From Friendster to Driving Down Memory Lane

Combine an Internet-ready laptop with a whole lot of free time and you will get hours of Friendster profiles viewing cum stalking. At least that's the case for a typical Filipino websurfer like me. For many years, although its popularity is experiencing a decline now due to the incessant emergence of much better or less irritating other social networking sites, Friendster has served many purpose: as an e-message account (inbox), egoistic flooders sanctuary (bulletin board), self-importance booster (testimonials), design contest (profile skins customization) and a place where you can prove friend-worthiness through statistics (hello? you have 2 full accounts with 500 persons each, yeah yeah, but look, exactly the same people in both accounts, duh.)

"Have you seen (put high school acquaintance name here)'s Friendster account?" Yes. No. Depends on how much time I have and how important the person is to me. Truth is, I rarely take a peek at profiles of people I only consider as acquaintances. Well, make that thing of the past. Going through a long bumhood has taken its toll on me. Laziness has worsen, ass got fatter, and I became a social network butterfly. Even profiles of people who used to bore me in high school or I hardly knew at all received pagehits from me. After long hours of practicing voyeurism, without its sexual connotation, its only then that I realized that, wow, the changes that had taken place are so many and shockingly enormous.

Take Jan (not real name) for example. He was my classmate way back 2nd year high school and he's gay, and weird. The gay part is OK, but the weirdness is not. We really believed he was downright crazy. I even caught him looking like a druggie once in a jeepney because he had soporific eyes and wearing dirty clothes. In school, he always get bullied, and I actually believed that the occassional beating will do him good because he did things that made him a deserving target. There goes my morbid side, haha! Well, I read from his profile (propped up to the T), I read that the underdog from the past turned into a call center agent, then into a jetsetter, and finally, someone who works in an account maintenance department somewhere in North Carolina. However, I don't want to call this a success story, only a good life transition (they're not the same!), because I don't know if he's still the same obnoxious person who managed to piss off everyone before. (Note: He was a friend, never an enemy. I liked him for being hilarious, and he was a good company, now drop that suspicion that this entry is for the purpose of revenge... I am happy for him, really.)

Then there are these people who used to be big, famous, and proud for reasons unclear to me. Where are they now? Some started families (or baby factories), some became nobodies in college. Most of the geeks found refuge in the dark world of rock, where by holding a guitar and singing emo songs, they get the attention of rockstar wannabe kids and hot chicks. The hearthrobs are now incompetent parents, working wherever a high school diploma can be accepted. Well, not all of them, as some are trying nursing to escape parenthood and experience instead the promise of snow and dollars in some foreign land. Let's see, who else? The brainiacs? They are now probably disappointed in their selves or in the system. However, in a few years, they will learn how to play the game and will become part of the saddening system. The belief that they have the power to change the world and bring equality will, little by little, fade into the background as a corrupted soul will take over. When they already have the money to buy the things they want, like other people's souls, they will tag their lives as "success stories". What happened to the ordinary or average people who consider wisdom and kindness as the ultimate treasures? They are on the road to the pinnacle of true success. Only they have no idea that they're on it.