in which thefacebook.com lets me down

I am so very very sad at the moment. not only to learn that the father of a dear friend of mine died recently-- and, no, I do not include this in this post in any glib way. quite frankly, not only is it awful news, impossible to respond to other than lamely and uselessly, painful to sit by while a friend suffers. also it's a wake-up call for me with all my blather-- that there are far more weighty and grievous things going on in the world, and that perhaps I ought not to be quite so blythe and irritating. also that my own parents are no vernal poultry. and I've no idea how I'm going to react when the inevitable comes to pass, as it does more and more frequently for my contemporaries. either that or long-term care necessities. the stuff of real life.

with this perspective, what does it really matter that my new toy only allows membership to the micro-section of the population who happen to have .edu email addresses?... only that I've just emailed a whole slew of my favorite people, prompted, probably foolishly, to mash the "Invite" button. and now they're going to be not only pestered with my group-emailing but also frustrated should they actually attempt to join. gr. and feh.

evidently it's time for my nap.