Board Meeting, A Filtered Life

Last night I had my first HOA board meeting since I was recruited to be the HOA secretary a few months ago. As secretary I am still not all that sure what my job exactly is although I was given the HOA bible, a huge 3 ring binder that is stuffed with documents covering at least a decade if not more. My hope is to make more of the position digital instead of relying on binders of paper. The roughly one hour meeting went fine where planning was done for the annual meeting next month which is open to all residents. On the agenda will be a substantial dues increase next year because of a number of repairs and expense increases that have come up over the last year. If you asked me if I ever thought I would be on the board of a HOA five years ago the answer would have been a definitive no. It just goes to prove that you never really know what sort of twists your path is going to take.

Am I alone in being really tired of filters that are used everywhere in our digital existence nowadays? I mean it seems like everyone is applying filters to themselves to change their appearance, some in a minor way but some in a drastic manner that borders on impersonation. Technology has advanced so far that filters are now applied real time easily on video as well. Even my streaming platform has a filter to smooth out someone’s face to the point where lines, blemishes or wrinkles no longer exist.

Hey I get it, everyone is vain to some degree so if you can put a refined, thinner or more handsome/beautiful version of yourself out there on the internet with a couple clicks, why not? My question would be more along the lines of, why? Although filters have improved a lot it is still pretty obvious when somebody is utilizing one so you really aren’t fooling most people.

This is nothing new of course, for decades pictures were doctored and modified that went into print media but that required some careful manipulation with imaging software that was not used by the masses. Today’s point and click insta-filters make it stupid easy. I guess this is sort of like complaining that the sky is blue and the grass is green. Social media is all about putting your best face forward in most cases, even if that face/body is heavily digitally modified. Hey it’s a free world, do what you want, I just don’t need to understand what it actually accomplishes. Happy grumpy Tuesday.