Monster, pt. 1

My thoughts echo in this empty room

As my spine chills from my heart-shaped tomb

I dream to be awakened from this nightmare

Until then, my eyes stare

From far away to a world unknown

A place I long to call my home

I remain planted like a seed among thorns

Dry, choked out, and longing for more

My apologies are only apathy replaced

Attempting to fill this forgotten space

There's one way out, but no way in

If I leave, I'll never see this place again

My monster screams for me to stay

And so I leave with no delay

peace, love, and rockets.

kae ricc

Long Talks on the Beach

It is so refreshing when you get to hang out with a friend you haven't seen in a while, and nothing really changes in the friendship. Each person definitely grows in some way or another, but it's so nice when the actual friendship remains the same.

I got back (20 minutes ago) from a short road trip to Naples to visit one of the friends I made in Sweden. He's from Minnesota, but he was there looking to transfer from the hotel he works at now to the one in Naples. Anyway, he is one of those friends that you can be super honest with and have really deep conversations and there is no judging involved but at the same time you can joke around and goof off.

When I arrived, we went out and grabbed something to eat and then took a super long walk on the beach around sunset (sounds romantic, but trust me, it's definitely not like that). First we were just catching each other up on our lives, joking occasionally, and then we just started asking profound questions. It was a really refreshing conversation, yet challenging at the same time. Eventually we went back and watched season 2 of Flight of the Conchords, called it a night, and now I'm back home.

I am so very thankful for the friends I made while I was at Holsby, and I don't think I will ever lose those friendships I have made. God has really blessed me with those amazing people.

peace, love, and sandy feet.

kaeli

Stress Less(on)

It's funny that Beth wrote a blog about things in her life being crazy. Well, not funny that it's true, just funny that I am also writing about how my life is crazy. Not crazy for the same reasons, but still definitely insane and stressful.

Over the last few weeks I have been under so much stress it's ridiculous. I was sick, there was a ton of work to get done for Amp'd, self esteem issues, I got dropped from a class and hadn't told my mom yet, I had a speech to write, a good friend and I had a fight, to name a few. I realize that without knowing all the details of the aforementioned situations, it is difficult to see the amount of stress I was dealing with.

It felt like every time something in my life got resolved, life would throw another deplorable curveball my way.

But God came through in all of those. My cold (or whatever it is) is almost gone, Amp'd was awesome, my mom and I talked things through, my friend and I worked things out, and the speech went well. It's like He's trying to teach me to trust Him or something. Huh.

peace, love, and lessons.

kae

So Stressed Out That It's Soothing

Remember how I was talking about the drama I was working on?

Well, after much searching, I could not find a song that fit the idea I was going for so I decided to write a song for it. Knowing I couldn't do it alone, I asked Kenny if he would help. So I started to write the lyrics, then set it down for a while. Two days ago, I started to get super stressed about this whole Amp'd thing because it was a little over two weeks away, and the song still wasn't done, let alone choreographed. So I did what I should've done from the beginning...

I prayed.

Not ten minutes later, ideas for choreography were flooding my brain so I quickly jotted them down on paper. Then I read it over, and made some changes. Then I flipped over to where I had started writing the lyrics, and words just started pouring out of my hand that was controlling the pen. Soon enough, the lyrics were finished.

Later, I gave it all to Kenny and he worked on the music portion of it. I went over to his house yesterday to hear it, and honestly, this whole thing has been a work of God.

God just brought the whole thing together so nicely, and yes there are still a few small kinks to work out, but God was really teaching me not to get so worked up over everything.

I guess I'll leave you with a little bit of shameless advertising:

Friday April 9th at 6pm, the doors open for our night of worship at Feather Sound called Amp'd. There will be music, and of course, the drama. I think it will be an awesome night and would absolutely love it if you were there. Start spreading the news (or if your pet isn't housebroken, start spreading the newspaper).

peace, love, and rockets.

kaeli

The List

What do you want to do before you die?

1. Form a band and make it big

2. Sing onstage with Paramore

3. Visit all 50 States

4. Hike the Appalachian Trail

5. Learn to surf

6. Swim with dolphins

7. Read the entire Bible in under a year

8. Get straight A's

9. Meet the Queen of England

10. Get a poem published

11. Pay for someone's groceries

12. Adopt a child

13. Play onstage at Cornerstone

14. Learn how to fix cars

15. Be fluent in another language

16. Lead someone to Christ

17. Build a house

18. See all my friends from Holsby together again

19. Be a vegetarian for at least a year

20. Participate in a protest

21. Eat sushi with Andy Samberg

22. Get a story published on MLIA

23. Attend Comic-Con

24. Smash a guitar onstage

25. Go on a date with Zachary Levi

26. Go as long as I can without sleep

27. Work on the A-Team at Holsby for a summer

28. Compete in a swing dancing competition

29. Break out into a choreographed dance routine in a public place

30. Sing the national anthem at a Lightning Game

31. Fall in love

32. Ride a horse again

33. Go cliff jumping

34. Write a song with Matt Thiessen

35. Act on an SNL Digital Short with The Lonely Island Dudes

36. Make a huge donation to charity

37. Get something named after me

38. Street perform and make $100

39. Do a back flip

40. Help The Buried Life accomplish something on their list

41. Take a ride in a hot air balloon

42. Visit the set of Psych and hang with the actors

This is it so far. The list is still growing, but I thought I'd share what I have so far.

peace, love, and rockets.

kaeli

The Buried Life

There is a new documentary that just aired its season finale last night called The Buried Life. It is a group of four (college-age) guys who got together and made a list of 100 things to do before they die and tour around North America in a big purple bus to cross off as many items on their list as possible. Anything from learn how to surf, all the way to play basketball with Obama. So far they have crossed 73 things off the list, and watching them accomplish six of them in the documentary was really cool.

But for every one thing they cross off on their list, they help a stranger accomplish something on theirs. It's really quite incredible, actually. They have reunited a father and son, helped a blind man get back on a horse after 21 years (before he became blind), and helped a ten-year-old girl get over her fear of heights.

Not only have they inspired me to start my own list, but it also has given me the motivation to do something incredible with my life. My list only extends to 42 so far, but I'm adding more and more every day, with full intent on crossing them off.

So now I'm asking you: what do you want to do before you die?

peace, love, and rockets.

kaeli

Amped for Amp'd

On April 9, 2010 there will be a night of worship type thing at Feather Sound. The A-Team is taking a bunch of responsibility to make this night awesome, and let me tell you, I am stoked. Nevaeh's Call is going to be the worship band for the evening, and I'm heading up a drama that I am currently sitting here, trying to write. I don't want to give too much away, in case some of the students read this, but anyone and everyone is invited to this, so I hope you can make it.

I am in charge of some of the decorating/painting, the drama, and possibly forming a band to open for Nevaeh's Call. And I have a month and five days to do this. Hahahaha.

The type of drama I chose to do is a drama without words - basically, choreography to a song. The hardest part so far has been trying to find a song with the right music and the right message. I've tossed the idea around of doing The Everything Skit and asking the original people to be involved, but with Kaydee in and out of the doctors lately, Brent not around this area as much, and some other reasons, I don't think it will be a good idea this time. Plus I think it'd be cool do something new.

I've been trying to find a song similar to "Everything" by Lifehouse because I love the soft, yet intense beginning that just continuously builds throughout the song, and then resolves powerfully at the end. I have had no luck thus far. Some songs are just too upbeat, don't have the right message, or I just don't like. Therefore, I have decided to at least start to write the song for the drama. I probably won't actually sing on it (and if I do, it would just be background stuff), but this way, I have complete control over the message, the sound, blah blah blah.

So if you get the chance, or have some free time on that Friday in April, we'd love to see you there. It's gonna be pretty sweet.

peace, love, and creative license.

kaeli kaeli bo-bailey banananana mo-mailey fee fi fo-failey... KAELI