Man….I was not prepared for this first semester of college. I don’t know what to do now. I mean I did good…just not good enough. They expect a lot from you in your first semester. How are you supposed to be ready for this? How are you supposed to prepare? How can I be so upset when I passed all my classes? Shit. How am I supposed to fix this? All I have now is prayer.

“What is important? What’s really important? Am I not to know by my name?
Will I ever know silence, without mental violence, will raining at night go away?
It’s up to you, my father call on me.”

-Incomplete and Insecure, The Avett Brothers.

What if the Water Went Away
(This I Believe)

Trust is a simple thing to understand, but a very difficult thing to practice. I believe in Trust. I believe in counting on others to be there for me when I need them. I believe in not having to be afraid of what is going on behind my back. I believe in something other than myself. I believe in my kitchen sink.
Trusting people is hard, yet I believe it is one of the most important aspects of the human life. To be able to put your faith in another human being, to have confidence that that person will protect you, to share with them your secrets; it is not an easy thing to do, but it is something I believe everyone should strive to do. It is not possible for me to live my life constantly looking over my shoulder, hoping no one is about to stab me in the back. How can I hope to achieve any sort of greatness if there is no one to look out for me when I make a mistake? If it wasn’t for the friends and family I have now, I don’t know where I’d be. Life gets too boring if it is spent alone. I need interactions; they keep me sane. But I will never get these interactions if I am too afraid to trust.
Trust goes beyond just people though. Life takes more than a little faith in the ones that I hold dear. It takes a confidence in the world. I have to trust that the building I am in will not collapse, that the power will come on when I flip the light switch, or that the economy won’t crumble under its own weight. Life takes more trust than most people realize. These things are so easy to forget. People turn the faucet on everyday and expect water to come out. What would happen if one day the water didn’t come? It’s a hard thing to comprehend, putting trust in the world, but it is a necessity in life.
Although the world may sometimes let me down and family and friends may not always be there for me to rely on, I will keep striving to put my trust in them. I can’t keep worrying about the people I trusted who weren’t worthy of it. I have to move on and learn to trust more easily. Because what is life without a little bit of trust?

Manchester has to be one of my favorite bands ever. In fact they are probably my favorite band of all time. Andy Hull writes amazing lyrics that actually mean something. It’s not a bunch of random shit put to a beat that some how got labeled as a song. It’s a story; it’s emotion; it’s life in your face. When you hear his songs you know that you aren’t the only who’s screwed up in life. It doesn’t get much better than that. Music is about conveying emotions or a story. It’s not about the beat or how amazing your auto tune makes you sound. When I listen to a song, I want to be able to relate to it or at the very least understand what it’s talking about. And that, in my opinion is what makes Manchester great. Not only do they sound good, but they also have songs that have meaning. So thanks Andy. Hopefully one day I’ll get to see you guys live.

I made a few pictures on photoshop. Followed some tutorials I found on the web.

People are an interesting subject. Do you ever wonder whats going through their minds? I know I do. It’s amazing to stop and think about how another person might think or feel about stuff. It baffles and amazes me. It brings me to the realization that I’m not the only person on this earth. There are other people out there who matter just as much as me. It’ll make you realize how big of an impact you actually have on people. It’ll make you think more about your actions. It’ll make you a better person. Cause when you step back and look at how you’ve treated people and the past and think about how it affects them…you’ll realize just how big of an ass you really are. And that is a scary thought. It’ll make the best of us feel like a terrible person. But in so doing, it makes you want to fix it. It makes you want to be kind, to help the random stranger broke down on the side of the road, to not be so afraid of a hitchhiker (cause really, what are the chances he wants to murder you?). And maybe I’m wrong about all of this. But in my experience this is the truth.

People drive me crazy. I like knowing how things work…and people are impossible to figure out. Especially women. How can someone expect so much from you and not treat you with the same amount of respect back. We all look down on people, weather we realize it or not. The trick is understanding that there is nothing that makes you any better than the hobo down the street. When you stop and try to figure out what goes through other peoples minds, it can be pretty enlightening. When you ask yourself how will they react to this or why do they feel the way they do about that, you begin to realize how much of an impact you have on the people around you. There’s no way to know what people are going through…maybe that hobo is a veteran who served his country proudly and came home to nothing but the clothes on his back. It’s a scary thing to think that your words have the power of life and death. You always hear that from Christians. But actually understanding this concept is a completely different thing. Our words and actions are looked at by everyone around us, and they affect the way people view us. So maybe we should be more careful with our words, maybe we should think about someone other than ourselves, and maybe we should be slow to anger and quick to forgive.

A picture I took after the April 27 tornadoes. You never expect something like this to happen. It’s a scary thing. There were 173 tornadoes that day, more than 50 of them were here I’m Alabama. It’s easy to forget about the victims now that its been so long. I was there to help after the first couple of weeks but now it seems as if people have forgotten.

That’s such a funny name for a band. But I like em. They’ve got some great songs out.
I love when you can feel the emotion in a song. And the ones I’m hearing sum up how I feel very well, it’s all about love and pain and heartache. I guess almost all bluegrass is like that though. Maybe that’s why I like bluegrass so much.

“I could never pretend that I don’t love you.
You could never pretend that I’m your man.
That’s exactly the way that I want it.
That’s exactly the way that I am.

And you call me in the morning with your troubles
Takin’ it downtown every night
I could never place the stars at night above ya.
I got my hands on the ground,
and you know I’m right.”

You never know what you’re gonna get.

Don’t you hate how some of the chocolates look so good and when you try em they make you want to throw up?
Of course by the time you’ve done that a couple times you’re to afraid to try any of the others.
Yep…that describes my life pretty well right now.
Thanks Forrest.