In the words of Asher Roth: I love college.

COLLEGE. Oh the sweet serenity--

I haven't written a blog since I moved into my dorm in Mobile, so I thought now that I have been living here for almost two months, it would be appropriate to blog about it. :)

Dorm life is one word. CRAZY.

I'm pretty certain that I have never heard complete silence for more than five minutes, but hey what you expect in a dorm, right? I had a roommate at first. She moved into a sorority house. New roomie. She's cool. It's definitely weird not being in my room in my house, but I'm used to my dorm by now. It looks ballin' in every way possible. So here's what you should do: get in your car, drive to Mobile, look at my dorm, then cry because it's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. Okay, just kidding about that. That was harsh. ;)

College band easy as high school band? HECK NO.

Band camp started bright and early on August 5th and I will be honest in saying I was petrified about that first day and the following two weeks. August 5th-15th, hardest days of my life. Period. Who knew marching band could be that complex? Now it's a piece of cake...I've gotten used to it. I've never been so mentally & physically tired, sore, and in pain. I'm cool with that though because I can tell my kids, grandkids, & great-grandkids that I was in the first ever marching band at the University of South Alabama. Nice. Indeed.

Them crazy academics (the reason some people think you come to college for).......

Lame. Baha, just kidding. I actually enjoy my classes this semester. I heard from several of my college friends: 1. Professors don't care & won't help. 2. Class sizes are like 34550639846 people to a class. 3. It's pretty much the hardest stuff ever. Oh how I love my friends, but they are so wrong. All of my teachers said they would help me, if I just ask, & they do care. My classes are basically like high school classes (in numbers). My biggest class is maybe 40 people. MAYBE. Okay, so it is hard. I won't lie. If you study, do your homework, & go to class then you won't have problems. I am in my first semester of college & I've already changed my major TWICE. I've heard the average amount of times that students change their major is like 8 times, well I've got 6 more times to change mine before I'm above average, but hopefully that won't happen. On my application I put Biology. Orientation: changed it to Biomedical Sciences. Doesn't that name just sound difficult? Yeah...I'm outta that. Now----Communication, concentration in Print Journalism. Now...I'm feelin that. Scraight up.

I'm thinking that I broke my college experience so far into three different parts.....yeah. Besides all of the AWESOMEAWESOMEAWESOMEAWESOME friends I have made, my second home other than my dorm is the BCM. It's the bomb.com. After you drive to Mobile & cry over my dorm, just go on over & visit the BCM. I strongly advise you to, because it's...........well I just said bomb.com. Duh.

Anywho, I'm outta here. I should probably crack open my Psychology book, considering I have a test in there soon. It's a bummer all these classes are messin up my college life. :]

Who comes to college to learn anyways...

Peace&Love,

Taylor

Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music.

Most people would say that a 16 gig iPod is big enough for them. Lately, I have totally been disagreeing with that statement! For the first time, in the history of all my four iPods I have had, I am running out of room on my iPod touch I currently have. It is such a tragedy. Really it is. Music is my passion, under my Savior of course. I had to make a painful decision to clean out and erase some stuff on my iPod. Ha!

I love music and all, but the music industry today has become so corrupt and immoral. Artists curse in every song, talk about drugs, sex, and what not, violence is illustrated, and overall most of it is just flat out nonsense. I used to not think about it, but lately it has just been bothering me. I have found myself turning every song on the radio that has anything bad about it and I enjoy this new habit. :) Please don't be misled when I am saying all of this and think that I am saying that all secular music is horrible. That is not the case. It just seems like nowadays when someone flips through radio stations (especially hip hop/rap and even country), you can't escape from bad messages in the music. Even though a song may have no curse words in it or even if it does and you don't "hear" them, doesn't mean it's good. For example, "LoveGame" by Lady Gaga, is an awful example of how corrupt songs have become. I don't feel the need to express the lyrics on here, but you can look them up if you want to. What is bad is that the beat of the song is so good, you just don't wanna turn it. The hook of the song gets to you and you want to sing it. This song by Lady Gaga is on the top 40 and she is becoming one of the most popular stars. This should not be the way to success.

I am not saying everyone in the world should just listen to Christian music the rest of their lives. I am just saying that most secular music is not good to live with. Might I suggest an experiment? Examine the songs you listen to every day, especially the ones that are most popular with everyone. Instead of just singing and enjoying the songs, also look up the lyrics and actually see what you are singing. You will be shocked. I am guilty of listening to these types of songs, because I am not a perfect person. I have definitely been more selective of what I have been listening to nowadays though. It's hard to not listen to what everyone else is listening to. Trust me.

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2,158.

The number of songs I had in my iTunes collection I had before I started my hardcore cleaning up process. I was determined to delete each song that had any curse words in it or had a bad meaning of it. Also, to delete any songs that I didn't really listen to anymore. What can I say...the deleting was hard. Some of my favorite songs were bad, which I am truly ashamed to admit. The songs I didn't listen to wasn't the problem. I cleaned up my library for a solid hour or more.

1,952.

What I am down to now. Scary right? I have deleted quite alot of songs. I still have tons, but it's just the fact I had that many songs that were not good to listen to.

206.

Many? Yes. That was the number of files in my recycle bin waiting to be deleted. I had 206. 206! Ridiculous. I am still not done with the cleansing process, but I am determined to rid my library of horrible songs, no matter what. It's difficult trying to find every one.

---My iPod is slowly becoming the best iPod ever! :D

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In my opinion, Christian music is the best. Some people will be like, well she's only saying that because she's a Christian. Well, yes. And because other things. If you truly enjoy doing something and have a passion for it, it will be extremely great. Right? Christian artists have the passion for music and playing it for God, their most important priority. To do something whole-heartedly, makes it the best possible and even better for the right reasons. You can hear the artists' hearts in each song they play. The way each song is written is totally different from any other type of music, from the lyrics to the literal music. You can tell. Not to mention, you can worship your Savior and get good messages through this music. What's not to like about it?

Sometimes, some borderline Christian/secular bands get battered with the same question: "Are you guys a Christian band?" Each band has their own response. Should it matter if which genre you are classified in? It doesn't. Most bands asked this question are truly Christian, anyone can tell that. Think about it...if you are a Christian, shouldn't it influence every single thing you do and/or accomplish? Exactly the same thing 99.9% of the bands asked this question reply with. I agree totally. A so called Christian band in the secular market is a good thing. They shouldn't just limit themselves to the Christian market when they could possibly reach others who don't know Christ and His love. I don't blame them at all for being considered secular. Some bands that are like this: August Burns Red, Flyleaf, Switchfoot, The Devil Wears Prada, Family Force 5, and even Relient K. I mean most Christian music listeners would be like well, they are Christian bands. Yes yes yes, and no. When a band says their members are Christians, people automatically think they are a Christian band. It could be both ways! If their lyrics influence people positively and inspire people, why would it matter?

I'll tell you what, I love me some Christian bands, but I also listen to secular stuff. It's not bad, as long as the music isn't bad. Or that's how I see it. I find no harm in listening to some stuff. Yet, I have totally discontinued listening to junk like rap, etc.

So, I totally wrote one BIG blog just on the battles between Christian and secular music. Wow.

Enjoy.

Peace&Love,

Taylor