First things first

Hello there, I’m Melanie Dahling and I’m very excited, not to mention intimidated, about writing my first column for The Uniter.

I’ll start with how I got here so that you can get some idea of who I am and what gives me the right to be taking up space in your newspaper.

I’ve always loved writing and was something of an English teacher’s pet in school, but it never occurred to me to do anything about it. At the time I was focused solely on my goal to become a famous actor and marry A.J. McLean from the Backstreet Boys.

I was a shy girl, especially around new people, but anytime I was thrust into the centre of attention I would enthusiastically ham it up with impressions, funny faces or songs. At the time, I kept an online journal (friends only!) where I would go on angst-ridden rants and obsess about cute boys.

Now, I’m turning 27 in October and I can’t say that much has changed, except my taste in men has grown more sophisticated.

I’m less about A.J. McLean and more into Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad now. I’ve still got an awkward teenage boner for bad boys with soft marshmallowy centres, but manufacturing meth is a way more respectable job than singing pop ballads in a pleather jacket, right Mom?

I’ve still got an awkward teenage boner for bad boys with soft marshmallowy centres, but manufacturing meth is a way more respectable job than singing pop ballads in a pleather jacket, right Mom?

In addition to being an actor/singer/kinesiology student/yoga enthusiast, in the summer of 2010 I started doing stand-up comedy.

From there things started going really well fairly quickly. I met a lot of like-minded people who are now some of my best friends, and started being invited to perform at shows with some really amazing local talent.

By February I was making a name for myself, doing well in school and I had met a rad guy, so it seemed like a great time to start a public blog.

The original intention of the blog was to promote my various creative projects, until the aforementioned rad guy stopped being quite so rad. I could be bitter and petty about it, but that particular breakup gave a voice to my blog that people started responding to.

Plus, I saw him at some party with a really unattractive girl, so that was fun.

It started with a couple views here and there, but soon I was being approached by loyal readers who identified with what I had to say about relationships – romantic and otherwise. I started to compare my life to Sex and the City, only with less sex and no paycheque.

“An Open Relationship with Melanie Dahling” is going to be my blog taken to the next level.

Instead of going on nightly rants and occasionally saying something worthwhile, I am going to come to you every two weeks with a well thought out, honest and (hopefully) entertaining take on the world of dating and relating to others – as I continue to navigate through it cautiously, oil lamp and pointy stick in hand.

Craving more Melanie? Visit http://melaniedahling.wordpress.com.

Published in Volume 66, Number 4 of The Uniter (September 22, 2011)

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