Defying Gravity...yes, I'm flying solo!

Defying Gravity...inspirational in the title alone. This might possibly be my favorite Broadway show-tune. It tells the hopes and dreams of two best friends soaring above the status quo and the equilibrium of image and what looks right and doing right to look good. When I think of this song, I want to be on a broom, flying through the air with the wind blowing through my air, with no worries of being held down by social standards, but flying above those and being myself with my best friends, Kara, Hannah, Danielle, and my mom, next to me. Together, we can do anything and I believe that.

So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky!
As someone told me lately:
"Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly!"
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground me
Take a message back from me
Tell them how I am
Defying gravity
I'm flying high
Defying gravity
And soon I'll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No Wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down!

                 -Elphaba, "Defying Gravity" Wicked: A New Musical.

Running and Stepping Out

So I am running a 5K next Saturday through Cameron Park with Xterra. It kind of freaked me out to realize that it's only a week away. I'm planning a long run tomorrow afternoon/evening sometime. But even so, I have no idea what I'm doing. All I know is that I'm running. I'm running as fast and as hard as I can and surviving. When I run, I feel happy, at least if the weather is clear. I'm kinda nervous because I know that it might be harder than anything I have ever done before. I'm hoping that I will be able to finish. 

So RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) is participating in Stepping Out on Saturday. For my Aggie friends, it's kind of like Big Event, except there is this novelty called the Baylor Bubble and Stepping Out is a literal stepping out into the Waco community and helping the Wacoans for a Saturday morning. I've participated in Big Event before when I was in high school. Aggie students came to my house two years in a row and helped clear out behind our garage and build up garden beds. 

I am excited to be able to do something like this for the community here. And I'm even more excited to do it with my RUF friends. It's giving back to the community with our time and energy that we might be able to make a difference on Waco and those who live here.

Light

"And when the night has finally gone.
And when we see the new day dawn.
We'll wonder how we wandered for so long, so blind.
The wasted world we thought we knew,
The light will make it look brand new.
So let it shine!!" - "Light" Next to Normal

In a way, this can be how we looked upon our world before the Light of the world came into our lives. There was a wasted world, but the Light will make it look brand new when He comes in glory!

Church Pew or Bar Stool

This is the title of one of the Jason Aldean songs, from his album, My Kinda Party. Yes, it's a country song.

The setting of the song is a small country town. You know, like the one street, one red light. There's a verbal picture given in the lyrics of a mom-and-pop restaurant with the same four tricks out front on Friday night.

What really struck me in this song was the only two stereotypes that the town will accept. If you're not one or the other, you stick out and you confuse the other people in the town. You kinda feel like an outsider. There is a loneliness with dreaming big dreams of getting out of the small town.

When you don't seem to run on either side of the fence
People act like you don't make sense
These big town dreams that I've been chasing
Will never come true if I wind up staying
And I don't want to fall in, the same rut
That everybody here seems to be stuck in now
Why do I hang around
In this church pew or bar stool kind of town

                                -chorus, "Church Pew or Bar Stool", Jason Aldean My Kinda Party

You're either in a church pew or in a bar stool. You can't be both. You're stuck between these two sides. You want to get out if this kinda town, knowing you will be stuck there if you stay. You'll fall in the same rut of the people of the town, either sitting in the church pew judging the people on the bar stool, or on the bar stool judging the people in the church pew. You know that you'll fall and get stuck in the same routine of the rest of  the town, adding your truck to the 4 trucks outside that restaurant on Friday nights.

Dream BIG! Don't settle for the stereotypes. Utilize what you have been given by God, your talents, your personality, your will and motivation to work harder and pursue what God has put in your life. Dream BIG! Don't settle for less. For me, dreaming BIG and using the tools God has given me is glorifying God with all my energy. DREAM BIG!!!

Baylor Dance Company

So I just finished a practice with the Baylor Dance Company. We have finished dances and we are running them and having last minute rehearsals for small detail clean-up. I can't tell you how excited I am to be apart of this. Even though I'm just in two dances, I am super excited. All my friends have told me how excited they are...I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. But anyways this is my little shout-out to get people to come.

Hey ya'll, there is this cool thing going on Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 2pm. It's the Baylor Dance Company Spring Showcase. It's gonna be pretty awesome, not gonna lie. There are a lot of dances, choreographed by company members and guest choreographers. The company members have been a lot of time into this and it looks great. It's $5 dollars for Baylor students and $7 dollars for non-Baylor students. There are also guest performances of a choreography class here at Baylor as well as a tap performance from Baylor students. There are other performances from a local studio in town: Joy's School of Dance (where I work.) It really is gonna be good. If you need more information, there should be fliers around campus and look out for chalking Thursday. And if you see lots of girls walking around with purple t-shirts with a Baylor Dance Company on it, ask them for information. =)