My Mancave

"Mancave" is just a fancy term for a man's room. Sometimes this room can be his bedroom, and sometimes it might be his den, but a mancave is a man's sanctuary, his "fortress of solitude". In my case my mancave is my bedroom. My room is pretty much the whole upstairs of our house, and I've been up there for a little over a year now. We talked about moving me upstairs for years, but my parents finally moved me upstairs two summers ago when I was in Ecuador. My room was really "complete" until this past Christmas.
I have pretty much everything I could possibly need in my room, I have a mini fridge which I got for Christmas, a leather recliner that I got for my birthday, and a big screen T.V. which I actually got from some one's trash down the street. We were driving down our street one day and saw the T.V. in some one's trash. We asked the guy if we could have it and he told  us we could but that it wasn't working. My dad got a guy who he worked with to look at it and he said we needed a $15 part to fix it. We bought that part and voila it now works, and now I'm playing Xbox on a 50" T.V. screen. What else do you need?   

Director's Seat

I know nothing about making movies, but nonetheless I want to be a director. When I was like 12 I wanted to be an actor, but that was pretty short lived. In the past couple of years I switched to director because I like to write and I think I have a lot of good ideas that would look good on the big screen. Now I think I actually do know a lot about movies, but all this knowledge comes from me being lazy and watching a lot of movies. This past summer alone I probably went to the theater once or twice every week. I don't know why but I love movies. I will pretty much watch any genre of movies and most likely there's something that I enjoy out of each one of them. One of the great things about movie genres is that you can combine any two (or maybe more) genres and make a movie out of them. Comedy in particular can be combined with anything. I would like to make horedys (comedy horror) and action comedies, or just horror, action, and comedy. So many movie ideas come to mind when I think about making movies. I've thought about maybe being a screenwriter instead, but whatever I did I would want to have a part in the story of the film. I don't know how realistic me being a director is, but I honestly just can't see myself doing anything else with my life.      

Broseph Revisited

When I talk about my "Broseph" (which I never really call him at all), I'm most likely referring to one of my best friends, Dalton Titus. I've known Dalton for a little over  9 years now and ever since I've met him we've been good friends. Sadly a couple of weeks ago Dalton went off to school in Mississippi while I stayed home and went to AUM. Now don't get me wrong, I have other friends, I'm not trying to sound like a pathetic "one man wolf pack" who has only one compadre. Dalton, however, was one of the few people that really got me and most of the time we knew what each other was thinking. When I would make a pun or sarcastic remark, most of the time no one one get it, but Dalton always understood my twisted humor. You can't replace friends like that, and that's why we'll continue to be friends for life. Speaking of Dalton, he's coming back to Montgomery in about a week. I didn't get to go to the beach this past summer, so Dalton called me a couple of weeks ago and asked me if I wanted to go with him and his family to the Gulf on the weekend of October 5th. Of course without hesitating I told him that I definitely wanted to go and that they could just leave me down there once we got there because that's my "true home". We plan on doing some skimboarding, I don't know about him but I plan on doing some babe watching (one of my favorite past times), and we are definitely seeing Taken 2 when we get down there (long live Liam Neeson). We are complete opposites in many ways, but we are so much alike in other ways. Dalton was always the "smart one". Everyone knew that he studied really hard and he always made good grades. I would also study hard (well most of the time) and most of the time I would make great grades. I definitely had to study hard because I couldn't absorb knowledge like a sponge like some people (cough Dalton cough).

Smoked Chicken

I have many favorite foods, really all food that I eat is my favorite because I love food. If I had to choose though, it would probably be my mom's smoked chicken. What makes this smoked chicken so special (beside the fact that it's delicious) is that she only makes it every once in a while. She will usually smoke chicken only when some one's coming to visit, or if it's one of our birthdays or a holiday. Generally she boils some corn (which is another one of my favorite foods) with the chicken which only makes the chicken better. She also makes this white sauce for the chicken, I think it contains vinegar, maybe mayonnaise, and some other ingredients that I can't remember. The chicken already tastes great without the white sauce, but it tastes even better with it. Everything on the chicken tastes good, the skin, the meat, but I draw the line at the bones. 

Newton's Cradle

Recently, I have decided that I want to open a surf shop at the beach. The biggest hindrance that I'm facing with this business venture is that I know absolutely nothing about surfing or running a surf shop. I actually haven't ever surfed, but I've always wanted to try it and I know that I'd enjoy it. I love the beach and I always get a sick Indian tan in the summer, so I think I'd fit in perfectly. I want to do this because I can't see myself sitting in a cubicle for a living for the next 40 years of my life. I want to enjoy what I do for a living, and I think opening a surf shop would be something that I would enjoy. I don't know what would set me apart from all the other surf shops, but I have some ideas for what would make "Newton's Cradle" (the name of the shop) special.

Ticking Me Off

There are countless things in the world that annoy me, so many that it would take me hours to list even half of them. To name a few:
1: people who put the toilet paper on upside down, I can't stand that.
2: Kids at the pool who screw around with the pool stuff when you've already told them not to mess with it. 3: Chicks who like to play mind games with your head (I've had several experiences with this one).
4: People who get a crappy taurus and put rims on it and give it a new paint job, and think it looks cool.
5: One of my biggest ones, people telling me food doesn't have milk in it when it really does.

I have a serious milk allergy, so I have to watch what I eat. I don't care if you tell me that what you've cooked doesn't have milk in it, because I can tell if it does or not. Now in others' defense, my allergy is so sensitive that a spatula that previously touched cheese can "contaminate" food that has really been made without milk. I have basically sworn against ever going to Starbucks again because of an issue similar to this. I ordered a soy milk frappuchino but apparently they made it in a blender that was previously used for a regular frappuchino, so after drinking it my throat felt like it was on fire.

Spiderman: Part 2

I think what made dressing up like Spiderman so fun for me was the fact that underneath his costume he was just your normal everyday guy. He didn't ask for his powers, he didn't really "earn" his powers, his powers were thrown upon him and as we know, "with great power comes great responsibility". I think this is why kids love Spiderman so much, because they feel that they can relate to him. Spiderman wasn't required or obligated to fight the "bad guys", he did it because he was a good person who had a gift, and he decided to use that gift for good when he could have just as easily used it for evil. Every kid dreams about having awesome superpowers and using them to fight crime, and Spiderman is such an "average Joe" superhero that it makes being a superhero seem almost possible to young, adventurous boys.

Country Gentleman

For years I've said that "Country Gentleman"  by Family Force 5 is my life's theme song. This song isn't necessarily my "favorite" song but it is definitely one of my favorites and it's the one that I feel I can most closely relate to. The band members of the band that plays this song are all from Georgia so they have a pretty good idea about what it means to be a "Southern Gentleman" (the same thing as "Country Gentleman"). This song covers many aspects of the south. The song talks about the "Pig Wig" (which is the "Piggly Wiggly" for those who have seen this rare, south-centric grocery store). The song also mentions mullets, tank tops, ball caps, and collard greens. When I think of a Country Gentleman I think of what my Dad taught me to do when I was in Kindergarten. As far back as I can remember he told me to always hold open the doors for women (whether you liked them or not), to always say "please and thank you" and "yes ma'am and no ma'am". Although my standards for being a Country Gentleman are different that Family Force 5's standards, the phrase still is a constant reminder of my childhood and how I was raised to be.

Spiderman

When I was a kid I dressed up as Spiderman for one Halloween. What made my costume so cool was the fact that my mom made most of it (if my memory doesn't deceive me). Of course I had the Spiderman web sprayer (silly string attached to my arm) which completed my persona. When a kid wears a costume, their imagination goes wild and they start to believe that they really are the character that they are portraying. I felt invincible. I could climb walls, lift up cars, and swing through the sky (in theory). Now this Spiderman had three mortal enemies who he went to church with and he never got along with them. I still remember seeing one of these "three stooges" at my church fall festival, and as far as I was concerned he had no idea who I was because I was wearing a mask. So when he came up to me I bombarded him with silly string, acting like it was broken and that I couldn't stop spraying it. Justice was served.  

Mrs. Gonet

Dear Mrs. Gonet, it's Taylor Newton. I know you remember me so I'm not going to take the time to introduce myself. I've known you since the 7th grade. Those 4 years that I spent at Cornerstone with you were probably some of the best years of school for me, but at the same time they were some of the worst. I met some of the best kids there who are now some of my best, closest friends. However you and me...we had our ups and downs. I think the problem was that, for one thing, I had you for like 4 out of the 7 hours of my school day. You and me have a lot in common, mainly our ADD and our strong wills, and this meant that our personalities (and we ourselves) always clashed. I sometimes felt that you weren't always being fair with me when it came to grades, homework, and the way you treated us. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that you challenged me so much over those four years, if you hadn't then I'd probably be a lot dumber than I am today. I just hated when other people  got grace with late homework, papers, and the like and I wasn't usually offered the same grace. That's ok though, you will still always be one of my favorite teachers who I shared so many hilarious memories with.

Rejected (Part 2)

I looked across at Dalton (thinking that none of the girls could hear or see what I was telling him) and "casually" put my arm across the bar behind Seth (implying that he should do this to the girl next to him). Adding insult to injury, I mouthed something (except I actually loudly whispered it) along the lines of "go for it man, this is your chance". To my great surprise, the girl next to Dalton turned around and looked at me and exclaimed at the top of her lungs "Why don't you say that at home where nobody can hear you?" Then one of her friends looked at me and inbetween laughs asked "Are you going to take that?" I was so devistated that my only reply was "yep". I was relieved when we finally got on the ride so that I could avoid further embarrassment. I watched Dalton get on the ride and right before he sat down his face turned white. He turned around to Seth and me and said "She spanked my butt". "What", I said. "Right before I got on the ride I felt a pinch and a slap on my butt", Dalton replied. "I did too", Seth exclaimed. So of course that day I left Six Flags humiliated and rejected, while Seth and Dalton both got "love taps".

Rejected (Part 1)

I learned that I'm very loud the hard way. My youth always went to Six Flags once a year at the beginning of the summer. My two friends, Dalton and Seth, and I were die hard rollercoster fans. So on this particular trip years ago Dalton, Seth, and me were waiting in line for the Riddler. Three girls walked up and that's where the humiliation began. The dilemma was that there were three of us and three of them, and each cart only held two people. So one of the girls said that she would ride with Dalton, and her friends were going to take the next ride. Of course me being the idiotic, wannabe casanova that I thought I was, decided to give Dalton some "advice". It turned out to be the worse advice possible.

The Health Confusion

Why is it that when something's good for you it always hurts in some way or the other. For instance, food doesn't "hurt", but most of the "good foods" taste disgusting, while most of the food that's bad for you is extremely tasty and sometimes very filling. The same's for exercise. No one every got a six pack by sitting on the couch eating cheetos and watching reality tv. That would be too easy. If you want to look like Rocky Balboa then you have to work hard like Rocky Balboa. This concept is the same for most good things in life. Those who we consider "successful" didn't get to where they are by taking the easy, "fun" route. No they put their blood, sweat, and tears into what they were trying to accomplish and thereby earned their success.

Untitled

I really don't know what to talk about right now. Usually when I start talking about "nothing", I end up sounding like a downer and sound like I'm depressed all the time. I'm just being a realist. The "good things in life" come easy to some, while others have to work for it. I believe that I'm somewhere in the middle of these two ways of life. I haven't ever really "suffered" in life. My family fits somewhere into the middle class and that's always where we've been.  My dad lost his job 5 or so years ago and has been bouncing from job to job ever since then. During this time my family has hit some rough spots, but it's never really been that bad. I have never gone hungry, I have always had a warm home to go to, I have a great family, an awesome mancave (my bedroom), and many other luxuries that I often take for granted. The bottom line is that I'm very blessed and although I might have to work hard to give my future family the same security that my family has had, it'll all be worth it.

The 80's

What negative thing could I say about the 80's? The answer is nothing. I was born in 1994, so I didn't get to experience any part of the 1980's, but as I've gotten older, I wish that I could somehow go back to that time. The 80's seemed like a more carefree, laidback time. I know this wasn't necessarily the case, but most things we see from that time say otherwise. Everything was different back then, the styles, the music (for which the most part was way better), even the general mindset and way of living. Mullets were still in, and dudes could dress like women and it wasn't seen as strange or different (although I think this part of the decade was very strange and definitely different). Leather jackets were still very popular, and for the record leather never died, only those who liked leather.

Boss for Life

If I was the boss of where I currently work there would be so much that I would change. I lifeguard at the Bell Road YMCA and it is so run down that it's not even funny. Half of the stuff at the pool is broken, the other half is breaking. I would definitely repair and refurbish most of the equipment there, as well as fire all the lifeguards who don't ever do their job (although from time to time I fit in that category). Overall it's a great job and a great place to work, I really can't complain, but we have giant rusty fans that have been broken for almost a decade and no one has put in the time or effort to fix them. I'm sure repairing some of this equipment would be very costly, but no one has even bothered to contact someone who could repair them. I don't know if I would have what it takes to be in a managerial/directorial position, but I definitely know what I'd change and where I would start changing it.