Perhaps there IS a wrong way to use Twitter

Before beginning this tale, I guess I should note something. Perhaps (perhaps?) it sounds egotistical, but it's worth mentioning.

When I write in one of my blogs, or on one of my Twitter accounts, or in one of my FriendFeed accounts, or on one of your blogs, or whatever, I am effectively contributing to a canvas of communications. When I contribute to this canvas, my ultimate goal is not to please you, or to please Matthew and Sarah Gray, but to please myself.

Bear this in mind as I describe what I wrote yesterday, and remember: it was Saturday night. I guess that makes it alright.

So anyways, late Saturday night I was suddently inspired to tweet the following:

is it a warzone

At about the same time, Twitter user and Arizona Cardinals fan @clintus was in the midst of issuing his own series of tweets, read as follows:

Beer pong has ended. The girls are attempting to dance to the radio.

I replied:

@Clintus is it a freakshow

Before I continue, I have to acknowledge that some of you know where this is going. However, I have to note that 24 hours previous, if I had seen either of those tweets, or even both of them, I would be scratching my head.

If you're scratching your head, read on to find out that Twitter user @bluestbutterfly was online also. And she had found something - luckily:

Glad I have not lost my library card. I have a habit of doing that. Librarians get mad at the littlest fine or lost card-not kidding.

I sympathized with her:

@bluestbutterfly is it a terrordome

Then I said:

is it a radio

Appropriate time to take a break from Twitter, yes? I thought so.

lesson. if you are tweeting a predefined series that partially depends upon semirandom input, don't do it late sat night.

You see, there was a method to my madness. FriendFeed user WorldofHiglet either knew what I was about, or was attempting to humor a madman.

...but that is part of the fun

So inspired, I eventually continued:

is it a firewall

But Twitter user @tagstrance was stirring, and tweeted the following:

Swen Weber - Smith And Wesson (Original Mix)

So I replied:

@tagstrance is it a deathtoll

I mean, you'd ask that too, wouldn't you?

At about the same time, Twitter user @doctorlinguist was encountering a nasty technical problem:

VMware has just made a big mess out of my Windows 98 image. great.

Again, I sympathized:

@doctorlinguist is it an atombomb

Pretty quickly (for it was getting late) I followed up with this:

is it a tombstone

So, eight tweets, all beginning with "is it a." The middle two tweets in the first half were replies, and the middle two tweets in the second half were replies.

Why?

You see, earlier that evening I found a CD that others could not find for me, even though it was on my Christmas list. At the time that I bought the CD ("Dystopia" by Midnight Juggernauts), I had already heard seven of the songs on the CD:

Ending of an Era 4:50 9
Dystopia 2:54 6
Into the Galaxy 4:53 5
Shadows 4:13 2
Road To Recovery 6:19 1
Tombstone 3:58 1
Worlds Converged 2:02 1

I had only heard "Tombstone" once before buying and listening to the entire CD, and I actually added it to my last.fm "Loved" tracks, but obviously once is not enough:

got to track 10, "tombstone." haven't heard this before, i don't think. like it!

(Incidentally, note that a slightly different placement of the last comma and last period would result in an entirely different meaning to the sentence above. I should communicate more clearly.)

The lyrics are somewhat simpler than some of the other lyrics on the CD. In fact, the lyrics consist of only eight lines.

Now do you get it? I guess you missed my final tweet of the evening:

the previous 8 tweets were brought to you by "tombstone" by midnight juggernauts. yes, i like the song.

Wesley Willis I ain't.

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