Topsy Turvy

January 6th is actually "Topsy Turvy Day," according to the song from the Disney movie.  Still, Madison found time to celebrate a few months later with this surprise before bedtime.  We told her to get into her pajamas, and here's how she came out to us:  all topsy turvy!  Yes, that's the pants on her head - and the pajama top on her bottom.  She was rather proud of this, actually.  She even wanted us to snap a photo, which as you can see, we did.  After such a frantic day like yesterday, today was certainly a more laid back sort of atmosphere for Madison.  Mommy spent much of the day doing all sorts of cleaning up from the day before, along with plenty of rest.  Lunch was fun, as Daddy came home and we all ate plenty of leftovers from yesterday's feast.

Daddy still had to leave to go back, and he spent quite a bit of time working.  Although he's not quite spending the night anymore, there is still quite a bit to do to keep him up late.  Tonight, Daddy was on the computer until about 3 am, typing up just one of the scripts for next week.

The messages are a different matter altogether when it comes to writing.  Those flow straight from the spirit and seem to just pour out once you sit down to type.  There is plenty of research involved, looking into Bible passages and stories - all made easy by some great resources on the internet.

Script-writing, however, is a different matter altogether.  There are a few methods used to attack the blank sheet of paper, which is the great white wall that blocks us from success.


1.  STORY:
First, there needs to be a story arc.  This is elementary, of course.  It needs to mirror the message spoken that day, whatever that may be.  As I'm generally the guy writing the messages, this is something I know well ahead of time.  With Summer Xtreme next week, I know all five messages by heart, so the writing I've been doing sort of follows what is being spoken later in the service.


2.  GIMMICK:
Stories are simple enough to hammer out - but there has to be a gimmick.  That's thing number two.  The gimmick is that exciting thing that captures the audience's imagination.  Sometimes it is as simple as the threat and future delivery of a pie in the face.  Other times, it involves props - like last week's skit where we had kids as elements:

There's always got to be a gimmick.  You can't have a skit without something to capture the kids' attention.  And again of course, you've got to have a point, or a bottom line.

3.  JOKES:
The final thing you need are jokes, and lots of them.  These are scattered throughout the skit, and fit in nicely with the dialogue, sometimes advancing the story along, and sometimes just thrown in for fun.  We make up jokes, of course, but you can't get them all from inside your head.  That's the interesting part - it takes research.  Tonight, Daddy was looking online for some fun one-liners - but he also had a notebook nearby with lots of jokes written in it.  You see, for the past few weeks, Daddy and Mommy have been watching shows like this one:

For the past few months, we've been watching sitcoms, but "The Suite Life on Deck" has been the most fun.  I'm not entirely sure why we started watching it, but we're now about fifty episodes into it - we've watched this a lot lately.  It might be the theme of a cruise ship - and Disney - which we'll be seeing in August.  The other reason is that it is a show directed at a younger audience.  Mommy and Daddy apparently have this sort of sense of humor.  And as Daddy watches this and other shows, he's always got a little notebook nearby to jot down funny one-liners or set-ups.

With an arsenal of jokes at the ready, there's a bit more confidence when facing that blank white sheet of paper.  Sometimes the jokes themselves start the story out in a fun way that is easy to finish.  Such is the case of the first script for Summer Xtreme - not so heavy on the gimmick, but the jokes are a mile-a-minute.  It'll be a lot of fun!