Footage

So, since we are doing a Video Documentary about the Awakening Drama team, we shot some footage last night during a super short practice which consisted of taping four of our team members with an interview. We also came up with this great intro idea; I was sitting at a table with some photos behind me, there is music playing in the background and the picture is in black and white, while I silently act. It is really good! It turned out so great! and at the peak of a new measure, the screen blanks and screens in the title and names. I am really looking forward to the finished product, because even the intro is AMAZING! I can't wait to get it done and published and burned to a cd, well, Im looking for more music for it at this very moment, so I am going to head out of this blog for now!

Until Later,

Marissa

Monday moves to Wednesday

Our regularily scheduled practice, which happens every monday night from 6-8 and for precision dance till 9, in the Greenroom, is not happening this week.
Today is Memorial Day, and for some reason this also means lock you out of shopping, restaurants, coffeeshops, and churches day.

For this very reason, we will be rescheduling our regular practice for this Wednesday, from 6-6:45 and will take place in the greenroom.

And for practice, it is not going to be very intense, and there will be no precision team practice, just enough to record to get some video footage for our video essay. But, the practice will be good, it'll be short and sweet...

I am going to have a nice relaxing day today, one full of relaxation, friends and food...lol

Until Later,
Marissa

What Color is your Heart?

What color is your heart?

I just took a quiz on Facebook in which you answer the questions to find out what color your heart is...
Mine turned out to be Violet..which apparently means that I am;
resourceful, thorough, dependable, responsible, loyal, patient, placid, stable, sensual, affectionate, comfortable, solid, earthy, strong, money-oriented, practical, productive, cautious, musical, and artistic.
But that I can also sometimes be;
stubborn, indulgent, insecure, acquisitive, possessive, rigid, stodgy and slow.

It is actually pretty close to being my personality... Except for the possessive, stodgy, and slow part..but besides that, not much is off...

What color is YOUR heart?

Keeping my Mund Shut

It is in these moments; moments of confusion, moments of anger, moments of frustration, and moments when a friendship is being tried, that you really just want to give up on that person. The only word I have to describe the last school year is; BAD.
The quote that every mother says to her daughter or child for that matter, is that of "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
I can only think of not-nice things to say to her or about her, so...it is in this very moments, where My lips are sealed.

I choose not to say anything in defense of my reputation and my dignity.
Saying what I feel at this moment would only result in bad things.

My lips are sealed.

Really Random

My Brother is sitting next to me and holding a balloon. It's orange and has a face on it. He said that the face is me. Now he is laughing. My sister is the one who drew the face of "me" on the balloon. We are making a pizza. It is cheese. Mozarella and Cheddar and Colby. It is going to be yummy. It is really fun to make a pizza crust, because you get to spin the dough and throw it in the air. Everyone around me was screaming "AHHH, YOU WILL DROP THE PIZZA!" But I did not listen. I kept on spinning the pizza in the air. It never touched the ground. Next, we spread tomato sauce on it, and spread it around with a spatula. After it turned a shade of candy apple red, we applied the cheese shreds. There are now 5 minutes left on the timer, and it will be done then. I am super ready to eat the pizza...and am going to enjoy it because of all of my labor that went into making it.

Until Later,
Marissa

Car Venting Sessions

So, I always drop Leah off at home after practice, since her car has been broken for nearly the entire year so far. But, when I drop her off, we do a little thing called a "Car Venting Session." As I drive, we can yell, scream, cry, laugh, and kick things while we vent about the night's practice. What went wrong, what went right, what was stupid, and who was being an idiot at practice. It is really, the point that I look forward to at the end of everything. I am so sick of holding in every opinion that I have, and trying so hard not to say anything in front of team members, that once I reach for my seat belt. The moment I click it into place, it all comes pouring out. We've shed many tears, and laughed many times at people, and let out many a "UGH!!!"
Car Venting Sessions MUST be good for you. You don't hold anything back. You say what you feel and you just go for it.
I think everyone should have one night a week for Car Venting Sessions.

Video Essay

So, Leah and I are going to do a video essay for a project together. We decided that we should do it on Peer Leadership, and since that is what this blog is all about, I am going to show you the rough outline of the events in our video essay along with the interview questions we will be asking some of our team members.

• Video Essay Outline
  

*Introduction*
Us Talking/Quotes/Credits
Clips of Interviews or Practice

*Traits*
Confidence
Patience
Creativity
Leadership

*Downfalls of Peer Leadership*
Stressful
Not Taken Seriously/Not Respected
Not Mean Enough
Leading and Participating at the Same Time

*Accomplishments*
Final Performance Video
Final Look at Peer Leadership






(Place Video Clips where they are most important to the Video.)



Interview Questions-To Be Asked directly after Drama Practice

1.What do you Think of Peer Leadership?

2.What Traits Make a Good Leader as a Peer?

3.What Do You think Peer Leaders Are Faced With?

4.How Do you View Your Peer Leaders (Leah and Marissa)

5.How do you think that Practice went tonight?

6.What were the high points?

7.What were the low points?

American Idol Finale

So this is it.
The moment of truth.
This is what the American Dream is Made of.
Who will be the season 7 American Idol?
David or David?

So this is what it has come down to; David Archuletta and David Cook. Both are super popular (duh, top two in USA!!), and good looking, both would be able to sell records...But with two completely different sounds, who is America going to choose? David A sings mostly ballades, or gets criticized if he tries an up-tempo song, but David really usually sticks to Rock, and gets criticized for the ballades.

So much music, and so little time to vote. Tonight is the moment of truth. 7 o'clock pm, on channel 8 (for me anyways...But FOX).
Only time will tell what America is feeling right now...what do they want to hear on the radio? Smooth and swoony or rock and roll?

America, this is your chance to choose. Choose well.

My "Secret" Plan

So, I thought this was pretty funny, and just had to share it. This is the secret plan of my life, according to Kimmy. We were talking about how I wanted to be a music pastor, and she showed me a song that she really liked with the words "all rising" in it, she said I should write a song with the lyrics in it and then she came up with this life-goal-type of plan that I am now "on a mission" to follow through with;"You will make a song with the main Chorus of "All Rising"It will be put on youtube where Simon Cowell will happen upon it and make you a BIG star!For a year or two you will recieve tons of money for your work and then you will donate or give the government money to put prayer back in schoolThen you will spend the rest of your Blessed life as a worship leader!"So funny, and I sum it up as, by writing a song with the words "all rising" in it, I will essentially put worship back into school! That seems easy enough. The only part that may take some work is the 'getting simon cowell to watch and love it" part. But, Kimmy, I will do my best!!

He Loves Us

I heard a new song about a week ago, and I fell in love with it at first listen.
There are so many things that we love in life, boys, music, friends, family, and clothes are all some of the things that I love. But there is one love that is different than all of the rest. The kind of love that would give his son to die just for me. Just for you. Even though I am nothing close to perfect, and I didn't know him, he DIED FOR ME! And right now, as I listen to the song, I am so moved. I can't explain how much I love Him. He is so wonderful. It is in the small things in life, when I realize just how beautiful he is and how great his affections are for me. He is something that I cannot even explain. He is God. Oh, how he loves us. I know that I will feel similar to this when I fall in love with my future husband, but right now there is nothing compareable. There is a line in the song that says "I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way he loves us, oh, how he loves us, oh how he loves us, oh how he loves...and so on.
In life, you cannot resist the temptation to regret your past, at least in one or two ways. But when that feeling of love and forgiveness encompasses you, you would never change a thing. Because you would rather sink in His ocean of Grace once you've found it.
He loves us.

Sick Day

I am really not feeling the greatest. My throat hurts, and my stomach aches like nausea-type ache. I'm just going to take it easy until drama practice tonight. Hopefully I'm feeling better by this afternoon. Otherwise, that would be really bad. I have never missed a drama practice since we started it, and it's almost been like 9 months. But, anyways, I really just need to feel better.

Those days when you wish you could have gone to school, so that you are for sure able to do things that evening. Those days when you wish you didn't feel like junk so that you could be with friends, even though you would have had to go to school. Today is one of 'those days'.
I just want to stop coughing, stop aching, and feel better.

Until Later,
Marissa

Tears of the Leaders

The drama is coming along pretty well, and we finally got the "Tears of the Saints" song edited. I really am excited for our next practice, since it took us about three hours to edit and perfect the song. WOW!!! So, the next step is to edit and perfect our drama. Which is taking some time, but getting 5 steps better every week. We're making great progress!
As far as Precision Team goes, it is also very well. We are in the process of creating a super difficult dance, as a team, which has so far been really fun, and will probably just get easier and better. Every time we practice, we progress. Which should not be a surprise, as we went through a lot in the process of picking the best dancers, and then picking the best of those best, cutting about 17 people!!!! It was difficult, but I am glad that we didn't give any slack in the decisions.
We the people of the Awakening Drama Team, promise to do our best and entertain well. We promise to have a dance that will make you dance along, and have a drama that you will get very emotional during.
We promise this because we care, and because; that's what we do.
Until Later,
Marissa

My College Plans

For college, I am super excited to get started down the new path of life. The path towards adulthood. I really can not believe how quickly life is coming at me. I am very excited to find the plans that God has for me, and in what direction he is going to take me. I used to want to be a fashion designer or a photographer, or some sort of artist. God has blessed me with the gift of creativity. And I am still going into a feild in creativity, but I really think that I have been called to music ministry. This really excites me as music is my passion, and yet another gift that God has given me.
I have always written songs, and have played piano for about 9 years. I also play guitar and flute, and have a passion for singing. So, why didn't I see this career like, 9 years ago?? I am not really that sure, but all I know is that I am called to the music ministry now.
I really would like to attend Moody Bible Institute. It's located in Downtown Chicago (PERFECT!!!), and at Moody, they believe in their students so much, that they have been called by God into the ministry, that they pay for your tuition...that's right, no tuition costs! It seems to be falling together, since ever since I have heard of this college, I really haven't seriously thought of another.
I am so excited to see where my life is going to take me, and to experience all of the stops on the way.
Until Later,
Marissa

Thank God for In-Class-Blogging

I am so glad that we have had a chance to do some blogging in class. I really was worried that I wouldn't have a chance to blog again, since I have such a hectic schedule but that will no longer be a worry, since this week is coming to an end, and so, Saturday is on it's way...it's going to be a good day.
I really can't believe that it's almost summer we the Awakening Drama Team have many upcoming performances that are happening simply this summer alone. Such as;

• Loud (May 24th or that wednesday anyways)
• Summer Camp (June 18th-21st)
• We are going to a town that's about 3 hours away and are going to perform there for some sort of huge event they are having where about 3 cities worth of youth groups come together for a big conference-like event.
• Then in August, we are hosting a major event that is going to be SICK!! It's called Surge and there are youth groups coming from out of town, and possibly out of state. We are performing three different dances. One each night of the conference.

I really can't believe how quickly things are falling into place for this team. We haven't even had the team for an entire year, and we have already been noted as the 'best out there right now.' This is music to my ears since I am a total dance and drama fanatic! This is my life, and it's turning out to be pretty amazing.

It's Been A While

With all of the Stressors in life, who needs to blog? It's an outlet, yes, but also a time consumor.

It's been a while, since I last posted. There's been a lot of stuff happening in the last few days, but I'm okay. It's just been a lot of stupid drama. I have been tired and worn out the last couple of days, because of the lack of sleep and the craploads of homework. But, all in all, it's just been really hard to get around to blogging here. I have way too many things going on in the course of a week; drama, dance, piano lessons, voice lessons, work, church, editing songs, trying to work on making a mix for a new dance, guitar lessons, Leadership, and on top of that, this stupid drama that has been happening the last week or so, plus trying to keep up with my social life, so that in the end, I will still have friends!
UGH, Sometimes, I hate being so involved, but the relationships that I have come across, and the connections I have made, seem to be something that will be a very positive thing.

I will try to post again sometime this week, but it won't be today, since directly after school, I work until 6, and then at 6 I have a guitar lesson, until 7:30, which I don't even know if I'm going to go to it...but yeah, and then I really want to hang out with a friend who I havent hung out with in forevs!! IDK, Hopefully tomorrow, which is even less likely...Since I have school, then work until 6, and then a birthday party to go to, and then a middle school girls sleepover that I'm going to since I am in leadership...
SO, Whatever...we'll see
Until Later,
Marissa