On Tuesday I met a woman who has NEVER engaged in social media! She’s heard of Facebook but never seen it; she thinks that celebrities use Twitter to gossip about each other and she doesn’t like email because ‘it leads to strangers taking over your life…’ I was absolutely gobsmacked. She wasn’t old and didn’t look odd, just rigidly fixed in her misguided beliefs and not prepared to budge one inch. I have to say, she did seem very miserable. Bearing in mind that engaging in social media activates the same chemical hormone in our brains that causes us to fall in love, she might be a lot happier if she indulged herself!
Yes, it’s true – the release of oxytocin is what makes both Facebook and kissing addictive. Employers should take note – if you trust your staff to go online during working hours without abusing your generosity, you may find yourself with a happier workforce. Long gone are the days when everyone had to hide in the stationary cupboard to release their oxytocin… (Or balloon cupboard, as it was where I worked in the eighties!)
The eighties story that made me laugh most this week was about a Sherlock Holmes murder mystery evening in the heart of deepest darkest Essex. Mel (she of Zumba-dancing Cancer Research fundraising in China fame), Andy and her immediate family went all out with their outfits. Dressed beautifully in Victorian lace and velvets, they arrived at the hotel along with two hundred other guests to work out who the murderer might be… only to discover that the themed night was set in the eighties and no one else had dressed up!
As if that wouldn’t have been embarrassingly funny enough, the other diners thought they were the actors and started clapping. Then, for some unknown reason, they thought it was time for dancing and all eight of them walked to the dance floor, where people began taking photos… It’s so nice when it happens to someone else!!
And my big news of the week – I’m now officially a published author! The Colours inbetween, my first year’s collection of blog posts is available from Amazon and Smashwords and you can get it at 
Apple, Barnes and Noble, Sony, Kobo etc sometime next week. It’s been a fun project and, although I’d written the content over the past year, putting it all together in print was really quite exciting. A couple of people were surprised I didn’t use my logo on the front cover and asked what the design is about. Well, it represents the many different strands to my life – intertwined and shiny, strong and vibrant – and most of all, colourful. If you read the introduction you’ll see why I chose the title, and I hope you agree. I won’t be publicising the book properly until next week but quite a few sales have notched up over the weekend, so thank you if you downloaded it.
This made a lovely backdrop to a birthday week that began when I won the raffle at Emma’s Ann Summers party and ended with a bang and sparkle on Saturday night. Thank you to everyone who made me feel special, bought lovely cards and gifts and shared my giant cream tea on Thursday. There’s still some Pimms in the fridge if anyone’s free later…
Back to work now, and a meeting later today about running a large group social media workshop – let’s get some oxytocin flowing through east London. Twitter/kissing? LinkedIn/kissing? Facebook… ‘When I listen to your heart I hear the whole world turning, I see the shooting stars falling through your trembling hands.’
I’ve seen some shooting stars this week – and not just on my new Galaxy tab. Follow me to a whole new galaxy… or find me right here: @WeekendWitch.
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