Internetworking

I hate networking and I'm trying to work out why . . . maybe it's because human relationships should be built on love, the exchange of ideas and fucking, in that order, and networking would have no place in that if people were more direct animals. Don't get me too wrong - I'm better with conferences, for example, than I used to be and usually end up enjoying them at least a little, because I can often find enough people at them who can start talking to me at an intellectual level above the 'networking' plane once they get going about something they care about.

But I don't like networking, and I think I don't like it because there's the idea that you have to be nice to a person because they're being nice to you when you know they're only being nice to you because they're professionals who want something, and there's no visible way the exchange is going to work out all that well for me since all I want to do with my corporate future is quit and be an analyst or a writer or a muckraking journalist instead.

As if networking is limited to corporate structures though. Sigh. Anyways and especially, it's been on my mind because of Facebook. Some people are more network-y on it than others and it really annoys me - brings networking down to its laziest denominator - you don't even have to pretend to smile at your interlocutor while you're using it. You can just do this :-), or possibly this ;-), even this :-D, and not risk getting extra wrinkles.

In other news, they sell Pocket Coffees here and I think this may be my home city. I've felt that way before though.