#42 Monotony Music Days

Seeing as I've hit a monotonous point in my life with school getting back into full swing, I can't say that there's much going on with me! Other than the constant readings and lectures to attend, my life hasn't consisted of all that much except finishing all available episodes of Downton Abbey, shooting myself in the foot by starting Vampire Diaries on Netflix, and the occasional dinner somewhere other than my dorm cafeteria. I lead such an exciting life! So instead of a cool story of my college life (...because there are so many...yeah...) today, I will be sharing with you all a facet of my musical taste! Below is a playlist of twelve songs that I have oh so carefully selected to share with you. I say carefully because there are some songs that I love, but wouldn't be quick to admit to the whole world. Let's just say that I'm no stranger to mainstream pop! While I do not claim to be a music expert by any regard, I'd like to think my taste isn't terrible! A lot of you have probably heard these songs before, (like I said, I'm no expert) but I just thought I'd share! I'd also be happy to take any music suggestions! I love hearing new things, so feel free to share with me too. And make sure to scroll down on the list to see all twelve songs!

On another note, I am very excited to announce that I will be featuring guest bloggers in the coming weeks in a series called "Things My Friends Are Doing," so keep an eye out for that! And a big thanks to Rebecca Marin for helping me out with embedding this playlist in my post. I have to admit, I'm a bit on technologically-challenged side, but thankfully Rebecca was able to help me out. She features a  "Weekend Playlist" on her beautiful blog that I absolutely love and highly encourage that you all check out here! I'm sure it will inspire you all as it has inspired me! 

Morgan

#41 Happy (Belated) 1st Birthday to Things I'm Doing!

Well here it is, the moment that we've all dreaded for weeks, the beginning of another semester, and with it a new crop of classes, teachers, classmates, and of course, work. And some more work. And some more work. I've been in class for a mere week and already, it seems like there's constantly something to do. There really is no rest for the college student. Apart from making me miss home and winter break where I literally did nothing, the new semester has made me an utterly negligent blogger. I know, it's happened before, but I feel especially bad about it this time, not because I feel like I've let you all down (which I do, but that's beside the point for now), but because I forgot to wish my blog a happy birthday! Yes folks, it was my blog's birthday, which to me constitutes a big deal. Maybe not as big a deal as my dog's eighth birthday (which I refuse to accept) or one of my best friends' nineteenth birthday (shout out to you Souther!), but I would still consider my blog's first birthday to be a date of importance.

January 12th of last year, I began my blogging journey purely on a whim, on the thought that I should share a part of who I am with all of you. Sitting here a year later, it's hard to believe that so much has changed since then. I wrote that short but sweet piece from my bed at my mom's house in my hometown. In that short year, I've moved from writing from my bed to writing from various places around my college campus. Currently, I'm writing in the library, avoiding my Information Technology reading and waiting till it's time to go to class. More than that, my mom doesn't live in that house anymore since she took a new job and moved to Houston. Talk about change. I will say that it is pretty cool that my mom and I moved and started over at the same time. Unexpected, but cool nonetheless!

Not only is my location and place in life different, but I also feel as though I'm different as a person. The more I wrote about Things I Should've Done as I did when I started this whole thing, the more I wanted to stop talking about them and start doing them. This blog changed who I am. It made me want to be a proactive, positive person rather than focusing on what I could've done differently. You can't change the past, but you can definitely learn something from it and use it to create the future you want. The change from Things I Should've Done to Things I'm Doing was a monumental one--not only for my blog, but for me personally too.

I'm sure it seems like a lot of my posts end up like this, but I really cannot express my gratitude enough. I want to thank you all again for being with me this year and (hopefully!) staying with me to experience the next year!

And a very happy (belated) 1st birthday to Things I'm Doing! And to Souther and Tex of course!

Morgan

#40 Good Worth Fighting For

Ever since the summer, my dear friend Amanda has been trying to get me to watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I know, I know, it's crazy that I've never seen it, cause who hasn't seen Lord of the Rings? But for whatever reason I never had. Towards the end of the summer, Amanda lent me all three of her extended cut DVDs and her copy of The Hobbit to read, but I never found the time to watch the movies or read the book during my hectic first semester at school. I'll admit I was scared to tell her that I hadn't watched them yet, because if you know Amanda, you know she has a huge thing for Lord of the Rings, and I didn't want to tell her that I failed her mission to educate me in the art of cinematic epics. The time came when we all returned home for Christmas break, and I still had her DVDs, still left unwatched. So instead of groveling at her feet and begging for mercy, I suggested that we just watch them together and make a marathon out of it during our break. Of course she welcomed that idea with open arms and several bags of popcorn and assorted cookies!

Two and a half weeks into being home for winter break, we have yet to get through the trilogy, because it turns out it is possible to get busy even when you're home from school. In fact, I just wrote about being caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, and that chaos has really taken away from my trilogy-watching time! But we've taken it movie by movie...well more like disc by disc. Like I said, Amanda has the extended versions so watching one movie is more like watching two. We've picked up a couple other friends on our cinematic journey to Mordor, and the more I sit and watch these very long films, the more I appreciate the people I'm surrounded by.

 Last night, my friends and I finished watching The Two Towers, the second movie in the trilogy. Towards the film's end, I was struck by a speech made by Sam, who has since become my favorite character in the movies. Here is what he said:

"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something. That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo...and it's worth fighting for."  

It was in this moment, watching this scene and being with some of my closest friends, that I realized that the true friends are worth fighting for. They are who will be there when times are dark, and they are who will be there when times are bright. Friends, old and new, are special people, and they should not be taken for granted. It's kind of hard to believe that it took an epic monologue and close to eight hours of Lord of the Rings footage (with another four hours to go) for me to truly believe that.

So today, I leave you with a video clip of Sam's amazing speech instead of a picture like always. Maybe it will resonate with you like it did me!

Also I hope you guys like the new blog design! Let me know your thoughts!
Morgan