 This morning I woke up and realized, today is a good day to close my multiply. The thoughts have bothered me for some time due to various reasons listed fragmentedly in several posts but I've not really had the guts to do it. Today feels right.
I set up multiply five years ago. It was a marked change in my life. I managed to get my dream of working overseas and landed in one of the most beautiful countries in the world which, coupled with its proximity to its neighbours, made blogging exciting. I documented the adventure diligently, capturing every move, every new experience, every thoughts.
In the five years, a lot has changed. The internet landscape is different. New social networking platforms have emerged and people disperse. To this day, I never understand the snobbish objections to Facebook. Nothing in internet affords privacy. The spectrum ranges from absolute privacy by belonging to none to baring it all. It's an individual choice how much to reveal the truth behind the mask on- and offline. Besides, people seem to forget that these things are free. You get what you pay for. Whether I'm here, there or everywhere makes no difference to me but, as most of my friends and acquaintances are in that one 'in' place, the majority wins. Until the next big thing.
Besides dispersing, people also change, move on, or simply get bored. At the start of multiply, I was involved in a community of food lovers. We shared friendship bonded by thoughts and tips on food. Like non-virtual friendship, some solidify, others fall apart. We've bonded, bickered and reconciled. Mostly, we've drifted apart. I am a firm believer that friendship doesn't last forever especially without conscious and diligent efforts from both parties and I must say internet is not a very strong glue. It's fine by me. There are always new people to befriend.
The audience has also shifted. In the good old days, I met new friends with much diverse backgrounds. A contact became my first local, non-colleague friend when she moved here from the US. I interacted with all sorts of brainy academicians whom otherwise I'd have never met. I got to know a group of journalists whose name I only read in the papers (with awe, I might add). But I've also had my share of crazy people. People who have no business in blogging communities because they have no manners and they are viciously vitriolic. Some exist virtually just to brag about their 'fabulous' life to their lesser counterparts for a game of one-upmanship. On the other spectrum, the newbies are spineless, bland, and tasteless. Their praises are shallow and routine. There is no more healthy, inspiring and insightful debates let alone posts. Everything is reduced to the lame 'tfs' (ie. Thanks for Sharing). Most numbing of all, this forum has become a breeding ground for internet shopping platform or what I call 'shameless spams'. They call prospective customers 'sisters'.
Above all those, I have changed. My relationship with Europe has turned into a comfortable, long and happy marriage instead of an adrenaline-fueled courtship. Europe is our loving, secure, and familiar home. Therefore, I am not inclined to do all the touristy things and there is little material for the posts except for a few mundane domesticated activities.
As a person I am also more cynical and jaded. Some thoughts I have are no longer appropriate for public consumption due to my increasingly fixed mindset - a feature I hate in the older people but have now become mine as I get older. I also have less energy to engage in lengthy and endless debate. The rest of the thoughts are repetitive because my pet peeves are virtually the same no matter how I phrase it. Ninety percent of the drafts in my folder has either been said or just variations of each other.
Lastly, I also do not think that sharing thoughts and opinions is important anymore. Advices are overrated, narratives are boring, and opinions are like snow flakes: no two are alike but, after a while, you've one too many. Besides, I really have nothing more to say.
So it has come to this. I am closing my multiply account . There will be no more new posts here and all the old posts will disappear. The account itself will be around because I like the name and consequently we still can keep in touch in this forum. I exist in Facebook, Flickr, Goodreads (if books are your thing) and my other food-and-travel specific blog: http://bookshop.blogsome.com/
It has been a great adventure and I thank all of you for stopping by and staying. I wish you and your loved ones all the best for 2010. May next year bring you much happiness and health!
PS: I wrote this on the train back home on the last day of the semester thus the poor quality picture taken with my cell phone. The snow-flake metaphor came to me as I looked out the window.
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