7 posts tagged “melissa”

This past weekend, despite my still being sick, was the best that I've had in a very long time. Also, and this seems to be a recurring theme, it was one of the least productive weekends I've had in a very long time.

On Friday night I went out to sushi with some of my work-mates, and following that we met another group of friends downtown for drinks and general debauchery. A very dear friend of mine hasn't yet turned 21, but the nice part about going for drinks at a restaurant is that under-21s can still attend, they just can't drink. If she weren't there, the night wouldn't have been nearly as fun. In fact, it would have been unbearable. Now, I know I said that this weekend was the best that I've had recently, so the statement that my Friday night would have been unbearable without the company of my girlfriend might be a little confusing. I suppose it would be more accurate to say that this past weekend was the best I've had recently because of the company of my girlfriend. A lot of things happened that would have made me disappointed or sad, but having her around made it all so much better. This is a really new concept for me.

I, like many women, don't have many girlfriends, I think I have two, with an occasional third. Anyway, that's bothered me for a very long time. Women are women's best resource of comfort and understanding, simply because we're all going through the same things. Sure, the details are different for each of us, but the fundamental problems that we're dealing with are strikingly similar. The majority of us are dealing with the same issues when we take the time to get to the heart of the matter. Unfortunately, negative-competition and insecurity wraps each girl/woman into her own little cocoon, the result being an entire population of women that are totally disconnected from each other. When I think of all of the wisdom and life-experience that I'm missing out on my not having a close network of women-friends, it makes me really sad. So, I'm really glad that I'm beginning to develop those kinds of relationships in my life, and I'm really grateful to know some really cool chicks to hang out with!

Saturday was a blast because one of my best-friends was in town for the weekend. I hadn't seen him in ages but hanging out was just like old times. We spent Saturday afternoon walking around downtown, did some window-shopping, and later in the afternoon we were joined by another old friend of mine. It was so nice, hanging out with the two of them again. Later in the evening we met my two girlfriends for dinner, along with another recently-made guy friend of mine- six of us all together. We ate at this cute little italian place called Mama's Meatball, I just love the food there. Simple and well done, which seems to be a difficult achievement for most small-restaurants.

After dinner we all came back to my place and tried unsuccessfully to play a six-person round of the game Life. We have the attention-spans of seven year olds, I swear. Everyone was marrying everyone, salaries were being debated, and in the end, no one won. (Heh. Kinda sounds like real-life sometimes.) As the evening wore on, one of my girlfriends departed, as well as one of my guy-friends, leaving myself, my girlfriend and my two guy-friends that I spent Saturday afternoon with. It was a giant sleep over, and it was a lot of fun.

Sunday morning was spent with my girlfriend, which was lovely, and then we both headed into work. After work I caught the movie Eastern Promises with above-mentioned new-guy-friend (NGF?). That movie is not for the faint of heart. It was really well done, and I enjoyed it, but yeah...really gross sometimes.

So that was my weekend in a nutshell. I left out the disappointed/sad bits, and also the dramatic bits, because really, does that stuff have a place on a public forum? I think it's enough to say, once again, that I'm grateful to have a great girlfriend to share in those experiences with me and offer her take on things, as well as her support. You're fab!

So, here we are on Monday. Still sick. I'm seriously considering ignoring how wretched I feel and just chugging along as if nothing is the matter. I mean, I have to get better sometime, right?

Here's to hoping that you all had lovely weekends full of good friends! :)

Hey guys, here's a video that I collaborated on with some of my debate peers as well as some newly made friends. We've partnered with an organization called Community Counts to propose an alternative option for the Republicans who've backed out of the CNN YouTube debate in September. I was surprised when I first watched the video to find that I'm the lucky gal that got to open and close the video, crazy! Below you'll find links to everyone's channel who participated.

Hey guys! Here's a video that I posted on my YouTube channel that has gotten an ish-ton of people pissed of at me. Not quite what I expected, but whatever, I'll run with it!

Hey guys!

(In case you missed my post below, or the entire debate in general.) I was a guest of YouTube to attend the first ever CNN/YouTube Debate in Charleston, South Carolina! Not only that but one of my questions was actually asked in the debate! Doesn't get much cooler :)

Seriously, the entire trip was absolutely amazing. From my arrival when I met Anderson Cooper on the front steps of the hotel, to my appearance on American Morning on the day of my departure, it was one of the best experiences of my life. I never in a million years thought that I would be able to directly ask a question of a potential future President of the US. It really is ground-breaking when you think about it.

The most successful part, to me, was that some of us present got to ask follow-up questions of the candidates, just to make sure that they answered the question fully. In a sense I feel sorry for John Edwards because it seemed as if he was unaware that he would be held accountable immediately for his answer, so when the Reverend Longcrier followed Edwards response with yet another question, for a moment there, John Edwards face went white. I'll post the video below in case you didn't catch it:

Honestly though, despite his initial reaction (which is totally understandable. He might be the first President in history to have been asked a serious question by a citizen and have a clear and honest answer demanded of him!) I feel that this was one of John's finest moments in the debate. He made very clear statements: "I will not do that" being one of them. During debates we hear a lot of, "As President of the United States, I will..." always, "I will" never "I will not." That question of, "what won't you do?" might guide a lot of my submissions for the Republicans.

Well, way to go John, you are the first person to experience what politics is certainly coming to: one on one dialogue, and you did quite well. I might have started crying or something :/

After the debate we headed to the Spin Room where I had the pleasure of interviewing Governor Howard Dean as well as two YouTubers, John and Zach. Governor Dean was very easy to talk with and seemed genuinely excited about the impact that this debate will have on politics. John and Zach were awesome, and honestly, I wish I had more time to get reactions from the people that make YouTube so popular. It's "our" (and I use that term loosely as I'm almost 24 years old, which is about a decade older than John, who I interviewed) age group that is really going to be affected by this whole thing.

I'll tell you what, I'm glad that I'm on the younger end of this because I get to watch the Vets navigate through this changing world of old-campaigning vs. new-campaigning, and it's a little scary! Imagine, you spend your whole life essentially perfecting a style of discourse, only to have it turned up on it's end. Poor guys/girl. Really though, it's about time that real questions are getting real answers demanded of them.

Back to my experience. I spoke very briefly with Senator Obama and that experience in itself made all of my traveling woes worth while. (I don't want to go into detail, but it took me 23 hours to travel to Charleston, and 23 hours to return home. Enough said.) Mr. Obama was amiable, as you would expect. Seeing his face change when he realized that I was "the girl" who asked that question was entertaining. Overall, very nice guy.

After my time in the Spin Room I had the pleasure to appear on Anderson Cooper's post-debate wrap-up, which was amazing! First, let me get this out of the way- I have a silly little girl crush on Anderson, but more than that he really is an inspiration to me. I'll tell you more about our interaction later. So, Anderson Cooper Live. I think I did fairly well considering it was both my first time appearing on television and my first time appearing live on television. I have a DVD of it, but I think it would be against the law for me to post the footage on here. But here's a picture of me and my new BFF:

After Anderson's show we all headed over to the Google/CNN after party. Decent music + open bar + tons of people I've always wanted to talk to = best time ever! I had a single google-tini, mostly so I could retain the glowing ice-cube that was placed in each one. I got to see Anderson again, which was fun, and this time we took a picture or two. Also, I met a lot of really cool kids who had been watching the debate, and we took a bunch of photos together. Always good times.

The next morning I appeared on American Morning with John Roberts, which was so much fun! Everyone there was really nice and very easy to get along with. I would be lying if I said I wasn't enamored with the experience and hoping to replicate it in the near future.

I'm running out of steam here, I can only talk about myself for so long and then I just get bored. If you have questions about details of the event or want more reaction, please PM me as I'll be more than happy to provide it. I just feel like a tool yammering on and on and on about myself like this. :)

Don't get me wrong though, you'll hear more about me and Anderson soon. Our repeated interaction was a highlight of my trip. :)

So what's next? As I eluded to earlier, I'll be posting questions for the Republicans for their debate in September. Now I feel like everyone's going to think I'm submitting questions just so I can go to the debate, which is a bummer. I just want my questions answered, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to go.

Plus, I'm STILL reading Harry Potter because I've been so busy! For shame, Melissa, for shame...

Show us an interesting video featuring one of the U.S. Presidential candidates.

It's my question at the debate! Crazy!

Show us your favorite character in the Harry Potter series.

Snape_smiling

Favorite wizard he is not, but he is my favorite character in the series. (And I have a huge crush on him.) Weird? Yes. Will I regret saying that after I've finished book seven? I hope not!

My prediction is that he'll be vindicated in the end and proven to be a great man, but it won't be after he is killed due to some major misunderstanding. Like all great men in history, he will go unappreciated until after his death. Now onto reading the book...

mj

Hey y'all! Crazy things are afoot.

So I got this email from someone at ABC asking for a video-submission for this little ditty they were doing regarding the commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence, and BAM! It's on the internets! Follow the following link if you're curious (I'm up after Kevin, who I don't know from Adam in case you thought we were friends or something).

Then I entered some submissions for this contest on YouTube, and BAM Newsweek rings me for my two cents on the project. Talking to people is scary when it actually might matter. :/

Anyhoo, I've been keeping myself busy with all of this YouTube b'iness, but know that my first and only love will always be plunking away on my keyboard. No cameras involved. If anything, doing all of this video-related stuff has made me realize how truly difficult writing can be. The ability to express oneself without pictures or sound, without vocal intonation and facial expressions, now that is skill, and it is a skill that I need to hone. The depths of my respect for good writers has only increased throughout this video-journey.

That's all for now. The siren song of tapping keys has made it's way into my heart- expect more from me in the near future.

mj

(Note that all of this stuff didn't happen as "BAM!" as I'd like to make it seem. There were emails and phone calls throughout, but the tediousness of those takes away a lot of the romance of the idea that it was all very "BAM!")