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I'm not really sure what took me so long. Several of my co-workers have been there for a while now, and I've gotten some glimpses of what it's like from them; but I still hesitated. I think it has a lot to do with my long-standing policy of adopting a persona online, and keeping that persona removed from my real life. Of course, that shtick began to collapse the moment I revealed my true gender in FG... but it's still been a long path to actually being able to register on a site as myself, with no masks to hide behind and no attempts at multiple identities or other silly pranks.

Then again, that was always an immature side of me, and I'm finding that Facebook appeals a lot more to the adult in me. I've been getting sick of the way the Gaian population seems to be dominated by kids I can't relate to or understand in any way-- not the forum regs, I've always gotten along just fine with most of them, but the people who keep making stupid repeat threads in the Music forum about the same crappy bands and exhibit no imagination or curiosity about anything that hasn't already been drilled into their skulls by the music industry's relentless marketing. You know the type I mean, the ones who get defensive if anyone dares criticize their favorite bands and act as though the free expression of contrasting opinions is some sort of personal affront that wounds them as badly as their grandparents getting run over by a bus. I'm getting tired of fighting people and trying to explain rudimentary concepts like "freedom of speech" when they aren't even willing to listen. And the trolling's just made it even worse lately. It's not funny, it's not creative, and it's pretty much sucked most of my enjoyment out of the MF.

Now, I'm not saying I plan to leave Gaia completely. Every time I decide to take a hiatus, I'm back within a day, because there's something weirdly addictive about it no matter how shitty it gets. But if Gaia is a relatively low grade of cocaine, Facebook is like some kind of high-octane crack. And there's something enjoyable about not hiding behind this persona any longer. After all, even though I did finally break down and tell people the truth about me, there's still been a separation between "Nobue Ito" and who I am in the real world. It's refreshing to finally put that aside, and to have a place where I can communicate not just with my online friends from here and the old GameFAQs/Melon Bread Time days, but also the people I know outside of the Internet. Plus, I've gotten addicted to changing my status message. It's pretty ridiculous, actually. I even changed it a few times from my phone while I was out of the house today. :

Anyway, I plan to post most of my movie reviews and other random thoughts on Facebook first from now on, so this journal may not be updated all that regularly (not that it was anyway). I'll probably post the reviews a day or two later here and on MBT, but there will be a lot of exclusive content in my Facebook notes that never makes it to the other sites. I've always had a tendency to reveal too much information about my personal life, even with the identity hijinks, and now I've got the perfect outlet to bore people to death with all that minutiae. It should be a lot of fun. xp