Who ARE these people?

This happens so much on Instagram it's ridiculous. I delete several a day, every once in a while opening them for my own amusement. I have Keanu Reeves, Lee Greenwood, and of course Steve Perry sending me DMs to connect, all the time.

What's amazing to me is regardless of how ridiculous these messages are, there are people who answer them. People believe celebrities are so taken with their profile that they are contacting them outside their verified account! They believe random people want to date them, or offer them the secret to making millions of dollars. Pretty sure if I had millions of dollars I would be contacting strangers on the Internet to tell them how I got my money!

Not sure what bothers me most - these annoying messages or that there are people who believe them!

People I don't follow on Instagram

• Boys whose entire feed consists of pictures of themselves looking in the mirror.
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• Men whose entire feed consists of pictures of themselves looking in the mirror.
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• Girls whose entire feed consists of pictures of themselves looking in the mirror.
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• Women whose entire feed consists of pictures of themselves looking in the mirror.

Wait - I'm sensing a pattern here ..

• Anyone who posts pictures of their weed.
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• Pictures that put guns and money in the same photo.
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• People who put major profanity on every other photo.

Hmm... 

• Men who take pictures in front of the mirror grabbing their crotch.
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• Women who take pictures from above, looking down at their heaving bosoms.

I will almost always follow:

• Cats
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• French Bulldogs 
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• Pretty pictures.

Yes, on Instagram I indulge my "show me cute or pretty" inner self.

And even though I am a cat person through and through - I have fallen head over heals for Frank.  Oh take a peek, you know you want to. He is more adorable than an animal has a right to be.  He has an older brother named Manny who is also quite cute, but I've always had a thing for the younger ones.

Enjoy!

** Edited to add - Some jerk hacked Frank's account on Instagram and all his pictures were lost.  I am SO sad about this!  There will be a new account but many photos were lost.  What do hackers get out of this?  I don't get it.  Here's the new link to see how cute Frank is!

Instagram and the decline of western civilization

View from my bedroom window.

Blogs have taken a back seat lately, there have been days that my laptop hasn't even been turned on.  GASP!  That's unheard of!  It would be great to say I've been off on some wonderful vacation or brokering world peace or something, but the truth is - I've been geeking out on Instagram.  I know.  I'm late to ALL the parties.

Yes I follow all kinds of cat people, shabby chic people, and pretty photos people.  There are a sprinkling of celebrities, and yes my own gallery is chock full of kitty pictures too.  But what gives me pause is when some young girl likes one of my pictures so I look at her photos

You can't SEE me!

to see if there is anything to like in return.

It's appalling to see how many young girls (high school, probably) post suggestive pictures of themselves on the Internet and social media.  Oh yes they have clothes on, and no they aren't usually outright lewd.  But these girls seem to have the objective of looking attractive -- by looking as sexy as they can online.  What happened to innocence?  Self respect?  The sad thing is - my view would be considered totally out of step, un-hip and out of touch.  Because so much of that behavior has become the norm.  The young boys?  Picture after picture of them holding their phones while they take pictures of their baby 6-packs in the mirror.  It's all about the physical.

I remember being in high school, I remember being young.  I remember wanting people to stop being so uptight about things and thinking - anything goes - as long as you

Another cat in a box

aren't hurting anyone else.

But then I grew up.

Now I know that as a society we do need rules.  Not about whether or not we can eat trans-fats or drink uber large cups of sugary pop.  We need to bring back a conscience.  Not a conscience that says we should tolerate everything and everyone but a conscience that makes us have some basic sense of right and wrong, good and bad, and for God's sake there should be some boundaries for behavior where not every single thing is acceptable because we don't want to judge someone else.

Apple blossoms from my back yard.

Hyper-tolerance and political correctness have made it very difficult for ordinary folks to look at something and say - I don't agree with that.  I think that's wrong.  Even when they do feel that way.  There is no balance anymore and we are sliding so far in one direction that I wonder if we can ever get back to center again.

And no, when I see those young girls who like a picture of one of my cats, I cannot bring myself to like one of their photos in return.  Somehow that would be tacit approval of how they are presenting themselves.

Can't do it.  Won't do it.  And what those girls represent makes me incredibly sad.