Want To Be My Friend?

I'm sure you all recognize Mahealani Richardson on the left of this picture. The guy in the middle is her brother John and both are the younger siblings of our classmate Patrick Richardson. The woman on the right is another first cousin, Bebe Richardson, who you may recognize if you've gone through the court system because she's actually "Judge Richardson." I still love and respect her even though she's an "Obama-hou" grad. I'm connected to them because they are all Holly's first cousins.

About 6 months ago, Mahealani sent me a email that had a video attached to it. When I clicked on the video, it took me to the FACEBOOK website. In order for me to watch the video, I had to join FACEBOOK. I thought, "this is BS!" and left the site. A few days later, I began to get curious about what was on the video Mahealani sent, I had some time, so I went back in and joined the wretched site. Somehow, FACEBOOK seemed a little less juvenile than MY SPACE (no offense to MY SPACE people), so I thought I would sign up, watch the video and never come back to it again. I did manage to finally watch the video, but I honestly can't remember what it was about. I was too mesmerized by the technology that was drawing me into the world of "social networking."

I guess what happens is FACEBOOK goes into your address book and finds people that you know that are FACEBOOK members. Then it asks you if you want to be "friends" with them which means you can connect your site with theirs. Pretty soon, familiar names start showing up: Tommy Thompson, Byron Ahina, Milton Olmos, LJ Moana (Butchie) Lee, Deborah Lau Okamura. Very soon, Sue Peterson "writes on my Wall" (a way to send messages to each other) because she is trying to figure out how to use FACEBOOK too. During my free time, I try to muddle through it because it looks like fun once you figure it out. Pretty soon, more familiar names start to show up, George Young, BJ DeMello Tang, Aukake Dapitan, Donalei Ho, Joanne Takatsugi, Patrick Richardson, Pauahi Thompson Nichols. The crazy thing is that you're now connected to everyone else's networks. One of the people I connect with regularly is Liana Iaea Honda, who is the sister-in-law of Mason Honda.

The other thing that happens is your FACEBOOK site now has an "address" so people can Google you and find you pretty easily. I recently heard from a woman I worked with 25 years ago who found me on the internet. It was great to connect with her again. Of course, the downside is that you are now "in the open" so people have access to the information you make public.

I like the challenge of staying on top of the technology that is making our world smaller, but I'm definitely no whiz at it. It's kind of fun muddling through this with a group of people (our classmates) that are brave enough to try to figure this out. We send each other notes when we figure something out (its kind of like celebrating when your blood pressure or cholesterol goes down a few points). I think that's part of what makes our class a special group, is that we take the time and make the effort to stay connected. Twenty-five years from now, we'll all be in our respective retirement homes sitting in front of our computers comparing medications and our favorite flavors of Jello. But at least we'll be able to do it.

Oh, the website is www.facebook.com if you want to be "friends" with us. Aloha!