no matter what it takes

I just got an instant rush of excitement for WIRED 2010!!!! I am beyond ready for it. The mission stuff around the Wiregrass. Worship. Bible study. AH YES! I'm mostly ready to see what God does in my life those two weeks. This camp is something I would have never had seen myself doing in the past. It's just not me. I've never been a leader in a ministry, never led a bible study, never outspoken like that. Being on leadership team this year so far has changed that for me! God is working in my life and He is shaping me into the leader He wants me to be. That excites me! Started reading, "The School of Obedience" by Andrew Murray. It's good so far, even though I'm on like page 10. haha. It's about having a full obedience for God and how to obtain it. Real good! Another book I'm gonna get-"The Missionary Call", by David Sills. Missions have been on my mind every day since I decided not to go to Guatemala on Spring Break this year, and that decision was in December. I am DETERMINED in every possible way to go this next year. Money won't be an issue and I know God will take care of that. My only worry is my parents. I'm pretty sure they would object to it. Some serious prayer needs to go into that...got my first paycheck from the Voice yesterday. Half of it went to saving for Guatemala. And so will the rest of my paychecks. Even if that means I'll have to cut back on what I do to not spend that money. I've heard stories about Guat, many many stories. I've seen pictures of those adorable kids being showered with God's love. Right now, I don't want anything else in the world except to experience that. Anything.

monster monster

Just realized I can cross out two things out of my summer goals!

1. work at the Headland Voice.

-This week is my second week working there and I love it!

2. finish all seasons of LOST.

-I did it! And can I just say that the final episode ever was...EPIC.

eighteen things to go. seventy four days to finish them. it's a done deal.

I hung out with two of my friends tonight. It was fun, but I have to be honest in saying that I was somewhat uncomfortable at times throughout the whole night. Their views on things are completely different than mine. Things they say, their actions, it's just not me. I'm not saying they are horrible people. I love them dearly, but tonight just made me realize that the people that I have surrounded myself with at college are very different from the people I surround myself with here at home. It's weird to think about. I don't know, this is just a revelation I've had recently.

Another thing: I've known all of my friends here at home for years, several years. I've known my Mobile friends for almost a year. Yet, I feel closer to my Mobile friends now than the ones here. Maybe it's because I've been away for so long from my friends here at home. Maybe it's because I spent a whole bunch of time with my new friends everyday. Who knows. All I know is that I miss all of my Mobile friends terribly. That is all...

Random---

I can't say that I've never talked about someone in my life, because I have. Everyone has whether they admit it or not. It's something I've always struggled with and I constantly pray about it. The past year, I've been really good about it. I'm really happy about that too. It bothers me severely when people continue to talk about someone for no reason. I found myself in a situation tonight in which the people who I was with, were talking about one of my close friends and it hurt me. It really hurt me, to see them put down this person that they think they know, but they really don't. It bothers more than anyone could know. And what do I do when they continually talk about one of my friends? Nothing. I do nothing. Something is definitely wrong with that.

Well, this was clearly a whiney, ranting, blah blah blah blog.

Haven't had one of those in while.

a beautiful mess

Graduation was tonight. Pretty good. I forgot how long and boring graduations are...seriously. I thought mine took forever and a day, with 72 people graduating. No way. This year's class had 98. I got to see alot of my close friends graduate though! Good night. :)

I wrote a BALLIN' second article for the Voice that's just going on the website. It was about Living Waters in Headland, which is pretty interesting. It's totally a Christian-counseling center and I didn't know that. Pretty awesome stuff. I've come to the conclusion that I write the best on stuff I'm interested in. I know...big shocker right; everyone writes their best on what they find interesting. Duhhh.

I'm thinking of starting back writing on my music blog that I created last summer or around then I think. Basically, I just analyze songs, albums, etc. And discuss music in general. It's currently a mess, haven't blogged on it in months. But I'm about to start it up again. I have really been researching about music journalism. I enjoy it! Do you know how awesome it would be to be a music journalist? Constantly writing about what I love most on Earth. Yes please.

Check it out: www.taytheguru.blogspot.com

. . . . . . .yay for blogs. :)

your mother is an other

If I could attach one word to the last three days-extraordinary.

...and I'm pretty sure the days will just get progressively better as summer continues! :)

Thursday: Jimmy Rane scholarship banquet. . .

Made the trip to Callaway Gardens, near Columbus, GA. I totally didn't know that it Columbus was that close! Only two hours or so. There have been some good concerts in Columbus and my silly self thought it was further away than it really was. The Jimmy Rane experience started as soon as we got there. Sign in, interviews, pictures, etc. The process was long and drawn out. It was good, yet so boring! That is until the "celebrities" starting showing up for the silent auction. Nick Saban, Gene Chizik, Joe Cribbs, Gene Stallings, Pat Sullivan, Larry Blakeney, Andrew Zow, and about four billion other folks. Pictures with them were of course necessary...and lemme tell you something, Jill took that oh-so-seriously. She busted out the hardcore camera with a jumbo memory card. I'm fairly certain my vision is damaged from all of the flashes. Picture count for the day---21346982730941578634.

Friday: trip back, bunch of nothing, best milkshake ever, Skype. . .

We totally skipped out on the golf tournament that was on Friday morning and decided to come home early. When we got back home, we seriously did a whole bunch of nothing. I took a hardcore nap, which made me feel fantastic! It's nice to have lots of free time with no classes to worry about. Yay summer! Me & my long lost bestie Kerri went and got a milkshake from Cheeburger and it was YUMTASTIC times 42. It was good catching up with her. We really have grown apart this year, which I knew was bound to happen after graduation. After the best shake ever, came home and Skyped with Erika which was great. I miss her face and seeing it on Skype was nice! lol. After that, the Skype sessions continued. It kinda cracks me up! Erika is like 8 hours and we Skyped, but then me and Morgan Skyped and she is barely two miles away. haha! A conference call happened after that...pretty sweet!

Today: another day of nothing, with a movie outing...

Once again, my day consisted of nothing. Chillin, watching movies, playing Rockband, sipping on Capri-Suns at Mama Sue's---it really doesn't get better than that. Reunion with Melissa Snow tonight! It's only been like two or three weeks since I haven't seen her, but I miss her face; she brightens my day! Me, her, and Mo hit up a movie. :D

LOST finale tomorrow night! I CAN'T WAIT!!! It better not be a let down or I might cry. baha. LOST party at Mo's, complete with the official punch. Woo!

hey freshy

I still haven't fully grasped that my first year of college is over and done with. I mean come on. Could a year go by any faster? I feel like I just walked across that civic center stage yesterday. It's a weird feeling. This year went by fast, but I wouldn't exchange a single second of it for anything. Every time I laughed with my friends, countless hours spent in the library cramming for an exam, eating a dreadful meal at the Market, or a spontaneous trip to the beach. You'd have to beat me to a pulp for me to try and forget all of the memories I have made this year.

There isn't a doubt in my mind that I was suppose to come to South Alabama. I can't picture myself anywhere else in the world. It's amazing how God works in your life, by putting you in places that you'd never imagine yourself being and ending up being unbelievably happy there. It's funny actually. I barely knew anything about USA and would have never thought of applying there at the start of my senior year. Little did I know that God had a plan for me and I was completely unaware of it. I was pretty dead set on going to the University of Mobile and playing in RamCorps. That was my plan. Key words: MY PLAN. My mom wasn't too excited about my plan. She of course looked at the financial part of everything, which I don't blame her. UM is definitely not cheap. For some reason I just felt attached to the city of Mobile, weird huh? I looked at other colleges in Mobile and of course stumbled upon USA. I applied. I had always thought about going to UAB too, so of course I applied there. I even tried out for their music department and received a scholarship. I only applied to UM, USA, and UAB. No other schools. By January of my senior year, I had narrowed it down to UAB or USA. I had been to UAB's campus several, several times, but never to USA's. At the end of January, me and Mom took a trip down to Mobile for USA day and for me to try out for a band scholarship the same day. After USA day, I immediately knew where I was going to be the next four years of my life. Now that I look back, it's so clear why I was suppose to be at South. It's kinda funny actually. :)

I cannot possibly explain every single thing I've done this year, because I can't even remember it all. There are three main things that made my year absolutely fantastic: music. BCM. friends.

"Life is one grand song, sweet song, so start the music." -Ronald Reagan

I can definitely say that before I started college my musicality was not as great as it is now. The folks in South's music department have helped me grow in my musicianship so much. Besides the academic gain of music, I have also learned many other things this year through music. Until this year, I haven't had alot of confidence in myself and in my playing. Since being at USA, my confidence has improved greatly. My professors and especially Dr. G has taught me that I'm not a perfect trombone player, but I'm also not the worst in the world. I am a better player than I make myself out to be. So yay for South's music faculty. I love them! I'm pretty much addicted to playing the mandolin, thanks to Santa bringing me one for Christmas! I've also learned alot on that as well. My YouTube channel is moving on up; one of my life goals-be a YouTube celeb. lol

"Where ever you go, that's where you'll be." -Shannon Hughes

I sure hope I got that quote right. I think I did! haha. Just one of many EPIC things Sister Hughes has said this year. Her and Jerrod have been oober important to me the past year, along with everyone at the BCM. I really have no clue what I would do if I weren't involved with the BCM. It is such a big part of my life now, that I wouldn't know what to do without it now. FiSH groups, Merge, mission opportunities, Rooted, Bridge Week, leadership team, and billions of other things that went on this year that I can't remember. They were all AMAZING. period. I was given the opportunity to be a part of the leadership team in January for the next year and it has definitely been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I am extremely thankful that God placed me in this ministry and I am certainly excited to see what the rest of my years at BCM have to offer!

"I get by with a little help from my friends..." -The Beatles

How do I even begin on how awesome my friends have been this year? Ironically, I am sitting here watching the Golden Girls and every time I watch it I think of all of the wonderful friends I have made. I can't help but imagine if me and three of my best friends become just like the Golden Girls when we are older. I would absolutely love that. The people that have came into my life the past year are amazing in more ways than one. There have been five people in particular that have made my year marvelous! I am extremely thankful for their friendship. Erika Conn, Maria Brutkiewicz, Morgan Blankenship, Shannon Stever, and Kristen Jordan are basically the human forms of awesome. They are my favs! I can't even name all of the cool people I've met at BCM and through the band, but I love them all so dearly as well!

football games. scavenger hunt. beach. market dates. rockband. mardi gras. fish group. dominoes. kool-aid. pier. peanut fest. halloween. melting pot. merge. lunch tradish. taylorisms. honk if you love cnn. vintage. party in the usa. lady gaga. snl. foosackly's. christmas. smoothies. the tater. skype. pebbles. taynation. diet coke and mentos. the lovely bones. across the universe. just dance. bracelets. 15 place. madea. fighting gnomes. "electricity". leadership team. meet me in headland. starbucks. momma g's. lost. alice in wonderland. mandolin. wednesday lunches.

krispy kreme. krispy kreme. krispy kreme.

& lots of other stuff i couldn't remember...

=best year ever.

peace train

I watched Fried Green Tomatoes tonight. Oh goodness, I forgot how much I loved that movie! Seriously man. Some movies are just so, so, so quote-worthy and this one definitely was:

"I found out what the secret to life is: friends. Best friends." -Ninny

"What if God made a mistake?" -Idgie
"Well the way I see it is He doesn't make mistakes. I mean, He made sure we got together, didn't He?" -Buddy

"A heart can be broken but it still keeps a beatin." -Ninny

"Secret's in the sauce..." -Sipsey

"You are absolutely, unconditionally, positively the most stubborn person I've ever known in my life!!" -Grady

"Never say never to me." -Ruth

---and the best of all: "TAWAAAANDAAA!!" haha

I went and saw my cute little cousin, Kade, play baseball tonight at the ball park. It was fun! I hung out with the fam and enjoyed seeing him have fun. He's a hardcore little kid. We went and saw him play the other night too and he totally got hit in the mouth with a baseball, spitting blood and everything and yet, no tears from him and he continued to play. I love that kid. I would have cried like a baby if I were in his shoes. After the game tonight, me & Mom hit up LaBamba...I have definitely missed that since I've been in Mobile! On the way home, I hooked up her Zune in the Camaro so we could jam out. Please keep in mind, when I say jam, with her music, it's not the same as the definition of my jam. haha. I just picked some random stuff. Beatles then Garth Brooks! Friends in Low Places came on and Mom started telling me a story. Garth came to the Peanut Fest back in the day, before I was even born and her and my granddad went. She said it was before he was real big and how her and Gramps had alot of fun. It kinda got me down. I miss Gramps. I can't believe it's been almost four years since he's been gone. It'll be four years this July. Whoa. That's crazy.

I went and talked to Mrs. Lisa today. That's my new boss! lol. I'm starting at the Voice next week. I'm stoked! After that, I went dropped off my tract leader application at Eagle Eye, and had Tropical Smoothie with two of my favorite people ever: Sage & Becca. They are two of my high school friends I have missed terribly since I moved to Mobile! That was basically my day, plus I took a killer nap. I love having extra time to...SLEEP! :)

P.S.-I'm on the sixth season of LOST...almost caught up!

twenty is a magic number

20 things to accomplish this summer:

1. Read 4 books. --Look, I don’t read, so reading one book is quite an accomplishment. I’m going to read four whole books in three months! It’s gotta happen.

2. Record 15-20 new mandolin videos. --My YouTube is getting quite popular (or it is to me anyways). Almost a thousand views! That excites me…

3. Work at the Headland Voice. --So, I need experience. What could be a better place to start than my own hometown newspaper? I need to figure out if I really want to write for a paper in the future for my career anywho.

4. Finish all of the seasons of LOST in time to see the last episode ever. --Alright, so I started watching it Christmas break: EPIC FAIL. I must finish it!

5. Register to vote. --It’s my patriotic duty. ‘Nuff said. Trammy would be proud.

6. Reach the gold level on Beatles Rock Band. --I’m a Rock Band nerd, so what. I’m silver currently, gotta get dat gold!

7. Write new songs. --Last summer, I wrote quite a few songs, just because I felt like it and they were pretty good! I must do this same this summer.

8. Master the art of dowsing. --I heard about this in tenth grade history and I’ve wanted to try it ever since. You go to a graveyard and take two wire hangers; supposedly the hangers are supposed to move when you get over a grave. CREEPY!

9. Learn “Love Me Do”, by the Beatles on harmonica. --Go listen to that song and tell me that won’t be awesome. For reals.

10. Find some arrowheads in Mama Sue’s flint bed. --Hello, digging up some history!

11. Play a whole game of golf. --I love golf and I haven’t played a whole game since…forever. It’s going down.

12. Take a whole day to watch 80s movies. --What’s better than a chill day watching 80s movies all day? Not a lot. I’m gonna watch everything from The Breakfast Club to Revenge of the Nerds.

13. Learn a new instrument. --It’s about that time where I need to learn something new. Mandolin was the last one and look where that’s got me!

14. Go to Monroe, Louisiana. --How can I go three months without seeing my bestie? I can’t. Besides, I’ve never been there!

15. Start saving money for Guatemala. --I will be going. The end.

16. Be a ministry tract leader/chaperone for WIRED 2010. --Exciting I know! I wanted to get involved with the youth ministry at my church, so this is part of it. Woo!

17. Go see Toy Story 3. --AHHHHHH! I love Toy Story!

18. Fly a kite. --Haven't done this in a while!

19. Get a pet fish. --I had a fish back in the day for like 5 years. I need a new best friend in fish form!

20. Hopefully get a new car. --My dad has been talking about me getting one, so that’s something to look forward to maybe!!

the fame

--->SUMMER HAS ARRIVED! :D

I felt the need to let you know. Woohoo! I'm at home, good ole Headland. I've already had a great day and a half...and summer has barely begun! I got home yesterday late afternoon and my first act of business was seeing Mama Sue. We talked about Grey's, my trip to New Orleans, and how she was gonna make me my favorite cornbread alot this summer. Yessssir! If only I could express in words how good her cornbread is...really, I can't. My mouth waters just talking about it! Or typing really. After a visit to Mama Sue, me and Mom hit up Huggin' Molly's in Abbeville and ate a good dinner, then I went to the coffee shop and got to hang out with some awesome people. I walked in and everyone screamed my name! Exciting! I saw Zach, Josh, Emily, Brooke, and a whole bunch of other people. Made my night to see their faces! Today for lunch, me, Mom, and Mama Sue went to Longhorn and it was gooooood, fa sho yo.

Tonight deserves its own paragraph. I love Chance Nowell. I really forgot how much fun we have together. There is never a dull moment with him. Seriously. We stopped by his mom's work, ate some free food. We then went and scoped out the movie choices for the night. Had an hour to burn before the movie, so we hit up the mall. CRAZY. I didn't realize how many odd people roam our mall. For real. We didn't stay there long, so what are two people supposed to do to kill time? Go to Wal-Mart of course. We saw more odd people there and wasted like five bucks on the crane machines trying to get a cute little dog in the machine. :) Movie time! We went and saw Date Night, which was FLIPPIN hilarious by the way. I heart Tina Fey and Steve Carrell, so so so much. After that, our original plan was to find somewhere to watch SNL, because neither one of us has NBC and we had to see our best friend Betty White host it up. Alas, that didn't happen. It was almost 10:30 and we couldn't figure out a place. We drove around a while, then came home. I then escorted him to a gas station in Headland to make sure he didn't breakdown. haha. Keep in mind this whole night, the background music was filled with Gaga, Gaga, a little Gaga, more Gaga, and also alot of Gaga. This equals a fun night.

I had a revelation while hanging with Chancey Poo. I've always said that him and Maria would be best friends forever, that is, if they ever meet. This night confirmed it. He reminds me so much of that crazy kid back in Mobile and when I'm hanging out with Maria, she reminds me too much of my deary Chance. It's crazy! Actually quite scary. Anyways, tomorrow=beach trip! It's moms day and my mom wants to go to the beach, so that's what our fam is derin!

fun, fun, fun

ONE FINAL LEFT! Yesss. Trombone jury was today. I've never been so nervous! It was my first experience of a jury. I didn't have to do one last semester. Yay for being a music minor! It was totally no biggie though, totally not what I expected. I thought the whole music faculty would be in there to hear me. It was just Dr. Gruner, Dr. Bohnet, and Dr. Wood. Dr. Gruner is my bff, so I was pretty chill when I saw him. I don't know Dr. Bohnet and Dr. Wood and me are alright. lol. Minor scales were a BUST. I messed up like 3 of them. What can you do though? I don't have a time traveling DeLorean from Back to the Future. Wish I did though. That would be sweeeeet! Anyways, my prepared pieces went relatively well. If anyone knows what in the world I am talking about...haha. Oh band talk.

I am taking the afternoon off! No studying. No homework. Nothing to do with school whatsoever. Tomorrow-back to business though. My pre-cal final is Thursday afternoon at 1! Boo on math. It is the last math I'll have to take though. HECK TO THE YES. I hate math. I'm kinda ready to see Headland again. At first, I was like nahhh I shoulda stayed here for the summer...but I'm glad I'm going home, even if I'll be bored! I'm working with our paper in town and helping out with my youth group. I'm stoked! I'm excited to do more with our youth ministry the most. I'm digging all of the leadership opportunities that God has given me and what he continues to give me.

Watch out for that end of the year blog coming soon! It's a Taylor Hamm original. My year in review! haha. PEACEEE.

falling out

Beach trip: success. I was with some of my favorite people in the world...so why wouldn't it be a success? It was indeed a stress reliever and I even studied, a little bit. Once again, may I say that I am beyond ready for 3:00 on Thursday afternoon?! I am I am I am. Anyways, I got burnt...sad day. An awkward sunburn if I say so myself: my back and half of my right leg, and like a third of my left leg. haha. It cracks me up, but at the same time it hurts, so I whine for some aloeeee. lol. I'm kinda ready to be back in Headland for a while, but then again, I really wanna stay in Mobile. I'll be writing for our newspaper in Headland though, which excites me! I need some experience. Also, I'm hoping to help out with my youth group at church to give me some more leadership/ministry opportunities. Woo! I'm thinking about making off a summer goal list. I wanna get alot accomplished! It's gonna happen. Church tomorrow, lunch with my bud Brandy, then submerging myself in history and music theory until I pass out! Hollaaaa