Dream A Little Dream

There are dreams, and then...there are dreams.

You know, the dreams you have as a 13 year old girl. The dreams that seem to be impossibilities. The fantasies, the what ifs, the "that'll never happen to me"s.

When I was 14 or 15 I had a dream that one day I would meet Donnie Wahlberg and he would fall madly deeply in love with me.

Then I grew up. I fell in and out of love with "real life" guys, and let go of that dream.

But my love for Donnie stood the test of time. Always in the background I would follow his career, watch whatever movies or television shows he was in, and anxiously await the day when he would announce the reunion of the New Kids On The Block.

And then it happened.

I'm going to spare you the details of my love affair with NKOTB and the FIVE (yes five) concerts I went to on their reunion tour. Although, if you would like a taste, click here.

I had a mission at the end of 2008 to get a "Donnie hug" and I succeeded in that goal. But that just wasn't enough for me. I wanted to have a real, honest to goodness conversation with the man.

Through a series of events, and the goodness of my coworker, last night I had that opportunity, and you better believe I took it and RAN with it.

There was a Charity Poker Tournament taking place in a neighboring town last night, and my coworker invited me (and my friend BFF) to join her and her boyfriend (who through his work has a lot of involvement with particular celebrities, events, etc.).

This Poker Tournament was being hosted by none other than Donnie Wahlberg.

So, we went, BFF and I. All the while holding in our 14 year old squeals of delight and excitement and acting like civilized adults on the outside.

Shortly after arriving we located Donnie, and pretty much took up residence near his poker table. Co-worker and boyfriend were playing poker elsewhere, so it was just BFF and I (and a gaggle of what I dubbed "Donnie Girls" with their boobs exposed, their excessive make-up and their non-concealed squeals of delight and excitement).

BFF and I stood off to the side a bit and just watched. (and maybe snuck a picture or two with my phone).

And then Co-worker and boyfriend joined us and Boyfriend asked "do you want to meet him?" uh...does a leopard have spots?

So, Boyfriend takes us over, and introduces us. Donnie is cordial, shakes our hands, offers to take a picture with us, and then hugs each of us.

As he is hugging me, his next hand of poker is dealt, so mid hug he leans over to check his cards. I start pulling away and say "I don't want you to lose your game because of me" and he pulls me back into the hug and says "no, don't worry about that sweetheart". Melt into a puddle right there...le sigh...

So, then we did leave him to his game, and proceeded to mingle and hang out for a few hours. Co-worker and Boyfriend left in the meantime, and BFF and I were left to fend for ourselves.

And suddenly I looked around and realized that the Donnie Girls were nowhere to be found (Donnie himself had left the room a while back).

So, we decided that wherever the Donnie Girls were, that's where Donnie would be, so we set off in search. We found them all in another room, hanging out at tables, so we took a seat ourselves. Donnie was off in the corner of that room with his "entourage".

Then he started make his way out, obviously getting ready to leave, and the Donnie Girls took turns pouncing on him for hugs, kisses, photos, etc.

BFF and I sat back and waited.

When the insanity had died down, and it looked as if he was saying his last goodbyes to his friends, I said to BFF "come on, it's now or never". And we walked over to him. I waited politely for him to finish a conversation and then I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and I said "Hi, I have a story to tell you".

He grinned that famous Donnie grin, and said "oh? Tell me".

At this point I'm pretty sure I rambled something about our last meeting, me getting the hug, him signing my wrist which I was supposed to tattoo (check that link above for that story) and he looked at my wrist and said "but you didn't?" I smiled apologetically and said "but I didn't" and he sort of laughed. Then I told him that I was a lifetime fan, and wanted him to know that I appreciated him because of who he is, the way he carries himself and interacts with and appreciates his fans, and because of the way he lives his life and his outlook on life. I told him "I have the same outlook on life, so I appreciate that in you". He looked humbled for a minute, dipped his head low and said thank you. Then he hugged me and said "I love and appreciate you too". PUDDLE, melting...le sigh.

I may or may not have been asleep on his shoulder at this point...at any rate, I'm certain I was dreaming!

We got a few more pictures with him, discussed Twitter, and the fact that he's not following me "Send me Tweets about tonight, and I promise if I see them, I will follow you" he said, and then he had to go "I'm going to miss my flight". And he was off, and so were we.

Once safely esconced in my car BFF (who had her own private conversation with Donnie as well) and I screamed like little Justin Bieber fans.

And that, ladies and gents, is my story of how I have to come up with a new impossible dream.

The End.

The World's All A-Twitter

AH, the Twitterverse. That wonderful world of 140 character snippets of another human beings’ world. Oh, how I love thee Twitter. You keep me entertained, engaged, and enthralled. You keep me informed, involved and inspired. You keep me amazed, awed and appaled. Oh Twitter, what would I do without you in my life?

For those of you who don’t know what Twitter is, (gasp), let me fill you in. You know of myspace and facebook (please tell me you do, otherwise, I’ll have to write a whole other post for you), well, you know those little “status” updates on those websites? That’s pretty much Twitter, sort of. Well, not really...

A quick and easy way to update others on what you are doing at any given moment. But Twitter is so much more than that. It is not just about telling your friends what you are eating for lunch (though we all fall guilty of doing that from time to time), it is an instant way to share those random thoughts we all have and think “I wish I could tell someone this very thought right now”. With Twitter, you can.

When I joined Twitter, before it was the IN thing to do, it was a great way to stay in touch with my bloggy friends at my new job, since I was no longer able to spend HOURS hopping from blog to blog. This way, I could still keep in touch with them, and not jeopardize my new job. I followed a few folks, and had their Tweets sent to my cell phone as text messages.

And then, as will happen with any mode of social media, my circle of friends (followers and followees) began to grow. I made new Twitter friends, met new people, and realized that I obviously needed a new cell phone, because Twittering via text message was just not going to cut it for me anymore.

Enter the Crackberry, and AH…all is well with the world.

But I digress, Twitter, for me, was a way to keep in touch with like minded folks, inform one another, entertain one another, and share little trivial tidbits throughout our day. It was, simply put, like texting your friend when the guy in front of you in line is wearing purple short shorts, or the lady in the next car over just tweezed her eyebrows at a red light.

There are many other uses for Twitter, but that’s the gist of it.

And then, suddenly, seemingly overnight, it appears that the media, and in turn, Hollywood, discovered Twitter. Celebrities started creating their own Twitter accounts with a frenzy, and just in the last two months or so, the number of celebrity Twitterers has increased ten-fold.

Now, in all fairness, it must be said that there are a few celebs that have been Twittering pretty much since it’s inception, and have been using it in much the same way the rest of us “regular” folks do. They interact freely with other Twitter users, and follow the rules of RT, Reply, follow, etc. They “get it”.

But then there’s this new influx of celebs, who seem to mainly be using Twitter as yet another method of advertising. Pimping their newest album, their next television show, their clothing line. Fair enough, plenty of Twitter users use Twitter for the same exact thing, to advertise our newest blog post, our websites, etc.

But there seems to be a whole lot of controversy about celebrities on Twitter these days. Those of us who were "#herebeforeOprah", have a sense of proprietorship over Twitter. It was "our" social media venue before THEY invaded it.

There are those who believe celebrities will destroy the true spirit of Twitter with their “races” to accrue followers (just recently Ashton Kutcher and CNN were in a race to see who could reach a million followers first).

There are others yet who have an issue with celebrities achieving such high numbers of followers, when they, in turn, only follow a handful of folks.

Some believe we shouldn’t give them that attention, and stick to following folks we can actually have conversations with.

Some accuse those who follow celebs of having an unrealistic belief that they’ll somehow befriend that celeb in real life, simply by exchanging Tweets with them.

Yet others think Celebs had to take over Twitter, because they couldn’t stand that the “average” person had a voice somewhere.

There are many other theories, controversial ideas, and complaints floating around in the Twitterverse.

It’s become an interesting phenomenon, and as someone who has always been fascinated by the celeb culture, it’s been one I’ve become somewhat engrossed in. Because I? I am one of those who will follow a celebrity, if I’m interested in them. I have a different take on this whole Celebrity Twitter thing.

See, I think it’s great fun.

Let me explain.

To me, Twitter has become the epitome of the “celebs are just like us” thought process. I won’t lie to you and tell you I don’t get star struck. Of course I do. I love celebrities. I love celebrity gossip, I love finding out about their clothes, their cars, their lifestyles. I always have. When I was younger I too wanted to be a star, my name in lights, adoring fans, the riches, the power, the fame. As I grew up I realized it is not all that fabulous, and that perhaps, I much prefer my quiet existence. But that doesn’t make it any less fascinating to me.

That being said, because I’m fascinated by them does not mean I hold them in any higher regard than I would you were I to meet either of you. I’m fascinated by people in general. If you lead an interesting life, have something interesting to share with the world, then I want to know about it, about you. This is why I blog, and why I love the blogosphere. Through it, I’ve met fascinating folks I never would have met otherwise, and you know what? To me, in the blogosphere, we’re all a little bit celebrity like, aren’t we?

So, why do I follow celebrities who don’t know me from Adam? Why follow them when they don’t reciprocate my Tweets (which, to be honest, I very seldom try to communicate directly with them) or follow me in return? Why add to their “count” when they are not doing the same for me?

Well, very much for the same reason I still read blogs of folks who probably have never stepped over here to this blog. Why I comment on blogs of folks who never comment on mine. Why I people watch strangers on the street. Because people fascinate me, and the world is full of folks with interesting things to say, and I want to hear it. Soak it all in.

I follow celebrities on Twitter who interest me. Whether it is because I grew up loving them, and like to hear how their lives have turned out, or because they genuinely have positive words to share. Or because they are hilarious and make me laugh through the day. Or because I have a giddy 13 year old living inside me who squeals every time a new Tweet pops up from my teen idol. Or because I really enjoy seeing the interaction between some of these celebs with each other, obviously I’m a bit of a voyeur.

It is, in fact, the same reason why I follow anyone else on Twitter. I like what they have to say at least 80% of the time.

If you bore me, celebrity or not, I’ll unfollow you.

If you offend me, celebrity or not, I’ll unfollow you.

If you don’t ever update your tweets, celebrity or not, I’ll eventually unfollow you.

If you are ONLY using twitter to pimp yourself, your product, your movie, your website, your album, your blog…celebrity or not, I’ll unfollow you.

However, if you have something of value to add to my day, be it educational, silly, trivial or techy, I’ll continue to follow you.

If you and I know each other and carry Twitter conversations here and there, of course I’ll continue to follow you.

But if you and I are strangers, and never actually exchange “Tweets”, as long as I like what you have to say, I’ll still follow you.

In fact, if I send you a Tweet about something you said, and you never reply to me, EVEN if you’re not a celebrity, I won’t quit following you.

I’m not so insecure that I’ll take it personally and feel ignored. I will also continue to follow you if you don’t follow me back, celebrity or not. Because I’m not on Twitter, just like I don’t blog, for the stats. I don’t check my stats, EVER. I don’t care how many followers I have, what their rank is in Twitter, or where I stand in the rankings.

There’s nothing in those numbers for me. I’m about the people, not the numbers.

So, do I think celebrities will ruin Twitter? No, I don’t. I think they are just another aspect of this fabulous little invention, and like everything else, we have the power whether or not to click that little “Follow” button. Easy as pie.

Besides, I have a direct link to Donnie Wahlberg’s personal thoughts now…how could that ever be a bad thing?

Oh What a Night...

No time for an elaborate post this morning...but I promisse full details later on. In the meantime, I'm asking for your votes in a poll on my sidebar.

A little quick background story before that...I was a die hard NKOTB (That's New Kids on the Block for the un-initiated) fan back in the day. WHen they announced their reunion this year, I was all over it. Last night I went to my second concert of the tour, had a blast, and then after the show, met Donnie Wahlberg, who was always my favorite. (MERE INCHES from me here...my hand might or might not have been on his arm at this point).He was, basically, THE teen idol of my lifetime, the one celebrity I still sort of melt over whenever I see him anyway (yes, I'm in my 30's, AND?)

So, yeah, met him last night. More on that later, but he did this:

So, here's where the poll comes in, to tattoo, or not to tattoo? Check the sidebar, let me know...