Megan is going to get you the healthiest call girl this town has ever seen

I was avoiding Facebook, and I thought I was doing a pretty good job. I spend my life on the computer anyway, and I really didn't want another Web 2.0 program to worry about. At any given time, I usually have Blogger, MSN, Yahoo! Messenger and YouTube open, plus my e-mail and iTunes. I don't have room for much more. This wasn't about hiding; I'm pretty open about myself here on the blog, but I wanted to keep things simple.

I successfully rode out the MySpace wave, or so I thought. I do have a MySpace account, but just so I can look at a few friends' blogs that were set to private.

Then Facebook started to pester me. I got my first invitation a couple of months ago. I ignored it. Glen reassured me that it's not just for students and that adults do indeed use it. More invitations followed. I ignored them.

Then two days ago an invitation arrived from a very sweet person who I have not technically met, but who I assume must be close to sainthood since she's planning to marry Steve's brother Sean.

I thought about this. It's one thing to tell real-life friends that I don't want to be "friended". It's quite another to tell a complete stranger. This seemed a bit rude. Also, a rejection could put me in the bad books with the in-laws. I couldn't have that.

I clicked the link and set up a page.

I'm still very new at this (I was chastised earlier tonight for responding to a message on my own page) and am completely lost most of the time. But one thing is already clear: Facebook is aggressively interactive. Actually, let's put an exclamation point on it, like the government of Saskatchewan: Facebook is aggressively interactive!

It was fun to find a few people, but I was ready to stop after about an hour. I'd found everyone I really wanted to find. I have a few friends, real friends, who I've lost touch with over the years. Since I made the mistake of telling it where I went to school, Facebook has been bombarding me with messages about people I have not seen in over a decade, many for good reason. I've received 34 messages since last night. In two days I have amassed 22 "friends". Just in case there are any lingering questions among my readers as to my geekiness, let me assure you: I have probably not had 22 true friends in my entire life. I tend to form close relationships with a few people, and I am friendly with everyone else, except for the few people who I loathe intensely. (Actually, I'm pretty friendly with them, too. They probably have no idea that I'm plotting to destroy them.)

But it's interesting to see who has suddenly popped up. I feel rather nostalgic right now. This should help: