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Today I woke up at four in the morning when one of NY friends sent a text about the long lines at the polling place. She wasn't sending out some sort of mass reminder to every person in her phone to go vote (though she very well could have, as could I). She was simply twittering, a concept that might seem confusing to the less technologically hip. Twitter is a "micro-blogging service that allows you to send updates of 140 characters by phone or Internet to the site- which will send texts to all your friends(known as followers) also on the site. I belong to twitter and today almost every update I have gotten has been about the lines at the polling station or overheard conversations about the election on public transportation that finally culminates in a triumphant sounding "I VOTED!!!"
On Facebook, an extremely popular social-network site for the college-aged and recently graduated, is exploding with the election as well. Of my friends, several have non-related to the election statuses-and with the exception of a few, they all do not live in the US or are too you to vote. The signs of election on this site that caters to the population that is most likely to not vote seems a little astounding. Currently, a counter is ticking away the number of people who have voted, with an option on you home page to count yourself among the currently 2 million some and add an "I voted" update to your profile. Unlike a sticker, the status update is less likely to fall off and is accessible to your friends throughout the country.
Being on Facebook, I feel that the election has been building to a fever pitch. Unlike the "Rock the Vote" campaign ads that usually are non-partisan and celebrity filled, the Facebook phenomenon is highly patrician and feels, to me, more political. How engaging is it to have some celebrity, whom you may or may not respect, telling you to "just vote"? Contrast that with dozens or even hundreds of "friends" being engaged in the election. Weeks before the election, I started getting invited to join groups supporting presidential candidates or sides of the propositions. People changed their profile pictures to election related material and posted comments about the election to their friends, usually pressuring not just to vote but to vote for a certain sides.
I believe that this Internet-assisted initiative is more effective than rock the vote campaigns. Why? First off, the person telling you to vote is much more likely to be someone you know personally. Beyond the fact that you have an emotional investment in this person, your "friend" is probably able to tailor their comments to fit you personally. In trying to convince one of my friends to take a certain position on a proposition, I pointed out precedents because I knew a logical, experience based approach would work better than an emotional appeal. Secondly, the more-partisan approach is more likely to give stronger reasons to vote. It is more than just "voicing your opinion" or "being a good citizen." It is about specific issues often termed in inflammatory language. Again, it become personal. Do you agree"Obama is gonna end the crap of the last eight years" or that "obama's gonna put us further in the hole with that health care plan"? Beyond the presidential campaigns, I feel two propositions have grabbed the attention of young Californian voters as well- Proposition 4 and 8. Personally, I have pushed dozens of my friends to vote on these two issues- where before I might have not cared particularly if my peers voted or not. Thirdly, this phenomenon creates a snowballing jump on the band-wagon approach. It is easy to see exactly how many friends are "fans" of Mccain or Obama or how many support the "cause" of Voting No on Prop 8. This seems to lead to people finding out what their opinions are and stating them so as to be like everyone else. Finally, it is difficult to "forget" to vote or "not make time for it" when your phone is constantly buzzing about elections from twitter. In fact, you can even find Obama on twitter and various McCain support groups.
All this leads to interest in the election or voting in the technologically advance youth- but is it just an outward show of interest? Are people actually voting or simply pretending to vote? Only poll results will be able to indicate this.
So I have a gret job at FCLO (Fullerton Civic Light Opera). iIam working in their costume shop, apparently mostly as a cutter- which comes as a surprise to me since I am really a stitcher.To those who are wondering (aka everyone): costume shops have division of labor the more fancy or big the shop the more this happens. For example, on Broadway one house (larger version of a shop) is completely dedicated to beading. So the beads on Galinda's dress would be hand done at that house, but they would have nothing to do with the construction of the garment (aka cutting and sewing the pieces together). Anyways- smaller shopw usually have a designer (who thinks up the ideas), a drafter (who makes all the patterns) a draper (think Romney) this is usually combined with the job of cuttter (who cuts out everything), a stitcher (who sew things together). Sometimes, basic construction and details are also split up. I work at such a small shop at school I have done a bit of everything besides drafting, draping, and designing. Hand sewing, ripping out seams, etc. is usually (in big shops) considered the thing you can let most anybody (hopefully a volunteer) to do. Onthe other end of the scale- someone who can knit, embroider, make jewerly, airbrush- is a specialist. At bigger shops that do more, they might also have dyers (who also are in chare of distressing), Milliners (make hats) leather workers (shoes and armor stuff), etc. Anyways, a basic stitcher is what I expected to be given my experince, I am competent enought not to just do handsewing and checking stock, but I don't have the experience to merit more- or so I thought.
So FCLO is one of the largest rental stocks in the US- which means their costume shop is busy (really busy) almost all year round. For example, right now we are building (aka making costumes) for Guys and Dolls and Peter Pan. Guys in Dolls is going to Kansas and Peter Pan to Canada (I plan to hide in a box). Currently, some of the stock is abroad. Oh, and we're repairing Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat because Fedex lost several boxes of costumes. On Monday, we shipped out My Fair Lady (which I made some bloomers for on my first day). We also neeed to unpack Miss Saigon.
Needless tosay, it is super busy and they have work for me for the entire summer. 40-32 hours of work a week. And we have so much to accomplish in the next two weeks, I can probably work more if I make the time for it. I'm being paid $9 an hour, which for a summer job is not bad (Disney would have only paid .25 more if I had worked as a costumer for them). I like the people and the enviormnment and the work. Much better than the drama camp job I hate. There is something extremely rewarding about making something and knowing it'sgoing to be used agian and again and last. And there is also something amazinng about contributing to theater magic.
So that's what's going on in my life folks. I work 10-5, take the bus up at 8:30 every morning and get back at 6:30. (Really we need express buses or better yet subways).
As I read through the Steve Jobs examples- I was surprised that some were, um, not super formal. Short makes since. But informal makes since too from a certain perspective- much more personal. One would expectanassistant to write:
Dear Sir,
Thank you for your responce. We have been discussing this problem at great length and are working on a solution. In the meantime, we suggest you get our newer product.
Yours,
Steve
Probably more formal than that but you get my point.
a response like:
I suggest you calm down. Everyone knows the issue and it is being worked on.
Is so blunt and non- PC (lol) that you figure it has to be from him. (Even though it doesn't) You would think that no one would be so blunt and not polite in his name.
And people then complain about it- and everyone knows Steve Jobs emailed them.
So it's PR- just not the Disney way of it.
Further reading makes me classify the types of emails you get back from "steve" (which is how he signs them which means any Steve could sign them without id theft.)
Type 1: Send an email, where you cite when, where, who helped, and your case numbers and explain a problem that should be in some way fixable (even if by a new computer) and is covered by the warranty. This could include inability to get through to the right tech support people.
Response: He will defer you to the appropriate cuctomer support person who will help you out to the extent of your warranty.
Type 2: You send an email complaining about something not covered in the warranty or a feature Apple calims to be working on or anything else. (Your response may be incinderary)
Response: You will get a short terse email from "Steve." It is unlikely to be more than a couple short sentences. These are most likely to be non-polite (though if you look hard they are not mean, only rude in the lens of formality) and will skillfully (in my opinion) non-answer your question. Possibly say they're working on it if its an update.
But if it is changing diaper stations in the restroom (yes this happened) it's gonna be a non-answer. He isn't going to say" Will install them right away" and he isn't going to say" We will not install them under any circumstance. Instead he say little demand (a resonable response in most poeple's eyes- it doesn't have to be backed up in fact) and then jokes about stinky diapers.
And the best part about these emails is. The Type Ones get into newspapers and make the company look ecellent. The type Twos complain and no one is sure whether he actually responded or not.
Moved twice today. My room is currently a maze of (labeled) boxes. I am super tired from hauling stuff up stairs. (I live in a basement so I had to haul things up to move out and up to move back in to my house. )
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Thought of the concept while listening to Melchior's mother's letter. This is meant to be funny of course. In case, you are wondering how Mark's mother can be that oblivious to what a fan is- Mark didn't know what a blog was (thought it was a bog).
Altarholics is down which is sad. I can't update my Altar Boyz alumni page. IMHO, they should announce when maintanice was going to be done. Anyways here it is: Ryan Duncan is in Shrek, which somehow I feel I already knew but pretty sure it isn't listed on Altarholics). Here's to hoping me favorite site will be up and running better than ever agian. i'm not complaining-maitainance is a good thing.
Also: 1 day (!) until I see Altar Boyz in Martinez, California
5 days until I see Altar Boyz in Ashland, Oregon
let's get some advice here which should I usee my ff miles for:
1. Go to AADay. Plus: meet Holics, see Boyz, etc. Minus: I will hopefully have a job so I will only be able to be there for that weekend.
2. Go to Canada show Plus: international, French, I could proabably combine it with a short trip to NYC if done before June 22 (when it closes) Minus: my ffmiles only work in the US so I'd have to spend a little extra to get myself to Montreal and back
3 do neither. Save ffmiles for something else.
I've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 papers to write. Luckily, 2 are evaluations of myself and my professor (probably only a page or so) and two are reflection on the class papers (sightly easie). Two are history research papers but they are due tomorrow so....
Gonna get a credit card soon. I am sick of using a debit card.
On a side note, almost have enough rapid rewardson southwest to get a free flight- I'm thinking of using it to go see the canadian show (it's in french for cryng out loud, it's international but nearish by) but not sure....I <3 southwest.
