Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Twitter: Part 2

Basically, even if I wanted to Twitter, I really wouldn’t know what to Twit about. My ego is not quite large enough to think that a bunch of people would actually want to know what I’m doing on a minute by minute basis.

NOTE: My ego is actually growing at an exponential pace. Soon I will need to reserve two seats on flights just to accommodate it.

So, in lieu of me actually Twittering, I figured I would come up with a list of standard activities that I routinely engage for you, the reader, to choose from. If you’re ever wondering what I’m doing at a given moment, you can then consult the list at random and be reasonably certain that I’m actually doing that.

For you nerds out there, print it out and keep a twenty-sided die handy. Roll it and use the following chart to determine what I’m up to!

1. I’m staring blankly at the computer screen because I’ve forgotten what I’m doing.
2. I’m exercising.
3. I’m arguing the merits of AD&D vs all the other D&D systems (THACO sucks).
4. I’m working on Wayfarer’s Moon.
5. I’m working on some random writing project that involves people hitting each other with vegetables.
6. I’m not sleeping due to chronic insomnia.
7. I’m hallucinating at work, because I didn’t sleep the night before (or have been drugged by my coworkers).
8. Fighting ninjas.
9. Sitting in the dark, crying.
10. I’m writing a blog.
11. Pondering man’s inhumanity to man.
12. A random movie quote has just flashed through my mind and I can’t recall what movie it’s from. This is driving me insane.
13. Playing hackey-sack with my coworkers in the parking lot.
14. I’m swearing at the computer, ‘cause the AI in my level won’t FREAKIN’ DO WHAT I WANT IT TO!
15. Fondly remembering a bygone era that I’ve idealized to the point of ludicrousness.
16. Dating a super model.
17. Getting shot down by a super model.
18. Talking to a coworker. There is a 73% chance it is not work related. There is an additional 12% chance the conversation is really, really stupid.
19. Talking to Leigh.
20. Playing D&D or thinking about playing D&D.
Cheers,
-Jason

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sweet, natural 20.

Timelady said...

>"Fondly remembering a bygone era that I’ve >idealized to the point of ludicrousness."

Ah, those sweet, sweet 1850s.

But do you remember that passage in "So Long and Thanks for the Fish" where Douglas Adams writes about how he cuts out the boring parts of Arthur's life? Twitter is where they cut out everything else (no offense to anyone).

TX_Val said...

HA, this is great, I love the d20 idea, and it's true. I'll try to relate the idea to my g/f and see if she understands.
She's into myspace and the such, and is apparently twittering, which is why all her friends keep asking me about our fights, and crap. It's rather irratating, I just tell them she's making shit up to keep them asking stupid questions.

I'm like you, I'm not deluded enough to think anyone cares what I'm doing all the time, and most of the time, it's the d20 idea.

I have mentioned it once before... about the twittering.. from a serial killers perspective.. might be fun..

You should twitter your book.. 1 line at a time.. :)

Actually could you imagine doing that from a phone.. *cringes*

Of course I'm mainly joking.
But I could see a short story put out by a famous author, that way.

S. King over time has done interesting things, just to try them. Many times, he's said that it was something he's glad he tried, and hoped his fans enjoyed, but wouldn't do again.

pixie_bit said...

Thaco totally does not suck, but twitter does!

Ti said...

You're ignoring one of the critical aspects of Twitter for a webcomic artist: self promotion. I don't tweet about my daily activities, I tweet 'hey, my comic's updated, here's the link'. And guess what? I get hits from my followers, and new followers and readers.

You guys are stereotyping Twitter as 'kay, Twitter, I'm going to go have a shower now', when you need to look at it as what it really is: a powerful promotional tool that lets you directly reach out to your fans. You can say 'but RSS!' but I know I'm not the only one who won't put comics in my RSS... but I will follow their Tweets.

Like any social networking tool, it has the POTENTIAL to suck... but as a comicker or a blogger or a writer or an artist or... anything using the internet as your medium to present your work, it also has the potential to be a very powerful marketing tool. Not just 'and right now I'm going to go and eat some crackers and watch anime'. Quite the contrary. I was able to get immediate feedback from fans on a new logo I was making, and I am able to immediately let them know when my site's updated or I've put up a new vote incentive. Twitter lets you reach out to your fans, keep them updated with a tool they may already have, and draw in new ones. There's a reason a lot of webcomickers are putting Twitter boxes up on their sites now. It works.

Jason Janicki said...

20 for teh win!

Y'know Ti, you're right. I hadn't really considered that aspect of Twitter. The ones I seem to see are pretty banal, but I do see the logic (and usefulness) of your position. Maybe I'll have to give it a try . . .

THAC0 is actually quite sensible. I just learned to play AD&D and pretty much never got away from it (though I occasionally dip my toes into the other D&D systems). I just grew up with the charts and learned to love 'em :)

TX_Val said...

Well anything can have some useful form, and for someone that doesn't update on a regularlly timed schedule it can be a useful tool.

I myself usually check comics from at a certain time, and just run through the usuals, so it doesn't exactly matter when they update. I'm not going to rush to them from my phone or anything.

I'm not a twitter type guy, but I have heard some of the radio talk shows, and people like that, taking questions from all forms of media, including twitter. I can see a use there also. One of the guys is a financial ... advisor? He knows the laws, and well he's one of these people that appears to know everything in this field. People can contact him with questions through twitter, and social websites and such. His team tries to answer everythign they can, and refer people to good information and people that can help them in their area.

So, there's obviosly good points, and I think you have to think outside the generic box to make this something useful, and that people will like.

For a webcomic I agree, about the only thing I would want to follow you for is updates, maybe weird thoughts if you did one every couple of days, or maybe some kind of insight on a CON if I was into that stuff, and couldn't make it to the CONs.

You tend to stick to a schedule on your updates, so I already kind of know when to come here though.

Blah blah blah.. pent up rambling from the weekend.
MOO