Advice From The Future

Reader, something strange happened. I received a letter (and that in and of itself if a weird happenstance these days, no?) in the mail earlier this week. The weird thing was that it was from me. From the future.

I know, right? Mind blown.

Allow me to share this time-bending letter to you now:

Dear Kate,

How are you ? Hopefully you are happy and healthy and living the dream!!! (Obviously not because you still aren't married to Zac Efron with a wonderful baby, 2 Emmy statues, or your gorgeous mansion.) I felt a disturbance in the force this week and I thought I might give you some advice to help ease your troubles. What are future-selves for,am I right?

Let's tackle some quick issues: you can go tanning if you want. You will always be illegally pale and if it makes you feel more confident do it. Just use moderation. Also, you can work out if you want, either way you look great. (Zac confirms.)

Now onto the real issues. There are some things that you are worried about right now and I while I am not sure about what revealing the future does to your current timeline, I will try to be as direct as I can.

Life is too short to be wasted on people and problems that can't or won't be fixed. Why waste valuable time on people that just don't want to be apart of your life. You have done a good job of eradicating some problem people and I can assure you that those will get what is coming to them. The other ones that haven't realized their mistake yet will and you will be too busy with your life and successes to even care about them.

Work is work. Always is and always will be. If you enjoy who you work for and with, that's all the really matters. (PS your idea about how you and Zac meet and fall in love? Spot. On.) We both know that we have a hard time letting things that are trivial not bother us. That still hasn't changed. Sorry.

Green is still our color. Work it. Your fashion keeps getting better. And Target continues to make bank off of us. Who's shocked.

I'm sure you want to know some spoilers regarding TV and movies. I would love to tell you them but... I'm actually going to pull a "Kate" and make you wait. You'll thank me. You still get to movies early though and believe me, that is a BIG thing. Don't ever stop.

Basically, you are still awesome. There are tough times coming, but aren't there always? Nothing comes easy and you and I (ha!) know that better than most. Don't give up on your dreams, ever. One of your greatest qualities (Zac says daily there are many. Isn't he the sweetest?!) is your ability to be idealistic as well as seeing the best in people and situations. Nothing should or can change that and that makes you you.

In the meantime, try not to stress out too much. Life is too short and you know that.

"To be nobody-but-yourself--in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else--means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting."

(I'll be seeing you--- Zac)


There it is. It's some solid, if generic, advice. I wanted to share it with you because people generally are facing the same struggles, they just don't know it.

AND DID YOU SEE THAT I'M MARRIED TO ZAC FRAKKING EFRON!!!!!!!!!!

The End is Near... or Here?

Dear Readers,

I have reached a strange point in my movie going life, the end of a saga. Not even the of something I am dreading really. Tomorrow is the final installment of the (seemingly) popular franchise, Twilight, with the second part (of an unnecessary split) of the final book, Breaking Dawn. And readers, I think I'm actually going to miss it.

Before my friends and family take action and try to have me checked for mental illness, I think I have a valid reason for feeling this loss. It's more the loss of the experience of finding a saga or collective or series that you might not find again. Every publisher and studio head is constantly searching the next Harry Potter, and while some have been lucky with Twilight and The Hunger Games, there is no clear future for fans of series.

Now before the rest of you revolt and cry Hobbit, I don't care. It's a separate entity in and of itself. That is an established series and already has a rabid fan base. Asking if there will ever be another phenomenon like the above triad of book series is a very serious reality for a multitude of reasons. The first is I am no longer a teenager. These books are not as readily available or on my radar to embrace and criticize and demand justification at every turn. I will have to be vigilant and aware and utilize my younger audience. The second is while there are some adult book series that are being made into motion pictures, such as the Fifty Shades book series, it doesn't have that same level of innocence (well duh Kate) and the camaraderie that accompanies the movie going experiences. The third reason is can lightning strike again? There have been a litany of attempts to recreate the same enthusiasm and more importantly the monetary success of the previous series.

Obviously, it can and most likely will happen. But there is nothing on the horizon. Yes there are still three movies left in The Hunger Games series but even that has a finality to it. When Harry Potter ended, we had two movies left in the controversial Twilight series and the first movie of The Hunger Games hadn't even released a trailer yet, which can be more exciting than the movie at times. (I'm looking at you Twilight. You know you let me down. Deal with it.) As I sit here, I am wracking my brain to think of another prominent young adult series that could take the world by storm... and I'm coming up empty.

Recently there was a minor announcement about the Star Wars series finally getting its completed trilogy in the saga. I have mixed feelings about this and I'm sure I can elaborate once I have more details. It's still a difficult situation to wrap my head around. While I'm thrilled, I'm also terrified. Utterly, completely terrified. This is my childhood and legions of fans childhoods hopes and dreams for the series being put front and center and it could all be destroyed faster than the Millennium Falcon getting to lightspeed.

So what do I have to look forward to? Nothing comes to mind and that makes me almost treasure tomorrow night's swan song on the Twilight series. Never again will I get to mock and rip apart an acting job more thoroughly and with such good company. Never again will I be able to critique and simultaneously defend a ridiculously written book and movie series. Never again will I get to watch horrible CGI attempt to recreate sparkly vampires and chiseled werewolves. Never again will I watch an actress (cough cough Kristen Stewart) make me hide and shake my head.

I guess what I'm really saying is thanks Twilight. You have unintentionally filled my life with laughter and absurdity for the past 7 years. I think I'll miss you least of all, but I'll still miss you. From a now famous exchange for the first book, I think I am one of the more dumb ones but at least I am in good company.

"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb." "What a stupid lamb." "What a sick masochistic lion."