awesome.js

(function () {
  
  var defaults = {
    message: "Waiting...",
    selector: ".text-selector"
  }
  
  window.thing = {
  
    initialize: function (opts) {
      this.options = $.extend(defaults, opts);
      this.$el = $(this.options.selector);
      return this;
    },
    
    show: function (opts) {
      var message = (opts && opts.message) || this.options.message;
      this.$el.text(message);
      // snip...
      return this;
    }
    
  }
  
})();