Music and Such.

I'm a huge music nerd. You can name almost any genre and I could probably pull up a song... or three, or more, that fits closely with that genre. I've recently started to write down songs I hear and like, or artists that I want to look up into what I like to call, my "Jam Book". Mitchell Davis, YouTube extraordinaire, inspired me to start this with his mini series:Taste Some Jams. Mitchell  has an eclectic taste in music and almost every album he mentions I have fallen in love with. A few other ways I discover new and exciting music are my Pandora, Spotify, and 8-tracks accounts. I mainly listen to what's considered indie rock, folk, some dubstep, and a little bit of top 40. I sing a lot, in my church band, on my free time, and in my school musicals. According to me, I'm not a very good singer, but I'd give anything to record a song with my friends and my band. I've always dreamed on going on The Voice or American Idol, but I know I'd be killed on those shows because my voice isn't strong, I don't have a weird vibrato, I'm really breathy and I suck at support, but I can sing in different ranges. I'm not bad at pitch matching either. I hope to continue singing and eventually become a better artist and possibly try writing a few of my own songs. If you want me to post a video of me singing, eh, maybe. I can probably record my band one week.We're having a 15 minute set because the lead singer is leaving and we're doing it as a "farewell concert". He's been with us for 3 1/2 years and it's been a great time knowing him. He's also given me great song suggestions.

And- I'm always open to new music suggestions and if you'd like to suggest any, feel free!

Hey Man, it's Summer Vacation.

At this time, my school is on summer vacation and usually, during vacation, most people don't go back to school. Luckily, I am not like most people. I am indeed taking a class during my summer vacation. I'm fine with being at school because that means I don't have to be home alone with my dog. There are actually activities to do here... Instead of eating all of the food, watching endless hours of T.V. or YouTube episodes, or just sleeping the day away, I am taking a class, a gym class, none the less. If you know me, which you probably don't, I hate gym class, I always have. The thing is, gym during a whole semester gets boring and difficult for an out of shape teenager. I'm not competitive or outgoing in sports... at all. At the end of my junior year, I signed up to take a summer school class called Strength and Conditioning, basically a weightlifting class; well, my luck, that class wasn't offered to girls, so I got put into Healthy Lifestyle, sounds interesting and fun, right? At first, I thought that the class would be like health, do some activities in the gym and then talk about how to live a healthy life. Not at all. This is what we do in class:

8:00- School starts
8:10- Attendance is taken
8:15/8:30- We go outside to walk around the High School building. Then we walk a specified route:

• Route 1: Down this curvy, hilly road, around Kimmswick, up Hwy. 61/67, and then back to school.
• Route 2: Down the same curvy, hilly road, through Kimmswick, around the Elementary School, down 5th St., across 4th St., back up the curvy, hilly road, and then back to school
• Route 3: Pass the lower tennis courts, up to the top parking lot, around the Middle School, down the sidewalk, around the Intermediate Center, and back up again. We do this circuit 3 times in a row, and if someone skips, or makes a shortcut, we have to do another lap around.
  (That happened today and it was the most infuriating thing I've ever had to do.)

9:45 (or whenever we finish the walk)- We get about a 30 minute break, that turns into almost 50 minutes, to cool down and relax.

10:50- Play some sort of activity in the gym, whether it be soccer, hockey, volleyball, basketball, parachute, bad mitten, dodge ball, or kick ball.

11:00- Lunch or if that's the only class, students can leave. 

I'm only signed up for one class, but I stay the whole day to aid in the library because our librarian is pretty neat. She's so nice and funny and personable, I'm sure I say that about a lot of people, but she's just great, and she obviously loves what she does. My job as library aid is to check in/out books from kids taking classes, shelve said books, run errands for the other teachers and just keep the librarian company.
Summer school is actually a lot of fun, but wow, walking everyday has brought me to the realization that I really need to work out and condition my body more. 

Who Am I?

Hi, I'm Marissa.

I'm seventeen, well, okay, I'll be seventeen the 27th. Senior in high school, Class of 2015... Class of the degenerates, more like it. I'm an honors student, and I enjoy volunteering frequently. I volunteer at my church, I sing and do childcare for anyone who needs it, I volunteer at the Connection in St. Louis City, we prepare a meal for the homeless and needy, and then we serve them, and just interact. My church also takes part in Serve St. Louis, it's different Methodist churches coming together to help the community as a whole; the  past two years, I've been in charge of making No-Sew Blankets for children in the hospital. 
Besides church and school, I actually have some free time. Whenever I actually have free time, I like to read, write stories, listen to music, do crafty things, and spend time with family and friends. I'm thoroughly obsessed with Twitter and puns. Those two play hand-in-hand quite often. 
My family is relatively large, so the odds of you knowing one of my cousins is quite high. Being of Irish and German decent, we are into big families and bigger family gatherings. 
Cooking is also something I love to do. Whether it's breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert, I'd be more than thrilled to prepare it. Every year at the end of each semester, I bake either cupcakes or cookies and pass them out to people in my classes who have made that semester fun and enjoyable. Nine times out of ten, I run out of baked goods before I get to my sixth class of the day. 

I'm looking forward to be sharing some of my life with you, and if you're slightly interested, follow along; you can laugh and cry with me.