Internet Cranks (Passageways)

"Kathy's Blog, Deep Breath"

I was an IndyFringe virgin before this weekend!  Had no idea what to expect, but secretly hoped it was a little like Vegas...!!!  I did see some hula-hooping fire dancers dressed in Goth and I had never seen that in Vegas.  The crowd mix was all over the map.  I was glad to see every age range and dress code.  Loved the energy of each group bustling to their next venue to get in the line and hope to make it into one of the 100 or so seats available.

The show we selected was Phil the Void, The Great Brain Robbery and I was blown away.  During the 55 minutes of constant outpouring of thick ideas and thought-provoking banter, I wanted to take notes!  I
wanted to remember the impactful review of life, the affects of advertising, trickeries of politics, dumbing down of our children, lulling of networking and the feelings that each perspective introduced to me.  It went so fast amid the belching, f-bombs and not-so dressed-for-success, scrawny-unkempt character of Phil van Hest
(http://www.philvanhest.com/) that I felt stupid, smart and inspired all at the same time.  Fall victim to his enthusiasm and you will emerge as informed and eager to out-race the sucking sound that slowly distracts
you and becomes white noise while you drift into Stupid-Dom and your brain slowly disappears...

A nugget that has stayed with me (or actually) plagued me during my quiet moments (since Phil) is the sensation of feeling connected and hoping for interaction while sitting alone with only my laptop.  Social
Networking tricks you into thinking that everyone you know cares what you are doing every minute of your life.  The obligation to update and document your experiences and feelings is so strong because someone
might like them and read them and comment.  The flipside is the group of your friends or future friends (depending on your fan-base) will be the ones trapped into reading your updates and living your experiences
through your writing and not really experiencing life for themselves.  If we all just went outside without our devices and enjoyed the weather or neighbors, or a festival and met friends to discuss it face to face
then learned from the experiences what we like or dislike then changed our behavior to enjoy more and do more and document less... What would happen then?  Who would miss out on my ramblings?  What would I learn and not write about that could have changed someone's life?  My need to be impactful, entertaining and desired supersedes my ability to just sit and enjoy.  I want to remember everything so that I can go write about it.  Obviously, still trapped in this twisted tangle of thought, I may never find my way out.  Until I reach exhaustion, I'll continue to ramble, postulate and create more roads into more layers of more thoughts and of course, write about them.
-Kathy Houghtalen