What an interesting week!?!?!?

As I’ve pointed out, I’m going through some kind of mid-life crisis lately. The ups and downs of my mood are even more random than usual. It’s been good though, at least it seems that way. My thoughts and solutions are far more constructive than the self-destructive patterns in my past.

Back in October… I thought I was dying, but it turned out I was just sleeping weird.

I’m not joking. This is what started this whole push to try and figure out my life.

Up until about two weeks ago I only used Twitter to cut and paste whatever I was posting on The Wicker Breaker Facebook page.

I was kind of afraid of Twitter and didn’t really get it. I thought I was just sharing the same exact thing to the same exact people that I know on Facebook. I was also too wary of talking to strangers on the internet. I had followed some pretty rough message board in the past and just figured Twitter was like that unless you were “in” with the right people.

After last week I started to play more and more on Twitter. It’s fun and people for the most part are very supportive. I’ve been able to interact with comedians both famous and unknown, bands, famous people, and random people that I have no idea how or why either of us started to follow one another.

I woke up Monday with the start of a cold. It was kind of late in the afternoon and I went to the computer to see if there were any jokes that I could chime in on. I know that all it is, chiming in and not real connections, but it can be fun.

My plan was to play on the computer for a bit, then fire up Southland Tales. I was really excited to see the director’s cut again.

I had just finished writing a #tallpersonproblems joke with a total stranger, then saw that there were new tweets to read.

I clicked the button and more tweets were displayed.

“Live video: Two explosions near Boston Marathon finish line.”

I clicked on the video.

I stared at the monitor the same way the kid stares at the window during the explosion that interrupts the party at the beginning of Southland Tales.

All the fun had drained from my body.

I crawled right back into bed and took a quick nap.

All this interaction with these strangers on Twitter was beginning to give me hope for humanity, and I had the feeling that the explosions would reignite the Kingdom of Fear that I’ve been straying away from.

I couldn't nap long with this world event going on.

Though I had the news playing on the TV; I was listening to an old podcast and was getting all my news through social media. It was way less stressful than I remember coping with world events from the past. At least for me, that is.

It didn’t turn directly into a game of who did it? There seemed to be just a long discussion of what happened, how to help, and suggestions from people who were part of similar incidents from the past. It was pretty amazing.

I decided to put off watching Southland Tales until today.

I wasn’t sure which version I was going to watch.

The night before I wanted to watch the theatrical release, which from here on out will be referred to as the comedy version. I figured it was shorter and I just wanted to watch it fulfill my weekly self-imposed obligation.

Then on Tuesday, April 16th at 5:30 in the pm I decided to fire up the real version of Southland Tales instead.

I felt the fast pace and confusion of the comedy version would trigger the anxiety and paranoia that I felt after 9/11.

Right away I felt the slower pace and drawn out scenes fit better with the reflective tone that I was feeling in my reality. I felt very relaxed this time. My mind wasn’t racing. I just enjoyed the movie.

I found it interesting that the movie is kind of like Twitter in a few ways.

• If you start with the comedy version, it’s kind of like just jumping into Twitter from any other social network.

• There are celebrities everywhere.

• There are also non-celebrities mixed in.

• A lot is going on, and it can be hard to keep up.

• Some jokes seem to be out of the blue and often inappropriate.

• Once you watch the real version it’s like figuring out how to expand Tweets so that you can see the full conversation in the proper order allowing them to make sense.

I’m not sure if hope or fear is going to win out, but for right now I’ve never felt so relaxed after watching a movie.

I’m also on a lot of cold medicine though!!!