Trying to Call Somebody Else

I'm pretty sure that when you permanently delete/remove your Facebook account, they still retain some of your old data on hand. Looking at the recommendations for 'Friends', there are at least two people from, we'll call it, the "Old Life". People from a different province altogether that I haven't really seen face-to-face in years. And somehow, Facebook magically thinks that based on my profile I might just happen to know them. Sure. Riiiight. There is nothing, absolutely nothing in either my profile information or current contacts that could possibly link me back so precisely to those people that I once upon a time had in my Friends list, before I destroyed the account with what I supposed was the digital equivalent of fire and brimstone. I have no way to prove the theory that they actually kept information from my old account on hand, of course. Maybe it's based on my email address, and those people have tried looking for me, and Facebook has kept that search on hand for when said account was claimed.

Either way, it still creeps me out and wish I wasn't on there at all. I don't trust Facebook at all. And I mean, yeah, Google has waaay more of my information and I'm less worried about them. They seem less scummy, you know? I could be wrong. In fact, I'm sure that Google has some less-than-reputable projects going on behind closed doors. Times like this, I wish I could just delete myself from the internet and move on. I don't like the idea of anyone keeping tabs on me like that.

I actually went through and parsed a half-dozen contacts from my Facebook contact list, after the person that made my account sent requests out to a bunch of people I don't know. Looking at my current list, sure I know most of them. But are they my friends? No. Not at all. And I want to destroy all those inaccurate connotations that they are. But alas, this is a professional networking tool, not for socializing. I'll leave 'em be. For now. But just the fact that it says "Friends (48)" makes me cringe. There is no way in hell that number should be so high. It just... Rubs me the wrong way. Like sandpaper on my cerebellum. It just ain't right.

And, of course, to prevent further people from finding me, I'm refusing to actually edit/fill in any of the profile info. As far as it's concerned, I went to a highschool I never set foot in, have a birthday three and a half months before I was born, and I'm currently attending a school on the other side of the country. And I've figured out the privacy settings (supposedly), so I even have all this information set to friends-only. And it's going to stay that way.

Some days I feel like such a grumpy old man of a hermit. Kids these days. Hrmph.
-Cril

Just seven numbers
Can straighten out my life
But my pride won't let me phone

Four Tops - Just Seven Numbers (Can Straighten Out My Life)