buried and took a while to find. On LinkedIn, I couldn't hide some of the information, I had to hide all of it. I ended up deleting my Meetup profile because they didn't offer privacy settings at all, but Amazon, surprisingly, was the most difficult. A Google search revealed friends names, items on my wishlist, and items recently purchased! What if I was buying something to help with an embarrassing condition? (I'm NOT but what if I was?!) Privacy restored, for the time being, I feel a little more able to blog. I have lots of notes, things I've wanted to write but haven't yet, and I find it very comforting that Malcolm Gladwell hasn't updated his blog since January (of course he's probably writing a book, darn!)

Would you like to play a game?

Several months ago, I read an article in Wired about a virtual reality game for kids. Apparently kids are addicted to dressing their penguin and decorating their igloos. This little girl stole game money from her brother to buy her penguin a giant screen TV (I think she was eight) and it upset the parents. I thought to myself “if we’re going to go virtual, why not practice doing something valuable?” With millions of people online, we have a real life Petri dish to practice global policy, fighting terrorism, or reducing global warming. Remember War Games?


In fact, it wouldn’t have to be just a game. It could create real awareness, drive real policy and make real change. SimCity lets players design their own city. This would be a MMPOG (massive multi-player online game) in which the players have to cooperate to make the world a better place. What happens to the world if you buy a hybrid and trade in your gas-guzzler? What if you replace your light bulbs with fluorescent? What if you install energy-saving appliances? What if everyone does? Imagine seeing the ACTUAL impact on the earth at the exact moment that it happens. Imagine how many people you could inspire to make change if they could actually see the difference.

Then I got another idea. Instead of getting email from Amnesty International to send a letter to a political prisoner, a request to sign a petition from the Humane Society to save the baby seals, or a plea to send a letter to your congressperson regarding a labor issue from MoveOn, what if it happened in the game? On a world map are issues, hotspots and things going on in the world. When you roll over or click, you get an alert. A monk has just been taken prisoner in China. He spoke out again the government and now he’s in jail. Send a letter! Maybe you pay a dollar and one is sent for you, or you could donate $10. Organize a rally to get other players interested in your cause.

In real-time you monitor the progress. Photos, articles and updates are posted, as they are available. The amount of money being donated and letters sent are displayed, again, in real-time. All over the world, things are happening that you can be a part of. How often have you written a check to an organization, sent it off and then what? Do you know where that money went? What cause it went towards? Do you know the outcome of that cause? This way, we all get to share in the struggle; we get to see our efforts count.

And then this weekend I saw a headline in the paper: “Earth program helps non-profits raise money.” Google Earth Outreach is the formal launch of a program that allows non-profits to utilize Google Earth to raise awareness by letting users visualize issues on a world map. One example mentioned is a Brazilian Indian tribe that wants to stop loggers and miners from deforesting the jungle to dig for gold.

I downloaded Google Earth and so far, it’s not that exciting. It has a long way to go. It’s mostly just a portal to, what else, Google. Another way to find links and images. I've received two form letters that I wasn’t qualified to work there (someone told me they get 2,500 resumes a week as it is, after all, the best company in America to work for) but I have my finger on the pulse and my vision is still way better than what they’ve got going on!

Looking for giant blades of grass

How easy is it to find anything you want? I've been driving to work past a corner in Beverly Hills that was covered by tarp, hiding construction, that was printed like giant blades of grass. Very cleverly, I thought, the billboard above the site and the bus station in front of the site, matched and had that same blades of grass growing on a white background and the words "a little better." Very mysterious. I wanted to know what it was so I Googled: "a little better" station marketing. Viola! I found exactly what I was looking for: BP's new gas station, Helio House. Apparently there's also video, it can't possibly be that exciting, can it?