June 2, 2008 to July 12, 2008

Smiles, and Durff gave me a day at the most. 

If you follow my blog, you will know that June 2, 2008 was an interesting day in my life and I took a break, a sabbatical, a walk away, a re-evaluation, a step back, etc from Twitter.  It had exhausted me, it had angered me, it had controlled me — AND IT WAS A PIECE OF SOFTWARE!!!  Basically — ridiculous!!

And I went cold-turkey.  One moment I was @jlwagner and the next moment I was poof.  No warning to friends, no chance to be talked back into it, no goodbye — just GONE.

To take some time to really look at what it was doing to me (what I was letting it do), how I had misused it, and used it, and whether it was important enough to eventually step back in.

To step back in slowly…………

to be honest, I have been back for 2 weeks — just lurking, watching, critiquing what I saw, catching up with friends, evaluating…..but not yet ready to jump back in.  You see, I know I have an addiction kind of personality and I tend to jump in fearlessly into things and then flounder as I try to get a foothold…….so I remained cautious.

And I evaluated WHAT I had to say to — and was it worth being twittered.  Or was it just fluff and I was bored??  And was it important enough to ME to take time out your your day to have you read it too?

And 2 days ago, I heard about the Flat Stanley project URL possibly being shut down for the project use — and I knew that THAT I had to twit.  The survival of online projects and the support for those who host them is very important to me….and I just needed to share.

So I twittered, and the earth did not move, the walls did not shake, hell did not freeze over, and life went on….not even a blip on the radar…… 

But Jen is back…….but a wiser Jen, a much more cautious Jen, and perhaps not so much a twit-aholic Jen.

But Jen is back…….

And what I learned.

#1 — Regardless of how twitter should be used, I will never ever use Twitter primarily as an education tool.  It is my contact with friends!  I like to know whether they get home safe, if they arrive safe, when they have happiness in their lives, when they need prayer.  I like to know links to their thoughts and where they are presenting next.  I enjoy their silly flickr photos, the links to LOL-Cats, whether their blogs are working, and what they had for dinner.  I enjoy reading that the CUBS are doing great  — HEY HEY WHAT DO YOU SAY!!!    And I like seeing pictures of my friends pop up in my messages.  Regardless of anything else, it means you are alive, and probably doing well….and that makes me happy.
For me — Twitter is my family.

#2 — I will be more careful of what I type into twitter and what I take from twitter.  I will try not to read between the lines and analyze every little sentence.  I will take what I read with a grain of salt and let things roll off my back more.

#3 — I will bring my smile back to twitter and share it with more.  Going to be a bit more open with friends and followers and not be so “small numbered”.

So — if it matters — JenWagner is back………
and if you wish……..go ahead an be my twitter friend.  That would be grand.