Twitter

This is Sarah’s last guest post, and I can’t thank her enough for helping me get through the last four weeks of insane change over here. Since Jon’s birthday is Sunday, and mine was earlier this week, we’re going to go get massages! IN THE SAME ROOM! I know that probably grosses some people out, especially if the person over there on the other table is making all sorts of “feeling really good” noises. How distracting is that? As distracting as having sex with that one boyfriend who was always talking dirty and then in the middle of everything asking you to talk dirty, too. Like, first of all, you’re breaking my concentration, dude. Second? Repeating nicknames for penis and vagina over and over again? You just turned a romantic moment into a horrifying nightmare starring Beavis and Butt-head.

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One of my New Year’s resolutions was not to be so cranky on the internet, or about the internet. It’s easy for me to get irritated by things online, or to use an internet platform to spout off some negativity, and I realized that I hate reading that from other people, so I should stop doing it so much myself.

Without fail, the part of the internet that makes me the crankiest is Twitter. I know everyone uses Twitter differently. Some people use it to whine; some people use it to be funny; some people use it to further their personal brand; some people use it as a giant chat room. I’ve been guilty of at least attempting all of the above in the past. I limit my Twitter feed to only people I know in real life, and if we don’t know each other, you’re not missing much. The most exciting thing I’ve done with Twitter is drunkenly live-tweet the movie Deep Blue Sea when it came on TV recently.

But what I mostly find annoying about Twitter is the sensation of hearing tidbits of a hundred people’s thoughts zooming past. You know how in movies, they always show that a psychic person is psychic by having them walk through a crowded public place and being bombarded with voices from all the thoughts of all the people around them, and then and they wince and hold their head? That’s how Twitter feels to me most of the time. It makes me dizzy.

My favorite people on Twitter are the ones who successfully use it as some sort of microblogging platform — being funny or weirdly observant or sharing concisely in one single post. I wish my entire feed was people like Josh Allen (fireland), who tweet once a day at most, and hit that one out of the park.

Anyway. We’re now halfway through the year and I’ve broken my resolution too many times to count, so like a tired dad who feels guilty for snapping at you and buys you ice cream, I’m going to attempt to atone for my sins by sharing with you some of my favorite people on Twitter, the ones who keep me from ever deleting my account because I’d hate to miss anything they say.

Todd Levin is a comedian, writer for Conan O’Brien, married to my friend Lisa, and hilarious.

agoodthinglost is hands down my favorite person on Twitter. I favorite nearly every single thing she posts. She keeps her Twitter feed private but I warned her I was preparing to laud her here so may be persuaded into unlocking it if you’re lucky.

highindustrial is Raza Syed, a screenwriter in Los Angeles, old school internet, and someone I’d love to have a beer with.

Apey is April Richardson, who has been funny on the internet for about a decade now, and was recently named one of the 15 Up-and-Coming Comediennes You Should Be Laughing at by The Frisky.

kfan is Kevin Fanning, and Kevin Fanning is a slang trailblazer. Not so much individual words, but casual speech patterns. The way Kevin Fanning writes is the way the rest of the internet is writing four months later.

I wish I could see the world from inside Evany’s head, because it seems like so much more fun.

I read Barrett Chase’s blog for years, but recently he quit blogging and just uses Twitter. The upside is they’re all gold.

acupoftea is Zan McQuade, who is nostalgic to a fault (her own words) and has an eye for finding the forgotten even while it’s happening.

Jon Friedman is a blogger for Jimmy Fallon, hosts The Rejection Show, and read one of the funniest teenage writings ever in the history of Cringe.