TAYLOR ON EARTH

Hello anyone and everyone that took an interest in this blog; I’m back!
Did you guys like my Chicago cover photo with the blog post title? I tried to be clever.

This past year has been a whirlwind for a dozen reasons and I haven’t been writing or communicating with hardly anybody outside my small inner circle. To those of you that like to read about my travels, I apologize for that. In 2019 I did travel a few times. I visited Denver, Colorado twice, Chicago, Illinois for the first time, and a best friend from high school and I traveled to Montréal and Québec, Canada together. Something I need to do better is journal my experiences during trips so I can remember all the intricate details and provide feedback and tales on this blog, as originally intended.

Reasons for not writing for quite some time: life got a little too tough. My standard day job was putting me through the wringer and I couldn’t make it a full week being happy. Geographically I’m very far apart from nearly all of my closest friends, and that fact took a toll on me, so I’m working to visit those friends more often or host them in my city of Birmingham. However, a lot of good came towards the second half of 2019.

More or less, I’ve been letting life ride and enjoying living in the moment. For a long time I could only look towards the future and nothing else. The next trip, the next financial milestone, the next familial event. Living in the moment and being free to go largely without a plan has been therapeutic. But like I said before, I will be documenting my adventures further. So living in the moment will sometimes be slowed down a bit, not a bad thing.

A side note: my typical New Year’s Resolution has always been to read one book a month (easy for some, I know), so twelve in a year. For the past two years I’ve gotten so close but have always fallen short. So far this January I’ve read two books, both autobiographies of two artists that I highly respect. The famous drummer Travis Barker’s Can I Say and Amanda Palmer’s The Art of Asking. These two books are what really got me back into writing today I believe. Both are musicians that ended up writing about their lives because they had something to say and they’ve lived interesting lives. Something I think we all aspire to have, right? Though I’m not musically inclined, I like to think that I’m fairly adequate at taking photos from time to time and creating fun videos when the time calls for it, so here’s me holding myself accountable. Travis Barker has and will always will be the best drummer of all time thanks to blink-182 and his several side projects, and I acknowledge his various quotes, but especially, “Nobody cares, go harder.” The quote in and of itself may be blunt, but it’s also motivating to keep going in the face of adversity, especially in Travis’ case of a tragic plane crash and his recovery. As for Amanda Palmer, a punk rock cabaret artist, who also happens to be married to my favorite author, Neil Gaiman, her book is an account for her life and learning how to ask for help when you truly need it, no matter how big or small the ask is. I’ve already taken away a fistful of lessons from both of these musicians and I’m looking forward to a more positive outlook going forward.

The last week of February 2020 I will be traveling to Amsterdam and Alkmaar, Netherlands and to Rome, Italy for the first time. It may not look like much, but putting together this brief post has motivated me to record my upcoming journey more thoroughly and to post with more vigor and excitement. Last time I was in mainland Europe was in 2017, so I’m looking forward to the train rides, meeting people, tasting delicious food, and exploring cities where I don’t know the language. Connecting with others when you don’t speak the same language has always been rewarding in my experience. People around the world are generally good, have faith in them.

Final note: Thanks for reading this far and for keeping up with me, whether you’re a personal friend/family member or a stranger (I’m all too thankful for you, too); Australia, Brazil, and the state of California have been dealt unspeakable damage due to fires. If you have any capacity to donate to the various charities out there to assist victims or those fighting the fires themselves, please do. The planet needs us, the ocean needs us, and our forests need us. I personally am trying to live more sustainably each day by recycling at work and not wasting food resources, baby steps. Eventually I want to compost and use solar power (whenever I move out of the state of Alabama because our power company has a monopoly). Do good to the world and the world will do good to you. Thank you again, you’ll be hearing from me soon.