Script Intro

This is the beginning of my script, just to give you a taste. Formatting on here is weird, but I tried.

FADE IN

EXT. DAY - BEACH

It's warm. EMERY is sitting on the beach, looking at the water, the waves, digging her toes in the sand, soaking up the sun, not very close to the water.

EMERY V.O.

I love the beach... 

But I don't like the ocean. 

I don't like feeling like I'm not in charge, 

like I'm out of control. 

I love the warmth, the smell, 

the sounds, but I don't like chaos.

Pan or cut to BAILEY, ZOE, and LAUREN playing in the water. Focus on Bailey, laughing and diving and falling.

BAILEY V.O.

The ocean is what freedom feels like: 

it's wild and crazy and powerful, 

and makes me feel alive.

Script Frenzy Day 3

Day 3 and I'm finally off the ground! I didn't quite meet the quota yet, but I've been working on a lot of stuff in my head and on paper.

The basic plot:
We follow two sisters, Emery and Bailey, during separate post-graduation summer adventures, where they learn about love, life, and following their true passions.

Emery has just graduated from college pre-law, and has planned to attend Harvard Law in the fall. Her father is a lawyer, and Emery has always tried to do what everyone else says is right for her. She likes to be in control; she doesn't like chaos. Secretly, she's passionate about dance, but she doesn't like to tell anyone because it doesn't seem to be useful for her plans. She also doesn't want to date anyone because it would just get in the way and cause her to lose focus. She is staying with her aunt and uncle at their house near a Virginia beach for the summer. She's taking a dance class for "exercise." But she's going to meet Oliver, a musician/songwriter who plans not to plan. He goes where the wind blows him. His parents died when he was younger. He wants to connect with people and inspire and be inspired, but he is afraid of staying too close for too long.

Bailey has just graduated high school and along with her two friends is traveling to San Diego for a summer volleyball training program, before they start college there in the fall. Bailey is, under pressure of being a teenager and from her peers, is trying to push her limits, be a little wild. They experiment with a little drinking a little sex, but Bailey starts to realize that it's not fulfilling. She secretly wants to write; she's been writing poetry her whole life. After an incident that injures their car, she takes the car to a shop and meets mid-twenties Phillip, who is working his way through night school. He's a little older, but intrigued by her, sensing that there's more to her than partying like her friends. She is intrigued by him, not into the partying scene and working so hard for his passions. The summer results in some interesting experiences, including a pregnancy scare and learning the hard way about love and relationships.

The sisters are kind of different, and have very different experiences, but in the end they will learn similar lessons and grow as young adults, with at least one of them gaining a love to keep.

I'm excited to have this much planned out! I have 8 pages validated on the website right now, almost to my quota for today. Special thanks to Kylee for fixing my storyline problems and Lexi for helping me with some details :)

Script Frenzy Day 2

That's right, I'm skipping Day 1, because I didn't do anything :/

I still haven't written anything exactly, but I'm still developing the characters. I think it's going to be even harder than I thought to fit all this in, but I'm determined to give it a fightin' try!

I'm still mulling things over in my head, sometimes all through the day, so it's not like I'm doing nothing. I'll post soon about my story line!

Almost in a frenzy,

Jana

Where'd March go?

So apparently January was blog month for me. But now here I am, on the verge of April, and barely posting again.

I meant to post two blogs about volunteering with Extreme Makeover. That might still happen.

Lately:

SonRise is here again! We're in week three of practices, but for my scene (Last Supper) we're having trouble getting people to show up. We haven't made any of the none-speaking disciples come yet because the focus has just been getting the Jesus actors to memorize their lines, but now it's time to start building the scene! So I hope they show up...

Also, our final digital video production project has been assigned: community promo, and work with a real client. I'm going to try to do mine on Flag Camp, a campus ministry that plays with and worships with kids in low-income housing twice a month. This project is supposed to be one that we put in our portfolios, and it's worth a lot for our final grade, so I hope I can pull off a good one! I wish it was going to be done before my internship interview in Atlanta next week, but my other projects will have to suffice for showing off my skillz.

Last but not least, script frenzy starts this week! I haven't written anything creative, besides music, since junior high, so I'm definitely nervous. But I'm also getting really excited as I develop my characters! The timing of this event couldn't come at a worse time, but I'm gonna do it anyway. Even if I only get half to the goal (100 pages), I will feel accomplished. I'm glad I've gotten a few friends to suffer with me! I'll try to keep this updated on my progress through the month.

Let the chaos begin!

Please, come back for them.

Don't come back for me.

Come for the father who carries his disabled son through triathlons.
Come for the babies whose daddies don't come back from war the same, if at all.
Come back so my friend can see his mom again.
Don't come for me, but for them.

Come for the daughters who think touch equals love.
Come for the ones whose shattered homes cannot show them how to love.
Come back for the one who was so beautiful, then one car collision forever changed what's normal.
Don't come for me, but for them.

Come for the singing African babies, born with a death sentence.
Come for the ones who know nothing but hunger pain and cold concrete, just down the street from my hot chocolate.
Come back for the those who lived in shacks, and now the rubble of shacks.
Don't come for me, but for them.

Doubt.

Sometimes I doubt God.

I doubt why He loves me. People say, "He created you, so that's why He loves you."

I don't love everything I create. I know some people who hate what they've created.

Remembering that we are made in His image, that we bear resemblance to God, does help some. That feels pretty special. But it doesn't quite clinch it every time.

So in my mind, just because God created me doesn't mean that He automatically loves me.

But that wasn't all He did.

He could've just let us go about our sinful business, especially after we turned our backs on him, first at the Tree, and then countless times after that. Even after He gave humanity a second change via the ark. We messed up again, and He could've thrown up His hands and let us run a muck, or wiped us all out and started over.

But He didn't. He didn't abandon us, and he didn't give us a mediocre treatment.

He sacrificed His son, His only child, just so that we could be saved from ourselves.

And all I have to do is believe.

Believe through my doubts, that even those can and will be wiped away. Because belief is contagious. It's like anything you practice: the more you practice, the better you are at it. Especially, it seems, when you share it with someone else.

I think that's been one of my problems lately. I haven't been connecting with many people on a spiritual level. And isn't that the most important one? I know it is, but this thing called University Living gets in the way, but I'm tired of that being an excuse.

I'm also tired of the Adventist bubble. (This post should probably be separated into three, whups.) This has been on my mind a lot lately, and my friends seem to agree. I have never done anything outside the SDA world, except a one-week theater camp when I was 13. Don't get me wrong, I love Adventists, I believe in Adventism and our institutions, I am grateful for all my experiences and my upbringing, and that I have been kept safe in the bubble all this time. But I think it really stunts my growth sometimes. I don't want that to be an excuse, but I'm tired of trying the same old things and getting the same non- or blah-results.

A friend has encouraged me to go back to the basics. And when tempted with sin, to not focus on the sin itself, but the voice in my head that tells me I'm not worthy of God's love.

"Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." -James 4:7

The Message paraphrase says to "Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper." I like the imagery of a weak devil.

This is a little ramble-y, but I've just been working through some thoughts. Your suggestions and prayers and testimonies are welcome :)

Tangibility.

So I'm a very touchy person:

I can't cut the habit of twirling my hair in my fingers.
I love playing my guitar really loud and feeling it vibrate against my body.
I have a bad habit of fingering the remaining pages of whatever book I'm reading.
I used to crunch massive quantities of ice.
My number one love language is physical touch.


I'm also very into the other senses:

I have to smell new foods before I try them (IF I try them!).
I love to taste my favorites foods!
I love designing and appreciate good design, as well as using as many colors in my wardrobe and on my homework (what am I, in third grade? =P).
Music is most definitely at the core of who I am.
One word: skydiving!

I don't know if everyone else relishes being in tune to their senses, but I certainly do. We discussed in a class recently that the more sensory an experience, the fuller it is and the more it means to you.

I think this is one reason that, at least for me, it's so hard to trust God. He's not tangible. I can't enjoy touching Him; I can't smell Him before I take Him in; I can't hear what He says to me. As someone who relies on and enjoys my senses (I just twirled my hair), it's hard to rely on someone whom I can't sense.

Or can I?

Have I not stared out over a valley or a waterfall, in awe of what my Creator created for me to see?
Have I not felt God's presence when someone comforted me with a hug in rough times?
Have I not been in awe of the endless varieties of foods and combinations of tastes?
How many times have smells triggered powerful memories of spending time with God in the mountains?
Has a piece of music not stirred to me to tears, praising God for the beauty that I can hear?
Better yet, how many times has someone encouraged me or preached a sermon that has changed my heart?
Touched my heart?
That's the best sense.

And to take this one step further, from an earlier post, I can apply this verse:
"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 10:21