McAwesome has been doing just fine and dandy since I last reported on her, thank you very much for asking.

Per her various Gmail status messages, she’s had a hangover after a fun night of drinking, she’s been excited about an upcoming movie, she’s even been working on a script (“Can you believe it?!!” her status rhetorically asked).

So, you can imagine my surprise when I witnessed a stark status message today.

Looking on the bright side, at least her status doesn’t say “has incurable, explosive tropical brain fever”.

Alright, I’m breaking a promise I made just a few posts ago. I am going once more into the emotional landscape of McAwesome’s Gmail status message. Well, perhaps I can be considered to have not broken my promise, as this new status message doesn’t carry the melancholy of the two statuses before it.

C’mon, McAwesome — “exstending”? You expect me to believe your misspelling was not done on purpose? You have prompted me to include another status, one with a unique error — a message which will confirm that yes, I am talking about you, McAwesome, not some potential other McAwesomes running around.

You’re trying to smoke me out, aren’t you? Well, it worked. Consider me out and smoked.

I will be seeing McAwesome tomorrow night, and I hope no sadness or anger will be in evidence. We was just having fun is all and didn’t wanna hurt nobody.

On a positive note, I actually have permission to include this person’s status:

Okay, this is one of my last updates regarding the lovely McAwesome.

For some reason, I feel compelled to report on this person’s mood. I, and everyone on Gmail that this person has sent a message to, sees McAwesome’s status message. I am just riveted by the change in emotional state of this person, which is encapsulated in a simple, small line of text.

It seems McAwesome has had a turn for the worse.

I am feeling like I’m violating this person’s privacy, despite the fact that she is essentially advertising her emotional state to passing acquaintances. She seems like a nice enough person, so this will probably be the last post to document her ongoing emotional state.

I do reserve the right to do one more post if she perks up again, because I would like to have this series end on an upbeat note.

Feel better, McAwesome. Feel better. My status may not say so, but I know how you feel.

Today, I see that my friend McAwesome has changed her status message.

No capital letters, no exclamation points (or punctuation of any kind) — not even a verb.

How depressing.

Why is my mood so entwined with the status message of this person?

I think I need a cookie.

These days I pretty much use my Gmail account for email more than any of my other accounts laying about.

By default when I log in I am also logged in to Gmail’s Chat feature. As a Gmail user you can choose to set a status (Available, Busy). This status will be displayed to other Gmail users if you are in their Contacts and they are also logged into Chat. It’s also possible to set a custom message that indicates your status to other Gmail users. And therein lies the problem.

I have a person X who sends me emails on a monthly basis with regards to a program I volunteer for. Consequently, she shows up in my address book.

Here is X’s current status message:

I’m announcing here that X is not McAwesome. This isn’t to say that X is not a good person worthy of praise. It’s just that X is not McAwesome — no one is McAwesome.

NO ONE.

Thank you for your time.