Thursday, December 8, 2011

Phyllis & Bertie taking off

Life's been pretty crazy lately!

Phyllis & Bertie became real after months of joking aaaand

Went off to Arkansas on a song writing competition haha remain upppdaateed!

http://www.facebook.com/phyllisandbertiemusic





52-Week Project by bettinacassar

Monday, November 21, 2011

52- Week Project

So I was influenced by photographers and their 52-week projects i.e. a photo a week, and decided I'd do the same with my music this year :D [Vas put the pressure up]

Every week I'll be uploading some sort of recording, be it a piano track, a song demo, a composition assignment in progress, covers, WHATEVER :D Really excited to get it going and will hopefully keep it up! Woop woop let's do thiis!

52-Week Project by bettinacassar



Week 5: A Medley of Sorts [Fix You/ Never say Never/ Rolling in the Deep]
I guess my mood caught up with the rain and grey, cold weather this week.

:) Three amazing songs. On the melancholic side perhaps but hey :)

Sat at my piano in the dark and left the recorder on. Then had some fun with reverb and a few layers on Garageband, but otherwise it's pretty raw.


Part of my 52- Week Project on soundcloud.

http://soundcloud.com/bettinacassar/sets/52weekproject/

Photo thanks To Julian Vas! Check out his photos!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/julianvassallo/6350939364/in/photostream



Week 4: Philippa Cassar is my sister. I call her Phyllis. She calls me Bertie. We have embraced our sisterhood and here's the product :D ENjoy!




Part of my 52- Week Project on soundcloud.
http://soundcloud.com/bettinacassar/sets/52weekproject/

Love to all :)

Monday, June 6, 2011

It’s 6:00pm on my 24-hour clock, and I’m 18.

This is the age I’m expected to write daring articles, with material to be censored and views that would make my Grandmother’s jaw drop.

This is the age I’m meant to have strong opinions about irrelevant issues and no opinion about ones that matter.

This is the age some deep philosophy should have me confused and questioning, scandalizing any former ideas I once had.

This is the age it is. My passions and ambitions are as huge as any other student’s out there.

Maybe my message is just as outrageous.

What if my writings were not concerned with some new political ideas I’m becoming aware of; not bothering others with the two hundred and one million complaints I have to make; nor toying with the idea of a humorous, mocking article that makes me seem witty and intelligent?

What if the thing I think about and am passionate about is something so atrociously outdated no one would like to believe what they are reading?

What if my message,
my article,
my life’s thoughts,

were focused on
God –
a God I believe in.
A God who is love.
A God I believe is one and true and holy.
What if all I spoke about and stood up for is Jesus?

Would that bring enough feedback to my page?

What if I could just be real and say I am fascinated by a God who forgives, and loves day in day out ?


What if I admitted to over thinking everything; how conscious I am of what others are thinking and the way I look in the eyes of the world? What if I exposed how weak I am – rather than poking fun at some-[weaker]-one else?

Maybe then we’d realize we’re all in the same boat.
We’re all after the same thing.

What if I could smile because so much of the things invading life are meaningless?

What if I could show there is purpose to pain and hope beyond hurt?

What if I could supply care for that cross you voluntarily bare?

What if nobody knows no better because I chose to keep my Jesus-message to myself? No one else has written like this before. And I’m not yet a 50 year old who should be concerned with these religious matters.

Maybe my message is more outrageous than the rest because nobody else fancies the discomfort it would cause.

Where St. Paul went, riots were stirred; where I am, witty people poke fun at those less able to write, and then feel good about themselves - I just roll my eyes. An onlooker – I’ll just go on with my life.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Old Fashioned Splash of Thoughts

24-4-10

So now it's this time of year.

The tractor's noise is hard to miss;
not easily forgotten.
And it painfully seems to me,
an ignorant person in agriculture,

that it just tramples over the wheat,
crushes every stalk.

The long growing crops, that soaked up the sun
and the glory of standing tall,
together enjoying the beautiful spring days,
are now so very suddenly...

crushed.

Their purity ruined by a dirty machine,
dry, useless, crushed they lay there...
Waiting...

And it's just another step in the process.



I used to think one day I would become a motivational writer...so I'm writing a note to self.

Dear self,

A lot of effort went into these past 2 years. It's not worth giving up now.

You've strived and tried, listened and obeyed, and did the best you could. Don't let a pissy attitude get in the way now.
You have what it takes - the brains and the heart to follow in full faith God's will for your life at this precise moment.

They hurt you and offend you, don''t choke yourself to death. Don't allow their insensitivity to be the death of you. Nothing can dampen the Spirit of God that lives in you - He conquered the grave.

Be holy just as He is hoy,
perfect just as He is perfect,
in our weakness we are strong
because it is no longer us...
no longer Bettina, But Jesus, that is living me.

It would have been nice, if someone asked about me, but that's not what life's about right?


8-10-10


How can we listen
to recorded birds sing
or a stream flow...
But then put in headphones
whilst we walk past
the tree full of birds near the seaside...?

How can we do all that we do
and still feel we never do anything good enough...?
How can we look the way we do
and never feel beautiful enough?

How can we use laptops and phones
to talk to people
whilst being surrounded
by others we choose to ignore?

Some things in life we'll never understand.


19-12-10

I free my days
but i can't free my mind.

Sure I come before you
day after day,
but after that
my mind is elsewhere -
simply forgetting.

But how does that make any sense?
If i know just a tiny bit about who i'm serving and how fragile life is.


Like a fizzy bottle
shaken so many times
But never opened,
just flattened...
Until,
now,
nothing seems to fuzz me up anymore.


You can fail
and still be loved,

You can hate
and still be wanted,

You can stay silent,
and still be spoken to,

Because that's what love is.



19-1-11

I guess after a week
of just sitting across each other,
whilst we both cried in each other's presence,
without muttering a word,
to ruin the comforting silence,
the ice was shattered.

This week I guess I'm still sobbing,
but in Your embrace.

Perhaps still... words are too much,
But I'm in Your arms.
You're keeping me up.
Thank you for crying with me.

3-4-11

"The merits of the messenger may distract attention away from the message;
the bearer of the good tidings may stand too much in their way.

By contrast, the simplicity, the vulnerability of a messenger,
may highlight how immeasurably beyond him the mystery of the message he is called to proclaim is.

Jesus is more than a flawless model.
Flawless models are frustrating when we are unable to live up to them.
Jesus is more than a model.
He really saves. "