Welcome to Nerdpreneur,
where we have fun conversations with nerds
making money from their nerdy passion.
And as always,
I'm joined by my co host, Frank.
Hey yo.
And we have an awesome special guest
today that we are excited to talk to.
Her name is Melanie,
and her instagram is Melegie.
How are you doing?
Hi, guys. I'm great.
Awesome. So happy to have you here and
appreciate you coming on the podcast.
Can you tell us a little bit about what your
nerdy passion is and how you got into it?
Okay, let's see. I am a harpist.
I do mainly celtic harp,
but I like to play video game songs,
like songs from nerdy tv shows.
And I like to do cosplay and get dressed up.
So it's something that
kind of just started to happen in, like,
the last couple years, actually.
So it's all new and very exciting to me.
Well, let's start with the harp because
there was a lot in there.
I know you've cultivated a real aesthetic
for your whole page and what you do,
and it's really grown quickly.
When did you start playing harp?
Oh, my gosh. Well, let's see.
I think what gave me the inspiration,
I played a lot of League of Legends in college.
I liked
to play a lot of, like, like, video games,
like computer games, like that.
And I loved to main
this one champion called Sona. She, like,
played the bottom row, if
you're familiar with league. And she's, like,
kind of support character,
but she played the harp,
and she was, like, so badass.
She would do these different
chords to attack the enemies,
and I loved her,
and I was actually kind of obsessed with her.
I had all of her skills,
and people would gift me her skins,
which are basically like, you know,
different looks for the champion
and different clothes and stuff.
And so she, she almost, like,
I don't want to be,
I don't want to say that she became
like an obsession or anything, but, like,
people kind of knew me as, like, maning sona.
So I think that that is what sparked it.
When I graduated college,
I do graphic design,
so I went to art school.
I got myself a little
harp on Amazon as a graduation gift.
And I had never touched a harp my entire life.
But I said, okay, I'm just gonna.
Just gonna see what happens. You know, I love,
I love how it sounds.
I want to be as badass as Sona is, but,
like real life soda. Yeah, yeah. So that's,
that's where it started.
I got this little, you know, like $200 harp,
which is very
cheap as far as harps go. Actually,
probably more like $300,
called a harpsicle.
It only has two octaves
and it sounds really tinny,
but I still have it.
And you can actually see me
playing it in a lot of my videos. It's.
It's like a portable harp.
Yes, yes, exactly. Yeah.
Most harps aren't
very portable because I've seen,
I've seen your videos.
You have some that are bigger than that, too,
and some that you can just play,
like on a beach or something, right?
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I love my
harpsichol because it's so lightweight and
it comes with a guitar strap, so you can, like,
just kind of sling it over
your shoulder and walk
around with this harp. So it's, it's. Yeah,
it's very portable,
and I love that aspect of it.
My big harp that you see in my videos
is significantly larger and heavier, and I,
I actually have a difficult
time even moving it around the room,
so that's not going to go to the beach.
It looks mastered.
Yeah, I definitely can't think of a
less portable thing like a harp.
It feels like a piece of furniture in
the house versus something that's like
a musical instrument similar to a piano. Right?
Yeah, I was just thinking about a piano.
So you've been playing for a while,
and obviously you did you always say, oh,
I want to do video game music with it,
or did that just sort of evolve
out of your own interests also? Like,
you have the other side,
which is all celtic music, right?
Yeah, I've always loved
the sound of celtic music.
And a few years ago,
I did this, like, DNA test.
I have a twin sister,
so together we did this test.
It showed that we're
mostly from the British Isles, which
is where a lot of this celtic world, like,
where it originates.
And I just, like, I was like,
that's so cool, you know, and I traced, like,
we were able to
trace our lineage, even, like, Vikings. And.
And so I'm a big history buff,
so there's something about celtic music
that has this ancient energy to it.
When I'm playing an old celtic song,
it's almost like
I'm tapping into my ancestry and, like,
the history from this, like, really cool,
you know, rich in, like, folk tales and, like,
you know, fairies and, like, magical stories.
It's almost like I'm
bringing that to life for a moment.
And I've always been very into fantasy stuff,
so that's kind of like me bringing
fantasy to life, making it, like, real.
That's very cool.
I feel you on that. I definitely.
So bit of my background.
I did a similar test, DNA test,
and I found out that
I have a lot of similar areas, you know,
northwestern and northern Europe. So.
But for me, I don't.
I don't play the harp.
I don't have that so much,
but the ocean definitely gives that,
and I think that's a mix of, like,
that Viking and the.
And the british sailors.
I just drink scotch. Yeah.
Because I've got. Because
I've got Scottish in me. So that's, I guess,
why I drink scotch.
Nothing as elegant
or decadent as the ocean. Or harping.
Is that the right term for it?
Harping or harpist?
Harping feels wrong. I don't know.
That's actually a really interesting.
That's a really good question,
because there are two different words for it,
and you're right.
A harper is a harpist who originated from
the British Isles, from Ireland, from Scotland,
and they play celtic music.
They're called a harper.
And the kind of more concerty, big,
grand harp that, you know,
you think about
when you're watching an orchestra, that's.
You'd call that person a harpist. I mean,
nobody really follows those rules,
but I thought that was kind of a fun fact.
Yeah, totally.
I'm curious how, you know,
you're playing your music.
When was there this moment for you that I
want to make a video or I want to make a post?
What was the first moment that
you brought your hobby to the Internet?
Oh, my gosh. It's, like, such a nice memory
to think of my very first video. And I did.
I'm trying to think who composed it. It's
this renaissance piece called the Robin by.
I think it's John Mundi.
And he was about from the 15 hundreds or so.
But let's see. Yeah.
So I had been playing for so long,
and I wanted to have an audience,
but I also didn't really want to, like,
play for my friends
and family because I was nervous.
And I figured maybe I'll just up,
I'll make this anonymous instagram, you know,
record some videos and just upload them,
make it super casual,
and only strangers are gonna see it.
And nobody
I know so nobody will see me, like, you know,
making mistakes or whatever.
And from that, you know,
it started to kind of snowball.
And I also realized, oh, my gosh,
I love this. And, you know,
people started to reach out to me saying,
I love that piece of music. You know,
I've been having headaches all week,
and your music has helped me, you know, like,
alleviate some of that. And, and I just,
I felt so
good that I was reaching. They're strangers,
but they're just people
from all over the world. Like, it's,
it's like something I never thought about,
you know, just like, like humans,
like you and me.
And then I realized I was
obsessed with that feeling of helping.
Somehow doing what I love to do is, like,
kind of helping people,
helping someone to even just
make their day a little better. You know,
if they just hear a song that perks
them up or maybe they're stressed and
hearing the harp helps to relax them. You know,
I became addicted to that.
I like, oh, so, yeah, well, that's.
Really, I actually really love that,
that point you just hit on, you know,
you felt the fire,
the passion from helping people. And, you know,
something that we're hearing is that people
who build their brands and their businesses,
especially if there's a strong
Online or Social Media component,
they are driven by the engagement that they
get with these other people. So I'm curious,
did that first video when you started to,
or in the beginning when you started
to get those engagements, did you, did you,
did it take off or was it just
a very few people who actually responded?
It started Off Small,
and I'm trying to think,
I think I post,
I also posted it to Reddit, like,
under a different Reddit name,
but I had a lot of people
Reach out to me over Reddit. Oh, my gosh,
it was amazing.
And at this time,
I didn't consider myself a harpist.
I didn't really take it seriously.
I considered myself very much,
this is just a hobby that I'm not very good at.
So it was very low
on my radar or of my, like, future plans.
It was. Yeah. Just like a. Kind of,
like a thing gathering dust.
You know, that I would like hearing.
Hearing from these people. It really, like,
stirred something in me.
You said that it was gathering dust. Now,
I really want to know what you
were doing at the time for a day job.
Say, I'm a graphic designer. Corporate. Yeah,
I was corporate, Mel,
you know, doing, like, that. Nine to five.
Yeah. You're probably
not getting the engagement of, wow,
your art really helped soothe my headache.
You're very likely not going
to hear that in the corporate world.
Yeah. You're now in the solution to the
headache world as opposed
to the cause of the headache world.
Yeah, yeah, right.
Yes, exactly.
One of the things that
I really noticed on your instagram,
specifically is you have
a very strong aesthetic as far as,
I guess it's the aesthetic of you. Right? Like,
the choice with the.
With your hair and with, like,
the way that you frame your.
Your angles and your. And
the dress and also the cosplay and all that.
I guess I'm leaning towards
that kind of core value. Question is,
what are the choices from a design
standpoint that you make to make
sure something looks like it's melody?
This is a really good question. Oh, man.
I think. Well, let's see. I
decided to dye my hair pink because, my friend,
this was at this was it,
the start of the pandemic. Oh, my gosh.
I'm trying to think.
And I didn't. I didn't really,
like pink very much
till we both dye our hair pink together.
And I think I had, like,
dark purple hair before I had before that.
And it's
so crazy because it, like, stuck, and it's.
It really has become kind of, like,
a core part of my identity. You know,
I wasn't really, like,
a pink person before this, but
I just realized it fits really well with, like,
my personality and with the kind
of vibe that I give off, you know, this, like,
carefree, whimsical, pretty, like, positive,
you know, and, like, bubbly person, you know?
So, yeah, it's definitely become, like,
a staple, you know?
And I recently did the split hair thing.
So my right side is
purple and my left side is pink, and that
almost adds even more to, like, this, like,
dreamy vibe, you know?
And you can shoot one side with
certain aesthetic and the other
side a totally different aesthetic. Right.
Well, man, that's when you can do the Gemini,
the split personality.
Exactly.
That's great.
So is there,
as far as what Chris kind of touched
on a little bit that I wanted to bring
back the values that you have identified
for what you're building. Have you? I mean,
someone with your
background and your graphic design,
I'm sure there's values
and concepts that you apply.
And I don't know, though,
if some of these you aren't,
that you don't want to share.
But I'm curious what
it is that you want to accomplish.
So the core values that fuel you,
that help give you direction in what you
are creating and the content that you create.
So it's interesting,
as I think about that question,
and I was actually just
thinking about how what I do,
how it is influenced or how it was related.
How is related to graphic design.
And in a way,
I think I've always rebelled.
I think that I almost am rebelling
against that graphic design, you know, that
graphic designer that I was and, well, I am.
I still do it, you know?
And graphic design is basically all about.
It's different from art, where it's.
It's all about rules and it's
all about structure and
grids and clear communication,
and that is graphic design.
And it's funny because I've spent
so many years of my life doing that,
where it's a part of who I am,
but I'm also just kind of like, fuck the rules.
I've never liked rules.
I don't like arbitrary rules. You know,
I want to.
I want to do my own thing. I
was tired of following the rules all the time.
And now I'm like,
this is my outlet where
I'm going to do what I want to do.
If I don't feel like following the rules, I'm
not going to follow the rules. I think that,
in a way,
that's what also makes melogy stand out, too,
is because it's like.
It's very, like, sporadic, and, you know,
there really isn't a. A very, like,
serious structure to it. I mean,
besides kind
of having a very pink and, like, happy vibe.
Yeah.
Well, here's something I really like about
what you were saying is it sounds
like one of your core values
is aligned to being authentically you. Right.
And one of the reasons we decided, Frank and I,
to start this podcast was to
actually find people exactly like you
that are of doing them and finding a way
to do them in a way that actually turns
them into a brand or something that
can actually support them and make money.
Because I think there's a lot of
people that don't realize that
it's possible nowadays to do that.
As you were saying, the rules,
you have to follow the rules and go out there
and go to school and get a job and go this.
And all these rules from the past that were
given to us are now becoming uprooted and
shifted and changed in today's environment.
And I really think that there's so many
examples of people who are making what they
want and it's working for them and they're
finding their audience and people are getting
excited to support what they really love.
And I want to highlight that and ideally also
hear from how people like you are doing it
so that others can be inspired to do it, too.
Oh, my gosh. Absolutely. I think
that you really hit the nail
on the head there. Or, you know, we've, like,
grown up our whole lives
being told to follow the rules,
and we have these expectations.
We go to school,
we go to college, we graduate,
we get a job.
When we do this, we do that. And, you know,
and that's just like,
what we think is the path to success.
But it's really not. Sometimes, like,
you just have to do the scary thing and say,
you know what? I'm gonna. I'm gonna
not do that and see what happens, you know?
And I feel very, like, privileged
that I was able to do that. You know,
I think that ultimately the most important
thing is to really talk to yourself, like,
go inwards, ask yourself, like,
what do I want to do?
What are my dreams?
What makes me happy?
And I think that if you chase those
things within you that make you you,
I think that success will come because,
at least for me,
when I'm doing what I love,
when I do something that makes me happy,
I do a really good job at it.
And the world can see that. And, I mean,
I think that everybody has a unique
and special gift that the world needs.
I think it's doing a disservice to
the world and to themselves if
you're not really chasing your dreams.
Yeah, that is so awesome. I think that's
so important that people hear that.
One of the things I want to, I guess,
notice you said to go inwards
and to look within and to do that.
And what's interesting is in your story,
you not only did that,
but you also were, like,
influenced outwards by a lot
of things that were exciting to you, whether
it was like the harpist and the video game.
And I think that people have to be
willing to try something new to be able
to find the things that really make them happy.
Because it sounds to me
like you weren't going into this, being like,
I'm going to go to graphic design,
and I'm going to take the harp, and
I'm going to make everything look really good,
and then everybody's gonna. Yeah, you know,
it's gonna blow up on Instagram.
I've got it all panned out. Like,
no one has any idea that you were willing
to try stuff that you weren't doing before.
And all of a sudden,
it started to move in a direction that, like,
I call that
the flow of the universe. That's, like,
kind of trusting a little bit when you
go try something that you're on the right.
That you're on the right path.
Absolutely.
I think you're right that, you know,
putting yourself in situations where
you try something new is so important,
and it's also how we grow. You know,
if we're not.
If we're not doing new things,
if we're not, like, exposing
ourselves to new ideas or new situations,
we're not growing.
And I think if we're not growing,
we're not living.
I want to be living every day.
I want to be discovering every day,
and it makes me feel, like,
so alive and happy.
So I think that
everybody should try to, you know, try
to do, like, you know, a new thing, you know,
as often as they can.
And even if it's scary, you know, it's.
I think it's better to, like,
to just close your eyes and jump. Right?
Because what do you have to lose? I mean,
you don't want to be stuck in the same job the
rest of your life wondering, what if? You know,
I don't want to be that person?
I wanted to actually
ask a little bit more about your.
What you do is, like,
there's music that you put out,
but you've got so much
more than just that going on, really. Like,
you have a large discord community that
has now become pretty active and thriving.
And I'm curious about the dynamics of, like,
when did it become apparent
you should create that community,
and how did that process really go?
Oh, my gosh. So it must have
been a few months ago.
And I love
to communicate with my followers. And, I mean,
one of the really big driving factors
to Instagram and to my music
was being able to engage with
them and really get to know them. I mean,
I really loved messaging my followers, like,
one on one, and, yeah, just, like,
getting to know them.
But it soon got to a point,
as I was growing,
where it was really,
really hard for me to, you know,
keep up with the, you know, the same people,
you know, my followers, who, you know,
who I loved and, you know, would talk to,
but then all of these new people every day,
and soon it was like my mailbox.
It would just absolutely fill up. Yeah,
I remember at one point there
was something like 400 unread messages,
and that's when I was like, oh, my God.
It became really hard for me to do that.
And I also had these feelings of guilt.
Suddenly I was taking days to respond
to people instead of being fairly active.
And then it put
me in a weird place, too, because, you know,
it made me so happy to
have a relationship with these people.
And all of a sudden,
there was more of a disconnect because
I wasn't able to talk and foster
these relationships anymore
just because it was just physically
impossible to do all of that and, you know,
and just try to fit it into a day.
It was impossible.
So somebody said, well,
you should make a discord. And, you know,
and instead of messaging people like, you know,
one on one,
it's more of a community.
So I did, and it, you know,
like a pretty, like, slow growth.
A lot of my followers, you know, much
prefer the kind of one on one, you know, like,
messaging on instagram. But, like,
a fair amount have come over to discord,
and we really have created
this really wonderful and fun community.
We have movie nights, you know,
and it's just kind of a very,
very open and accepting atmosphere where people
can share whatever they want and, you know,
be as quirky and creative
and weird or whatever they want.
And it's just like, it's just, like,
totally accepted. And, I mean, I love that.
That's another thing.
I wasn't expecting
to come out of this, but, you know,
a few people have told me that, you know,
especially during the pandemic,
it's really hard to have that
sense of community and that, like, you know,
my discord has been, like,
really helpful to some people and, you know,
kind of like being that.
So that that makes
you really happy to hear that. You're right.
I it's not just harp music.
It's more than that,
and it's still growing every day.
I'm curious for building a community.
If someone else was wanting
to do what you've done because
you've done it fairly successfully,
what advice would you give
them if they wanted to build out
a community like you have on discord?
Let's see.
It's important to have
a following outside of discord first. Like,
I think it would be
really hard to just write, like,
to just make a discord without already
having a little bit of a following, I think.
Totally.
I don't even know how, actually. Like,
I know that there's kind of, like,
I know that there's a search bar, like,
in Discord channels and stuff,
but I've never used it.
And I don't know,
I think that it's important to
already have that connection
outside of discord to be able to, like,
kind of come from someplace
and then use discord as a.
Like a house, you know, where every.
People come from all
over to kind of, like, congregate and, like,
check in or,
like a communal house,
a communal space or. Yeah,
people could come and. Yeah.
So you don't. They
don't necessarily just, like, walk
in your house off the street. They'll, like,
meet you somewhere else.
I really like that this is just a metaphor.
Well, I like the metaphor of the house
because it's not just because you do, like,
movie nights at the house. Right.
And people are getting together
on a regular night for a movie night,
or you have events or rooms
for people to be able to go hang out
in if they really like certain things. Like,
I actually think the house analogy
is a really good one for
creating a community and a discord.
Yeah. I also think that it's important to have
people who actively, like, supporting. Like,
I have some great mods because I can't
be on it all the time, you know? So it's, like,
nice to have. Yeah.
People who will kind of,
I don't want to say keep the show
going when I'm not there because
it's not like that at all, but, you know,
just to have, like, support.
So I'm really lucky where I have some. I mean,
everybody in my discord is wonderful,
all of the members,
but I'm very
grateful for my awesome mods. They're like.
I mean, honestly,
it really feels
like we're all friends or, like, a family.
One of the questions that
we end up asking people is,
what is some advice that you may
have received in your niche that
you think is actually terrible advice?
Okay. Oh, man. I have to
think about this one. This is, like, specific,
but I know that I have been given
some advice that it's, like, what? You know,
and I can't, like, think of anything, like,
specifically right now,
but I think that what's important is do.
Do what you want to do just because, you know,
receiving advice from people,
it can be helpful, but, like,
it doesn't matter what anyone else says, like,
do it because you want to do it.
And I think that the biggest
thing is to trust your gut, you know,
just if something doesn't
feel right or if they give you
advice that you don't want to do, like,
don't do it, you know, like,
it's not worth it.
And I think that it's something
that we all have had to learn, you know?
Yeah, I agree. Yeah. Yeah.
I think the older I get,
the more I trust my gut on things, because
the gut seems to grow with age, and, like,
it tends to get a little bit
smarter with age and experience, too. Right.
So trust your gut even when you're young.
Exactly. I think that the more we trust
our gut and communicate and listen to it, like,
the better we get, like,
communicating and growing with it.
So it's just like,
you get better and better at it. Yeah. And then
it almost just becomes second nature, you know?
Yeah.
Here's a question I have for you. Like,
what's the future for melogy?
Are you looking to potentially, like,
put out an album,
or are you looking, like,
compose music for a game or for people,
if they wanted it,
for their campaigns or something?
I'm just curious,
do you have any future aspirations in that way?
Oh, heck, yeah.
I have so many plans and, you know,
goals and dreams, and I.
That's why it's like,
melody is just a little bud right now,
and there's so much exciting potential.
So that's also why it's, like,
such an exciting time for me, because I could.
There's so much I can do and I want to do.
I absolutely want
to start doing some composition,
and I did.
I composed
a song a couple months ago, and that's, like,
I would love to release an album,
and people are always asking for, you know,
when is your album coming out?
You know, so it's, like,
something that I'm very,
very excited to start working on and plan for.
So that's on my radar. Absolutely.
Is there anything else that you really
want to do under the Melanjee brand?
It doesn't have to be music related, either.
Where else do you see it going?
I mean, maybe
there's something that you'd like to plug kind
of for your listeners to keep an eye out for.
Yeah, I'm gonna start streaming
soon on twitch. You know, that's, like,
another thing that everybody is asking about.
So streaming is kind of, like
that big goal that I've been working towards,
and I'm excited, you know, to
kind of have that melody presence, streaming,
and I think that that's also going to be
another way to kind of have a community
and to be more like, engaged, you know,
with my followers.
So I'm super pumped about streaming.
You know, things are, like,
opening up after the. You know, it's.
The pandemic is ongoing,
but it's not as closed off as we were.
And I'm gonna be playing, like,
different events. Like, I'm playing.
I'm actually playing, like,
a luciferian service in early fall. Yeah.
And people. Yeah.
And so there's a lot of, like, you know,
there's things in
Boston that are happening, like, live events,
so it's cool. Like, you know, right now,
Melody is all virtual,
and yet there's the real world, you know,
that has exciting opportunities, and, you know,
people are always reaching out to me.
So it's a.
That's a whole new
frontier of the real dimension,
melody appearing in the, you know, in
the body. So, yeah, so, I mean, gosh, there's.
There is so much that is coming.
That's very cool.
And it's so much of a testament to being, like,
if you put yourself out there and start
moving in the direction and again, like,
adjust as needed to grow and
get better and keep cultivating that,
eventually opportunities
come to you. Right. I mean, I know we. What?
We reached out to you to come on the podcast,
but I was going to guess that you've
probably had people asking you
to play or, like. Or, I mean, Lucifer loose. I
don't know how to say that. Luciferian service.
That's luciferian service.
I think I've said that.
Right.
But, like, that's got to be a unique, you know,
opportunity for them to
bring in a harpist to do that. Like, that's.
That's pretty cool, right?
You must spend. I mean, is it really? You
do have your hand in so many different things.
It sounds like you
are just very busy doing that.
Is it really busy every day? Like,
do every day for that?
Oh, every day, yeah. I feel every hour, I
try to be as productive as I can. And, I mean,
I love it.
It hardly feels like working, you know, it's.
But it's definitely.
It's definitely
a lot of work, you know, especially, you know,
reminding myself to, like, promote,
you know, or, oh, I have to, like, I have
to remember to post this, you know, on YouTube,
and then I have to post about
it on my other platforms to say, hey,
check out this video. So, you know,
that the self promoting
is one thing that, like, whoa, you know,
I could get tiring.
You know, you go, probably. Yeah. You know,
if you talk to my followers,
I'm not the greatest at it. It.
Somehow it works out of.
Do you have, like,
a schedule where you're like, I'm
making content between this time and this time,
and I do that every day,
or is it more free form
for you and you kind of make it.
Just make it happen based on.
I have a, like,
a little calendar thing, and I have.
I'm surrounded by four notebooks, actually,
as we're speaking.
I have notebooks everywhere.
I'm always jotting down ideas on my phone.
I'm more like, you know,
I'll have ideas or. Or, you know, I'll wake
up in the morning and I'll write down, okay,
I need to do these things today,
and I'll kind of give myself
just to keep myself, like, on task. Like,
I'll give myself, like, a range, you know,
I'll be like, okay,
try to do this.
This will probably take 3 hours,
you know, blah, blah, blah, you know,
just to kind of, like, keep myself accountable.
I definitely don't follow it to a, like,
the minute or anything,
but it just
kind of helps keep me motivated, you know,
as I'm doing this. Basically,
this is like a one woman show,
and I'm making it happen.
So I, you know, I use, you know,
I use things like calendars and notebooks as
just kind of like a little guide for myself,
but I don't adhere to the structures, like,
rigidly at all.
I definitely do my best when I have.
When I feel like I have, you know, what,
a fasten area of creation, like,
with limitless possibility.
And that's also why I'm
a little bit of a night owl. I love, you know,
just kind of having all night to, you know,
if I'm working on a new song and, you know,
and I don't have a deadline, I don't.
I can forget about time for a while and just
immerse myself in music or in art, you know,
or a new idea.
And that's important to me,
and I'm just so happy that I'm able to do that.
Yeah, I totally relate to that.
As far as, like, music
or projects or even editing these podcasts,
it's like the night is your friend.
You can just go until it's done,
and nobody's gonna bother you after, like,
a certain time, that time between, like,
midnight and 03:00 a.m. when everyone else.
I would never talk to someone at this hour.
I love that because you just
could be productive and get things done.
Absolutely hyper focus.
I probably pull about
one all nighter a week, too, so, you know,
and that's when I'm, you know,
the most productive and I get, you know,
I feel the most me, you know,
and the most melody, you know, it's usually,
you know, those all nighters, you know,
I love watching the sun
come up and sort of feeling like, you know,
I'm not adhering to, like, what's expected,
you know,
I don't have to.
I'll be a vampire if I want to be.
I hate watching the sunrise.
It's just a personal thing.
I just can't tell. Oh, no.
Oh, no.
I can't watch
the sunrise because then I've, like,
not gotten any good sleep.
So I would rather wake up
and watch the sunrise early than, oh, wow.
On the opposite. I could not. Yeah, I cannot.
I can't get up early.
I think the only time I could watch the sunrise
is literally if I just stay up all night.
That's pretty much been the
only time I've ever seen it either.
Because once you get into the flow of things,
you don't want to get out of it.
You got to keep going.
Yeah. That's how I've always been, too.
Well, I've heard from musicians and people
who do this kind of work that once you capture
the spirit or you've got your flow going,
you don't want to. You just, like,
when you're creative,
that's when you have to take advantage of it,
and you just got to do that until it ends.
And if you don't capture it,
it may be lost. Whatever.
That creation was going to be fleeting.
You know,
and it's something
that I can't pencil in. Okay.
From two to five today,
I'm going to be really creative
and compose a new piece. You know, it's.
I'm the type of person
where I need to have that inspiration,
that spark, and, you know,
and I have to really feel it with my heart,
and that's when the magic happens.
So I can't, you know,
I can't pencil in the magic.
Yeah.
I love that quote.
That's a great quote.
You can't pencil in the magic.
That's like a bad. I don't know.
It's like a bad pop song or something.
It'd be the kind of
thing on a Lisa Frank binder.
Oh, my God. Yeah. Oh, it's like,
written on a pencil.
Yeah. Right?
I can make that.
I can make that my merch. Like,
it's gonna be like my new merch.
Yeah, I think you should, actually.
It's like an italicized font with, like,
the quotations I'd buy that.
Someone's writing.
Yeah, somebody's writing it.
I get it on, like,
a hand towel
or something that I can take, like, when
I go to the gym and it's like, really, like,
pink and bright and rainbowy. Like,
have that around my shoulders.
I love that I'm just imagining, like, eighties
style art where there's, like, you know,
I could just like
that kid who's like the, you know,
it's like that school
portrait and he's got his, like, tuba,
but then he has, like,
his face, like, floating above, you know,
and then you have it in, like,
this dreamy type face.
I think if we make merch for every episode,
that's what's on the merch. So.
Yeah.
Which is the thing I think would
be really fun one day to be like,
every episode gets a piece of merch,
but we'll see.
I know podcasts that do that.
They actually have, like,
a piece of merch. Like,
they have a phrase or something funny
that comes out of whatever that episode is,
and it becomes a person.
About the logistics, man, I love it.
Oh, my God. I love it.
It's just like a big picture person.
I don't stress on logistics.
Frank's very much logistics guy,
where he's like, I don't know.
We could do that, man. I don't know.
A lot of work. Trust me, man.
This is the big picture stuff. This is.
We'll get them all in. They'll be excited.
They'll get their own teacher.
Yeah, okay, Chris. Yeah.
Okay, Chris. Yeah. Okay.
Empire, like, the whole thing
with nerdpreneur is kind of like,
the last guy we interviewed
was a guy who reads tarantulas, for example.
Oh, my God.
Completely, completely different
area than where we are. We interviewed.
We interviewed a board game designer.
We interviewed someone
who was an artist who does, like,
animation and d and d arth. Like,
I hear we have a magician who's a zombie.
A zombie magician coming up.
Are you kidding?
Because these are people
that are well known in their niche,
but a lot of other people don't,
are just not aware that it's a niche.
Yeah.
Like, you can
make money doing that. It's like, yes, you can.
There's so many things that's like,
that's really cool. Like,
telling me about the other people
that you're having on this show, like,
the person who breeds tarantulas. Like, I mean,
I love that because it's true.
Something like that is nerdy.
But I think that, like, the average Joe,
when you ask them when you say, like, oh,
what's a nerd?
Or what is nerdy?
Usually they think of something like.
Like what we were saying,
like Star wars or, like, somebody
who's really into math or, like, space,
you know, but nerdy. Like,
I think one of the questions.
How would you define a nerd?
I. Yeah. And I think I was thinking about it,
and I think that
it's someone who's. Who's just, like,
very passionate, you know, about, like,
exactly what this is all about, about a niche,
about something, you know, so, like, specific.
And they're just, you know,
their knowledge of it is, you know,
it's just kind of like their world.
So I think that, you know, anybody
could be a nerd and without being, like,
the stereotypical
nerd that we think of, you know, if you're.
If you're really into something, and. And it's.
And it's a good thing.
I think it's a great thing.
I love being a nerd. You know, I
I have books of medieval manuscripts, you know,
in my bookcase, I'm.
I'm a big art nerd, you know,
and I like weird music, and, I mean,
that's something I pride myself in, you know,
of my knowledge
and my interest in it, you know?
So, yeah, I just
wanted to add a nerd. You know,
one of the things that Chris and I connect
on is that a nerd is someone that, when you
talk to them about what they're nerdy about,
you see the light and
you see the passion in their eyes, and you
get inspired a little bit. You're like, wow,
I want to hear more.
I don't care about this passion you have,
but I care about hearing about it from you.
Yeah. Somebody who I can think
of in my life who had, you know, a major.
What's that word?
Influence on me growing up was actually my dad,
obviously influence, but, you know, he's, like,
the big nerd of my life. Like,
our house growing
up is filled with antique bottles,
and he loves history,
and he was obsessed with, like,
digging up old antique bottles that
he would located on maps that are, like,
100 years old or more on these really,
really old maps and, like,
and figuring out where.
Where he could find really,
really old things,
and he would do it,
and it was so cool.
Our house growing
up was almost like a bottle workshop, you know?
And he was like, he
had books all about them, and. And, you know,
and you can really, like, learn so much.
And he's the type of person, if, like,
you could ask him anything about it,
he's like an encyclopedia of information.
So I definitely get.
I definitely get
a little bit of my very intense, like,
passion nerdiness from him.
So your dad was literally, like,
a treasure hunter in some way. Like,
he had treasure maps that he was going, like,
x marks the spot.
He goes and finds about a bottle there somehow.
Yeah, that's.
So that's a unique colony.
Yeah. Like, usually along streams or, you know,
in New England, you know, especially
in the woods where there were farmlands, like,
200 or more years ago. You can.
You know that because of the stone walls
is how people separated, you know, their land.
And that's a lot of the time along
the borders is where people threw,
you know, their. Their trash, you know,
and stuff like that. So you can. I mean,
you could go there today,
and you could probably
find some really cool stuff. You know,
it's all about, like,
knowing where to look, but, yeah,
it's really fun.
Totally.
It is.
So now that you're
building up followers and you're. You're.
You're growing, I'm curious, like,
if you had a million followers,
what advice would you give them?
If I had a million followers right now.
Right now?
I mean, I guess, like,
kind of what I already
say to my followers, especially, you know,
if I'm talking to a follower who's
feeling a little down or they're, you know,
they're feeling a little, like,
directionless or they're feeling lost in life,
which I think is extremely.
I think everybody feels that way,
and I think it's very normal to feel that way.
And it's kind of a part of our human
desire to have direction in our lives.
I think that when we're feeling
a little lost or directionless is
actually a really exciting time. Because it's.
That moment is when, you know,
it's when the spark.
You know, it's when you have, like, the flint,
and that's when the spark happens.
You have nothing,
but then you have a.
You have an idea,
and it's basically
the potential that is so exciting.
So I think that people really should
trust themselves and figure
out what they want to do. I know I'm, like,
reiterating what I said before,
but really go after your dreams. Oh, my God.
I know. Everybody says that, and it's like,
nobody wants to hear that shit, right?
Because it's kind of, like.
It sounds like bullshit.
But I think that
there's different ways of interpret, you know,
interpreting that sentence to mean something.
Personally, if we're feeling lost,
that's the best time,
because that's when we discover something new.
So don't think of it as if there's nothing.
It's the opposite of nothing. It's everything,
and it's the potential for everything.
So I think that your mindset is important.
Try to be optimistic and tell yourself,
I am a person full of endless ideas,
and I have a unique brain
and something unique that the world, you know,
that I can offer the world.
And so really approach it with, like,
an optimistic mindset,
and you'll be so surprised
to see how far that will take you.
And you'll
be really surprised with yourself, too.
That's awesome. I mean,
I love the trust yourself in.
That is so, so key, you know,
to step out of anywhere where you are.
You have to trust yourself. And I hope, yeah,
I hope that everybody listens
to that because that's so, so important.
The, the power of mindset that you mentioned,
that is a huge thing to me. And,
I mean, I won't, I won't go off, but I really,
I'm really having to pull
the reins back here on all of this, like,
purpose and meaning, and I,
and I love it. And I,
and I also just want to call out
how cool it is that what you just said.
The advice you just gave ties into what you
were saying earlier about what really pulled
you into this in the first place was, you know,
healing and helping and engaging with people.
And the advice you
just gave would be something that's, that's
healing and helping someone that might need it.
So that's so cool.
I was just say,
following your heart, too, right? Like,
so many people are, I think,
afraid to do that or they're afraid to
follow where their heart is taking them.
And it's probably
taking you somewhere for a reason.
So you should try.
Yes, I absolutely believe it. Sometimes
we just, you know, and it's scary, you know,
having to kind of blindly follow
something through the darkness. But, I mean,
that's what the frontier is.
It's mysterious and it dark,
and we don't know what to expect,
but that's how we discover new things. And
it's like in a video game when you're exploring
new territory and it's dark on the map,
you have to just.
You have to just go right for it. You know,
there's nothing else you can do.
That's right. That's right. You can't.
And how boring does it get if you
just knew what everything was coming, right.
Imagine it's like playing the same dungeon
over and over and over again just because
you can't beat it is so frustrating
because you know what's coming. But that
first time through is, like, the best, right?
Because it's so much more exciting.
Adrenaline.
Some people love that.
Some people love going through the
same dungeon and dying over and over,
and those people love the game. Dark souls.
Dark scrolls.
Dark souls.
Oh, man. I tried dark souls. I was like,
that's not my game. I'm.
I want the casual playthrough where
I feel like a badass on the first try.
That's so much more my style. Style of game.
I like far cry,
that kind of stuff.
Oh, man.
Well, okay, let's.
I actually have one more thing to add,
if that's okay.
Go ahead.
Okay.
This is based off of.
I had a little, like, spark,
like moment when you said, frank,
you said
something about healing, right. And it, like,
related to what I had spoken about earlier,
wanting to, like, help people.
And then I realized that
this all stems from this sona,
the champion from League of Legends,
who was ultimately a healer.
And I really loved
having that role in that game.
I loved it, you know, and, like, I mean,
I was badass, too,
but I also loved
to be the support for my team. I loved it.
So it's almost just like, you know, before,
I was like,
I wanted to be a real life soda,
and it's almost like I, like,
have sort of cultivated.
Video games,
influencing real life and changing.
Who would have thought?
Do you play D and D,
like dungeons and dragons?
I do.
Oh, awesome. Well, it's just because, like,
we really wish more people who
play D and D had that mentality of, like,
going into a campaign,
wanting to be a support for
the other characters and a healer and, like,
play the game, because
we deal with a lot of murder hobos sometimes,
or people who are really
just looking out for their character.
At least that tends to be
the advice I often get asked on my.
On my instagram around dealing
with other players is how
to handle those types of situations.
So I just wanted to, like,
if you already play D and D, that is awesome.
And we want to applaud
more people to play D and D.
The way you're playing
D and D with that same mentality.
It's true.
There's players who.
I loot the body first, you know?
Although I wouldn't be surprised, Melanie,
if in D and D,
you totally flip the script, and you're like,
so I'm actually a rogue warlock,
and I survive off the sustenance of my allies,
so I actually take their life force to survive.
Then I would be like, wow, okay.
That was not seeing that coming,
but also kind of did.
Well, that's what D and D is great for,
is playing characters
you're not really like. So, I mean,
I love playing the people who get angry.
I love playing barbarians
because they get to be angry. And
I rarely ever in my real life get to be angry.
So it's fun.
Well, yeah. Let's go ahead and move
on to the next section here. This is.
This is what we kind of call it, random rolls.
And it's kind of, it's.
So it's a series of questions
that are less serious and, and fun. You know,
they're light hearted.
So we've talked
a lot about business and whatnot,
but in this section, what
I'm going to ask is for you to roll a D 100.
Do you have D 100 or two d ten s lying around?
I do. All right, I'm right here.
So we're gonna do.
We're gonna do a few of these.
So go ahead and roll the first ones.
Okay. I got 64.
Oh, perfect. All right,
so in dungeons and dragons. Wow,
this is right off,
almost like this was planned.
What's your favorite class to play?
Oh, definitely bard.
Oh, I mean, right on the money.
Did we have to ask?
Yeah, I know it's kind of boring to say that,
but I always love playing
bard because they're, you know, they're,
what is it?
They do a little bit of everything. You know,
I love that, you know, if I. If
I'm feeling like I want to be, like, versatile.
Yeah.
I love playing
bards because you could, you know,
you can be, like, silly. You know, I love,
I'm really big on the charisma,
so I love to, like, roleplay.
I even have, like,
little musical instruments that I'll, like,
bring with me
sometimes to our sessions. You know,
I love to incorporate little
props like that to make it fun. So, you know,
I'm that annoying player, you know,
who takes up the kalimba.
I may have broken out of kalimba or
two on one of our sessions, so that's awesome.
At least with a, with a bardeen,
it's like the prototypical support class.
It's totally in alignment with what
you've covered through this whole thing.
Before we move on to the next one,
I wanted to ask, because the bard,
there's often three types, I find.
There's the bard that is all about
being a performer for the attention.
There's the bard that kind of likes to go out
and make a story for themself and then there's
the bard that likes to seduce everything.
So of those three, definitely.
Yeah, definitely. Like,
try to seduce everything.
It never works.
Dungeon masters favorite.
But I mean,
you have to. I mean, come on. I love. I'm like,
you gotta make things interesting
because that's what makes it fun.
So I always try to, like, do. Do, you know,
kind of push it a little and make
things interesting and see what happens.
There are many ways to solve
a problem other than to swing a sword.
And a bard proves that.
Chris has done that so many times.
That's one of his best
ways to get out of a situation. Well,
let's do the next roll.
All right.
Okay, I got 49.
You get to hunt one X Mandeh with Predator.
Who are you gonna hunt?
Oh, I actually am not too familiar with X Men.
How about,
are you familiar with Marvel?
Not really. Not very much. No, unfortunately.
I hope you guys still want to do the podcast.
I don't know if you don't like Marvel.
Yeah.
Honestly, I'm disappointed now.
No.
Actually, I'm not. I'm actually probably the.
Between the three, I'm probably.
I haven't seen a Marvel movie in forever,
so I'm not.
Chris can't stand the movies. He's.
No, no, I love Dune.
I think it's really cool. Oh, Dune is cool.
Dune is fun. I recently, yeah,
when I saw the.
The movie that just came out,
it was awesome. Like, I, you know, I get.
I get very into things from, you know,
and I watched the. Oh, my God,
I watched the movie that came out.
What was it in the eighties? It was by.
Who's the guy who did eraserhead?
Where the heck. David.
David lynch?
Yeah. David lynch.
Yeah. You watched the 84 Dune?
Yeah. And that was like, it's so funny because
I know it is super controversial, but, like,
it's just so funny. Why, like,
David lynch became the director? Like,
it just seems very different from the,
you know, the. From the dune, like,
fan base. Like, it's like, what?
Okay, I have an interesting antidote,
anecdote about that exact thing. Cause, like,
dune is, you know, the iconic movie, right?
The iconic book from the seventies, right?
And Star wars came along and it, like,
blew up the Sci-Fi universe.
And then everyone at that time was anticipating
who's going to direct the next Star wars,
the Empire strikes back.
And they went around to a bunch of people,
and their number one person was David lynch
was supposed to direct Empire strikes back.
And then what happened was he said,
I'm going to go do Dune.
Oh, my God.
He turned it down because
he didn't want to do Star wars.
And we all now have this huge Star
wars universe that got built off of
the incredible awesomeness of the Empire
strikes back being an amazing movie.
And I can only imagine
if you watched the dune from 1984,
the tone and the discomfort that David lynch
makes you go through watching that movie,
it would have
just tanked the whole franchise. I think.
I think we're all very,
very lucky that David lynch made that choice.
He turned it down. Oh, my God. I. I can't. It's
really hard for me to imagine, like, star wars,
the Empire
strikes back with that dune, like, like,
1984 lynchian vibe to it. Like,
I can't imagine that
because it's just so off the wall. Like,
he just went so surreal, ridiculous,
which is fun, but, like,
what a different vibe.
And I want.
And I want to say something just, like,
we're not slamming David lynch as director.
We're just slamming that
movie for being appropriate. Because, like,
if you watch, like, Mulholland drive
or lost highway or blue Velvet, I'm actually.
I'm actually a huge David lynch fan. And if
you actually has a masterclass, if you. Okay,
Masterclass doesn't sponsor this podcast,
so buy it if you want,
but I'm not going to give you a code.
But the thing is that they.
If you actually
go to the Masterclass and, like, watch it.
He talks about how he's turning, like,
surrealist art because he was actually
a visual artist when he went to school.
And he's now turning a lot of that
expressionist or surrealist art onto film.
And that's why his movies are so distinctly
David lynch and distinctly strange.
He's a visual artist trying to do that on film.
Absolutely.
I do recommend people check out lynch movies.
Yeah. Oh, absolutely.
He is such a character. Like,
did you know that he has,
on his YouTube channel,
he has a number of the day where he, like,
rolls like a jar and out come these
numbers and he just reads the number and
that's the number of the day. And that's it.
And he does it every day.
And he's done it every day for years.
And it's just
totally quintessential lynch. It's like, what?
But it's like. It's like, wow. It's like.
It's almost like an art that, like,
transcends our world. Like,
we just don't even understand it.
It's like, so. It's just so, like,
high and mighty.
We will never be able to comprehend.
The lynchian mode
that's the point he's trying to make.
At the same time, I bet, like, he,
I will say he has. Speaking of atmosphere,
we've talked a bit about atmosphere
and music and how he creates such
an incredible atmosphere during his movies,
during his films, tv shows, using music,
like in lost highway still has one of the
scariest things I've ever seen in a movie.
If you don't like,
it's not a horror movie. It's just very,
very creepy and really, really weird.
But I'm not only going to tease it.
Cause I'm not going to go and explain
the movie and I won't give anything away.
I'm just going to tell people, go look,
go watch that movie.
If you want something creepy or scary,
it's not gross, it's not that. It's just like,
you're gonna be like,
your eyes will pop
and you'll be like, oh, my God, that's creepy.
Is it like, psychologically creepy?
Psychologically very creepy. Like,
even in the first, like,
you don't even have to get through, like
the first ten minutes, 15 minutes. I'll start.
Here's how it starts. Someone
finds a VHS tape on their doorstep, they go,
they pick it up,
they bring it in,
they put it into their VHS player, and
it's just a film of the front of their house.
Oh, that's so creepy.
Yeah. And they're like, oh, maybe this is
just some real estate agent or something.
And then they go back the next day and
there's another VHS and they put it in.
And you're gonna need to watch
the movie to find out what happens.
I don't want to give any more,
but it's like, it's,
it's like the first 20 minutes.
I highly recommend going
in there and checking it out.
He's creates such crazy atmosphere.
Oh, my gosh, it's so, like, psychological.
You know,
you were talking about, like, the music, like,
vibes of his films.
I was thinking about Twin Peaks, you know,
his famous show from the
nineties and that and the musical, like, the
whole kind of feel of it is this mysterious,
kind of dismal, eerie vibe.
And the sound, the music,
the soundtrack to it
is like such a perfect accompaniment, you know,
I'm probably going to listen to that, like,
right after this,
but it's just like, it's so creepy.
And I actually was going to do a harp cover
of it just to see how it would sound.
Yeah, do it, do it.
Well, I'll go ahead and take the moment here.
We can now transition from the
random rolls to the final section here.
This is called the rapid fire,
so pretty much these are quicker questions.
They're also silly,
but they're designed to get
one or three word answers out of you.
And sometimes we might be really
curious and try to go more in depth.
My favorite one to start
off with is coffee or tea.
Oh, my God. I love both. Oh, I can't.
I can't choose.
I can't choose just one.
I love both of them. Is that allowed?
Kind of.
If you elaborate on,
do you drink either of them straight?
No.
Are you adding, like,
copious amounts of creamer and sugar?
I mean. Okay, well, I'll have green
tea with some honey in it, and that's, like.
It's one of my favorite. I mean,
I have tea every day, and
I have coffee every day, so I love. You know,
I love drinks like that, so it's. It's
so hard for me to say I'm one or the other,
because I think I'm both,
but I think if I had to choose,
I would say I'm probably more of a tea person.
I. You know what? I'm in.
I'm in that boat, too. Definitely.
I've recently started to like coffee,
but the thing is,
I don't like coffee straight,
so I'm more of a. Oh, I don't.
I don't like black coffee.
I can't do it. It's too bitter.
I like black coffee.
It's grown on me.
Good for you, Chris.
You can keep it.
I used to only drink mochas,
so I went through, like, a large
part of my life only drinking mochas, like,
the chocolate and the sugar,
and I loved them.
And then I gave
them up for a year, just as, like, I'm gonna.
I swear I'm just gonna give them up.
I'm drinking too many mocha,
and then I got in to black coffee,
and now that's all I drink.
Do you add sugar to it?
Nope. Nope. I just.
Straight. Oh, wow.
It's like my scotch. I just, like,
I want something
that I can feel the taste, you know? Like,
I want to know that it's hard.
I just want to feel something. Damn it.
When you sip straight scotch
or straight coffee, you know, it's coffee.
You know, like, you got the. And here's it.
They always say on the side of, like,
the artisanal coffee is, like, oh,
it has hints of, you know,
rose petal and honeycomb, and it's like, okay,
I never noticed any of that.
But now that I've been coffee
for a couple of years. I'm like, hmm. There's
a little bit of this honeycomby taste. Like,
I like things you
have to work at to appreciate, and I think.
Coffee is one of those things. Wow,
so you're a coffee snob now.
I'm a bit of
a snob on a lot of things, unfortunately.
I try not to eat a snob, but I really.
I like a lot of that.
I am too.
Here's one in d and daughter.
Role playing or combat?
Role playing.
Yep.
I love it. I love, you know. Yeah,
I love, like, being with, you know,
a campaign with a group of people
who also like to roleplay. Like, sometimes
we'll, like, dress up, you know? I mean,
that's not necessary,
but I think it's just fun, you know,
I think it's really
fun to just kind of be goofy, you know,
and sort of take
on a different character. So, yeah, roleplay,
for sure.
Nice. And then I just. I gotta ask it.
Every time I see this question, I gotta ask.
Star Trek or Star wars?
Um, Star Trek.
Oh, you got winner.
All right.
No one picked Star Trek in our podcast.
Really?
You are my favorite, Melanie.
Thank you so much.
Oh, my God.
Okay. So many questions that
I want to follow up with, but I won't.
All right.
Except for. I'm sorry. Sorry, Chris. Sorry.
But who's your favorite captain?
I actually have only seen, like,
the one for the sixties.
I got my hopes up so high.
I'm gonna be right back.
I have to go cry in the closet.
I mean,
I really like Star Trek for, like,
what it stands for. Like, it's just.
It's super kind of, like,
ahead of its
time in progressive, you know? I think, like,
I love that every episode,
you know, that there's. I mean.
I mean, gosh, it's really, like, deep. It
goes beyond just, like, what happens. You know,
they deal with a
lot of moral complications, like,
a lot of stuff that we're, like,
facing today. Star Trek, for sure.
Oh, that's awesome. I've always been more,
and that's the reason I like Star Trek.
Star wars is, like, just flashy,
cheap stuff with lots of graphics, and, yeah,
there's lasers and great lights, but, like,
Star Trek has the confidence to just
take you down a long hallway
and not need all that flashy fate,
flashy fire to keep you interested.
They're just gonna, like, keep trudging.
And there's a few bad episodes.
There's a few bad episodes
because they're trying to do something,
but sometimes it is amazing.
And I think that's worth, worth it. Anyway,
you just found out we're both Trek fans of,
in case you weren't already on that,
but we've been having to talk about
Star wars with all these other people.
But we're a little bit excited.
We've had an actual. All right,
here's another one.
Here's a good one.
Because you have cats.
How many cats is too many cats?
How many cats is too many cats? Actually,
that reminds me of a quote
from an artist who I really like. I don't
know how familiar you guys are with, like,
art or illustration,
but there's this, like, a, like,
a gothic poet slash
illustrator named Edward Gorrie.
And Edward Gorrie did these, like,
really kind of dark,
gritty victorian illustrations.
And he
was totally an eccentric man. He, he, like,
collected cheese graters,
and he, like, you know,
he wore these huge, massive, like, uh,
fur coats. And, uh, well,
I I've always loved his art because
it was always a little, uh, like, different,
a little strange.
You know, I
love things that are strange.
I'm just looking at it now.
It looks a little bit
like Edgar Allan Poe was drawing.
You know what I mean?
Like, absolutely, yes.
I'm sure that he was, like,
very greatly influenced by Edgar
Allen Poe because he does a lot of, like,
poetry in kind of a similar way, but. Well,
he's very famous for this one
book called the Gashley Crumb Tinies.
And it's basically, it's all, it's morbid.
It is basically, like,
how all of these children, like,
die in very creative ways. Like,
a is for Amy,
who fell down the stairs.
B is for Basil assaulted by bears. Yeah,
but he just includes these
very charming illustrations
that go along with it. But it just, it just
totally satisfies any kind of, like, you know,
gothic y morbid.
Anyways, he has a cat. Yes.
And I believe his quote,
I think he said that anything
less than seven is not enough, and anything,
like more than seven is too much.
He was such a cat person.
He has so many, okay,
there's a lot of cat quotes,
but I think that.
I think that that's just like, it's so absurd,
you know, seven cats. Like, oh, my God. But,
so what was the question?
Yeah, how many cats is too many cats?
I don't think it's,
I don't think it's possible.
I think that you can, you know, like,
the more, the merrier. Cats for life.
That might be our top end answer so far.
As many cats as we can fit in a room that's.
That's the route you're going.
Okay. Gonna need a lot of litter boxes.
What is the most dangerous job,
in your opinion?
What's the most dangerous job? Oh, my God.
I don't know. Like, having a job. I don't know.
I don't really know how to answer that.
They were like,
pay you per hour.
That's. That's pretty good.
That's a pretty good answer.
Just having a job.
Yeah.
What's the best munchy?
The best munchy, like,
when you have the munchies.
Yeah. Or if you just snack food. I
just use the term munchy for me.
Okay. So for me, personally,
whatever what I crave,
I love edamame,
so I really love, like,
japanese food and, like, sushi, but, like,
at home, like, you know, edamame, like,
these, like, soybeans and. Oh, my God.
And so I have a bunch of bags
I keep in the freezer, and you just, you know,
you just take a handful,
throw them in a bowl,
toss them in the microwave,
and then they're great because
they're finger foods. You just, you know,
you use your fingers,
and you can dip them in.
The soy sauce is, like, my guilty pleasure.
And, I mean, that is, like, the only
and the best thing that I would
ever desire when I need to snack. It's like,
it's always that one thing that I want.
Yeah, we haven't had that one yet,
I think. Great.
Great suggestion.
Actually.
I'm looking for.
I'm looking for those munchies
that are not chips, so. Yeah, great idea.
Right? And it still satisfies that, like,
you know, that sodium, like, salty
factor because of the soy sauce. So. Yeah,
it does that for me.
Well, Melanie, where can we have
people find you and support you?
How can we get our. To your people?
Yeah, so, I mean, I, you know,
I use multiple platforms.
If you use Instagram, you
can find me on Instagram. And I post, you know,
I'm very active on there. You know,
I do a song once a week, and then I do, like,
a regular post, you know, once a week.
So I do two posts a week. And I also do, like,
daily stories and interactive things.
So that's definitely my main platform.
If you're on Instagram. Yeah,
you can search melody,
and I'll come up and same handle
for YouTube if you want to follow.
I would appreciate.
Yeah. If you wanted to follow my YouTube too,
because that's where you really get, you know,
my music, my videos, and then, of course,
my discord too,
if you want to, like,
be a part of the community.
Anyone can join. You know, we're, like,
accepting of anyone. Like, really.
So come say hello.
My discord is called melodies dream world,
and you can find it
by going to my Linktree website.
If you just Google melogy,
my link tree will pop up,
and it has all of my links,
and my discord is in there somewhere.
So you just click on the discord,
come say hello.
Awesome. And if people want to pay you,
money is there.
You said you had a Patreon and stuff, too.
Is that a thing?
Yes. I do have a Patreon. I do. Yeah.
Patreon is really big for me.
I have so many messages on Instagram.
The people who are my patrons,
I prioritize their messages a little bit more.
So I still make an effort to
talk to everyone. But, you know, people, like,
on my Patreon are, like,
actively supporting me and believe in
me and want to see my success. So I, you know,
so I like to engage with them. You know,
I make sure to really, like,
get to know them and stuff. But, yeah,
Patreon is great.
I do weekly doodles.
I have, you know,
I have behind the scenes of.
I do improv videos.
So I'm just like.
Or sometimes I'll record a practice session.
It's a way to see, you know,
the melody behind the scenes, you know,
the kind of daily life melody. So.
And I also send out postcards. Like,
I actually just sent all of my
patrons Valentines for Valentine's Day. Just.
Just something fun, you know, so, like,
little things like that that, you know,
to show my appreciation.
But that's awesome.
That does sound like some. Yeah,
some great stuff. I mean,
and you were a graphic artist, so you.
Your doodles aren't just stick people. Like,
what I would do.
Yeah, I'm actually. I'm also a painter, too,
so I do.
I have dabbled in
the arts my whole life, so, like, you know, I
like to draw and I paint. You know, I do, like,
pen and ink, so.
So Patreon is great.
It's a great way for me to, like, you know,
express a different side of my art.
Melanie, did you have a chance to think
about a song that you might like to plug?
So as far as, like, a celtic piece?
Yeah. Something that we could
end the episode on.
So I think I would like to end
with this piece called Carolyn's Dream.
And Caroline is a very well known in Ireland,
a very famous Irish Harper,
and he was actually a blind harper.
And I think. Yeah, okay.
In the 16 hundreds.
And he was a blind Celtic Harper,
and he basically spent his whole life
just traveling around Ireland with his harp,
and he composed music for people.
I think he's like the,
like the national irish, like, composer,
you know, like, he's done so many, like,
classic irish and celtic tunes that, like,
some people might be familiar with, but he's.
He's kind of like the holy grail of, like,
of celtic music.
So this is a beautiful
song called Caroline's Dream.
Sadeena,
sadeena,
Sadeena
keep it nerdy, keep.
It nerdy keep it real nerdy thank.
You for listening to nerdpreneur.
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Keep it nerdy nerdpreneur.
You know I love my work. Life's the game,
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Nerds deserve to put the passion first, so
let them rap a first so they can all be heard.