Facebook.

Okay. I gave in. I joined Facebook today. For a long, long time, I have heard again and again, from multiple reliable sources: I should be on Facebook.

"Really, Tricia, you should. You will love it. You should do it."

I received this invitation yet again today. And for some reason, today was my day. I siezed the moment. I took the plunge.

Except it all happened so fast. When I opened the account, I really expected to start the way I started the blog: slow and steady, a loose commitment to carefully create this environment before I tell anyone I did it.

Wrong.

In a moment's notice, Facebook had synched with my address book, and I was flooded with dozens and dozens and dozens of emails from "new friends." Wait. What just happened? I have invited these people to see my profile, which I haven't yet created?? What just happened??

It turns out, I am a linear girl, pretty sequential, measured in my risk taking. (Go ahead and laugh... yes, joining Facebook felt risky to me.) And yet, here I was, suddenly sucked into this vortex, a virtual subculture that I knew nothing of just moments ago.

It was all a little stressful. I actually called in reinforcements.

I called and texted the people who have been singing the praises of Facebook all this time... "Please tell me I want to do this. Because I am dangerously close to changing my mind."

Here's what they said:

"You'll love it. You really will. Well, it's a little overwhelming
at the start. But stick it out. It's so great. You'll be a pro
by this weekend. Everyone you've ever known will be at your fingertips,
and it is the best thing ever to get in touch with old friends and see where
life has taken them. You're going to love it. Well, you might hate
it, actually. It sucks you dry. It's a blackhole for your time. You can give days to it without every realizing it. You're probably going to hate it before long. But I'm so glad you joined."

What? What just happened?

But then I spent two hours tonight, reconnecting with people from all over the social world that is my life, present and past. And it was so much fun.

I'm hooked. And my eyes hurt.