last blog ( i think?)

Not going to lie to yal. This one almost slipped my mind. For my last and final blog I guess I'll just blab to you guys about what's on my mind these days. So it seems like almost everyone already has their job lined up for summer break and yet again I'm going to be scrambling around trying to find one for a while, but what else is new? I really would like to hook a position at a golf course for the break, but with my luck you'll probably be seeing me mopping up on aisle seven at your local Kroger. Am I the only one around here being crushed by end of the year projects, or do you guys feel my pain? I don't think I'll spend as much time in the library during exam week as I have this week. Sheesh. Speaking of exams... no let's just not. This will easily be the longest and most hated two weeks of my life, so come offer your comfort and company on the third floor of the library, and if any of you all are slackers like me and you have your own exam sorrows, you can cry on my shoulder if I can cry on yours. Almost there though so let's just push through to the other side. Good luck to everyone these next few weeks and hopefully I'll be seeing you all around!

Rodeo

This weekend, a bunch of my friends and I went down to Auburn for their annual Rodeo Weekend. If you have ever been to steeple chase, it's pretty much that just redneck. If you haven't been to steeple chase, basically picture a big open field with rows and rows of trucks tailgating with big ol' tents behind each truck bed. Next to this big field is a nice acre of nothing but dirt, dust, and a ring where brave young men tried their luck at riding bulls. Now picture fifteen thousand college students running around all day in this scene. Hectic to say the least. I had been looking forward to this event for months, and of course the day before I ended up feeling a little under the weather. Regardless, I wasn't going to let it keep me from having a good time so I decided to journey to Auburn against my better judgement. By the time we got there, it had gotten worse. I was light headed and queasy all night and could not sleep. That next morning, which was the day of the rodeo, I woke up, proceeded to take a shower, and then halfway through my scrub (it's about to get gross), I scrambled out of the shower to the toilet and vomited, and upon opening my eyes, lo and behold, I had vomited blood. Not too fun. The rest of the day was miserably great. Like being sick in heaven. Anyways, I figured I'd spice up the blog with a little gag story. Hope you weren't planning on eating soon!

Blog 12

So last night I quickly discovered that poker is not nearly as fun as it sounds. I had played before, but it had been a while, and I had never used real money, so I figured a five dollar gamble might make things at least a little bit more fun and interesting. I was dead wrong. If any of you out there are big time hold em die hards, I'm not trying to pick any fights, I'm sure poker is great if you have the patience for it, but frankly, it is the slower than golf, and that's saying something. I think I got one decent hand the entire night, and as soon as I saw it I went all in, thinking I would either start winning and try to finish this game quickly, or just lose and take my precious time back leaving my five bucks behind. Well for those of you who don't know of the massive cloud of bad luck that seems to follow me everywhere I go, it exists, and it showed up to poker night last night in a big way. My decent hand turned into a great hand by the time the flop rolled around, and I was eying the pot greedily, grinning from ear to ear. I can't exactly remember what I was working with, but I do know I fell to a straight... After that terrible poker experience, needless to say I will not be throwing down any more cash to have my heart broken like that again.

Blog 11

So what's better than food may I ask? Free food, duh. Last night around midnight or so IHOP was calling my friend's and my name, and that's not a call you can just screen. As many of you probably don't know, Italian food is my favorite kind of food to eat, and the only "Italian" (if you can even call it that) item on the menu was mozzarella sticks. So here I am in line behind two of my buddies patiently waiting. I get up, make my order, and sit down til it's ready, you know the drill. I was number 168. So I sat, listening as the numbers went by. 165! 166! 165! 167! 165! 168! Getting up at the sound of my number, the man behind the counter greeted me with an almost sneaky grin and said "looks like it's your lucky day because I'm not waiting on 165 no more." I opened the box to see what fortune had bestowed upon me this night, and lo and behold, there were not 5, but 10 sticks in there! And if you're wondering if I really ate ten sticks of just fried cheese, the answer is yes. I could put down thirty of those guys if the opportunity arose. So that's my random anecdote for the week, kinda lame I know, but that's all you're getting.

Spring Break

Ok, so for Spring Break me and a bunch of my friends decided to go down to Panama City for the week, and me and the people in my car thought we'd be real smart and go down at 4 in the afternoon on Friday, get there at midnight, find a place to sleep, and then wake up and go to the beach all day Saturday. Well, when you have four people as lazy as my friends are riding down with you, nothing ever goes as planned. At four o'clock, one of them didn't even have a suitcase yet, let alone was he packed. So we actually ended up hitting the road at about 6 and arrived at about 2 or 3. When I stepped out of the car, I was a little surprised to say the least. Everyone was still out and about walking/stumbling the streets like it was 3 in the afternoon, but that didn't surprise me. What surprised me was just how filthy the town was. If my family ever went to the beach, we would stay in Seaside or something around Destin, which was a much nicer, cleaner area. This place was full of some slimy looking people (not to judge, but sometimes you can't help it). I saw vomit twice while walking the streets, and more arrests than you could count on your right hand. The rest of the story basically goes we were offered weed by a questionable character creeping down the strip in his Pinto, and we also made the extremely dangerous decision of sleeping in the car. So moral of the story: arrive at check-in time.

The Haps

Well I'm sure most of you have all heard about Peyton Manning's recent lurkings around the Titan's stadium, and if you haven't now you have. So I guess for this weeks edition I'll spew about that for a while. As soon as rumors started spreading that Peyton was being released in the first place, I immediately was hopeful that he would throw in the towel and come to coach at UT. Can you imagine how great that would be? Recruiting would be next to effortless when you have a future and still in the spotlight Hall of Famer running around on your sidelines. He might even keep a few of our athletes out of jail to boot, but for right now it appears that fantasy will have to wait for his NFL career to be over. I don't want to get too excited about his dealings with the Titans just because I can't really see him putting himself in such a run dedicated offense, but maybe he feels like he couldn't keep up with the constant passing plays over and over after his surgery and needs to take it easy for a few seasons. Who knows? Truth be told I really don't think Peyton will be the savior of the Titans franchise if he comes to Tennessee. Not that he wouldn't help us immeasurably, it's just we have too many problems outside of the quarterback position to be lifted that easily. We'll just have to wait and see though right?

As Of Late

Hey, everybody. Before I get going with my normal bland spiel, I'd like to mention a family that could use some prayers right now. Some of you may have heard of Ty Osman's passing over the weekend, and if you didn't well all you need to know is that prayers for his family and friends would be much appreciated. For info you can check out this news report: http://www.brentwoodhomepage.com/obituary-ty-osman-a-young-man-of-character-cms-8083#.T1WAa9aC57g.facebook
sorry for the mouthful of a url, that's just the link that describes everything the best. If you read what it has to say about him as a person, I can swear to you it still doesn't do him justice. One of the greatest guys I have ever met by far.

Just to get away from the gloom. It's been a steady week so far. Had formal in Atlanta over the weekend. Tun-A-Fun to say the least. Just really pumped for boxing weekend coming up. A lot of my friends are coming into town so we'll just have to see how that all turns out! This all just feels really lame and insignificant after something so morbid, so I'm sorry everyone for the downer above. I can't even focus on writing this and I have no idea how to expect anyone to read it. I'll make it up to you all next week with something grand and extravagant I promise. Thanks for your concern for the Osman family. Have a good week everyone.

in recent news

First and foremost everybody, words cannot express how excited I am to see Star Wars in 3D sometime in the near future. I grew up watching the original trilogy with my dad almost every weekend, and it almost gives me goosebumps thinking about getting to see it in theaters again. Natalie Portman has always been one of my favorite actresses and I can't necessarily 100% say this is fact, but I'm pretty sure that most of the reason for that is because of her role as Princess Leia. Never really got why people liked Star Trek. If you were a trekky (if that's how it's spelled) and you'd like to defend your prejudice in the comment box below, please do. I've always been curious as to why it was so popular. If you've never sat down and had a conversation with a homeless person, I'd recommend it.  On Saturday I met Fanzo, a local late night McDonald's frequenter like me. Probably one of the nicest guys I've met before, and also probably had more on his mind than anyone I'd ever met. He could talk about anything and everything. I won't go over all that was discussed but what I can tell you about Fanzo is that:

1. He did not like Obama
2. He thinks people who like pickles on their burgers don't know anything about burgers
3. He says people need to get more dogs, because dogs make people happy

Hopefully I'll run into Fanzo again someday. If any of you ever meet him at McDonald's tell him Tanner said hey.

I Caved

Well, the break in classes caused me to forget to blog last week. I have no idea how it slipped my mind. So I'll just run through some of the nonsense yal have been missing out on. First, I'll start off with the confession I must make. I know I am the epitome of manliness and all, you don't have to tell me, my three chest hairs are proof enough, but every once in a while even the best of us slip up. So I'll just get right out and say it. I saw The Vow on Valentine's Day. Yeah, it was for a girl so I guess that helps right? I really hope so. Most of my pre-movie time was spent scanning my surroundings for people I might know and should avoid lest they see me shamefully sauntering into the theater. So there I said it. Say what you want. Make jokes. I get it. I will say this, though, and it may hurt my case even more. The movie was really not that bad for a while. Yeah, it wouldn't have been my first choice obviously. I'd rather see a bunch of heads exploding any day over watching two random people I don't know struggle with their love life, but the story was interesting enough to follow along with throughout most of the performance. When I lost interest though is when it got the most "dramatic." I really wasn't that emotionally attached to the film in the first place, and then they tried to make me cry, and as soon as the words "pathetic" crossed my mind. I heard the sniffles from the girl squad sitting 3 seats down. I just can't understand what makes these movies worth crying about. Maybe I'm shallow. Maybe it's just a guy thing. I've just never been so comparatively apathetic. Anyways, now the cats out of the bag. Go ahead and take your stabs. Comments should be easy on this confession.

Super Bowl Thoughts

Ok, so I've been waiting to vent about this load of crap for a long time, and I'm just gonna come right out and say it. The Super Bowl was probably one of the most frustrating things I've ever watched. Let's be honest people. The Giants are the luckiest team in the NFL and Eli Manning is by far the luckiest man alive. Never have I seen so many fumbles bounce right back into the hands of the team that dropped the ball in the first place. Never have I seen so many passes lobbed up and somehow miraculously get caught by some guy off the bench. I really just feel bad for Tom Brady too. I've also never seen so many "elite" receivers drop such easy passes. So in a way, yeah, the Patriots shot themselves in the foot. I'll admit it, but I still feel that they were the better team last night. And now, lets move on to the only thing worse than Deon Branch's hands, the halftime show. Madonna, Nikki Minaj, and LMFAO... Really? Who is this for, Middle School kids? The only exciting part about the performance was eagerly hoping Madonna would trip and eat it as she stumbled around on those precarious bleachers. The only people who like that music are Middle Schoolers (once again) and girls. And don't get me wrong, I know that girls can like football just as much as the next guy, but I'd be willing to bet most of the audience that actually pays attention to the Super Bowl are men, so let's get something that we would all enjoy. How bout that?

Honestly just don't have much to say this time around everyone, so I'm just going to mind vomit on this one. Checked out Wal-Mart yesterday and found probably the coolest apple juice bottles I've ever seen. Just by that description you all most likely know exactly the ones I'm talking about. That's right, the tummy ticklers with Disney characters for tops. Just could not resist Woody and Buzz Lightyear's big ol' eyes staring at me from the top shelf of the display rack, and now they're both perched on the top shelf of my dorm bookshelf and keep a close watch over the pad while I'm away or sleeping. For those of you who don't know Toy Story was and always will be my favorite movie. I know you were curious. This is going to sound very dumb but I promise it's frustrated me for years now. I still can't grow a beard. I know, tragic. I've been this close (about the distance between my thumb and pointer finger if you can picture me pinching a nickel) for years now. There's just two patches that refuse to come through for me and the rest of it just won't get quite thick enough to call it real facial hair yet. Feels like the rest of my body is on board with it but my face just isn't having it. I just think it would be nice to have the option, and it would be fun to mess around with. Well, these are the goings on of my mind for the night. Hope you enjoyed. God bless.

New Semester

To be honest, I am totally unsure of myself as to how all of this blogging stuff is supposed to be done so please bear with me. The start of the new semester has definitely hit hard. Already I find myself overwhelmed with class work and other commitments such as friends, fraternity matters, etc. It just feels like all of the rest I caught up on during break has vanished in the blink of an eye to my dismay at the hands of my own poor time management and lack of ability to make decisions that will benefit me in the long run. This probably sounds like I have had the worst week of my life, but it has not been gloomy as this report may make it seem, only challenging. I am actually very excited for this new year. Obviously it is going to be a busy one, but being on the move is what makes me happy. I do not know if I have ever had so much responsibility put on myself before, so this will definitely be a learning experience, but if I can make it out alright and keep the parents happy, I'll be OK with whatever happens. Life has changed a little bit around the dorm. One of my best friends and suite mates had to move out because of grades this semester, but another long time friend ended up moving in. It's been a blessing and a curse having him around because he is someone I can talk to, and love talking to, but he also comes with about three other people who regularly pack into my already cramped room to trash the place. Blogging really makes me feel like I'm just whining to you all, so next time I promise to make this a little more cheery. I really have had a great week; I guess I'm just spewing all of this out because I'm writing this in my dorm, and it's what's on my mind right now. So, sorry for the gloom and doom. Hope you all have a great week.

My Story

Hey, everyone. My name's Tanner Lillicrap, and Nashville is the only home I ever knew before coming to UT. I graduated from David Lipscomb High School, a small christian school, where I played soccer and football and also wrestled. Outside of competition, one of my favorite things to do is travel, and luckily I was able to incorporate that fascination with the most important aspect of my life, my faith. I always grew up going to church, and when I got old enough, I began to explore the world on mission trips across the world. These trips really shaped the person I am now as I was growing up. My freshman year I went to Honduras where I was blown away by how the people there, though they had virtually nothing, lead such happy and full lives. My second venture out of the country took me to Thailand, also known as the land of smiles. The people I met there were by far the most genuine I had ever met. There was no such thing as judgement in their eyes. They truly loved and cared about everyone the came into contact with, which was overwhelming for me as an American coming from an environment that at times can feel so void of real sincerity. The third and last, so far, trip I took was to Scotland, which was much the opposite. Christians and people with strong morals are brutally antagonized in the UK. Inhibitions for any reason that cannot be scientifically proven are seen as absurd and childish. Those people take a lot of abuse for standing up for what they believe in; displaying to me an inspiring example of strength. This is a very scrambled version of my life; I know, but those are the highlights to me. Those are the moments and memories I appreciate the most, and they could probably tell you more about me than anything else I could imagine.