Marvelous Happy Things

Summer vibes and the arrival of HSM the Musical the Series Season 4 in August led to this ranking. My idea was to list all of the rankings in one post, but it will be too long. Songs are from the original trilogy. I'm starting at the bottom, and these songs are in no particular order. Sunday School Musical tier (yes, this exists)- Humuhumu song- originally only on the extended version of HSM 2, but now included on Disney+ *stuck in your head for days When There was Me and You- 3rd in Gabriella's solo songs. An impressive showcase of Vanessa's voice, but not the best in comparison. High School Musical (who says we have to let it go)- I understand the appeal of this being one of the few "musical style" songs in the trilogy, but I don't enjoy it.

 It's spring! Spring means wedding season, and for me, a reflection on 3 romantic comedies that have issues. *The following section has spoilers for Never Been Kissed, 13 Going on 30, and Something Borrowed. Never Been Kissed (1999) This movie loses a lot of romantic innocence because it has a lot of adult-teen romantic moments. The main character Josie pretends to be a teen for most of the movie even though she is an adult, and her brother does as well. Josie crushes on a teen for part of the movie. Her brother does stop the charade at one point as a teen girl is about to kiss him, but I don’t think it redeems the premise. Drew Barrymore plays Josie very well. If you took the student-teacher romance away, Josie and Sam could have a cute relationship. 13 Going on 30 (2004) Jennifer’s character Jenna is emotionally a teenager for most of the movie. She is friends with teens for part of the movie, and they don’t seem to notice. Her innocent reactions to the adult jokes help move the

Author's Note: This is a reflection of my grief in my community as a teen/young adult. This is not meant to be taken as advice. In the past decade, my high school community has experienced a lot of grief. We lost 2 grads and 1 current student before I graduated in 2014. A few years later, we lost another current student. Recently, we lost another grad. All of these experiences were sudden. Grief becomes a habit. I was not close to the 3 who passed away while I was in school. However, I felt a responsibility to grieve, even if it was only on the surface. Some of the community would question the circumstances behind these events. We would mention "living life to the fullest" to encourage each other. It was scary to see young life taken so many times. The community is culturally religious, so vigils and services were natural. These helped us connect with the families and celebrate the lives lost. Fellow classmates would come together to remember the person, then we would go

Have you ever shared a spiritual weakness or your spiritual journey with a large group of people (more than 2)? I have, and I regretted some of it afterward. For many young Christians in non-denom groups or church circles, sharing your "testimony" to a Christian group or a congregation can be a rite of passage. If you've never shared your own, you've probably sat in a sanctuary or gym and listened to someone share theirs. Often testimonies are full of vulnerable information about the person and dramatic moments in his or her life.  I didn't fully regret sharing my sin in the mission trip small group until a few weeks after the event. I was a college freshman attending a mission trip as a young adult leader. We were called to share our most prevalent sins with one another to show God's power and encourage repentance. I had not done this sin in a few months and thought it was gone from my life. I shared vulnerably with the group. Others told me afterward that I

 "Date someone at your church. I'm sure there's someone in the young adult group who's looking to date." "Group dates are a great way to get to know a lot of people." "Always carry money for a cab or prepare to call a friend if things go south." "Never meet him in a private place unless you know him really well." "He's a Christian-- so you won't have to worry about him making a move on you." Some of this advice is alright, while some of it is not. It's the more subtle situations that are difficult. If he isn't saying explicit comment x, y, or z, is he still "making a move?" Or is it a compliment? A difficult example of this is when comedian John Crist made comments to a woman while they were spending an afternoon together. She was later criticized by members of the general public for not understanding his suggestive meaning. Conversations about the current culture and dating safely are necessary, th

It's now December, and such begins the Christmas season hubbub. I'm quite behind  on finishing this Disney/Nickelodeon show rankings series. If you need something trivial to be frustrated about, then you can be angry with these shows. Or, perhaps you like them. Thankfully, I have 5 shows for this list. They are in no particular order. Sorry, Babe Shows (as in, "Sorry, babe. You didn't quite make it.") Fish Hooks (2010-2014) (moved at some point to Disney XD) I generally enjoy Kyle Massey's humor, but if you ask him to be the voice of a fish, then it all goes downhill from there. The animation was not compelling. Are they trying to make an off-brand SpongeBob show? (I know many folks in the Gen X/Millennial generations grew up with SpongeBob, and I mean no offense to that show. I'm making a point for a commonality.) A.N.T. Farm (2011-2014) The one redeeming quality from this show is the Halloween episodes (1 for each of the 3 seasons), which I am not counti