Hang-Loose

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to hang out with the Moniz family! I met them via the Snow/Ski Trip the MWR put on in February. I had slept in so I missed breakfast, and just so happened to run into them at brunch in the galley. They asked what my plans were for the day and when I mentioned that I had wanted to go to the Charles Schulz Museum, but all the guys I knew had duty, they thought it was a really cool idea!

So I went back to my room to grab my Garmin, plugged in the address, and then met them at the mini-mart on base. The museum was really informative! It described Charles Schulz (known as Sparky by his peers) life in detail, and showed how every part of his life eventually ended up in the Peanuts comic strip. I ended up buying a book entitled: "The Gospel According to Peanuts," should be interesting! ...and of course, I bought a Snoopy. His new home is above the backseat of my car. To see pictures click here.

After the museum we did a Costco run, where we bought items for Salad and some Talapia. Once we got back to their house we watched Madagascar 2 while eating the amazing dinner, complete with homemade sticky rice, and this absolutely decedent Filipino/Japanese dessert called Butter Mochiko, yummy!

It was really fun to be part of a "home" for the day rather than being alone in the barracks. Plus I even got to hang out with Lani... she's a freshman in college, and a pretty cool kid! Nice to hang out with a down to earth girl, who loves her family, and isn't into all the crap the female Coasties are.

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I was thinking about things today, and I realized how much time I have to myself when I don't worry about anyone's schedule but my own. Quinn's been doing so much training the past 2 weeks that I've hardly talked to him at all (and I mean like 4hrs total), my friends rarely/if ever call, and I have to be proactive to get anyone to hang out from base. I talk to my mom and dad now and then, and that's always nice, it's fun to share what's going on in my life, and hearing all about the crazy things Storm and Lil J have been up to. Lex is a kid from the digital age, so I've learned to accept her texting/messaging as her way of loving me.

I work from 7-4 every day, go to the gym 4:15-5:35, then eat dinner 5:40-6, and am done with my shower by 6:30pm. Sometimes the evenings seem to drag on, but more often than not after setting all my stuff out for the morning, checking and responding to e-mails, surfing the web a bit, I get comfy and read until I fall asleep... I've come to the conclusion that there really aren't enough hours in the day.

I know this will all change when I go home, I'll have more responsibility, and friends close to me... I hope I have a strong enough will to continue exercising and eating healthy though.

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Funny quote of the day (from Josh during dinner, describing his time at boot camp):

This one kid, just didn't seem to understand instructions at all and one day the Company Commander [equivalent to a DI] just started yelling at him: 'Can't you do anything right? Drive the boat, don't drive the boat on land! ...Get it?!'

Maybe you had to be there, I'm not sure, but I pretty much died laughing at the dinner table.

March 18th

So I've officially been blogging for 1yr...I went through all of my entries.

It was interesting!

Here are a few pictures from this week:


[Have I mentioned that turkeys are THE most annoying animals ever? They keep me awake at night, and wake me up early in the morning. I don't think they actually sleep.]






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Waiting.

Do you ever feel like the only thing you have left to do is wait?
Well... that's how I feel lately.
I feel like I'm in the middle of the biggest waiting game of my life.
[this far... obviously, I am only 22yrs old]
And I'm struggling with being patient,
and not worrying...

There are so many things in the future that are unknown, some days I feel as though my head is spinning... so let's start with the near future:

1) Graduation from ASU - this I can and will wait for. I am in no hurry to be a newly graduated holder of a bachelor's degree... with nowhere to go because of our amazing economy. Not to mention the fact that I've been pushing back "growing up" for, oh say 22.5yrs!

2) Getting a job - I have honestly been looking for possible jobs for the past 2mo now, and I find some prospective ones, only to learn I don't have the qualifications or special certificates for them. Ugh. Every job within the military (aka: what I am doing now and love) seems to promote from within... so how exactly do I become and insider in the first place?

3) Location, location, location - I am currently in California, I will be back in Arizona in two months. Quinn is in Maryland. This distance thing, really not cool after doing it for so long. I want to be near him. Problem #1- refer above, I need a job. Problem #2- the unknown time schedule for his deployment. If he deploys this fall/winter, I'd be devastated if I had just moved out there and got to spend one month with him. Then eight months alone, in a new city, on the complete opposite side of the country from everyone and everything I know.

4) Timing - Quinn and I know we want to get married. There are many obstacles/challenges to this... 1st: distance 2nd: the unknown deployment 3rd: financial matters 4th: location ...and on and on. Oh, and the fact we're not engaged. Back to me being impatient. Learn Taylor, learn.

But God says: WAIT!
Okay God... I'm waiting.

Whenever I think about "waiting," the Chris Tomlin song Everlasting God comes to mind. I tried to find a file I could embed for you to play from here. But, if you CLICK HERE a page with the song will open in a new window so you can listen to it. [complete with lyrics]

"Wait on the LORD;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the LORD!" - Psalm 27:14 (NKJV)

On my mind...

Quinn and I have been going through a book together called: "The Relationship Principles of Jesus" it has made me realize a number of things:

1) Humans suck at relationships, even more at love.
2) I am constantly questioning myself as I go through this study, everyday there is a new principle. Everyday I am challenged to answer a question that requires deep thinking and complete honesty with myself.

One of the quotes the book gave is from C.S. Lewis, and it really got to me:

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart out to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket---safe, dark, motionless, airless---it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.

I've never been like that, rather I seem to be the complete opposite. I will give bits and pieces of my love out without ever expecting anything in return. BUT, instead of accepting love, and believing I am deserving of it, I seem to build a wall. I'm constantly working on this, and for a long time other than my family I never truly opened up. Until I met Quinn, for whatever reason he was different... and brick by brick my wall started to come down. I am not anywhere near perfect, nor will I ever be, I am continually learning and each day I read this book and discuss it with Quinn it helps me take another step closer to knowing what true love looks like. Jesus is the perfect example of love, and knowing I will never reach his level no longer bugs me, knowing I am learning from Him helps.

Today's lesson kind of threw me off though, by the second paragraph the book stated: "Much of what we call love is actually polite selfishness." My initial reaction was.... WHAT? It then went on to explain that when we say I love you... it refers to a why, because, if, or when. How true is that. Boggles your mind, huh? We are to love as Jesus loved us. ...whew...

So how am I suppose to do that? The book mentioned that you can only truly love when you spend time with others. My favorite quote on this subject: "True fellowship cannot be forced or scheduled; it must be chosen and accepted."

Fatherly Love

Today while working the Nor*Cal Tournament Sam, one of the Coasties that works in the office with me, brought his little boy Anthony to watch the game. He's almost two, and you can see the Italian in him without having to know his name. Super cute kid, but that's besides the point here...

At one point I happened to glance over at the two of them, and Sam lifted little Anthony up off the floor of the bleachers smiled, and gave him a kiss on the forehead. This picture of masculinity and innocence stuck in my mind. Sam has multiple tattoos, I have no doubt he would defend his family despite all odds, he's a "man's man."

I'm so thankful for truly loving and caring fathers such as Sam, it gives me hope that the world is still good. Still suitable to bring an innocent child into.

I thought a lot about my dad today...

I also thought about Ashley's dad...

But most of all... I thought about our Heavenly Father- who is there no matter what. For those whose father's weren't this loving man, to those who must go on each day missing the dad that was but sadly is no longer here with us.

"I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." - 2 Corinthians 6:18

Friends and Fire Alarms

I have tan-lines! (even a little pink in areas- I should bring sunscreen if I go longer). No, I'm not making it up... I had the opportunity to go to the beach today for a couple hours, it was almost 60* and S-U-N-N-Y!!! =)

In other news: "My Coasties" graduated this past Thursday. At their morning graduation I gave them each a card, two printed pictures, a cd with the pictures I took of our time together, and finally a mini-booklet about faith. I honestly did not expect to get anything in return, I almost didn't think I would see them again after that. However, that evening I got a text from Tony asking if I was going to the Consolidated Club for Karaoke Night. I went down and met up with Ivan, Travis and his wife (Alexis), and Tony. Ivan handed me this nicely wrapped gift complete with card! It ended up being two Vans shirts. After they closed the club we all went up the hill behind my barracks to the water tower. I'm sure we could have gotten into trouble for climbing it, but all of us laying on top looking at the stars and talking about life would have been worth it.

Friday morning their whole class [IT-0309] was gone, except for Tony. Which ended up being very good for me! My computer has been (and still is) having issues with the internet here... I've come to the conclusion it is the base internet provider, but here's the story anyway: I had the day off because I am working the Nor*Cal Basketball tournament this weekend. I called Jason to ask if he could come look at my computer, and see what was wrong. He and Connie showed up, and he messed with my computer, only to tell me that I had a bock/root/zombie virus that was connecting with other sources and blocking me out of the internet. Ok? I asked him what I should do and he said buy a virus program with a root detector. Great. Tony called and asked if we could hang out on his last day, and knowing he's an IT, I asked if he had any virus programs... cha-ching! He did, and now I am "armed" with Avast.

So after that whole fiasco, we headed into town since we both missed lunch. We did the Petaluma downtown river walk, acted like two little kids in the gigantic candy store, played in the toy store, and found a store called "Mighty Quinn" ...obviously a picture was necessary. Unfortunately I wouldn't recommend going in, we saw the sign on the door "18yrs+ Only" looked at each other and were like... "um, how about no." We also toured the local glass factory- LOVE IT! If I can fit it into my schedule, I want to take a fusing class, it looks so neat =D They also sell mosaic glass $5/lb not that I'm going to buy any, just thought it was cool to find a place like that.

We came back to base and he pulled out a bag: he gave me a set of sea salt scrub/lotion, suppose to be some awesome stuff. And then plugged in his computer and told me he needed to render a DVD for me. So, while that rendered we went to the movies. Evidently "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" was a very popular movie on base, I ended up getting stuck next to these little girls each with large sodas which were empty probably 1/4 into the movie which then had them getting up for the bathroom every 15min, haha. It's ok, a free movie is a free movie, all 150 seats were full! After the movie, Tony had me watch the DVD he'd just made, it was so cool! All of the pictures (his, mine, and Ivan's) all combined into a huge slideshow accompanied with music. There are even videos, it was great.

I'm going to miss those boys, but I've definitely learned a lot from knowing them. You can never be afraid to be yourself, people will either like you or not, but those that do are genuine. I am also being really open in my faith all of them know I am Christian, and that Jesus Christ plays a huge role in my life. One of the guys (Andrew) that never hung out with us except at the galley, knows a lot more. We had a 2.5hr hour conversation Sunday night discussing faith, and life. I even prayed for him out loud, it was a very interesting experience. I will never forget him, and he's already e-mailed me from his new duty station telling me he got checked in. Life happens quickly, people come and go, but you never know what kind of things you'll take away from an encounter, so I'm doing my best to make them all positive!

I'm finally in my room relaxing: my laundry is done, and my room is nice and clean. I hope the fire alarm doesn't go off again. It has twice tonight, the firemen are really nice though. One is originally from Glendale and we ended up talking about my dad and what station he's at. Evidently the alarm in the downstairs Women's Head (bathroom) is faulty, they were repairing it when they let me come back inside. It's cold outside, I don't wanna run out there again!

PS- I'm a Zonie... how does daylights savings time work?! Do I change at midnight tonight, or tomorrow? Yikes... Google maybe? Or automatic time zone detection on my cell phone? Haha, talk about being oblivious for 22yrs.

Granlibakken @ Lake Tahoe

Yesterday was a long work day, but I did get a few hours off to enjoy myself:



So, Lake Tahoe looked amazing I wish I could have skied, maybe I'll get to come back someday.