Memorial Day

To all those soldiers who have laid their lives on the line to protect our freedom...

To those brave men and women who continue to put their lives on the line today...

To those still living who can still see the battlefields they served on...

Today is your day.

Thank you for all that you have done and sacrificed and will continue to do for others, many of whom will never appreciate it.

A Letter to Graduates

It's that time of year when thousands of high school and college seniors walk across a stage, shake someone's hand and turn their tassels. It's that moment when you think, "I did it!"

Congratulations, grads. You've accomplished something pretty spectacular and hopefully developed some good character along the way.

I've graduated twice (high school and college) and am now a successful member of society, so I feel as if I can offer some pretty decent advice to you guys.

Despite the many bits of wisdom I can bestow upon you, I feel like there's one thing I've learned that can benefit you the most in life regardless of if you're preparing to continue your education or transitioning into the real world.

Don't limit yourself.

A simple enough phrase, but so many of us do it without even realizing it, and by limiting ourselves we're really only hurting ourselves.

Let me tell you a true story.

 

Growing up all I ever wanted to do was work with newspapers and magazines, so I worked on my high school newspaper, majored in print journalism in college and interned at an area magazine. I was good at what I did and never thought I'd have any problems finding a job after graduation, but I was wrong.

I was also wrong about how I applied for jobs. I limited myself to only newspapers and magazines, never dreaming that I could start a career in a different area of the news doing what I wanted - edit other people's work and take a whole bunch of parts to create a whole product.

What I never dreamed of doing is now actually my career.

So here's my advice to you...

Don't limit yourself.

If you've just graduated high school and are getting ready to start college, major in something you would enjoy doing for the rest of your life but don't focus solely on that one thing. Branch out into other areas that are related to it.

If you're looking for a job, open up your search to include anything and everything that could possibly incorporate what you want to do. Don't let words like qualifications scare you away from sending in your resume. You never know when you might be just what that job needs.

A career path doesn't have to be so black and white. The road can curve and detour, but I bet you can't find a single person who mapped out their life plan and actually followed that map to the letter.

It's more fun when you get a little lost along the way.

Movie to Avoid: The Green Hornet

Earlier this week, the boyfriend and I rented The Green Hornet, made some cheese dip and settled into the couch for a night of super hero goodness. Boy, were we disappointed.

Not only was the plot line mediocre and the special effects distracting, but Seth Rogen's character, Britt Reid, was awful.

The hero is supposed to be a likable character, right? Well Britt Reid, a.k.a. the Green Hornet, is an asshole. He's selfish, immature and spoiled - everything a hero isn't.

And his character stays that way the entire movie. Usually there's some revelation that causes the ne'er-do-well hero to change his ways and become the good guy we want to root for, but not in The Green Hornet.

Britt Reid/The Green Hornet is the most unlikable hero character I've ever watched. I was actually rooting for him to get his ass kicked, which [spoiled alert] does happen.

Then there's Kato, played by Jay Chou. His character is likable enough and his martial arts bad-assness is something to be reckoned with, but the special effects surrounding his moves are just distracting. In slowing down his movements to accentuate his quickness, all they did was diminish the effect of it.

So if you're looking for a movie to watch with your buddies or significant other, save yourself some disappointment and bypass The Green Hornet.

So the World is Ending Tomorrow

That's approximately 40 minutes from now.

I feel like I should be doing something epic, you know, if I believed the world was really going to end.

But just in case things go crazy and the world is overrun by zombies, the Centers for Disease Control is ready. They've released a survival plan specifically for the zombie apocalypse.

[Click Here <--you know you want to]

But anybody who knows anything about zombies knows that the CDC, or any government agency for that matter, will be completely ineffectual.

And I have some experience with this. I worked on a short zombie film in college.

Check it out!

An Open Letter to a Former Friend

You'll probably never see this. In fact, I'm almost positive my words will never cross your screen. Irregardless, I feel compelled to speak from my heart and get some things off my chest. Call it closure, if you will.

I'd like to tell you that I'm not angry anymore. I know I said some terrible things to you and that they can never be taken back, but don't mistake this for a poor attempt at an apology. While I regret the words I spoke in the heat of the moment, they weren't untruthful. In fact, I told you exactly what I felt, and I felt that for a very long time.

I guess I wasn't as strong as I'd made myself out to be and having our friendship tossed so readily to the wayside shattered that wall of toughness I'd built up around myself. You managed to do what no one else had ever even tried, and that hurt touched me so deeply that it turned into hate and anger.

But I'd like to think that I've grown up a lot since then. I still don't understand the reason behind the demise of our friendship, but I'm no longer bitter about it.

They say time heals all wounds. I don't know if that's true. I don't know if enough time will ever pass to repair the rift between us, but if you ever want to try let me know.

What we had was special, and I'm a big enough person to admit that I miss it. A friendship like ours doesn't come along every day, and I believe we acted rashly to end it so abruptly. But I do respect your decision. I can't honestly say I would have done it differently...

I don't expect a response, for a variety of reasons. But I hope this letter finds you well and happy, and I hope you know I don't want anything but the best for you. You deserve it.

Unjust Procedures

Life is rarely fair. I know this, and yet I can't help but to be almost disillusioned by the unfairness of some things.

Take this new policy at work. It's almost as if I'm being punished for someone else's wrongdoing.

Of course, that's not how it was explained to me when I was told that from here on out I can't leave work until the morning producer gets to the station.

Instead I was told that it makes the transition between shows easier by giving us time to chat about what went wrong, etc. (which is what I thought the discrepancy reports were for); that it would give her a sense of being part of everything (because 5 minutes of interaction will do that); and that they don't want there to be a time during the week when there's no one in the newsroom (which would be legitimate if multiple people didn't stay over far longer than I ever did).

The real reason for this new arrangement is that my morning counterpart hadn't been coming in to work on time (and I assume it was significantly late) and had been fudging her time sheet. That's a big no-no. Corporate can tell when you're doing it, and they pitch a fit.

So instead of informing this producer that they could tell when she altered her time sheet, they come up with this arrangement where she's supposed to come in 15 minutes early and I'm stuck here until she shows up.

At least it's approved overtime, right?

Life is only as good as you make it, and I'm not going to let a little unfairness get me down.

It's like I've been saying all along, it's those times in life that test your patience that show your true character.

So I'm going to take that unfairness and the pettiness that's come along with it and let it make me a stronger, better person.

I won't complain (other than what I did the first nights), and I'll keep smiling. After all, 15 minutes can make or break your day, so why not do my best to make sure it doesn't ruin all the good?

Cutting the Cord

Maybe I'm crazy, but I just can't sever a friendship. Not cleanly anyway, especially when that friendship lasted 10 years.

How could we let a significant other come between our friendship?

True friends are hard to find and even harder to keep.

Truer words could never describe this situation.

You were a true friend, one of the best I've ever had, but as hard as I tried to keep our friendship intact, I lost you anyway.

So I'll continue to check in on you from time to time, but I'll never get my hopes up that you'll do the same for me. After all, if our friendship truly meant as much to you as you said it did, you never would have let it end this way.

Snapshot of Life

If you could remember only one moment of your life and save it in a snapshot, which moment would you choose?

Most people would choose the moment in which they were happiest. The moment in which they fell in love perhaps, or maybe the moment their child was born.

Others would choose to capture a moment with a lost loved one so it would never be lost.

But life's not always butterflies and rainbows. A lot of the moments that make us who we are are those moments that tested and tried us, pushed us to our breaking points and made us question everything.

So maybe we should choose to capture a moment of diversity we thought we'd never overcome, frame it and hang it above our mantles or sit it on our bedside tables. That way we never forget how strong we are and we never take for granted those moments that make us smile.

Lessons in T.V.

The latest episode of House I watched (not necessarily the newest) addressed an issue I think many people find themselves faced with these days.

The patient - played by the girl who played Donna in That 70s Show - was a blogger. I'll skip the gory details of what qualified her to be a patient of House's...

When I say this woman was a blogger, I mean it in the most intense way a person can use the word 'blogger'. Her blog was like a stage and the words it consisted of were a play-by-play of her actual life. She didn't make a decision on anything without first getting the feedback of her readers, and when I say anything I really do mean it.

As you can imagine, this had a significant effect on this woman's personal life and relationships.

Her significant other was none to pleased to find every detail of their relationship, from their sex life to their fights, being told to a large group of people, nor did he appreciate her asking her largely unknown audience's advice on decisions he felt they should make as a couple.

While House obviously is a medical drama, it also addresses many social issues and this one focused on how the internet can take over a person's life.

At one point, the woman made the observation that it's easier to talk about things openly when no one's looking at you... and that got me thinking.

Have we as a society become so socially inept that we can't openly and forthrightly communicate with each other face-to-face? Are we no longer capable of having fulfilling personal relationships outside of our phones and computers?

Don't get me wrong. A blog is a great way to express yourself or voice your opinion (even if it is unpopular), but it shouldn't take the place of real life. Sometimes getting the perspective of someone unconnected to your present situation can be beneficial (i.e. you've had a fight with your friend/coworker and don't know what to do), but should anyone turn to a group of people they don't know and who don't know them other than through their blog to make important decisions (i.e. surgery, changing your diet, getting married/divorced) that greatly impact your life?

There's this wide world out there full of beautiful, crazy, real things.

Why would anyone want to trade that for a computer screen?

After nearly 10 years, Osama bin Laden is dead.

U.S. soldiers completed a covert mission in Pakistan and killed the leader of al Qaeda outright.

And we call this justice.

Victory, certainly. Vengeance, definitely. But justice? I don't agree.

The way our country handled Saddam Hussein was justice. He was captured and stood trial before being executed. Our justice system did its job.

But this? This was not justice. This was vengeance in the name of countless lives lost.

Am I happy this monster has been removed from the Earth? Of course.

I just don't believe justice is the right word for this occasion.