Most of the people whose Livejournals I follow are friends of mine, either in real life or online — people that I share interests with and have plenty to talk about. I’ve started following a handful of publishing blogs, and I might possibly have found several pug owners who post pictures of their dogs frequently. I even worship at the altar of the Comics Curmudgeon.
However, elysesewell doesn’t fit into any of these categories. She was a contestant on “America’s Next Top Model” — a show that I once watched approximately 3 minutes of, and if Elyse was a part of that, I don’t recall. A friend who does watch the show mentioned that Elyse blogged, and I checked it out; since then, I cannot wait for each of her posts. She writes about what it’s really like to be a model: sharing a temporary apartment in Santiago with five bulimic teenagers, the petty humiliations of casting sessions, and the absurdity of the fashion world. She’s worked on at least four continents since I’ve been reading, and she explores every city top to bottom, willing to eat the indescribable, take the metro with signs in a language she doesn’t read, and snap pictures of odd product names that misuse English.
And how can you not love a girl who poses for a snapshot next to every billboard or large ad that features her glamorously made-up face — flipping herself off?
Pretty much everything I love about Elyse’s blog is found in today’s post regarding her current assignment, a top-secret ad that I think is filming in Hong Kong. Read. Enjoy. And remember — your job’s not that bad.
Oh, hey! I’ve met Elyse. She is my childhood best friend’s first cousin. She was headed before med school before getting into modeling, and is a firecracker (like all the women in her family).