Northward

Right now I am in Logan, at Whitney's Grandparents house. Whitney and her Father went to talk to various people about various subjects (school related). I think it will suffice to say that last night I had "The Talk" with Whitneys Dad. Okay, I guess it doesn't suffice because I am going to keep on talking about it. This is, or atleast used to be, one of my least favorite things to do. "Catching up" is not one of the most comfortable things to do when you have a "colorful" past such as I do. When I say colorful I mean mostly gray and dreary.
I will say that Whitney's Dad was very uhh graceful? about the way he handled my past life choices. I am sitting here, trying to put myself in his shoes and I am very grateful for him being so understanding. I wonder if I would give me a chance or I would get out my shot gun and chase myself down the street.
Heavenly Father has forgotten about the things I have done but I definatley have not. Even though I am grateful for my trials because they have shaped me into the person that I am today, it still gets me down sometimes. It is scary to know what I am capable of if I am not putting God first in my life. It wasn't like one day, after Scouts, I decided I wanted to go out and use drugs with my friends. It was a seriese of seemingly small decisions. While it is true that by small and simple means great things are brought to pass it is also true that by small and simple means horrible things are brought to pass.
Elder Uchdorf illistrates this point beautifully. He talks about the navigation system in an airplane. If the compass is just one degree off, and you travel around the world, you will end up 500 miles off course from your intended destination. Well, my moral compass was more than one degree off and I ended up a lot further than 500 miles than where I wanted to be. As I am driving down the road of life, it is usually miner adjustments, not complete u turns, that are needed.
For some reason, it often seems harder to give up the basically trivial things that hold me back from being as happy as I could be. Why is this? Is satan, (he doesn't deserve to be capitalized) putting it in my head that giving up things like caffeine and inappropriate music is going to be a lot harder than it really is? Is it because I still want worldly approval? Or maybe these things are just more important to me than doing what is right. Maybe I still have to go through some pain and misery. I hope not. I hope that I will humble myself before I am compelled. I can say from experience that being compelled to be humble is never an enjoyable experience.
I often feel like Nephi when he says that when he desires to rejoice he is emcompassed about by the sins which so easily beset him. That was Nephi, one of the greatest prophets ever, and I am Taylor, one of the laziest,most weak people you will ever meet. Thank goodness this isn't the end of the verse however, because Nephi follows that up with, "Nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted". I meant it when I said that I am weak, the good news is I am not on my own. In His strength I can do all things, which are expedient unto Him. That is the good news.
Jesus Christ changes people. He changes hearts. I love the quote (sorry if I completely slander this...) that goes something like, "The world would take people out of the slums, Christ would take the slums out of the people, who would then take themselves out of the slums." Anyone who used to know me and saw me in my addictions would know that I was as bad as they come. I don't know how many times I tried to change, I mean, REALLY tried to change. I couldn't do it. I still can't do it, but He can. And He is.
It wasn't my intentions to get up on a soap box and preach. I hope that is not what it sounds like, but I will Testify of Jesus Christ any time the oppourtunity presents itself. He is my brother, He is my friend, He is my God, but most importantly, He is my Savior. I Testify that no matter what hardship we are facing, Jesus Christ is the answer. Turn to Him and He will mold your life into something beautiful, something more wonderful than you can imagine. I say these things in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I'm not doing anything so I guess I will write about something. Or probably I will write about nothing. I guess if I am writing about nothing, it is really something. Right now I am writing about writing about nothing.
I guess I will tell you about my day now. They say a good day starts the night before so maybe that is where we should start. I went to the mall with my second family to go Christmas shopping, only I didn't do any shopping because I am unemployed and broke. Christmas is stressful when you have no money to buy presents, but there are solutions. I wonder what the Pioneers did for Christmas? Probably whittled. I like whittling, maybe I'll do that. Anyways, back to the mall. I am not a mall walker. I do okay for about 30 minutes and then I lose interest and I start to dangle and swing my arms when I walk as I over dramatize over foot step. It is a performance that I excel at. I have been nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award by my fellow dramatic walkers. My Mom can vouch. Highlights from the Mall include seeing a man dressed in some kind of Chinese silk dress and also being able to put my keen fashion sense to use while helping Gentri pick out her presents.
After the mall I went to the Trinnamans house. I brought some soldering supplies from my house and learned how to solder some charms together with Sister Trinnaman. Her name is Terry but I want to make sure I am respectful seeing that she is the one who feeds me most of the time. Yeah thats right, I had arts and crafts time on a Friday night. That is why I am cool. I then watched a movie from my childhood called "Little Nemo". Someone was taking some mind altering drugs when they made that movie and thats about all I have to say about it. *On a side note, it should be said that about a week ago, I instituted an 11:00 o clock cerfew. I have followed that cerfew on one occasion. There is room for improvement.

This morning I read scriptures with the lovely Whitney White. I know, her name sounds like she is a princess from a fairy tale, and she is. She most definately is. After watching "Night at the Museum 2" Whitney had to go to Logan for a family Christmas party. My parents are gone and my brother is on some sort of dating extravaganza that I don't have energy to get into right now. So I am house sitting. I instantly kicked into house sitting mode. This is where I get to use my imagination.
Almost always when I am home alone I begin my day the same. I take a bubble bath in my parents gigantic tub, I put on my Fathers bath robe and I cook something and put lots of butter in it. Today has been no different. I found a huge bag of shrimp in the freezer from Costco, I began by only cooking a half dozen or so. This was my plan. I was going to excercise some self control here. I didn't. I ended up eating, well, way too many. Now my house smells like shrimp and burnt butter. That was over 3 hours ago. I am not wafting in the ambiance.
Since the shrimp I have been surviving off the steady stream of neighbors and their Christmas goodies. Even as I write this I am indulging in a ball of cheese but am about to run out of crackers and will likely have to move on to some salt water taffy. Very nutritious.
It is not a very noble thing that I feel better now because I just forced you to waste some of your day reading about how I have wasted mine. Muah ha ha.

My life partner(s).

I have great friends. They are more than friends, they are life partners. I will talk about them now because they are cooler than I am and I am cooler than I was because they are my friends. I haven't known these friends for a very long time but what we lack in quantity we have more than made up for in quantity. My best friend that is a boy is named Ammon. He is a Super Hero. Captain Anozz. I know that sounds wrong. It isn't. He lives in Provo and I don't see him as much anymore but he is still my best friend. As my friends Mom described him he is the, " Tall, Dark, Handsome" one. I guess that makes me the short, homely, pasty one. Thats okay, look at the photo above. Forget about it.

I have a friend named Whitney who is my best friend that is a girl. She is a special friend. She is more than a friend. She is amazing. *Insert a heartwarming, just corny enough to be cute, phrase here* No, she really is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am sure I will talk about her more later.

Now, for the Trinnamans. I love all of them. They have adopted me into their family. I will post pictures of them later. I don't know what I would do with out my friends. They are all raising me. Do not think that I have not written as much about Gentri, Mckenna, Terry, . It is only because I just happened to write about Ammon and Whitney first, and have now run out of juice. I will be sure to write more about all of them at a later time.

They have put up with me and my shinnanigans. There have definately been some shinnanigans. I am, as you know, quite a handful at times. But despite that, and for some reason, they still love me. They are the best friends in the world.

My first banter.

A dear friend of mine named Gentri was under the impression that I was going to write on this blog regularly when she was kind enough to set it up for me. As is often the case, the motivation I felt when I initially made the decision that I was going to become a "blogger" has somewhat deteriorated. Nevertheless, I have decided that I will push some buttons and see what comes out, I think you call this "word vomit". Sounds appropriate.

This is the worst, most embarrassing picture of me you will ever see. Still, see how cool I look? Notice the fasionable arch in the middle, I call it a bowl cut with a spout for pouring. It is beautiful. This picture was buried away in a box in my basement. There is a long running debate between my friends and of whether or not I was portly as a youngster. I argue healthy not portly. Anyways, I made the poor decision of allowing them into the archives and then made the even poorer decision of walking upstairs and leaving them to reek havoc. They did. They took pictures with there phones and posted them on Facebook. I figured I would start out with this because it can only get better from this point. If you can accept me despite my Top Gun Serious Face, by all means, read on. We can be friends.