I have always been a Handler fan. I used to catch what I could of her show "Chelsea Lately," and I have read one of her books, "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang." While I have yet to pick up her other four books, I did stumble across her most recent work. My best friend, Netflix, recently released "Chelsea Does." This documentary series follows Handler around as she explores a variety of aspects of life that intrigue her. Everything Chelsea does is entertaining in my eyes, but after watching the second episode of "Chelsea Does," something stuck with me about her currently documented shenanigans. The second episode, "Chelsea Does Silicon Valley," is all about her relationship with technology and how utterly confused she is about it. This made for a humorous episode, as Handler is horrible with technology. Regardless, she came up with an idea for an app and actually pitched the idea and then had it developed. The app, titled Chelsea Handler: Gotta Go! has since been released and is available on the Apple App Store. In the spirit of trying new things, I decided to give the app a go.

I knew what I would be getting myself into with this app after watching the app's segment in "Chelsea Does." I learned that Chelsea claimed that she absolutely needed this app so she could easily get out of any situation without feeling guilty about making up a lame excuse. Chelsea wanted an app with text proof that there was a rational reason she had to leave right then and there. The irony here is that all her app does is put into words, via text message, a fake excuse one could have just as easily word vomited to someone in the moment. Nevertheless, I was fascinated and decided the idea was one I wanted to explore further.

I searched Gotta Go in my iPhone's App Store, found and downloaded the app for free. Upon downloading Chelsea Handler: Gotta Go!, this is the first thing that popped up on my iPhone screen after launching the app.

I eagerly tapped "Let's Go!" and took to exploring the app's many features to see just how it worked. Below is the next screen that came up, what I presumed to be the app's home screen. The black text bubbles gave me basic instructions on how to operate the app's features and disappeared as I clicked through them.

I clicked on one of the modules, the yellow phone emoji square, to see what kind of excuses could be set up. Below is what the excuse creator looks like for this specific module. Here I had the ability to edit the color of the module, set up a contact who would be "excusing me," enter a start time and choose to have my excuse communicated with me either by phone or a text message.

While I did not test out the app in a real-life scenario, I did set up an excuse to see if it worked. Lo
and behold, it certainly does. Back on the home screen there comes a countdown until the excuse is sent and received on my iPhone. I set the excuse to occur one minute from setting it. Exactly one minute later, I got a text from my BFF about her missing puppy, Spot, and could possibly have been excused from whatever I had wanted to get out of.

So yes, you could easily set this up and use it in real-life situations. However, I cannot help but consider how ridiculous this app's purpose is. First off, people have been making up silly fake excuses to get out of things for years. Why people cannot continue to do so is beyond me. On the other hand, people should stop trying to get out of things this way! Why not be more honest with people?

If you're on a date that isn't going well, the polite thing to do would be to give the person a chance and stick it out until the end. You have no obligation to go on a second date after that! Perhaps you shouldn't agree to first date ideas that don't go on for hours in the first place, but that's an entirely separate issue. Continuously getting out of situations feels like cheating your way through life. Say yes, and embrace more experiences. Live through the not-so-fun aspects of life so you can truly appreciate the better parts.

In the end, I would recommend watching Chelsea Handler's Netflix series, "Chelsea Does," but I am not a huge fan of her new app. I see how personalized it is, specifically to Handler's wants and needs. As the creator, she is responsible for the app's purpose and it certainly suits her personality and lifestyle. I cannot judge her too harshly on this, as she always tends to stay true to her outlook and attitude. I'll let Chelsea Handler have this one, but I truly hope people give honesty and those not-so-fun life experiences a chance before running away from it all in the end.