Happenings of the Month: September 2016

Entertainment of the Month:

• Movies/TV

To be perfectly honest, I can't think of a single movie that I watched this month, beyond one that I watched for school but don't really want to talk about. I've been so busy that I've hardly watched anything, which is depressing. So I don't have much for you. I will tell you that I'm excited for Hacksaw Ridge, releasing November 4th.

• Books

Captives by Jill Williamson is the first book in the Safe Lands Trilogy. I waited far too long to start this, and now I can't wait to get my hands on the other two books. Captives follows three brothers – Levi, Omar, and Mason – who live with their tribe outside the ominous compound known as the Safe Lands. All their lives, they’ve been told that the Safe Lands is dangerous and infected. All their lives they’ve been told to avoid it. But then comes the day when no one can do so any longer, and each brother must come to terms with a new world. For Levi, that means rescuing his fiancé, Jem; Omar may finally get his chance to fit in; and Mason will be plunged into the very heart of the Safe Lands’ system. I love Jill Williamson’s books, and this one more than exceeded my expectations. It’s an interesting dystopian concept, and the story is riveting. I loved the characters and can’t wait to see where it goes from here. I wouldn’t recommend this for anyone below about 16 or so, as it does deal with fairly mature content (although handled very well).

• Music

“My Victory” – Crowder – This song has grown on me and really impressed me with a powerful message about our victory in Christ.

“Classical Music Mashup” – Grant Woolard – This innovative video combines the music of several different classical composers to create a really neat, highly enjoyable finished product.

Corduroy Road – Adam Young – The latest of Adam Young’s score projects is called Corduroy Road and is based off Sherman’s march to Atlanta during the Civil War. It is one of my absolute favorites of the albums so far.

My Life This Month:

My lack of any movie-watching can be explained with one word: school. September has been dominated by college. Since classes started a month ago, I have been struggling to keep up, overwhelmed by my homework, concerned that I just might drown. Yet I haven’t; this past weekend, I finally found myself with a manageable load. It’s weird, because I’m taking fewer credits than I did last semester, but this semester’s classes are harder. I’m taking journalism classes for the first time, and they have been a handful. I’m being stretched, for sure, pushed to experience new things. I tried to resist it at first, which led to a not-pretty meltdown. In the past few weeks, God has been teaching me some things, though.

For one thing, He’s showed me over and over that He cares. I had a crazy amount of homework that was paralyzing me one night, and He gave me the gift of no class that evening. I suddenly had an unexpected extra chunk of time, which turned out to be exactly the time I needed to finish things up. Another day, I had an assignment due in a few hours that I was panicking about, and He gave me the endurance to push through and finish, even when I thought I couldn’t go any further. He provided a classmate with similar beliefs to eat lunch with. He’s taken care of so many things this month, as He always does, and in each instance I hear Him whispering, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

God has also been teaching me that I need to engage. I have to stop hiding in my little bubble, not touching the people around me. He created me to form relationships and to be present in people’s lives. I can’t do that very well when I’m scared of all the changes. I want to live as He created me to, supporting the community of believers and loving everyone I come in contact with. It’s hard. I’ve had some trouble with it. But I’m learning. Ever so slowly, God is digging deeper into the garden of my heart and planting good things.

I’m really excited about my Youtube channel, which will be up and running soon. You can learn more about it here. I’ve been learning all kinds of things about formatting and lighting. It’s a little overwhelming, to be honest, trying to find a good place to film and making the whole process the best it can be. I want to start off well. But I think I also have to give myself room to experience and experiment. I’m still working on that. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to getting everything started!

Other Web Happenings:

“The European” | Divine Comedy – As you probably know, I love the sketch comedy group Studio C. I recently discovered Divine Comedy, which is BYU’s comedy group and the place where Studio C got it’s start. Some of the videos go over my head, since they deal with with things familiar to Mormons, but this one is hilarious.

Is This the Single Best Way to Write Powerful Themes? | Helping Writers Become Authors – K.M Weiland has been doing a series called the Do’s and Don’ts of Storytelling According to Marvel, which has been a blast because 1) in-depth Marvel analysis and 2) excellent writing advice. This post is based on Captain America: The Winter Soldier and tackles the concept of including themes in our stories.

Year of A Thousand Words: Undaunted | Gillian Bronte Adams – In this post, Gillian takes on the concept of living bravely. I found it really inspirational, and it confirmed a lot of what God has been saying to me lately, as well.

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How has September been for all you? Let me know in the comments!