Manassas Journal Messenger | Father finally sees daughter on VH1
Felix Mediola finally got to see his daughter Kira on television after several disappointing nights waiting for her to appear on the rock video network VH1Classic.
A recording team from the network boarded the USS Nimitz in early November to tape sailors’ video requests that would air on Thanksgiving.
Kira Mendiola, 22, a petty officer aboard the Nimitz, requested Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”
Her request was supposed to air at 7 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
Mendiola watched for his daughter as other sailors, preceded by shots of the Nimitz at sea, shots of fighter jets landing on the Nimitz and shots of sailors doing their jobs on the decks of the Nimitz, appeared on the show to make their requests.
He stayed up half the night Thursday, remote ready, to tape Kira’s television debut.
He set his videocassette recorder to record when he got too tired and had to sleep.
Alas, no Kira.
The problem, Mendiola discovered later, was that there had been a scheduling problem at the network.
Mike Garvey of VH1 called, apologized for the mix-up and told him to look for Kira at 6 p.m. Sunday.
Mendiola readied his remote once again.
Kira didn’t show up precisely at 6 p.m., so Mendiola went channel surfing.
He switched back to VH1 Classic from a football game to see his daughter with Dee Snider, of the 80’s rock group “Twisted Sister,” aboard the Nimitz to tape the show.
But he was a little slow on the draw and missed a portion of his Kira’s request.
“Though I didn’t get to record the entire clip, we were still lucky enough to hear her sweet message,” Mendiola said.
Garvey called again after Kira’s request aired to see if caught it, Mendiola said.
Garvey also told Mendiola that VH1 was going to send a tape of Kira’s television appearance.
“It’s awesome,” Mendiola said.