Men in Black 3 Premiere

Sometimes I have to disregard my grandma-type instincts that urge me to stay home most nights to clean and go to bed early in order to enjoy the fact that I am 23 and living in the most exciting city in the world. Of course, I say that on the Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend having just finished all of the dishes and ready for a quiet evening with me, myself, and I (and the loud Latino music blaring on the street beneath me). My excuse is that I had a big night with Lindsay, Tommy, and Josh last night, so tonight is allowed to be a quiet one. I know you may be thinking, why not two nights in a row? But please, let's not ask too much of me.

Focusing on the nights that I haven't been in my PJs by 8:30p.m....Wednesday was one of those nights. My friend invited me to the Men in Black 3 premiere at Lincoln Center, followed by the after party on the Intrepid aircraft carrier. I hesitated only for a moment as I fought with my practical self that protested, "Shannon, you work breakfast on Thursday. You need to be in bed by 11 on Wednesday." NO. Going to a party on an aircraft carrier with celebrities and socialites is a once in a lifetime...well, hopefully more...experience. I can get five hours of sleep and survive. After ignoring my inner reprimand, I accepted the invitation and put on a dress and heels following my day at the attorney's office. I even put on fake eyelashes. Seriously time to look good. You never know if Will Smith would see me and decide he absolutely needed to know who I was. (Spoiler alert: That didn't happen).

With Ricky after the movie. Glad he was ready.

Two glasses of Chardonnay at Luce, a restaurant right next to the theatre, was the perfect beginning to the evening. Next came the actual movie itself, which was really funny and entertaining (that's about as good as I get when it comes to my movie-reviewing skills). I think Will Smith is absolutely hilarious, and he did not let me down. While most people got on the charter bus that transported guests to the Intrepid after the movie, I instead hopped in the Jaguar with Ricky and his family to enjoy the short ride over to the ship. Riding in a Jag just makes life a little more fun, don't you think?

Flight Deck overlooking NYC. Unreal.

The after party was incredible. Insane. Gorgeous. Posh. Stunning. Outrageous. I need more words, but they don't exist. Every party needs to take place on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. Every single one. The best looking food I've ever seen- Chinese, pizza, sandwiches, chocolate donuts, and everything else in the world that I can't eat on my Miss New York diet- stared at me the whole night as I wandered around wondering who just walked past me that is probably famous but I'd never know because I am the WORST at recognizing or knowing who famous people are. As I aimlessly strolled around with my wine glass in one hand and camera in the other, I got a few random compliments on my backless yellow dress, so that certainly made me happy. Congratulating myself on my wardrobe selection (what, exactly, is premiere-wear?), I followed the crowd to the middle of the ship for fireworks around 10:15, followed by a super fun performance by Pit Bull. For those of you who don't know who Pit Bull is or why anyone would want to be referred to as a canine, he's one of the top rapper/singers out there at the moment. His biggest hit is probably Give Me Everything (give me everyyyything tonight, for all we know, we might not get tomorrowww...you've heard it, trust me), but he also sang the theme song for Men in Black 3. Hence the performance. After Pit Bull's energetic few songs (that man had to have burned 800 calories in 25 minutes), I tried to sweet talk a guard into letting me into the VIP section where I saw Dr. Oz and Nicole Scherzinger mulling about, but unfortunately batting my fake eyelashes did not seem to work. Or maybe he just couldn't see them through his black sunglasses that he was wearing at 11 o'clock at night. You are NOT auditioning for Men in Black, sir. Take off the shades.

As most things do, it all worked out for the better because not five minutes after I was rejected by the man in black wannabe, Will Smith took the stage for a surprise performance!! The VIP section was in the back, so I was beyond glad to be in the front, not 50 feet from Will Smith, accompanied by both of his kids. I was in heaven as I did the white girl bounce to the Men in Black anthem, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Summertime. He is SO good. So, so good. And so, so good-looking. Had to throw it out there. That is one hot dad. I'm sure he saw me in the audience and the only reason he didn't approach me later is because he was so intimidated, but that's alright. He's not the first guy that's happened to.

Nicole and me (awful picture of me, but still- so fun!)

Have no fear, if my eyelashes couldn't get me into the VIP section, Ricky's connections could. The gates parted for us once his parents waved us in. Yeah, they were already in there chatting up Tommy Lee Jones. I guess you have to be a little more powerful than a waitress who lives in the Heights to hang with the big wigs. I didn't find Dr. Oz to get a picture for my mom (sorry, Mom!), but I did get to chat with Nicole Scherzinger (lead singer of The Pussy Cat Dolls/X Factor judge) for a second. She really impressed me. I told her about Miss New York, and she gave me a wonderful little speech about being a role model and how important it is to be confident figureheads for younger girls. I really respect the fact that she doesn't want to rest on being beautiful, which she truly is. Needless to say, I'm definitely a big fan.

The night winded down a little after midnight, so we headed out right behind the boys of One Direction (apparently they are a wildly popular boy band these days...I've only vaguely heard of them. Should have gotten one of their autographs. Sixteen's not too young for me, right?) and Alice Eve (star of "Out of My League"/etc.)...just rollin' with the celebs. I made it home by 1, but couldn't fall asleep until after 3. So much for a decent night's sleep. I made it through breakfast/lunch the next day with a surprising amount of energy, though, and I'm still here to speak of it. I don't regret that night in the least! I live in NYC- I have to take advantage of events that only happen here! Besides, every girl needs an excuse to dress up once in a while. Oh wait, I already have my excuse...I do pageants. I guess I give myself a lot of excuses to dress up.

Speaking of pageants, Miss New York is 3 weeks from tonight! Gulp.

Is Timing Everything?

How much in life is about what is right, and how much is about what is right timing? Is it really possible to differentiate between the two? And if you can, is it possible to foster something that's very right if the timing is very wrong?

In my life, timing seems to rule just about everything. Why audition if I'd have to turn down anything that could conflict with the possibility of me being Miss NY? However, I moved here so that I wouldn't put my life on hold for Miss VA...so isn't that contradictory to the whole point of living in New York? The timing would have been perfect for me to win Miss VA last year, but it didn't happen. Had I stayed in Virginia for one more year, it very well may have worked out. But I didn't. I moved to New York. Now I'm torn (correction: was torn) about the timing of following my dream to be on Broadway and my last year eligible in the Miss America Organization. I've clearly made Miss New York my priority since I feel so strongly about the values of this organization and the amazing experiences it's already provided me, but there's always that question about if the timing is right. In this case, I'm choosing to make this the perfect time to be Miss New York simply because I know I'd be able to do a lot of good with that title, both for the Children's Miracle Network and with my personal platform. Broadway will still be around come July. However, is it always possible to choose? To actively make a decision that timing is moldable to fit perfectly with the circumstances at hand?

When it comes to situations like Miss New York, you can decide that the timing doesn't matter because what's at stake is more important than convenience. Is it the same in relationships? I think it's a little of yes and a little of no. I think that if the timing is very, very wrong- i.e. the person you meet is moving across the country, is already with someone else, is at a completely different stage of life from you, etc.- then decisions can be made to make things work despite the bad timing, but sometimes it's easier to just let things go for the sake of making life easier. Obviously, much of that decision to work with the timing has to do with the depth of the connection and the willingness of each party to deal with the consequences of bad timing...and most of the time, at least one person would rather wait for something a little less complicated to come around. Even in the case where you start dating someone who is at a different stage of life than yourself, you can bank on the fact that people will change and become more compatible once they enter the same stage. Should you stick around and wait for that inevitable change that you know won't come for another year/however long it takes for them to catch up (or for you to catch up)? Well, I guess it all has to do with if what could be outweighs the difficulties of what is.

As I write all of this out, I see that it's clear that most issues with timing can be dealt with if what's at hand is important enough. Sometimes, decisions to push through timing that isn't ideal are easy (like with Miss New York vs. my move to NYC to pursue Broadway), and other times, they take a lot more mental ping pong on the pros and cons table. At the end of the day, we can only do what we feel is best at the moment...even though each moment changes with the hand on the clock. That's not complicated at all, is it?