I know it isn't anywhere CLOSE to a real happy hour in my side of the world right now but I could use a tall one.  I think I'll just get a smoothie.
I ask you....  Do you know a buckethead?  Have you ever been a buckethead?  I have and it isn't fun.  What is a "buckethead" anyway?

My definition of a "buckethead" is as follows:    A real buckethead stumbles around thinking good thoughts, attempting to do good deeds but somehow they backfire on them. ...because that bucket on their head (often my head) obscures the view...making it hard to really point those good intentions in the right direction.  Other times that bucket seems to prevent good intentions from coming to the person wearing it---because they can't see the good intentions either.

I often wonder how often people are mislead by an interpretation of a comment or a post.  Do they get the wit or charm....or is it seen as caustic and snarky.........when in fact it may be neither.   Humor sometimes fails to translate well online....dry humor can actually come across crass and demeaning.   Personalities are veiled by the color of our own perceptions.

I have spent some time reading people's profiles and their lists of comments made.....and found many people I thought were enemies have more in common with me than probably any of us realize.  I have also found people have very different voices in other places within sugar land.   It makes me wonder how many buckets we ALL wear once in a while....completely unaware of the reality around us. 

The internet is not virtual...it is sometimes void rooms containing thought....which sometimes is not expressed well.  Reactions occur and then bounce all over the place.  We find ourselves building boundaries and walls.....thinking we must protect ourselves when in reality we probably should just be more open.   Being more open means being more vulnerable and that is scary.
Where am I going with this?   I tend to HOPE I come across as at least vaguely humorous most of the time and admit I seem to fail as much as I succeed.  My intent to more to cause a smile than a smirk cuz....well smirks just aren't funny.   When I smirk I try to do so with that bucket firmly in place....as it protects me as much as it causes the problem.
 
Life on the internet isn't any safer with that bucket in place.  You run into walls...into people and hurt their feelings...or worse make them angry.  No  matter how full of good intentions you have...that bucket is freak'n annoying.   We pull it off and open ourselves to whatever will get tossed in our way.
 
The decision ultimately is....do I put that bucket back on and keep meandering around full of hope thinking I am protected....when all I really do get is bruised shins?...OR do I simply open myself to further attack and just pray that my real personality will bleed through at some point?
 
Have any of you had friendships online which dissolved without any explanation?   Have you found someone offended and not understood why?  Do you react in anger or get defensive?  What is gained by any of those things?  Nothing. 
 
I am thinking of retiring my bucket.  It feels better to feel the wind in my hair....and insults can then just go with the wind and begone.   Hiding under a bucket isn't safe.  It isn't prudent.  It doesn't protect me.  Still....how does one help others remove their buckets?   What if they like those buckets? 
 
Oh heck...I will have to just deal with one bucket at a time.   It is my bucketlist.   Did I really just spend a whole five minutes discussing buckets?  Yes.  Was it even productive?  Too soon to tell.  I gotta go find somewhere to put my bucket.
 
Anyone have any aspirin?   Extended bucket usage causes headaches as well as bruised shins.