Space Cowboys

Okay... you may not think this is funny, but I thought it was awesome. Tonight, I watched "Space Cowboys". I hadn't seen it, and it was on Netflix's "instant play" (best $9/mo ever!) so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Overall, it was a pretty good movie. It had a huge cast, too. But the one problem I had with it was that one of the characters looked SO familiar to me and it was driving me nuts!! I could not for the lift of me figure out what it was that I had seen him in. I kept racking my brain because he seemed so familiar to me but I couldn't pinpoint what movie I knew him from.

As soon as the movie ended, I hopped onto my computer and pulled up IMDB. (one of the best sites ever! Punch in my name - as Marisa Kelley - and see how many films you find for me!) I loaded the cast list for Space Cowboys, scrolled down, and whammo. As soon as I saw the name I couldn't help but burst into laughter. I felt like a fool once I realized who it was and why he looked so familiar.

This is Wiliam Devane

I didn't recognize him from some film or TV show - I recognized him because I worked with him for over a month!! I've never seen a single thing he has been in! His name is William Devane and I guess he was a bit bigger 10 or 20 years ago, but most people now don't really know who he is so it's not that humorous to most people. But I just got the biggest kick out of that. I think it was mainly because Space Cowboys wasn't exactly a straight-to-DVD type of movie. It was an A-list film and I worked with an actor in that cast!




I just kept randomly chuckling throughout the evening just thinking about it again. What can I say - I am easily amused! :) Anyway, there's my random story of the day!

Make Up Your Mind

Well, here's a funny story... and slightly embarrassing, but not really.

I worked the BYU Men's Basketball game at the Marriott Center yesterday. We got there at 12:30pm and started setting up. At one point, I headed for the women's restroom and there was a sign on the door saying that it was Utah State's locker room. I was slightly confused, because that is the restroom that I always use when working games at the Marriott. I began my search for another bathroom and soon came across another one. The sign on the door said "Men and Women." I thought it was just a small little one-stall but it was a full restroom with two stalls. So, I used that one all day instead.

We finished setting up, had dinner, and before we went on-air, I went to the bathroom. A guy was in one stall and I thought to myself, "This co-ed bathroom thing is a little weird..." (though when you think about it, it's really not that weird - we're just not accustomed to it). He left before I came out to wash my hands and I thought nothing of it.

I exited the bathroom just like normal, but as I was exiting, I noticed something strange out of the corner of my eye. The sign on the door had been changed: "Men's Restroom." I have no idea when they had changed it, because I had used it not an hour ago and it was still Men and Women... but I definitely walked straight into the Men's room and used it like it was nothing out of the ordinary! I suppose now that it's a very good thing that the other guy had exited before I came out!!

I was so confused, because I could have sworn that on my way to that bathroom, the other door still said "Utah State" on it, thus leaving the other bathroom my only option... apparently I missed the switch! Haha. It definitely gave me - and the other audio guys - a laugh though! I vote that they should have a restroom on that base floor that is just stalls - not stalls, showers, and locker rooms all rolled into one. It makes it really confusing!! :P Then again, I guess it can make for good stories, too!

Renewing Our Covenants

I gave a talk in church today on renewing our covenants. I'm one of those weird ones who actually quite like preparing and giving talks, so minus the lack of time that I had (I wrote it during work last night), it was quite enjoyable to prepare. I'm pretty sure I have never learned more from preparing a talk than I did in this time around.

Also, ever since I took a religion class at BYU (from Brother Bott), I have prepared talks differently. He heavily emphasized that you should have a good solid outline, but to never write it out word for word. I have done that for the last 3 talks. This one, however... for some unexplainable reason, as I started doing my research I strangely felt the need to write this one out. I don't know if it was for coherency's sake or what, but I wrote this one out.

So... since I actually wrote it and since my 'research' had so many insights I didn't even know about, I'm going to include it here. Enjoy.

Last week, Brother Cowley asked me to speak on renewing our covenants. Let me start off by asking, what exactly is a covenant? According to the LDS Gospel Library, “A covenant is a sacred agreement between God and a person or group of people. God sets specific conditions, and He promises to bless us as we obey those conditions. When we choose not to keep covenants, we cannot receive the blessings, and in some instances we suffer a penalty as a consequence of our disobedience.” 

The most commonly talked about covenant is our baptismal covenant, as that is the first of many covenants we will make in this life. It can also be argued that it is the most important because without this covenant, we cannot progress to make further covenants with our Father in Heaven. 

In Mosiah 18, Alma discusses baptism by saying, “Behold, here are the waters of Mormon… and now, as ye are ^adesirous to come into the ^bfold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

Yea, and are ^awilling to mourn with those that ^bmourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as ^cwitnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the ^dfirst resurrection, that ye may have eternal life.”

Brigham Young elaborated on baptism by saying, “They covenant to cease sustaining, upholding and cherishing the kingdom of the Devil and the kingdoms of this world. They enter the new and everlasting covenant to sustain the Kingdom of God and no other kingdom. They take a vow of the most solemn kind, before the heavens and earth, … that they will sustain truth and righteousness instead of wickedness and falsehood, and build up the Kingdom of God, instead of the kingdoms of this world.”


Now, when most of us hear ‘renewing our covenants’, we automatically think of our Baptismal Covenants. But as I started researching more on what exactly entails renewing covenants, I came to realize that it is much, much more than that. 


Each week, we are given the privilege of partaking of the sacrament where we are once again able to renew our covenants with the Lord. Now, if it’s not just baptismal covenants, what else is it?


In the March 1995 Ensign, John E. Mackay stated:

“According to our latter-day prophets and leaders, when you partake of the sacrament you renew whatever covenants you have made with the Lord. For example, if you have been baptized only, that is the covenant you renew. If you have received the Melchizedek Priesthood, you also renew that part of the oath and covenant related to your having received that priesthood. If you have received your endowment, you also renew the covenants associated with it. Further, if you have been sealed, you also renew that covenant. In other words, when you partake of the sacrament, you renew all the covenants you have made with the Lord.”


Reading this article was somewhat of an “aha” moment for me. I knew the purpose of the sacrament was to renew our covenants, but I didn’t actively think of or review all the other covenants I have made with the Lord while partaking of the sacrament.


The three main things we are reminded of in the sacrament prayers are to promise our Father in Heaven:

1. To take upon us the name of Christ.

2. To always remember Christ.

3. To keep the commandments of Christ.


President Ezra Taft Benson said, “We go to our chapels each week to worship the Lord and renew our covenants by partaking of the sacrament. … Our agreement to keep all the commandments is our covenant with God.”


Part of keeping the commandments of Christ includes keeping our personal covenants that we have made with the Lord… and sincerely renewing them each week.


In 1989, President Howard W. Hunter emphasized that our Father in Heaven knows us each individually and that the covenants we make with Him are all one-on-one. He stated,

“I have always been impressed that the Lord deals with us personally, individually. We do many things in groups in the Church, … but … the most important things are done individually. We bless babies one at a time… We baptize and confirm children one at a time. We take the sacrament, are ordained to the priesthood, or move through the ordinances of the temple as individuals—as one person developing a [personal] relationship with our Father in Heaven. … Heaven’s emphasis is on each individual, on every single person.”

In Virginia, I was one of very few members in my high school. A sneaky way I had of getting friends to come to church with me was “I’ll visit your church if you visit mine.” I remember going with my best friend to her church once. They also had the sacrament but the cups were passed around and each patiently waited until everyone had a cup in their hand. The pastor said a prayer and then, at his direction, they all drank in unison. It was a very weird experience for me to see 200 heads all go back at the same time. It never occurred to me until I started preparing for this talk just how important it is that we are given our own chance instead of partaking in mass numbers.

While we may all participate in the sacrament at the same time, it is not in unison. It is one after another… each with our own turn… each renewing our own individual covenants made with the Lord.

One thing we mustn’t forget though, is our attitude and our thoughts during the actual blessing and passing of the sacrament. I know I have been guilty on several occasions of letting my mind wander every which way while the sacrament is being passed. My mental checklist of to-dos, my hungry stomach, trying my hardest to keep myself awake… the list is endless. But the way we treat those few sacred minutes can and will make all the difference.

When I was in Young Women’s, one of my teachers taught an unforgettable lesson. She taught of the importance of reverence during the sacrament and emphasized that we need to keep our mind from wandering but instead focus on what it really means to be renewing our covenants. We should be thinking of our Savior and his atoning sacrifice; we should have the spirit of repentance in our hearts, and the determination to be better and rise from our past misdeeds. She recommended reviewing the words of the sacrament hymn during the passing of the sacrament to keep our minds focused. Ever since that lesson, I always keep my hymnbook open so I can re-read the words that were just sung.

The Gospel Principles manual also gives advice on preparing oneself for the sacrament. It states, “During the sacrament service we should dismiss from our minds all worldly thoughts. We should feel prayerful and reverent. We should think of the atonement of our Savior and be grateful for it. We should examine our lives and look for ways to improve. We should also renew our determination to keep the commandments. We do not need to be perfect before partaking of the sacrament, but we must have the spirit of repentance in our hearts. The attitude with which we partake of the sacrament influences our experience with it. If we partake of the sacrament with a pure heart, we receive the promised blessings of the Lord.”

Most covenants that we make are a one-time thing. Unless extenuating circumstances are present, we are only baptized once, we only go through the temple and receive our own endowments once, we are only sealed once, and so on. So how do we remember what those covenants are and what exactly it is that we promised our Father in Heaven if the ordinance itself is only performed once? This is one of the reasons the Lord has given us the privilege of partaking of the sacrament each week. If we forget our covenants, where does that leave us?

According to President Kimball, “Remembering covenants prevents apostasy.”  What happened to the Nephites when they forgot their covenants with the Lord? There is a reason we need to be reminded so frequently of what we have promised. Our finite minds require immense amounts of repetition to stay on the straight and narrow. That weekly reminder helps us to better maintain those promises that we made last week, last year, or 10+ years ago. Our covenants don’t change, the Lord doesn’t change – only we change. And it’s up to us in what direction we change.

In the April 1989 New Era, H. Verlan Andersen stated, “If … you live a normal life span, you will probably renew the sacrament covenant more than 3,000 times before you die. That covenant must be highly important to the Lord or he would not ask us to repeat it so often. But… if we make the same covenant that many times and then fail to keep it, what will he say to us when we meet him? On the other hand, if we keep it, we will obtain those blessings which are ’the most desirable above all things.’ ”

It seems that oftentimes many of us get into such a set routine that it becomes nothing more than ‘just another part of Sacrament Meeting.” But the sacrament is the whole reason for this meeting! It’s not ‘just another part’ – it’s the sole purpose. We don’t “have” to partake of the sacrament – we get to…so long as we are worthy. The moment you are no longer allowed to take the sacrament is the moment you realize what you have been taking for granted.

I had a close friend who once slipped up and was working through the repentance process.  She told me that it was the worst feeling every week knowing that she couldn’t take the sacrament and had to pass it along to the next person without partaking. She also had never been so eager to take the sacrament as she did the day her bishop told her she was once again okay to partake. She was absolutely overjoyed.

In a 1995 Ensign, Bonnie D. Parkin discussed the joys of covenants, and of renewing them. She asked, “How did you feel the last time you partook of the sacrament? Did you ponder those covenants made in fonts and within temples? The sacrament enables us to renew our covenants. Thus, if we keep those covenants with honor and exactness, we can feel as fresh and as pure as we did when we were first baptized. We can feel as committed to a temple sealing as we did as a new bride or groom. Covenants keep us new.”

Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of the opportunity we are given each week to feel clean again? Who wouldn’t want to remember the way we felt as we came out of the waters of baptism or after we came out of the temple for the very first time? The Lord blesses us with that opportunity – if we so choose – each and every week. It is our privilege given to us by our loving Father in Heaven to renew our covenants with him every Sunday.  

It is my testimony that treating this weekly experience – this weekly blessing of being able to renew our covenants with reverence and with sincerity will help us grow that much closer to Heavenly Father.  

 (PS, for those of you VA people who know the Quantico ward, that YW teacher was Betsy Garner. She probably doesn't even remember the lesson, but I definitely do)

Mics Coming Out of My Ears

I am currently sitting in the BYUB truck working at the women's volleyball game... getting paid to watch it. :) I love working sports. Although, I would rather trade sitting on my rump during the game (and working my butt off setting up before the game) to operate a camera (which is pretty much vice versa of what I just said). But instead, I have been catching up on blog reading of friends' blogs that I have failed to look at in several months. :)

Audio in the truck - that's my boss!

It's kind of hard to concentrate in here, though. I am currently looking at 13 screens. I believe 8 of those are the different cameras, 4 are tape (basically, the people who are in charge of getting the amazing replays in a game), and 1 is the on-air camera that everyone else gets to see.

I am also listening to 6-7 people talking... mostly at the same time. We have our two commentators more in the background, the director, the producer, the occasional random additional voice from the truck, and a few other varying people. It's kind of loud and chaotic in here during games.

I may have forgotten to mention but I have to give a talk on Sunday. This past week I went to ward choir for the first time in nearly 6 years and a member of our bishopric is in the ward choir. After we ended, he cornered me and asked me to give a talk on Sunday. The weird thing though is that while I normally don't mind at all giving talks in church (weird, I know), I just really don't feel like giving one this week. haha. Partially just because I'm wondering when I'm going to get it done!

I work until 11 tonight, have to be in SLC by 8am tomorrow, won't wrap til 9 or so tomorrow night and home around 10ish. Then I work another 10 hours on Saturday (2-11pm) and I made plans to go to the temple Saturday morning and then IHOP for breakfast.

My initial thought was "Hmm... well... I do have 1-2 hours while the game is in play where I could do some research and at least get started..." Yeah, not happening! Too much stuff going on and the director keeps saying random - and funny - stuff that makes it hard to concentrate on anything when he's cracking the whole truck up half the time (usually unintentionally... which is half the humor in it).

My absolute favorite game was several years ago and involved the A1 (audio mixer for the game) and the director. One of the girls on the soccer team had a really unusual last name and the A1 thought it was awesome so he turned it into the joke of the night and he and the director went back and forth the whole night trying to one-up each other with ways the name could be used. (ie: "Oh man... my back has been killing me! I think I strained my Kakedelis." or "That was so Kakedelis I can't believe it!") Okay, maybe it's not so funny to people who weren't there. I also don't know if this post will sound coherent at all since I feel like I am listening to (and watching) 27 things at the same time.

Oh PS, in case you were wondering why I just get to chill for the duration of the game it's because I am the "A2" which means that after I set every single mic, cable, etc for the game (which is WAY more than you think), I am just the A1's backup. So if a mic suddenly dies or something happens on the court, I run out and take care of it. Sometimes a game is flawless and I sit in the truck the whole time, and sometimes I actually have something to do. Tonight I have had to go out twice and fix something... so that's good... sort of.

Let me give you an idea of how many mics we have set up for a typical volleyball game...

Pistol grip for shotgun mics

-L & R shotgun mics (ie a very directional mic) - one one each side of the net. These mics have an operator and their sole job is to follow the ball wherever it goes. It catches the audio of a lot of bumps, pancakes, etc.
-L & R camera mics - there are usually 2 handheld cameras on the floor and each of those has a spot on the camera specifically designed for mounting a mic. These are used when the cameraman gets up close and personal with stuff that happens on the floor.
-Near net and far net mics - there are actually two extremely tiny mics that are placed on each end of the volleyball net to capture any movement involving the net. They're used quite frequently to catch the audio of a really intense spike, block, etc.
-L & R team mics - we have a small mic pointed toward each team to catch any good audio the team may be saying... these mics sometimes pick up rather colorful comments
-High L & R mics - there are two cameras high up pointing toward the volleyball court and next to either camera is a mic pointed toward the crowd
-High game cam mic - this one is new but the A1 wanted to test out a stereo mic next to game cam to see how well it picked up the crowd.

ECM 77

-"Snoop Mic" - this one is also new as of tonight and the name was created by the A1. Last game we worked there was a huge (and LONG) argument between one of the coaches and a ref... most of their discussion was in the perfectly wrong spot for audio and we couldn't hear a thing. So for experimental purposes, we put a "snoop mic" (one of the tiny mics) on the side of a table... just in case we had another heated discussion.

The total? 12 mics. Not to mention, the entire booth that I have to set up (where the commentators sit and communicate with the people in the truck). So yes, I work my tail off before the game and thus don't really feel bad for some down time during the game. :P Okay this entry is already far too long because I felt the random need to explain all the mics I placed tonight. The end.

I'd Rather Work, Thanks

Well in a matter of hours, I went from having zero hours of work this week to almost 40! Tomorrow is only 5 hours ("Fresh Take" - a BYU TV show), but Thursday is 10 (BYU game), Friday is 13 (Utah's high school football state championships - one game after another), and Saturday is another 10 (another BYU game). So that's almost 40 hours! Sweet!

And aside from the hour drive up to SLC, I am so excited for Friday because I am finally working CAMERA at a sports event! For those of you who don't know, even though I am predominantly an audio person, I much prefer camera positions to audio with regard to sports events. They are WAY more fun.

Thanks to my friend Aaron who told me that KJZZ still does cover games and that it's just a different guy who crews. Lucky for me, I actually knew the guy already (from a year or two ago when I worked games for KJZZ quite frequently) and even luckier - he remembered me. Yay!

He actually called to crew me for a game last Friday, but I was scheduled for work for BYUB so I said no... about 2 hours later, BYUB called to inform me that the shoot had been canceled. But by then, the position for the football game had been filled with someone else and I was left with zero work. BOO! For those of you on facebook, that's what my status was about last week. haha.

I guess that's all I really have to say right now. Without work, my days are pretty boring (and annoying and restless and frustrating, etc). But maybe we'll have some good stories later in the week. :)