So You Think You Can Watch So You Think You Can Dance? Yes, I DO!!!!

Whoa, Marissa's posting on her blog?!?!?! That's right, folks! Times a-changin'! Haha. I blame my lack of posting on Bobby because since he's gone, my life just isn't as exciting anymore. Yeah, you heard me, Bobby Luke. Lol! My life as of right now consists of going to work at BYU's Food-to-Go, playing Final Fantasy IX (thanks to Bobby for letting me borrow it), and watching So You Think You Can Dance. Which brings me to the point of writing this post. As many people know, (and what Bobby loves to make fun of all the time) I am completely and utterly obsessed with this show. And some people just don't get it (Bobby being that number one person). Here are my reasons as to why this show is completely BAMF and why it kicks other similar reality tv shows butts (such as American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, America's Got Talent, which all except maybe the latter just really suck.)



Ok, here goes, Marissa's Reasons Why SYTYCD Rocks My Socks:

1. The most obvious reason is that the dances that the contestants do are absolutely AMAZING! They usually have some sort of story behind the song choice and the choreography and those stories either make me laugh hysterically, keep me super enthralled with the piece, or move me to tears.


2. Cat Deeley's outfits. Ok, I have the biggest problem with the host, Cat Deeley, because she is seriously Britain's version of a white trash woman, and she's not funny at all and she tries to be. But, that being said, it is the most entertaining thing to see what she's wearing every episode just so that I can make fun of her! Seriously, whoever her stylist is needs to be shot.

3. Nigel Lythgoe is the MAN! For those of you who don't know, Nigel is one of the three judges every week and he is the show's typical British middle-aged man. (Come on, every judging show has to have one.) But unlike his comparable counterpart Simon Cowell, Nigel is actually a LIKABLE person! Not only that, but he's so funny! He pulls the most hilarious faces, critiques the contestants the way he sees it (which is not ruthless like Simon), and makes fun of the show's equivalent of Paula Abdul, Mary Murphy (which makes me laugh every time). For example, Mary once hinted that she might have gotten botox and pretty much every week since, Nigel has brought up botox in some form or another.




4. They have the best team of choreographers EVER!!! Mia Michaels, Tyce DiOrio, Wade Robson, Sonya Tayeh, Shane Sparks, to name a few, are all brilliant! Some have even won Emmy's for their pieces!



5. They give us a taste of not just your everyday styles of music and dance, but they explore other cultures of dance such as African dancing, Russian folk dance, and Bollywood! It's amazing!



6. They have the most likable contestants out there! Last year's winner, Joshua Allen was amazing - I've never wanted anyone on tv to win their contest so much as I wanted Josh to win last year!!! And it's just addicting to see every week if your favorite stays in the running!



Anyway, if you don't believe me, maybe you should just watch it yourself!!!! It's amazing, trust me! And I pretty much proved how much I'm obsessed with this show by posting this on my blog, but I couldn't help it! I had to make a point. Haha!

Aunt for the 7th Time!

My sister, Becky, had her fourth child last night! A beautiful little girl named Aubrey Paige! But, I'm excited because, 1. I get to see her over Memorial Day Weekend for her blessing, 2. the delivery went smoothly and both mommy and baby are great, and 3. my mom will be back from helping my sister just in time to see me and Bobby when we come next week! I was worried for a while because my mom promised my sister that she would help out for a week and we were hoping that Becky would have her baby early because we were going to be cutting it close if she ended up being late. But the Lord's looking out for us because my mom should be home the Friday we arrive in Spokane!

On a related note, this is the first time I have ever brought a boyfriend home to meet the parents (aside from high school, which really does not count). I'm a little nervous, but not as nervous as I was last week when Bobby met my dad. So, I guess that's good that Bobby met my dad when he came down for a business meeting because it took some of the pressure off and he didn't have to be overwhelmed by meeting both my parents and now he just has to worry about meeting Mom. Not that Mom's scary or anything, I'm just nervous because I've never done this before. But Dad really liked Bobby, so Mom should too! But then there's my little sister as well.... hmmm... let's hope Bobby's up to the challenge. Haha, he'll be fine. I love him, so my family should too, right? :)

Counting Blessings

So, despite last week and the week before with how stressed out I was, I survived!!!  Halleluia!  And now it is finals week.  Compared to all my projects that were due last week, my finals should be cake!  I'm really not worried at all, and that's kind of crazy, cause usually, I'm still freaking out when it comes down to finals.  Isn't that strange?  Hopefully it's a sign that I'm confident in what I've learned this year as opposed to being at a point where I just don't care about my finals... I guess we'll see.  

But yeah, in comparison to last week, I'm feeling very optimistic about my life at the moment!  I'm looking forward to my future and I am so grateful for all the blessings that I have received recently.  

Blessing #1:  I got a job!  I had been dreading looking for a job and every day that I would walk through the Wilk to get home, I would stop at a bulletin board that listed all the open jobs at campus.  I'd look at them and get overwhelmed at the prospect of applying to all these jobs that I wanted.  Finally, I was talking to my friend Sarah about it and she said, "Hey, we're hiring at my job!  Here's my boss's number, give him a call and tell him I sent you!"  Sure enough, I called and before I knew it, I had a job!  It wasn't hard at all!  And it would have if the Lord hadn't been looking out for me and answering my prayers.  I went to work today and it was great!  It felt good, and I think that I will enjoy this job this summer.  

Blessing #2:  I'm starting to get seriously involved with the theatre department at BYU.  I'm going be assistant designing two shows next year!  Makeup design for the opera, Tales of Hoffman, and scenic design for As You Like It.  I never thought that I would be helping out with the design elements of the BYU mainstage!  I always thought that I would be acting or just a stage hand of sorts, but the opportunity came up and I seized it!  I took a scenic design class this last semester and my professor told me that I had a lot of hidden talent and a lot of potential in the elements of design.  He told me that I just wasn't confident in my abilities yet.  He had one of the Heads of the department come into the class to talk to us and she said that all of us should apply to be assistant designers for next year.  It took me a while to think about it and finally I contacted her and told her I was interested in helping out with a show.  Well, low and behold, she gave me two shows to help out with!  Crazy, huh?  I'm so excited and this is going to look absolutely amazing on my resume!  What a great opportunity!

Blessing #3:  For a few weeks, I knew that my boyfriend, Bobby, was thinking about going home for the summer to get a better job and be with his family.  After a while, it seemed like it was the most likely that he was going to stay and I was so happy and excited to spend the whole summer with him.  Sadly, on Tuesday, Bobby was called by the company that he was trying to get a job with and they said they really wanted him for the summer.  I will admit that I was rather upset to think about him going away for the summer.  I've done long distance before and it didn't work out so well - it ended with me and a broken heart.  So, naturally, I had some irrational fears.  But after talking to Bobby and praying, I knew that this was what needed to happen.  The Lord has blessed me with a feeling of comfort and now, I'm completely okay with the situation.  Sure, it's going to be really hard to be away from Bobby for almost three months, but I think that we can do it.  It is also such a blessing that my parents are willing to pay for a plane ticket to send me to see Bobby for about a week.  That'll be so nice and I'm looking forward to meeting his parents!  I'm so lucky to have Bobby in my life and that is a huge blessing in and of itself!  

So, basically, I'm looking on the bright side of life right now and it feels great!  I need to remember to do that more often I think.  

Desperately Seeking Summer...

Okay, so I have to vent.  Even though I should be using this time to actually do homework and study, I have to vent in order to keep sane.  At the beginning of this semester I thought, "Yeah, I'm taking a lot of classes, but they're all pretty low-key considering that most of them are just one or two credits, so I think I'm going to be just fine!"  

I am not just fine.

All my classes, every single one, have me doing HUGE projects right now.  And they're all due in a week or two.  I am freaking out and in every class when they talk about it being due, I feel like I can't breathe.  Why can't they spread things out throughout the semester?  Why is it all due at once?  I'm so overwhelmed that I don't think I can handle it!  Seriously, it will be a miracle if I survive the next few weeks.  And it doesn't help that I am completely burned out.  I mean, I totally needed a spring break this year and I am so mad at BYU for being the one school to not have a spring break.  Yeah, I know that we get out earlier than everyone else, but seriously!  A couple of days would have been nice!  BLAH!!!!!!!  

And I know I'm complaining about the trivial and that things could get worse and that I probably put this on myself, but really... I didn't.  It's not my fault that my department likes to only allow a class that should be a four credit hour class to only be two hours so that they can fit more classes into the major... and it's not my fault that I'm taking so many classes so that I can graduate in 2 years even though I've been here for four...  Sorry.  I just really need the next couple weeks to be over so that I can be sane again.  

Sigh.  Wish me luck.  :/

Oh, goodness, I can't believe I just did this!

So, I've finally given in.  I have a blog.  It's just that we were talking about blogging in my Teaching Media in the Classroom class and I was like, "you know, it sounds really fun!  Maybe I should get one after all..."  And here I am.  I mean, I really like reading my sister's blog, and well, maybe she'd do the same.  So, Mani, this is for you, I guess!  Don't you just feel special?!  I hope you do.  :)  I'm not quite sure how often I'll blog, but we'll see.  Who knows?  I just might get addicted like I am with facebook.... uh oh.  I feel some sort of sinister foreboding a-brewing...