An open letter to Twitter

Dear Twitter,

I learn a lot in a normal week. I’m at work all day, I teach class most evenings and I spend my free time socializing with intelligent people and watching or reading things that are interesting and stimulating. None of this compares to the stream of knowledge that I can potentially get from one day hanging out in your wonderful world, Twitter.

I was slow to jump on the Twitter bandwagon. I’m really disappointed that I missed tweeting during the election (oh, how I would have love to read the tweets about Sarah Palin…). But, now that I’m immersed in the Twitter world, I must admit I’ve been hooked. The concept itself is very simple. Answer the question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less. But the Twitter community has turned it in to so much more. The information that flows through there is insane. News stories are discussed before national mainstream media outlets have a chance to write their copy. Amber alerts are tweeted and re-tweeted. It’s amazing.

The best thing about you, Twitter, is the different kinds of people I can follow:

• my friends
• “experts” in fields I’m interested in
• celebrities
• news sources
• fictional characters

So, Twitter, here’s a list of what I learned from you today that I couldn’t possibly have learned elsewhere (well, probably not).

• Ashton Kutcher had a meeting with Tyra Banks

• Bob makes awesome cartoons that are funny.

• Wil Wheaton drinks coffee with the girl from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
  

• People will excessively over share- especially when it’s anonymous.

• Neil Gaiman will NOT be redoing Muppet Babies

• Chris Hardwick has a genius Lost idea.

• My friend Ava speaks French!

• Even Girl Scouts are suffering in this economy.
  

• Life is good. It's true.
  

• FYI, Demi Moore got her hair trimmed.

• Shakespeare is still relevant.

Thanks, Twitterverse. I learned a lot today.

Love, Megan

An open letter to my Valentines

Dear Valentines,

I'm single. In case any of you reading this were unaware, I'm just going to throw that out there. I've been single for almost every single Valentine's Day of my life. I could care less. I love Valentine's day. Seriously. I love it.

When I was a kid, my mom made it a point to explain to me that Valentine's Day was about telling the people you love that you love them. It sounded like the best holiday to me. Every year I'd make Valentine's for every kid in my class. My parents and my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Ron always got us presents. I loved these bags that my Aunt would get from the book fair at her school- they were mylar with hearts all over them and full of the best stuff ever. Books, pencils, stickers... junk like that. Exactly what you need when you're seven.

As I got older, I made it a point to celebrate Valentine's Day with everyone I loved. One year in high school my girlfriends and I threw a Black Valentine's Day party on Friday, February 13th. It was at my friend Kim's house and I remember we had black roses for each other. It was great. In college, we'd get dolled up and spoil each other. When I worked at the day care after I college, we had the best time making heart projects for the week leading up to the big day. I've always loved making it a special day.

It wasn't easy every year... my first Valentine's Day in Vegas was especially hard. There was a lot going in my world. It was a combination of some scary, bad stuff and some silly drama. But, in the end I went to the movies with a dear friend and had a wonderful night.

This year will be just as good as any other year:

• I already got my present from my Mom- a great book (Sundays at Tiffany's) and some other fun stuff.
• My Aunt Beth sent me a great e-card about being thankful for not being with awful men (how true that is...)
• My Aunt Maureen sent a card updating everyone about her family, complete with little notes from my two cousins in college. It was really nice. I like that she sends that out at Valentine's Day.
• I'll be teaching that day (Acting classes to little kids), so we're gonna have to have chocolate for the students.
• I'm going out with two of my dear friends (Abby and Ava) and I think I sense a good movie and ice cream in my future.

So, thank you, Valentines. For making my heart full and my face smile every year.

Love, Megan

An open letter to Vegans

Dear Vegans,

I need to apologize. I used to think you were crazy. I was even going to make a T-Shirt.

In my defense, I had a very good reason for this. One summer during college I lived in LA for an internship. I found a roommate online. We'll call him Billy (because that was, in fact, his name). Billy seemed alright enough, almost cool even. He was not. Billy was a lunatic. I'm not even exaggerating.

Story Proving Billy Was In Fact a Lunatic #1
One weekend I went to Vegas for a friend's wedding. I left my cats home with him (he said it was fine). I came back and one of my cats (Max) was gone. I asked Billy and he was was horrified and concerned for Max's well being. I ventured out into the neighborhood to find him and, hours later, discovered him curled up underneath a car. He was injured and covered in oil. I ran into our neighbor on my way back to the apartment. He seemed surprised to see me carrying the cat. He said, "Is that YOUR cat?" I said yes. "You live with Billy, right?" He asked. I nodded. He then proceeded to tell me this long story about how that cat was on his balcony and he thought it was Billy's roommate's cat so he took it over to him. Billy told him he had never seen the cat before. I'm not sure what happened after that, but somehow Max wound up attacked and covered in oil.

Story Proving Billy Was In Fact a Lunatic #2
A few weeks after the Max incident, it was Father's Day. I made a nice dinner for myself since I couldn't celebrate with my Dad. I made chicken. On my own baking pan that I bought for the occasion. Billy (now referred to as the cat-killing Vegan) flipped out. Apparently, I was trying to poison him. Not only can you not use his dishes/baking utensils for meat products, you can't use his kitchen. Because he will die (if only Max had known... he could have fought back). A few days later, Billy had a really bad cold. Sneezing, lost his voice, etc. He told me it was Salmonella poisoning from when I had cooked. A verbal and e-mail war ensued. (Very mature, I know... but I was only 21). I moved in with my cousins for the remainder of the summer.

So, what does this have to with Vegans being crazy you ask? He was the first Vegan I ever met and so I naturally associated his lunacy with the most foreign thing about him: "He's crazy because he's a Vegan!" I mean, he wasn't just a vegetarian. That would've been ok. He was a VEGAN. What does that even mean?

But in the last few weeks I've learned things about Veganism (and Vegetarianism) that makes me change my tune. First, I read a book called Skinny Bitch. Contrary to the clever title, it has nothing to do with dieting. It is a cleverly disguised Vegan manifesto. I was so mad! Then I started reading more... first, I was intrigued... I was disgusted... then sad. When I finished the book, I felt really guilty about the chicken I had waiting for dinner.

I have this tendency to need to know as much as possible, so I started researching online. I clicked around PETA's website. I visited Whole Foods, Vegan.org and GoVeg.com. I quickly realized two things.

1. Vegans as a whole are NOT crazy. Maybe a little extreme, eccentric and slightly bizarre. But shouldn't that make them more loveable?
2. Most Vegans would NOT try to kill a cat or wear leather as the main component of their wardrobe (Billy wore leather like it was his job. Which it was not).

So, Vegans... I'm sorry. And, thank you... Because soy milk is really, really good.

Love, Megan

P.S. I'm trying... I think vegetarian plus organic is as extreme as I can get (for now). But, I'm trying, Vegans, I promise.

An open letter to Erin on her 18th birthday

Dear Erin,

Happy, happy Birthday! I cannot believe that you're 18 years old. You make me feel old. :)

I'm so lucky to have you. I mean, how may teenagers still admit to having a babysitter? But you've always been so much more than "a girl I babysit." There should be a word for it- like sister, cousin or friend. A combination of those might start to do it justice.

I've known you since you were two years old. I'm pretty sure you were the cutest thing I'd ever seen. I've been thinking a lot about the time we spent together:

• Birthday parties
• Dance recitals (You were so cute!)
• Talks we would have when I put you to bed
• Your 1st communion party
• Christmas parties...

So many memories, it's hard to do any of them justice. But here's two that make me smile:

• Making my first movie in High School. You were awesome! Remember we had to melt the chocolate on that cookie and rub it all over your face? You hated it, but you were such a good sport.
• New Year's Eve! We had a lot of great New Year's parties at my parent's house, but I remember one year specifically- It was me and you, Megan, Matthew and my friend Heather. We played music in the backroom and danced around like crazy people while Matthew played the "air drums." We took SO many pictures.

Thanks for being a part of my life all these years. I can't wait to have more stories to tell and memories to share. I hope you have an awesome 18th birthday... Things get better and worse from here, but the journey is worth it.

I love you, Er. You have no idea. Happy Birthday!

Love, Megan

An open letter to Shonda Rhimes

Dear Shonda,

Last Thursday night, you aired a much hyped (at least in my world) “Crossover” event between Grey’s Anatomy and it’s spin-off show, Private Practice.

First of all, I would like to state for the record that I LOVE these shows. Nothing makes me happier than 1 hour of Patrick Dempsey and Katherine Heigl (Please don’t kill Izzie!) followed by 1 hour of Tim Daly and Kate Walsh. Add an exciting crossover event to that already fun night and I just couldn’t wait for Thursday.

But see, Thursday came and, well… There was no crossover. I got really angry… I mean PISSED (just ask Abby). But then I started thinking. Maybe, Shonda, you just don’t know what a crossover event REALLY is. Let me explain for you.

Wikipedia defines a (fictional) crossover as "the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story."

Here are some examples of awesome crossovers:

• Multiple episodes of A Different World when various members of the Huxtable family went to visit Denise.
• The episode of Friends where the ladies from Mad About You, Jamie (Helen Hunt) and her friend, have coffee at Central Perk and think Phoebe is Ursula.
• Any episode of Frasier that Lilith, Sam or Woody (from Cheers) appeared on.
• In one episode of Empty Nest, Sophia (from the Golden Girls) brings their dog back to them. It was great.
• On several episodes of Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast members appeared- Oz, Willow, Buffy… Then Angel on Buffy…

I’m going to stop there, because I could go on and on. Those are things I could think of without too much research. Now, according to the Wikipedia article (which I don’t fully agree with) a spin-off is technically a crossover all by itself. Ok, whatever. But you, Shonda, advertised a crossover event and heavily implied (through the freakin’ ad that showed the characters from one show on the set of the other show) that it would be taking place last Thursday. Well, it didn’t. That was NOT a crossover. Addison calling Derek does NOT count as a crossover.

I just thought I’d clear that up for you.

Love, Megan

P.S. Please don’t kill Izzie… I can’t stand Meredith.

An open letter to my Readers

Dear Reader,

Welcome to my blog. Sometimes the only way to explain something is in an open letter. According to Wikipedia, an open letter is defined as "a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally." So, there you have it. That's what I'm doing with this.

Love, Megan

P.S. Enjoy!