Operation Twitter

#OperationRetweet/#OperationTweetback.

Goal was to get 5 "celebrities" to tweet me back
or to retweet what I tweeted.

Twitter is a fun place to keep up with friends, but I have found I use it more for talking to random people with the same interest as I have, keeping up with pop culture news, and tweet creeping celebrities. With that last function in mind I decided to start getting some of those celebrities to tweet me back. With myself deciding who counts as a celebrity. The mission was more easily accomplish then expected (because I spend sooooo much time on Twitter), so my new goal is to be tweeted by 10 "celebs".

Here is the story of my journey so far...

1 -Who: My first celeb tweet back came from the lovely and funny Yvette Nicole Brown (@yvettenbrown) aka Shirley on NBC's Community.
The Deets: I tweeted her about how blessed I was by her testimony at a Revolve Tour Conference and she tweeted back "Aww, Meaggy! Your tweet just made my day! :)"

This is what started Operation Tweetback... after that I kinda started targeting people for retweets.


2 - Who: Kidd Kraddick from Kidd Kraddick in the morning (@KiddKraddick). Yes, he is kinda a local celebrity, but his show goes out nationally too.
The Deets: I tweeted that listening to Kidd Kraddick in the morning was the reason I got up, and that, that seemed sad. He tweeted back "Or awesome!" I agree it is awesome.


3- Who: John Vesely, the lead singer/songwriter from Secondhand Serenade (@secondhandjohn).
The Deets: I said something along the lines of how I always listen to Secondhand Serenade when I need a lift, because it always brightens my day. John (who, by the by, is really cute) tweeted back "Thanks so much Meaggy!" No, thank you John Vesely. Thank you!


4 - Who: Marian Call, singer, songwriter and all around witty and fun Alaskan (@mariancall). Okay now, I get to decide who I consider a celebrity and I deem Marian celebrity worthy. 1 - She is geek-tastic, writing songs that refer to the TV show "Firefly" and other nerd type themes and performing at Wh00t conventions. 2 - She knows Will Wheaton, who I'd love a tweet from. 3 - Even outside of her nerd-ness I just love her songs.
The Deets: I think the first time Marian Call tweeted me was when she was packing for a long road trip and I tweeted suggesting she bring jumper cables. She tweeted back that she definitely would. We have tweeted a couple times since. She is the bomb-diggity, because she follows me now too.


5 - Who: David Crowder. Singer, songwriter, worship leader, author and amazing person (@crowderband).
The Deets: First of all if you don't follow David Crowder... you should. Okay, he tweeted me while playing hangman. Yes, hangman. Basically, he and his band were playing hangman in the greenroom before a show and he posted a picture of their board and asked if we knew what the answer was. I answered and was right. His life changing tweet to me read. "it was pillow". Okay, maybe not life changing, but it counts!


6 - Who: Simon Helberg aka Howard Wolowitz on CBS' "The Big Bang Theory" (@simonhelberg)
The Deets: This was a retweet, not a tweet back. Basically, Simon was tweeting about something political and it got a bunch of people up in arms. Without going into long details. I tweeted something in regards to what he said and he thought it was interesting enough to retweet. Blah, blah, blah on what it was all about though. ;) He is cool.


7 - Who: The Nerd Machine. (@TheNerdMachine). The Nerd Machine is a site started by Zachary Levi aka Chuck from NBC's "Chuck" (@ZacharyLevi) and dedicated to all things nerdy. Instead of me explaining it you should just go to the site and watch Zachary's video.
The Deets: My amazing friend and co-worker Anna (@AnnaMicolowsky) told me about The Nerd Machine because of our mutual love for Mr. Levi. We then proceeded to buy "nerd" shirts and post a "nerd co-worker" picture on Twitter. This was my most direct attempt to be retweeted. It worked. The Nerd Machine retweeted our picture as follows:
"My kind of Friday RT @MeaggyLane: @thenerdmachine Forget casual Friday, we have Nerd Friday. Nerd co-workers unite!"

Those are my official celebrity tweets, below are my honorable mentions.

@Group1Crew - The Christian Hip/hop group tweeted me back when I said I had just downloaded one of their songs. They said, "woo!"

@CoreyVidal - The YouTube star tweeted me back when I asked a question about one of his Batman videos.








@Pandora_Radio - I was complaining about how Pandora always wants me to listen to Colbie Caillat and Pandora tweeted me twice with ideas and tips on how to get the exact station I wanted. It worked.




@AprilSmithMusic - I posted an April Smith song as one of my “legendary” songs of the day (#SOTD) and out of the blue April tweeted me and started following me on twitter.





@ExplodingDog - Artist Sam Brown also know as Exploding Dog draws pictures based on the title given to him by fans. He has been doing this for 10 years I think. Anyway, he tweeted me back with a picture from a title I gave him.
<-- My Picture titled, "I just don't want them to know how broken I am" 7 down 3 to go. My Wish List: @wilw @MrDonaldGlover @SaraBareilles @ZacharyLevi @TheEllenShow @ChristianKane01

My Top 11 Feel Good Songs

This isn't a list of "happy songs" (I may or may not listen to many full out happy songs). However, this is a list of what I would call "feel good songs". These songs either pep me up when I'm tired or help keep a good mood going. Hopefully, this list is more fun than my sad song list and probably more fun than the angry song list I kind of want to make. These songs are in order of how peppy they are/how much I love them.

Side Note:
Yes, you will be seeing some artist that were on my last list. What can I say? I'm loyal to the musicians I love.

11. Bess Rogers – “I Don't Worry”
While Bess sings about many things in this song that I do actually worry about I can't help but feel happy while hearing how she doesn't worry about these things. Why? Because Bess sings about it all in such an uplifting way and with such a catchy tune! "I don't worry 'bout my job, let them throw me out on the street. Let them cut my pay, I won't grovel at their feet!"



10. Bon Jovi – “Livin' On A Prayer”
Holy Moly! I'm actually listing a "classic" song, meaning something from before 2000! Wow. It is from 1986 to be exact. Also, I would like to mention that I was a fan of this song long before Glee did their "Start Me Up/Livin' On A Prayer" mash up. Oh those crazy kids. Anyway... I love this song for its rockin' beat and for its story about a couple who sticks together through the hard times."Whooah! We're half way there. Whooah! Livin' on a prayer. Take my hand and we'll make it I swear - livin' on a prayer."



9. Family Force 5 – “Replace Me”
"My Batteries died sometime ago. Gotta heart shaped box where they must go..." I just hear the opening line to this song and I want to dance. You will see a trend here, I relate songs that make me want to dance to being feel good songs. However, "Replace Me" is more that a great dance song. This song also has lyrics that I find very encouraging, about how we can only be "recharged" by God. "Desperation. Needing You. Every last breath I scream for You.
Shatter me into a million pieces. Make me new."



8. P!nk – “Raise Your Glass”
I have to be careful with P!nk songs because they can easily slip from feel good songs into "Yeah, I'm angry. What are you going to do about it?" songs. However, I think "Raise Your Glass" is truly a feel good song. It is about feeling good about who you are no matter what others think (kind of like Weezer's "Buddy Holly"). And while P!nk may show she is proud to be her by raising her glass, I prefer to do it by singing very loudly to this song. "So raise your glass if you are wrong, in all the right ways. All my underdogs, we will never be never be anything but loud." PS I have no link to this song, because though I downloaded the clean version from iTunes I can't find one on line. I don't care if you listen to the origianl version, but I thought I'd skip on the link since swearing doesn't make some people feel good.

7. Weezer - "Buddy Holly"
This song has such a great melody it would be a feel good song even if the lyrics were just "La la la la la". We get a bonus though because the lyrics are clever and cheering. Basically I don't have much to say about this song that it won’t say for itself when you listen to it. Oh and the music vedio? Epic. "Ooo wee ooo, I look just like Buddy Holly. Oh oh, and you're Mary Tyler Moore. I don't care what they say about us anyway. I don't care about that."



6. Ingrid Michaelson – “Far Away”
Sometimes a feel good song is a feel good song because it takes you away from your real life, right? Or is that just me? Like a good book or a great movie this song brings me somewhere where... well where "The water is blue and the people are new". Ingrid has a magical way of taking rather forlorn lyrics and turning them into something that feels good. "I will live my life as a lobsterman's wife on an island in the blue bay. He will take care of me, he will smell like the sea, and close to my heart he'll always stay."



5. Florence + The Machine – “Dog Days Are Over”
Florence + The Machine's songs are often peculiar and sometimes even creepy and her music videos are straight up weird, I love this song. I love how she changes the pace of the song from fast to slow. I love how she stops the music for a moment just to come back in full blast. I have literally made a fool of myself driving along and seat dancing in my car to this song, while also head bobbing and using my steering wheel as a drum set. If that doesn't make for a feel good song, than I don't know what does. I will mention though that the lyrics are kind of... less than feel good. Yes, it is about a woman who "finds" happiness, but only after it hits her like a train on a track... or something. I don't know what this song is talking about and I don't care. "Happiness hit her, like a bullet in the back. Struck from a great height by someone who should know better than that."


4. Sara Bareilles – “Uncharted”
This isn't a happy song. It just isn't, most of Sara Bareilles songs aren't. However it is a feel good song because it motivates me to get off my rear and start making things happen instead of waiting on circumstances or other people. It also makes me feel proud of being an independent person instead of focusing on the loneliness that independence can sometimes bring. The lyrics are astounding. "Stuck under this ceiling I made, I can't help but feeling... I'm going down, follow if you want. I won't just hang around, like you'll show me where to go. I'm already out of foolproof ideas. So don't ask me how to get started, it's all uncharted."



3. Eric Hutchinson – “You Don't Have To Believe Me”
For this I'd like to just list an artist's name instead of a song, however, that would not follow the rules of the list. So instead of just saying "Eric Hutchinson" I'll say, "You Don't Have To Believe Me". However, I had to listen to a bunch of Eric H songs to decide which was the most feel goodish. Besides the fact, that unless your soul is dead, just listening to this song should make you want to dance, it also gives a motivation pep talk! I dare you not to feel good while listen to it. "You don't have to believe me I'm just speaking my mind, you look lovely as always, you get that all the time. You don't have to believe me when I tell you that I'm impressed, but you sure better believe me when I say you deserve the best." Ahhh yes, I look forward to Eric and my upcoming nuptials, now I just need to meet him...



2. Lenka – “Knock Knock”
I could tell you a loooong story about how Lenka's song "Bring Me Down" actually helped me make a huge life decision, however, we'll just stick with talking about "Knock Knock". Do you ever listen to secular songs and they suddenly, they seem like little prayers? Lenka's music is like that to me. Though I haven't found anywhere that she is a Christian, her songs often point my direction back to the Lord, this song is no exception. I love the upbeat sound of "Knock Knock" and the lyrics about someone who she can always turn to, to make things better. "When life had locked me out I turned to you, so open the door. ‘Cause you're all I need right now, it's true, nothin' works like you."



1. David Crowder – “SMS (Shine)”
Okay, maybe it is unfair to add a song to this list because it's music video fills me with joy... but "SMS (Shine)" does that and has a lot of other things going for it as well. This song reminds me of a psalm; it starts by asking something from God and latter talks about those things as already given. I love it, I don't really know what else to say besides that. "Shine Your light so I can see You. Pull me up, I need to be near You. Hold me, I need to feel loved. Can You overcome this heart that's overcome?"