After my LeBron post went viral I went inactive for a little while, but I am back now and with big news! When I was preparing to graduate college someone had asked me what my goals were. One goal I had for myself was to someday own the rights to my blog and own the official domain 140CharactersorMore.com (lose the .weebly). Two years later and I can finally say that I do, all thanks to a random stranger! For his personal and professional privacy, although I’m not sure how much privacy he has in his profession, I will not reveal his identity. He knows exactly who he is. All of my readers know that I downloaded Dating Apps and I have No Idea Why and I go on them for the entertainment. And of course, the main purpose of the dating apps is to increase traffic to my blog, a shameless plug but I’m telling you it works. On Friday, I received a really long message from a user, and he mentions exactly why it was as long as it was- “I don’t expect a response. It wouldn’t make sense. Perhaps that’s why I wrote so much, to dictate the outcome.” It was such a long message that the preview was only “…” which intrigued me and of course I opened it. What was beyond the “…” was probably one of the best compliments I have ever received- Your blog is telling – perhaps too much – for a dating site. However, I’m glad it is. Your writing has authentic voice, and shows your personality even if you ever wonder if you have a consistent personality. It reminded me of a quote, not even close to his more personal famous ones, but it seemed to fit perfectly: “Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person.” Maybe you know the author already… maybe not, but your writing reminds me of his (not the novel I’m sure you had to read in school). Thanks for the pleasant distraction, the little moment, the temporary escape. –A new blog fan (P.S. you’re overdue for a post. Don’t give up on it.” From there, we shared a few messages back and forth. He opened up a bit, not something he does often due to his line of work and we chatted. What came next is something I never would have expected- he bought the domain name of my blog and handed it right over to me. He says himself, “borderline creepy, but I know what it’s like to be 23 and needing to save every dollar, and this is also a way to nudge you a bit to not give up on your blog. No tricks or hidden agenda.” He continues to explain the privacy information for the blog and reminds me to change my passwords to everything and he will no longer have access to any of it. From the outside looking in, this could look quite strange. But to me, this was a “faith in humanity restored” moment. This has been a dream of mine for some time now, and a stranger, not even knowing that I had this dream, made it a reality for me. All because he tries to do one good deed a week and I was ever so lucky to be that good deed. Pop the bubbly because for the next two years I am the proud owner of 140CharactersOrMore.com ! I lost the .weebly. A million thanks to the kind stranger who wrote me many long notes. I am so glad that I responded. None of this would be at all possible without you. Some might be skeptical of this story and think it’s disturbing and I should not be so trusting of people on dating apps. But there are reasons that I won’t reveal, as to why I trust this stranger and am not uncomfortable with why he did what he did. He was very open about providing information to me in case I was nervous and wanted to document anything, which I did just to be safe. But if you knew what I knew, you would not be skeptical.
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Dear LeBron, They're saying that you're leaving and I can’t even think that thought without tearing up a little bit. I'm saying that they're underestimating your love for this city, you'd retire here in your home before you'd retire anywhere else, you'd ask for a better supporting cast before you just walked out on us and we would do whatever it takes to keep you before we let you go. But that's just me believing. You have made my 23 years of life in Cleveland unique and exciting. Especially the recent years when I have been old enough to understand and appreciate your talents and even more than that, your love for this place and the way you have given back. Basketball here without you will never be the same. The city wont be the same. I think the special thing about Cleveland is our sports teams bring so much love to this place. I remember when you announced your return to The Land I ran down the stairs like It was Christmas morning screaming “he’s coming home”. Because of you, we come together. I remember back in 2016 when you won the NBA championship for this place and we threw a parade. People were scared of the big crowds, they thought things could get violent. But i remember that day being squished into a crowd so large that you could barely breathe. I was surrounded by people of different ages, races, genders, but i was surrounded by nothing but love because we were all there to celebrate the same thing. You did that. On and off the court you have touched people’s lives. What you’ve done is so much bigger than yourself and bigger than basketball. You have given back to the community that gave you so much. You’ve given the city of Cleveland hope again, something to believe in. You’ve even given Clevelander’s hope that their futures can be bright by paying for college, you believed in them so that they could believe in themselves. You did that. You are the greatest of all time. They say if you truly love someone that means you want the best for them. So, LeBron, I know you have given all that you could, you have done whatever it takes, for this city, for your team and for your coach. Because we love you and want only what is best for you, we will let you go if that’s what we have to do. With heavy hearts but a lot of incredible memories and even more than that, love for you like you’ve loved this city. We do whatever it takes for you to continue your NBA career with a strong supporting cast because you deserve it and because you have done whatever it takes for us for so long. But because I've learned from you, I will believe that there is a chance that you will stay. Thank you for giving me a reason to call this place Believeland. This city will never be the same without you but it will always be Home. I am all about defending millennials because personally, I’m sick of being lumped with a group of people from my generation who are lazy, have no hopes to own a house someday, and eat avocado toast. I said it once and I’ll say it again, keep your avocados away from my toast. And keep me out of that group of millennials, because we aren’t all like that. I was browsing LinkedIn one day, which is full of millennial haters, but this article popped up; “We Didn’t Give Ourselves the Trohpies”- Millennials. The article makes the point that as millennials were growing up, we were receiving these trophies for participation from our parents, coaches, teachers, etc. We were given the trophies, we didn’t give them to ourselves. And I read it and thought to myself, “Finally, someone gets it!” But then I get on Twitter, my favorite place in the world, and I see tweets saying things like “You got out of bed today! You’re awesome!” or “Maybe you laughed today, maybe you went to class, maybe you cried. Whatever you did today is awesome and so are you!” Every time we congratulate ourselves or someone else on getting out of bed today or taking a good nap, we are giving ourselves a trophy. And maybe we have different definitions of awesome, but I’m pretty sure staying in bed all day and being a waste of space is not “awesome”. Waking up every day around 6 a.m. to go to work is by no means easy. Half the time I don’t even want to leave my bed. But, I do it. And I don’t applaud myself for doing it. Just like I don’t applaud myself for brushing my teeth every day. It’s just something that you have to do so you do it. No questions asked, no congratulations given. Awesome to me, is going the extra mile. It’s having the motivation to not only do the things that you are supposed to do, but also do the things that you don’t technically have to do. Like waking up early every day to go to the gym and work out. Or going in to work early to get that project started, or even staying late at work (and I don’t mean staying late because you got in late). Getting to work on time is awesome and getting your work finished on time is also awesome. Awesome isn’t staying in bed because you are too hungover to do anything, or just don’t feel like doing anything. So, I’m done defending millennials who eat avocado toast and think it’s awesome to do nothing all day, because I feel like I’m just defending a bunch of dumbasses who glamorize being an unproductive waste of space. When you find some motivation to do something with your life, then maybe we can talk again. But until then, keep your avocados away from my toast and keep my name out of that group. SPOILER ALERT: if you are reading this and you are not yet caught up on Riverdale, it is too late and things will be ruined for you. Riverdale is the worst show on television, and I firmly believe this. Yet, every Wednesday night I I sit at the edge of my bed watching all of the drama go down. Let me back up my opinion. We have a small little murder town called Riverdale. In Riverdale there are diners and cars that look like they came out of the 50’s, they even use typewriters, but the characters dress like they are from this century and they all have smart phones. Barb, from Stranger Things, is alive you guys, and she lives in Riverdale! Did I mention all of the dads are hot? We have gangs, the mafia, face-painted warriors, and even little red riding hood with her bow and arrow. There are names like Jughead, SweetPea, and Jellybean. There’s the black hood, the candy man, the red circle that became the dark circle, and some weird rivalry between bulldogs and serpents, both successfully lead by high school boys. And these high school relationships, where all of the main characters are dating each other, mature faster than any relationship I’ve had during my adult life. Parents are buying cars for their kid’s S.O. Parents are even shooting their own kids in the head. And there is this thing called Jingle Jangle, that looks like a pixie stick but apparently it’s some sort of drug. Also, anyone and everyone can run for Mayor, apparently. They lead us to believe that they have killed off one of the main characters, who is also the narrator and the only reason that I watch this show. Cheerleaders have specific uniforms for funerals and at one point or another, all of these plot lines have been dropped and then picked back up again. I’m not sure how people make a living writing this. I’m also not sure what kind of town Riverdale is, but I definitely wouldn’t want to live there. There are a lot of things I don’t know. I don’t know how this show got renewed for a third season but I do know that if they ever kill off the narrator the show won't be around for another season. I don’t know how I let myself get so emotionally invested in a show that I have tried to convince myself that I hate. But I do know that season 3 is coming and I am here for it, and here I will stay, every Wednesday night at the edge of my seat. During my freshman year of college I met Bob. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I would see Bob in the dining hall. We would eat breakfast at the exact same time, at separate tables, and only say hi in passing. Little did I know, Bob would become my best friend. As the years went on, Bob and I got smarter and began scheduling our classes together, we would walk to class together, walk home from class together, study together, go to class drunk together, and disrupt the class together. There was even a time when the professor asked if she needed to move our seats because we talked so much (Bob mostly did all the talking and I actually tried to pay attention to what the professor was attempting to teach). When I graduated college, Bob was there sitting with my family and when Bob moved to D.C. my family and I went to visit him. This weekend was nothing short of amazing. Spring has sprung in D.C. and it was picture perfect and breathtaking. On day one we did all of the touristy things. We saw all of the monuments and memorials and we were even lucky enough to snag a tour of the Capitol Building and got to sit in Brad Wenstrup’s office chair in the House of Representatives. We had a late lunch at Barrel in Eastern Market that left us pushing off our dinner at Founding Farmers for as long as possible. We enjoyed Founding Farmer’s original cocktails and good conversation as we waited for hunger to strike us again. When it finally did, we ordered the Chicken and Waffles which was the most popular item on the menu and the perfect comfort food. Although it didn’t comfort the aches in my legs and blisters on my feet from walking all day. On day two, we fueled up in the town of Old Alexandria at the Sugar Shack with gourmet donuts and some of the best coffee I have ever tasted. From there we walked the pastel streets of the town and checked out a few antique shops and then headed up to Arlington Cemetery. We got to see the changing of the guards at Arlington Cemetery. The ceremony was surrounded by Veterans. My dad, a Veteran of the US Navy, was in D.C. with us for the first time which made this trip and the whole experience even more special for all of us. Day two was a little more solemn and relaxed because we weren’t rushing from appointment to reservation. Instead we could take our time and really enjoy the company of each other and the scenes and the feelings of the history that we encountered. I was quite for most of the day, I wasn’t tired, or upset, I was just so content and happy with where I was at that I didn’t feel the need to overpower those emotions with constant conversation. From the cemetery, we went on a full blown Cherry Blossom hunt. We missed peak cherry blossom season by about a week or two but we were still able to snag a few shots of them, we just had to walk across the high way to get to them first. For dinner that night we dined at The Palm, it was a beautiful restaurant with great services and even more beautiful dishes. If you are going to dine at The Palm arrive hungry and make sure to check out the wine list! I can’t go anywhere without getting ice cream, especially when the weather is nice. So, for dessert we went to the famous Momofuku Milk Bar. We only had to wait about 20 minutes for our ice cream and it cost a small fortune of $30. But was it worth it? Definitely. Put it on your list of things to try! We had ice cream and a view when we walked over to the City Center at Penn Quarters where the walk ways were lined by cute kites and pretty lights. I’m suffering from writers block which is why this is such a short recap of my trip. But nothing I could write or photograph would ever do the beauty I saw or the memories I made in D.C. justice. It was a great weekend with family and friends and I would recommend a trip there to anyone. Just make sure that you pack comfy shoes. 140 Characters or More is 1 year old today!This might be the longest relationship I’ve ever had, and the best commitment I've ever made. It has always been a struggle to tell people that I write and have a blog. They’ll ask what I write about and I say my life. And then it’s automatically assumed that I’m one of those “bloggers” from Instagram, and that’s the image that I try to avoid. I write about my life, yes. But I write about little things that happen to me and I turn them into something bigger that people can relate to or something that people can learn from. This blog is based off of my real life experiences. A quick look back at this year on the blog-
A lot happened throughout the year. Some things I didn’t write about, but if you read between the lines you can see that they were reflected in my writing. I thought about giving up. I often find myself wondering “Why do I do this? Who actually reads these? Who even cares”. And then I run into people at the most random places and they say things like “I didn’t know you could write! I love your blog” or “I love reading your writing because it feels like I’m hanging out with you”. And I quickly remember that I write for other people- to make people laugh, to make them feel like they aren’t alone, for entertainment when they are bored in class or at work, to tell them my story so that maybe they won’t make the same mistake that I did, or to help them through a tough time. I write for other people but I also write for myself. Even if no one reads my posts and if no one cares about what I have to say, I write because I want to. Writing is my way of creating and this blog is a way to keep my creations. Thank you for following, there is so much more to come. I miss the way it smells, the way it sounds, the way it feels to walk outside in the morning and the sun is already beating down on you, it’s hot and it’s humid, and it isn’t even 8 am yet. I miss being undeniably good at something. Even if it’s something as simple as making a guest smile, I was good at my job. I miss feeling like I have no limits, even if I had to take the bus everywhere I wanted to go, the possibilities were endless and I always had an escape. I miss throwing a bunch of shit in a backpack, grabbing a park schedule, and disappearing for an entire day. I even miss the way it hurt to wake up in the morning and put my feet on the ground because they hurt for standing for 12 hours straight. I miss the design on the Starbucks coffee cups and the way you would walk out of the shop and your cup would immediately begin to sweat in your hand because of the heat. I miss making $10/hr (really added up considering all of the hours, overtime, and holidays that I worked) but feeling like I was rich and treating myself every chance I got because I deserved it. I miss the people. I miss the way work didn’t feel like a chore. I miss the way chores didn’t feel like chores. I miss the way that living real life (paying bills, grocery shopping, keeping up the house, working full time) in Florida didn’t feel like real life, it felt more like a fantasy. I miss the way I wasn’t afraid to live my life. I would stay out until midnight every night even knowing that I had to be up at 5:45 the next day for work. I miss the way I wasn’t afraid to live just because I had work the next day. I miss the way I took advantage of every opportunity because I knew that this life was only temporary and I had to get the most out of it that I could. I need to go back to this attitude. This life that I’m living is where I’m at for the time being. I feel like I’m stuck in Cleveland for a while but the fact of the matter is, life in general is still temporary. I work 40 hours a week that is a lot of my life that is being taken away from me. It is absolutely ridiculous for me not to live what is left of the rest of my week to the fullest and do things for myself. Things that will make me a happier person. The opportunities for things to do in Cleveland are endless, I just need to start taking advantage of them. I don’t miss Disney all the time, I definitely don’t miss working for Disney all the time, but there is not a day, week, month, or even a year that goes by that I don’t think about my Disney life or my life in Florida. I miss Florida life. I miss it all the time. If anyone finds my motivation to write please let me know. It’s been awhile. I’ve sat down maybe once or twice to try to crank out a post and I just end up closing my laptop before I even finish a thought. Even now, I’m contemplating not continuing this post. I don’t even know what it’s going to be about, but I guess I’ll just type and hope it turns into something. It’s busy season at work. I’ve had some later nights than what I’m used to and always an extra pot of coffee in the morning. Along with that, volleyball season is coming to a close. As happy as I am that I will get to sleep in on the weekends, I’m also pretty sad. What started off as a chore is now my favorite part of the week. I found something I love in something that I always thought I hated. I’ve spent a lot of time doing things in Cleveland. I am 23 years old and I live in a pretty cool city. Maybe it’s not New York or LA but it’s still worth getting out and doing things. I spent a day at the Cleveland Museum of Art, I went to the MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), I went back to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for the first time since I was in a stroller. Did you know Cleveland has a ton of cool murals? I spent a day in Ohio City literally just wandering the streets looking at walls. I realized it’s never too late to reconnect with old friends or meet new friends. I went out one night to a total dive bar near the area that I live and played pool and had a couple drinks with people I knew in grade school. It was a completely random group of people but it was the most fun I’ve had in a while. I’ve spent a lot of time making sure that I have the right people in my life. Disconnecting from people that aren’t good for me and reconnecting with people who will bring me up and make sure I am my best self. On that note, I just think it’s funny how… Guys are so quick to call girls crazy. And then turn right back around to do something that has me questioning if they’re actually the crazy ones. But that’s none of my business anymore. Looking forward, my actual business is that later this month I’m taking a trip to Washington D.C. and in just a few short weeks 140 Characters Or More turns 1 year old! Stay Tuned, Mel One day I was sitting at work reading about the ASM Educational Foundation and what they do. In their Foundation Needs Statement it specifically says “There is an urgent and pervasive need for increased human pipeline in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) in post-secondary education and technical careers.” This statement took me so far back in time that I’m surprised I never even left my desk chair. I remember vividly sitting in an English class in high school and we had to write a paper about what we wanted to do with the rest of our lives, of course, and what some of our biggest challenges would be to get there. I wrote about how I wanted to be an engineer. And this is actually really funny for anyone who knows me, it’s even funny to myself because I can’t do math and I never even took physics. I actually can do math, really well if I give it all of my attention, but it takes me a significant amount of time and effort to really learn it. But that was the exact challenge that I wrote about. The same day I had that flashback, I started my day off with a quote that said “Life is so subtle sometimes that you barely notice yourself walking through the doors you once prayed would open”. I am by no means an engineer. But, I do work for the world’s largest association for material scientists and engineers. Life is so subtle. I wrote this article back in September and I thought what better time to share it than right now, National Eating Disorder Awareness Week [February 26 – March 4]. To get help & support or simply just learn more click here. ***As I wrote this, I tried to keep my own struggles with food and body image out of it. Everyone has a different story and different experience with these disorders one is not more important than the other, there is no right and wrong. Click here to understand what I mean by this and learn more about the many different eating disorders. This is a tough topic to write about but I’ve done it once before (click to read) and I’ll do it again. Fat shaming, skinny shaming, slut shaming; shaming in general. A lot of people think they are promoting body image positivity, but putting one body type down to make another body type feel better is not positive. I was scrolling through Twitter, my favorite place in the world, the other day, and I came across this video of a girl literally chasing people down on the street showing them photos of a girl’s rib cage and asking them how they feel about it. The responses were not positive, let me tell you. The title of the video was something like “Is this the new trend?”. You can Google it if you want, rib cage trend video, but I am not posting the link on here because I don’t want to give that person anymore views than she has already gotten. So, of course she interviews these people, a bunch of girls and the one token boy, and they all come up with some response about how the world needs more positivity around body image. I’m going to stop you right there, you good citizens of the world who just want positivity for all body types. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t believe that standing around and judging girls because you can see their ribs when they wear bikinis is promoting positive body image. I’d also like to go back to the opening statement of the video “Is this a new trend?” Having a visible rib cage, being super fit, or being “thicc” is not a trend. Body image is not a trend. But we talk about it like it is. Leave trends up to fashion. You can go buy a new shirt that is really in style, but last time I checked, you can’t go buy a new torso so that it matches the fashion of the season. All this shaming needs to be put to a stop. Just because you can see one girl’s rib cage doesn’t mean everyone needs to look like that. Or if another girl has really great curves, not everyone needs to look like her either. Something to keep in mind is that everyone sees their body differently. But for every little thing you hate about yourself and wish you could change, someone out there wishes that they had those. Remember this next time you look in the mirror, build yourself up so we can build each other up and stop breaking each other down. Let’s leave trends to fashion and positive vibes only to body image. |