I Want It All

It was some night during the spring semester of my freshman year at UT, watching an episode of Sex and the City with my friend Elizabeth that I decided that I wanted to be like Carrie Bradshaw. Not in the constant drinking and having sex sense, in the writing a blog/column on my MacBook Pro while eating Asian take-out after a fabulous city event sense. That same night I made a twitter, a tumblr, and started working on some pitches to send to Her Campus Texas (an online magazine for college women) to see if I could be accepted as a contributing writer.

I have officially achieved my goals from that night. I'm sitting here in my New York apartment, writing this blog, and about to dig into some delicious Pad Thai noodles that I had delivered. On top of that, Monday night I attended a fabulous city event hosted by none-other than Her Campus.

I was invited by Do Something's Biz Dev associate, Muneer, to sub for Calvin at an event hosted by Her Campus and Bing. It was to promote the launch of Bing's new social search. Judge me all you want, it was the exact kind of city event I always wanted to attend and I felt so cool. I snapped a picture with one of the Her Campus founders, rubbed elbows with some wonderful media/communications people, and won a smart phone through a tweeting competition. Not bad for the first day of the work week right?

Windsor Hanger, one of the Her Campus founders!

Just feeling the celeb status as people took my pic with my new phone!

As I walked to the subway, I silently thanked myself for actually dressing nice that day and mentally high-fived myself for confirming that I was a good fit for the "social media intern" title.

Flash forward to the next day, when the DS interns volunteered at the Bing "Summer of Doing" event. Let's just get this out there on the table right now: I MET CORBIN BLEU. And NO, I didn't spend the whole time harping on High School Musical. I interviewed him, rapped "In The Heights" with other interns for him, and spent 15 minutes soaking in his musical theater advice.  He was so down-to-earth and genuine. While some celebrities volunteered for only 10 minutes, he was there for three-and-a-half hours, tiling a mural, painting a wall, and taking pictures with literally anyone who asked. His generosity is why I was able to pluck up the courage to ask for some musical theater advice. The best piece of advice? "You have to really love the whole process. It may take a long time before you book your first show. That's why you have to love taking classes, auditioning, and perfecting your craft."

Corbin Bleu!

He is absolutely right. When people think of Broadway stars or any kind of performing, they think of just the finished product. The note that creates goosebumps, the leap that gets air rival to a slam dunk, the standing ovation. It's the whole "I want it all! The fame, the fortune, and more." Even I forget sometimes about all the preparation and hard-work that goes into creating those spine-shivering moments. There are days where I certainly don't want to go to a dance class, or feel too lazy to practice for my vocal class, but I know performing is something that can make me truly happy. On the subway, I automatically select my "musical theater" genre and subtly (or maybe not so subtly) dancing to the songs, attracting stares from strangers. It makes me feel happy and complete.

This is my dilemma: I want it all. The social media events and the Broadway performances. Both are exciting and challenging. I often find myself forcing myself to choose between the two, but I don't think I necessarily have to choose. Not right now, anyways. I'm in New York City! I'm going to enjoy it all.