No matter how much time I spend with them, I just can’t see enough of my friends. That’s why I love their brilliant additions to their profiles – the online picture gallery.

Sites like Webshots and Yahoo Photos allow users to effortlessly post pictures of their friends, family, pets and late-night debauchery online. And since many college students are now equipped with digital cameras, photos of a night’s antics are often plastered across the Internet before the sun rises and the hangovers subside.

The online scrapbook is a great way to maintain memories of great times and keep tabs with old friends, but when strangers – or worse, your parents – get a hold of your picture gallery, things start to get creepy.

Since the galleries are open to the public, it’s easy to inadvertently subject yourself to the ogling of countless bored web surfers. And though Internet stalkers are scary and suspicious, I’m much more scared of my mom. She knows where I live.

And if she ever figured out how to use the Internet, I doubt she’d approve of the photos in my friends’ scrapbooks of me vomiting while flashing a large group of police officers on Marshall Street. She’d no doubt frown upon the one of my roommate and I chugging twin handles of cheap rum, and I’m sure she wouldn’t see the humor in the shot of my friend that we graffitied with permanent markers after he lost consciousness in the lounge.

But in the end, the scrapbook is a thrilling communication tool. It gives stunning insight into the lives of our friends, and lets us peer voyeuristically into the lives of perfect strangers. And as for all the people on my buddy list who don’t hang out with me anymore – looks like last weekend was one hell of a party.

Game of the Week: Spank the Frank

www.freeworldgroup.com/games/frank

Oliver the Elf has finished his work at the North Pole early, so it’s time for his favorite pastime – paddling penguins. The twisted, arctic humor of ‘Spank the Frank’ challenges the elf to shoot Frank the Penguin and his relatives across an icy rift into baskets at floating targets. Sure, penguins don’t live at the North Pole and elves don’t generally hit animals with paddles in their off time, but that’s not the point. ‘Spank the Frank’ is deceivingly dirty and unnecessarily abusive, and that all adds up to hours of frosty fun.

Site of the Week: Dream Interpretation

//www.spiritcommunity.com/dreams/

Spirit Community’s dream dictionary features an A-to-Z list of dream elements and their significance to your mental and emotional state. According to the dictionary, the dream I had last night about dinosaurs represents ‘old issues that have not been properly addressed’ and may portray an aspect of my personality that I’ve changed over time. The dream I had about sex, though, was about ‘power, control, manipulation, virility and effectiveness.’ And since I spend my lonely evenings at the computer perusing ridiculous websites, it’s safe to say that sex will remain my lofty, distant dream.

Published on November 3, 2003 at 12:00 pm