I thought I’d lost my article for the Montreal Gazette on sous vide eggs forever, but lo and behold, a simple “Canadian Newsstand” search on the Concordia library site yielded the entire piece. It’s reassuring to know that my knowledge of anti-griddle pancakes will live on, but while internet privacy concerns me, I’m disappointed with Google. A Google search for the same article leads to a dead end. Because I signed a freelance contract limiting distribution, and Google won’t pay the Gazette for content, the newspaper could only post my article for a certain period of time online.

Even without my discussion of modernist cooking techniques, Google is plenty scary. A simple search of my name yielded:

1. My twitter account
2. Two head shots and three photos of a different, exceedingly blonde Amie Watson
3. My LinkedIn profile
4. Facebook
5. Pinterest
6. My writing and podcasting for Midnight Poutine
7. My writing for CultMTL
8. Photos of my master’s lecture-recital at McGill
9. The website of a midwife, who is certainly not me

The videos tab even covers my classical percussion recitals, and videos of me shucking persimmons. Thank goodness those weren’t forgotten…

What Else Google Missed

Where, oh where, Google, is my personal blog of over 250 SEO-friendly gluten-free, dairy-free recipes? And where’s the article from The Telegram about singing in a choir on a rainy St. John’s day when I was ten?

The results, however, do demonstrate that I spend my life online. Before the journalism program started, the morning meant emails and article submissions. Then I’d be on Facebook for a couple hours researching restaurants for the Food Network show, “Bite This!” (many new restaurants don’t have websites anymore). Breaks meant following friends’ links to urban gardening articles.

The afternoon was Facebook, Twitter, and occasionally Pinterest to spread my blog posts, special events and cooking classes. I favourited tweets, used Instagram at press events, thought about catchy hashtags, and tagged the restaurants I mentioned—anything for more followers.

And when it was all over, there was Netflix for a nightcap.