Frivolity + Facebook Qs

[sarea]

I'm trying out a new lipstick. I've never been into pink, it usually makes me look sallow (whereas on SMG as Buffy it's so cute), but this one actually looks decent. It's called "Candy" from Estee Lauder.

Speaking of cosmetics and frivolity, I had the craziest/funnest/shallowest dream ever last night. I finished PD10, which I enjoyed a lot, so I know why it was on my brain. Anyway, I dreamed that I was with Lana Weinberger (from PD) and Blair Waldorf (from Gossip Girl), and after doing a bunch of shopping they took me to their hair stylist and she was going to give me a proper cut that would flatter my face. (I've always wanted to do that -- get some super talented hair stylist to show me what style I should have, then maintain it with a more affordable stylist.) I was sad because she had just started working on my hair when I woke up.

So I went to the doctor yesterday, and first of all, he looked younger than me. Secondly, he believes I have a first to second degree sprain, nothing serious as he poked and prodded the injury and I didn't kick him in the face for it. He wants me to take Advil and keep it Ace bandaged in order to keep the swelling down, and to trace out the alphabet with my foot so that it's getting properly stretched (he said it was a good thing that I was walking on it, that people make the mistake of staying off their injuries completely, which makes the joints stiffen up, be more painful, and take longer to heal completely). He also said that I had very loose joints, which makes me injure them more easily. I've sprained this ankle before, unfortunately, but it was when I was in college. Still, I have to watch out for my tendency to be a klutz. According to some paperwork he gave me, it'll take about 6 weeks to heal completely.

I recently switched from Liberty Mutual to Allstate for my car insurance and so far I'm pretty happy. Not only do I have a lower premium, but I also get cash back every 6 months if I am accident-free in that time period. It's pretty cool.

I have some Facebook questions, for those of you who have answers:

1. Is there a way to have different security groups, like LJ?
2. It's not really an online journal, right, so there's really nowhere to post 'thoughts' or anything like that? You just kind of use the status message as the basis for conversations? Or posting pictures or whatever? And you just write on that person's 'wall' and they write on yours?
3. When someone finds you in the public system, is there a way for them to know how active you are (like they can see the last time you posted something, etc.)? I'm wondering if I can just refuse to friend certain people (like coworkers), but just let them believe that I'm not an active Facebooker (which right now, I'm not).
4. Once you've friended someone, there's no way to defriend them without them knowing and being insulted right, unless it's a mutual thing? I guess this is where the security groups question comes in also, because sometimes I don't want certain people knowing certain things, but it seems that once they're my friend, it can't be helped.

Right now I feel very limited by Facebook since it's with my real name and have real life people who know it. I like, can't post anything.

Comments

[idreamofdraco.livejournal.com]

That's always cruddy to wake up right when the dream gets good. :)

Facebook Q's:
1. I don't think so. Whenever you post something, except for some things when you can choose not to, it will be published to all of your friends' pages that you have posted/sent whatever.
2. No, it's not really an online journal, but there is the Notes application that comes with every account. That works like a blog, but again, it's public for everyone, I believe. You can choose to make it public that you've written something or not, but anyone can find it. Unless you can make it completely private, but I don't remember if you can do that.
3. As far as I've found, there is no way to know how active a person is, unless someone sees the announcement on your wall or whatever: "Sarea Okelani wrote on So-and-So's wall," right underneath January 8.
4. I have no idea if the other person knows when you defriend them. My guess is that it isn't announced or published, but you would disappear from his or her flist, so they won't know until they notice.

Hope that helps!

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much! That's really helpful. Sounds like it's a very public thing and I'll just need to keep my RL involvement to a minimum.

[mhaithaca.livejournal.com]

Facebook quietly disconnects you if you unfriend someone. They don't get notified. Unless you use the new Burger King application to unfriend ten people and get a free Whopper. They tell those people they've been traded in for a few pennies worth of fast food. :-) Of course, if someone goes looking for you after you unfriend them the usual way, they'll notice they're no longer your friend, but there's no notification.

You can set up friends groups on Facebook, but those are more for inviting a group of people to an event (such as "work friends" vs "drinking buddies" and "fellow college alums") than for specifying who gets to see something. The only limited security feature is the "limited profile" that you can specify people will see if you want to friend them but don't want them seeing all of your debauchery. You can set specific parts of your profile to only be visible on your full profile, and be hidden if someone only sees your full profile.

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all the insights, that is super helpful.

Unless you use the new Burger King application to unfriend ten people and get a free Whopper.

ROFL, too funny.

[significantowl.livejournal.com]

I'm going to sit here and learn from your experiences, because I'm feeling v. nervous about Facebook too. MY REAL NAME OMG.

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

I KNOW. Actually, from all I have read and seen, I think I'm just going to have to have 2 accounts -- one for safe, LJ-like purposes/friends, and one RL one. The RL one will prob stay unused except for friending new people, particularly RL friends/acquaintences, and doing minimal things, and then the second account will actually be the one I am more chatty/active on.

[ropo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, just consider Facebook a place where anyone can see you. It's not fannish in the way LJ is fannish. But I did kick your ass at WordTwist.

[jade-okelani.livejournal.com]

The other day, someone I know wrote a note, and my notification said "So and so included you on this note" which implies to me that there was some decision making process involved in the "noting" process. But who knows, I'm still confused.

[mhaithaca.livejournal.com]

You can "tag" someone in a note the way you can "tag" someone in a photo, to show that you've mentioned them or referred to them, or that the note is relevant to them. Most people seem to use this for hugely cheesy purposes.