Trying to talk to celebrities...

I was reading about this girl who has written hundreds of fan letters to celebrities over the years of her life and has never once recieved a response. That was odd to me...

There have been many, many, many celebrities that I have respected and even mildly worshiped over the years but I very rarely ever take the time to pen down any sort of letter to them. Oddly enough, however, the few times I have actually written to celebrities I have received responses. Granted my idea of celebrity may not be the same as everyone else's. In my years I've often been more drawn to novelists and authors much more than musicians, movie, or television stars.

The point is, however, that I have received responses.

Once I think was because I wrote to Tracie Thoms (yes, I wrote in regard to a movie I enjoyed) with a very specific question in mind. I didn't drool on about how sexy she was or how much I loved her voice. Of course I did compliment both her singing and acting (everyone loves compliments) but in an adult fashion. The majority of the letter, however, was centered around a question that had come up on GM. Essentially it was “were characters a. and b. having sex?” but it was more than that. I posed the question, the reason why we'd been debating about the answer, both sides of the story, my personal opinion and reasons for it, and finally I requested that she tell me her thoughts on the subject.

My two page letter was answered less than a week later by a very detailed, equally long, response. She and and her costars had discussed the same question at length and she gave me their answers. Essentially the cast was as divided on the subject as my friends and I had been. She said, however, that she'd always been of a mindset about it that was very similar to mine and that she hoped we (my friends and I) all would be satisfied by just “not knowing.” She said she felt that gave something to artistic license. I can't say I disagree.

I've written to her since and she has, on multiple occasions, said that my letters stand out to her and she always appreciates seeing them. She said there's a merit in a grammatically sound, well thought out, fan letter and she'll always encourage fans to write more of the like. (To herself an other celebrities.) That was only the first time that particular celebrity responded to me. Since, she has responded to other letters, always noting that she hasn't forgotten the first one to this day. It's amazing to me, still to this day, that I've been so fortunate. I haven't the slightest idea why I was so memorable but it's an honor.


There have been others, of course, though only a few. Gregory Maguire and Cassie Steele (though that was uh... unintentional correspondence).

Anthony Rapp never did respond to me. I wrote him a long letter asking about AIDS charities and contact info for Friends Indeed so that I could make a donation during the Christmas holidays. For someone who claimed to be as charity-centered as he said, he never did respond.

But, honestly, of the four (five if you count Steele) celebrities I've contacted in my short life the fact that four have responded isn't bad at all. One of which, has responded several times. Only having one choose not to respond to me isn't that bad. Granted I am pretty choosy about who I write to (I've had contact info for George Eads for several months now and haven't written anything yet) and maybe that has something to do with it. But, it's nice to know that from time to time my words don't go unnoticed.

Enough of me bragging about talking to celebrities. It was just something I thought of and figured why not blog about it. It keeps my post count up!

My idea of the ultimate love story...

So I know I already posted today but I guess I just felt like talking about this too. I've been sitting here today flipping through a novel I've read several times and I can't get over how much I just, love it.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

I remember the first time I ever read through it I couldn't wait to get on livejournal and blog about it. It was one of the only things I even thought about blogging those days, but I felt like everyone should read it. The second time through, I became passionately entranced. The third time reading it I became obsessed with the film version (which has yet to be released) and sought out every detail of information on it I could find.

This last time I read it was innocent enough, or started that way. I, having felt discouraged by the challenge at the FCG, felt like I should start sooner rather than later so that I may end up finishing something for it. I searched and searched for motivation and then while on GM reading an old post I made I saw my signature picture and it hit me. There was no story so beautiful, no love so perfect, no tale so deserving of another look than this one and I knew what I wanted to write.

I finished my piece in record time. It may not be the best I've ever written but it was the one I can doubtlessly say that I've had the most inspiration for. Once I'd finished writing though I still felt drawn to the novel, as though there was something left for me to get out of it for the evening. There was still something left that I hadn't experienced yet, a splash of magic from the novel I hadn't truly encountered this time.

I sat back, flipped it open to a random page, and began reading. Not an hour later I had to close the book, sob, and then regain a sense of what I'd just read. Now I am a crier in some cases but generally I don't take to open sobbing at a book I've already read. I started on the page where Clare decides she wants a child and asks Henry to make a baby. I stopped when Alba was born.

Great, right? They had a baby. It's not that simple though. Because Henry's condition is a genetic disease it effected all of their children. Alba was their last chance. Six miscarriages, a vasectomy, and the very real possibility of Clare's death later she was born, and to them worth every second of their struggle for a child. But to read, watch, as each and every one of those babies were lost has always been one of the most profound things I've ever encountered in literature. The way they were described as laying in their mother's hands, gasping for breath. How helpless Clare or Henry felt to protect their children. How they had to watch them die...

The book is not dark though and that's perhaps the absolutely most beautiful thing about it. It's the story of two people. It' s a life story. It's also a romance though, a powerful love tale, a reminder that two people can fall in love. There simply isn't another book out there like this one. It is, and will be forever more, my idea of the ultimate love story. Sacrifice, waiting, longing, love, loss, passion—Henry and Clare share everything.

When the movie comes out and you're all in love with the story I want you, each and every one, to remember that there is a novel and I have loved it for many years.

I never blogged before because I didn't have to. Now, I do because I want to.

I don't blog enough and I'm not exactly sure why. I love writing but I guess it's just talking about me that I'm not so into. How can I find enough interesting about my own life to write about it? The truth is that I struggle to. However sometimes there are issues that really bother me or really make me feel like I should talk about them but... I don't. At least I don't bring them to my blog.

I used to be a blogger. I used to make posts all the time and keep people updated and informed on what I thought was important but that all dissipated a few years ago. I think, however, that I know the source. It was around the time I started going on GM. There are so many people there that I share a closeness with, deep friendships, love even, that I don't have to go elsewhere with my problems. I make a post in Rants and Raves or in General Chinwagging and then I wait; within a few hours someone has responded in a way that seems to put my whole mind at ease.

Be it a Volatile Topic or Influential Moment I know that I can bring it to GM and in the end my every word will be read, considered, and responded to. I love that sense of community. I love being a part of something so beautiful, so strong, so connected.

Why do I have a blog here now though? After three years of being intimately involved with GM why is it that I've finally decided to take my thoughts, feelings, problems, and joys into the real world again? Well I'll have you notice that in three months of being on here I've made a total of three posts (four when I'm done with this one) I still take the majority of my life to GM. It's just that now there are people in my life that I've rediscovered and I want to have that closeness with more people.

I finally figured out that nobody is going to understand me, get me, or even try the way the people at GM do if I don't try. So, that's what I'm doing, I'm trying. I'm trying to make a bigger impression on the people whose lives I'm in. I'm trying to realize that they are not just in MY life but that I am in THEIR lives and if I want them to reach out to me I have to reach a little first.

So yeah. I'm trying.

We'll see how far it goes or even if it's worth it. I like my friends though and I like my life where it is now. There are ups and there are downs; there always are. As far as the interpersonal aspect of my life goes, I couldn't be happier.

I guess the point of this whole post was that for years I've been lost in another world, but I like it there. I don't ever intend to leave. It's just that now... now I intend to broaden my world a bit to include everyone I care about. So yeah... I'm going to try to let more people in.

-LLK