tell the world

You know what would be great? Having Merge every single night of the week. I don't think I could describe to you how much I love it. It puts everything in  perspective for the week and really just rejuvenates me! I don't know if I spelled that right...no red dotted line under it. And why am I talking about spell check? Oh Tay...you're a GOOFBALL! Now I'm talking to myself. Okay, ANYWAYS..........

If a Merge night was designated just for me, it was tonight. It's almost creepy how much Jerrod's message was targeted right at me. He talked about open doors, dealing with the opportunities that God offers us, and the decisions we make. During the course of this whole message, I could only think about one thing. Missions. God keeps on giving me opportunities to go on missions, and yet I manage to keep putting it off. Last year, a door opened, giving me a chance to go to Guatemala, and I didn't go, when I knew I should have. I told myself I wasn't ready and it wouldn't have worked out, when deep down I really knew I was supposed to go. Over the summer, I thought about missions a lot. It was on my mind constantly, and it still is, every day. If I could tell you how many times I've written about it in my journal, prayed about it, etc. I can't tell you...it's really crazy how much I think about it. 

The majority of the time, I keep questioning whether or not I am meant to go anywhere. I wonder if I should just because the people around me talk about it and that is what's making me want to, or whatever, or I truly want to go. At this point, and after tonight's Merge, I am fairly certain that regardless of what the people around me do or say, that I will be all up in some missions this year at some point. It excites me, and at the same time, scares me. If you would have asked me two years ago, say my senior year in high school, if I would have even considered going on any type of mission trip, I would have looked at you like, are you serious? That's not me at all! I couldn't have seen myself doing anything like that, and in some ways, I still can't, but it's definitely more than I used to. If that made sense at all...

The past few days, I have found myself Googling Haiti every day. Weird? I don't think so. 

Until next time...

adieu

monday, monday

Is it cool if I open with a joke? It's quite bad, well not to me, but still.
"What do Alabama fans and maggots have in common?" Any takers? No idea? Well, lemme tell you. "THEY BOTH FEED OFF A DEAD BEAR!" bahahaha. Okay, so I'm probably the lamest person ever for starting a blog with a corny joke, but I don't really care. Booyah! I'm in a reallyyyy good mood right now. I love Mondays! Like for real! Here are 3 good reasons why: (because I know the curiosity in you is just killer)

1. No band practice...
Now, I love band. Band practice, not so much. It's good to have a day off from it every week, and that day is Monday. Oh the glorious day...seriously.
2. Lunch tradish...
Who can honestly say they don't enjoy a good lunch tradition? Traditions are great. Traditions dealing with food are 42 times better, just saying. And what makes the 42 times better, 97 times better is that the tradish is with one of my favs!
3. Fish...
FISH GROUP! 'Nuff said. I love those fishies, fo reals.

Too bad Mondays only come once a week...

dust in the wind

It’s very interesting to go back and read your old blogs, that you wrote months and months ago. How do I know this? Because I definitely just went back and read some of my old blogs. Some were funny, some were serious, some were just dumb. I have come to the conclusion that I am the most random person ever, when it comes to my blog. I’m okay with that though.
Anyways, I came across I post I did like forever ago, back in April, and a portion of it was me going off on a tangent and asking myself, “Why and how do people grow apart in a  friendship?” Yes, I know, what an dumb question Taylor, there is definitely an obvious answer for each friendship. Back in April, I was dealing with this, and now, I still find myself dealing with it in certain ways still. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the friendships I have in my life right now.
One response to this question would be: Friendships can be hurt by distance. In high school, your friends, well, they are always in the same building as you. You see them everyday, you have classes with them, you have break with them, etc. You all are in the same town and you hang out all the time. This is all true. I knew things would change big time when I moved to college, involving my friends back home, and I accepted that last year. Lately though, it’s really been bugging me. You’d think that being away from home for a year, I would have gotten used to it. Well, I have and then again in some ways I still haven’t. All I’m saying is that it’s crazy how close I was to a lot of my friends before I moved to Mobile, and now it’s rare that I talk to them once or twice a week, if that much. It truly bums me out.
Another thing I’ve noticed, people just plain change. Yes, I know that people don’t stay the same or act the same way for their whole entire life, but over the course of the last few months, I’ve seen a few people change, which has caused a strain on some friendships. It’s just like they live completely different lives now. It’s strange to me.
Speaking of strange, things have just been off literally since I came back to Mobile. They have just been odd. I’m still getting adjusted to living with roommates that I actually talk to, considering I didn’t talk to my roommate last year at all. Other than that, things are just plain weird. Seriously. I guess I expected things to be more like last year, and they aren't. Things are necessarily bad, but I don't know. I can't explain.
Back on the friendship topic now...
The majority of the friendships in my life, which have gotten weaker, or just crashed all together had to do with other friendships getting involved. And I'm sure that didn't make sense, but let me try and explain. Once again, I say try, so if you aren't following me, my bad! Okay so, I see this a lot. Say you are friends with someone and new friends come into their life, and sometimes the new friendships just sorta kinda start dominating other friendships. You feel me? Sometimes I have trouble getting my thoughts through on this blog...lol. I will be honest in saying that I have seen myself doing this exact thing a lot the past year. I made some amazing friends and best friends last year and I feel like now I only make the effort to talk and hang out with them, rather than some other people that I'm friends with, and I'm not just talking about people back home. It's so happening, yet I push that to the back of my mind to not think about it. I'm not okay with this. Shouldn't I make the most effort in everything I do to keep every single person that means something to me in my life? Should the person on the other side of the fence do the same? Why do I have so many questions about something that is some what simple? Who knows...

nueve, nueve

In the midst of studying for my history test tomorrow, drinking some Diet Pepsi, and listening to the Mamma Mia soundtrack (yes, I know I'm a ballin multi-tasker), I realized that I never updated my list of 20 things I was planning on doing this summer. So, after studying FOREVER, I've decided that I should tell the world what I accomplished from my list of goals. I know I've done this sorta kinda already in other blogs, but here it is all together!

WIN!! :
1---Work at the Headland Voice.
Chyeah! I did that for a SOLID three months and it was super fun. I enjoyed getting some experience and learning a lot of newspaperish stuff that I had no clue on. Don't get me wrong, the Voice is definitely not the Times or Press-Register, or even the Dothan Eagle, but as small as it was, that job benefited me more than I could possibly imagine, now that I look back.

2---Finish all the episodes of LOST in time to see the last episode ever.
Man, that seems like forever ago! I'm so glad that I decided to start watching LOST, even though that decision was made during the last season. What was I thinking! The past six years of my life could have been so much better and confusing if I would have started watching it the first season. Good going, T Hamm.

3---Reach the gold level on Beatles Rock Band.
Yeah, don't judge. I'm a geek. I'm proud of my Rock Band skills. Just in case you were wondering what is so special about the gold level...because I know you are, I'll tell explain. I know the curiosity is just killing ya. Anywho, there is a list of accomplishments on Rock Band, basically just goals. For example, five star all the songs, get a certain high score on a list of five songs, finish all of the drum tutorials, blah blah blah, you get the point. When you play online, you either have black, silver, or gold icon. You da best if you have a gold icon. I play online a lot, so I just HAD to get the gold. I'll stop before you completely just unfollow me for this last paragraph. Ahem.

4---Learn a new instrument.
I'm not a pro yet, but I have learned a little, playing the Zampona! That's right, that thing is legit. Scraight up from Peru. It's so fun to play and I have a little sheet with songs on it already. Good stuff!

5---Start saving money for Guatemala.
I did really good with this! I'm proud of myself. I saved a certain amount from each of my paychecks from the Voice and also, the check from WIRED. Yay for saving and a savings account! I feel like an adult...

6---Go see Toy Story 3.
Ah, such a GOOD movie. I cannot wait for it to come out on dvd. Chance and I went and saw it and we of course both cried like babies. Haha, good times. Such a good ending movie for Toy Story. To infinity and beyond!!

7---Be a ministry tract leader/chaperone for WIRED 2010.
Hands down, one of the best weeks of my life, for real. And the favorite part of my summer! I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I miss it. I miss the kids in my group. I miss going to all of the ministry sites. I miss those amazing worship services we had. I miss kickin it with my youth group. I miss everything about WIRED. That week is truly a week I would want on repeat.

8---Fly a kite.
Simple, yes. Fun, yes. I loved doing it! I haven't done it in forev.  Me, my mom, and my little cousin Madison flew kites. We had a Toy Story one, a Spiderman one (mine), and a Transformers one. Fun afternoon!

9---Hopefully get a new car.
Well, that hopefully turned into a definitely! Love my new car. 2009 red Chevy Malibu. I've already named it the Bu. Yeah dat's right.

EPIC FAIL on me. I only accomplished 9 outta 20. Lame. Oh well, there's always next summer.  :)

it won't be long

So, I broke some ice today. As in I gave an icebreaker speech! Haha, it's probably not cool that I crack myself up. Please excuse my lameness. I'm so glad I got it out of the way!  Yesterday was a pretty crappy day. A legit crappy day. And it was weird too because there wasn't a lot of stuff bothering me, but as the day went on, my mood just got worse and worse, really for no reason. It was just odd, for reals. Some stuff was on my mind, but that alone shouldn't have made my day that bad. I'm just glad it's over. Merge, as always made me feel a little better, along with several long chats with Maria, as well as a great convo with my "big sis" a.k.a. BESTIEEEE. She loves that word so much! Good stuff, good stuff. I love my fransss. :)

Anywho, things are about to get even crazier...FOOTBALL STARTS SATURDAY! Heck yeah! I'm excited, yet not so excited for the tiredness that comes along with game days. And yes, I'm certain that I made tiredness up as a word, but I don't care! haha. I hope the Jags play as good this year as they did last year! Woo!

P.S: I cannot wait for Labor Day! Why? A day off of classes yesssssssssmaaaaaaaaaaaam. Even though I'm probably totally missing the point of Labor Day. Oh well. Peace out homies, gotta go hang out with 199 of my closest pals. baha!