Friday, December 31, 2004

Top Ten Moments of 2004

Yeah so I didn't make the title random...

For more than 18 years have I listened to old people gripe and complain. "Things just aren't like they were" and "I remember back when..." Yeah yeah Wrinkly McWrinklson, we got it. Things change, time passes, the future is always bleak and horrid and in the past are the glorious days of "olde." When the world shined like a new 1944 Ford and people in paper hats were trusted friends at the local diners. Those of us that grew up not so long ago have heard it time and again and frankly we can see nothing but hope in the future because complaining old folks won't be around to tell us that our music stinks and that the people we're peers with are terrible compared to their own generation's. At least that is one way of looking at it.
I'm starting to see things differently now. Perhaps time does flow like a river and history does repeat. From generation to generation, from empire to empire, and from legend to history. I'm starting to see their side of the story. I still see such great promise in my future but I've gained a greater appreciation for my past. A certain respect, if you will, to what feels like a good friend that I've lost.
My carefree years are waning and soon the darkness of adulthood will eclipse my life and I'll live it grasping for one flashlight of a good memory to the next. Don't get me wrong. Life doesn't end until you let it. There is still much fun to come, but this post is created for my newfound respect for the past. I'd like to take a moment to think back and share with the world the 10 most happy or influential moments (I use the term moment loosely) for me during the year of our Lord, two thousand and four. Sit back, relax, grab a cup-a-joe, and enjoy the read...because it's a long one...

...a long time ago...before WilmingSloan began...

#1-THE SENIOR PROJECT: April-ish

Probably one of the biggest most stressing events of the year and, yes, my life, this project nearly got the best of me. I had to write a paper my Jr. year about film making and why I wanted to be a filmmaker. That's all good, but that's just the first part of the project. For the senior year portion of the project you had to created a "product" that shows your growing and learning of the job area of interest for you as well as make a presentation of your project to a panel of judges. Glups!
Thankfully my Dad, through his advertising adventures, has known a man by the name of Jim Cando for quite some time now. Jim is a commercial filmmaker with his own studio, Take One Productions, in Cary, NC. I was so lucky to have Jim be so willing to help me out. I wrote up the idea for this documentary on a man who goes to my church who was a WWII tail gunner on a B-17 flying fortress. His plane was shot down and he bailed out into enemy territory over Germany. From there he was taken to Stalag 17-B and he just had a great story. Sadly, as time went on certain difficulties arose and it became apparent that things weren't going to work out as planned.
Panic-strickin with only about two weeks to go I had to think of a solution. I ended up doing a 3 minute trailer for the story as if it were on a history channel. I'll admit that Jim, in his infinite kindness, did a large majority of the editing work and with his great equipment and experience it came out looking like an absolute gym. Then it was time for the presentation. Armed with a foam board standup and a copy of my tape I waltzed in there and gave my 6 minute speech.
Strangely enough, though I was still horridly nervous, I managed to smoothy flow through it. I was decently happy until people started talking around the school. I don't mean to sound a braggart but apparently I had given the best speech of the entire bunch. My english teacher told me that I got the only perfect score that one of the judges had ever given. In the end all of the judges gave my speech a perfect score and thanks mostly to Take One, my product also got a 100. WHAT A RELIEF!
I went from a project in shambles to the perfect grade in just a couple of weeks! The grades were enough to counteract my laziness in the rest of my English class and score me a B for the semester. I had my first experience working with real filmmakers and discovered an apparent hidden talent, public speaking. Who knew?
I still say the senior project is a bunch of bull...but looking back on it I'm glad I was made to do it.

#2-WAITING LIST: April-May-ish

So far I've led a relatively wonderful life. Pretty much anything I wanted within reason has been mine and noting really stopped me. At one point I considered going to a small arts school here in North Carolina but fear of the long and competitive admissions process kept me away. Feeling a little bit lesser of a person for not going for it I applied late for one school, the only other one I had considered. The University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
I knew that application volume for Wilmington had been rising in recent years but with a 3.4 and an 1110 I assumed that such a school would accept me handily. Checking their previous year's acceptance stats I noted that I was safely within the mid to upper range of the students the had admitted the year before. Once the dust for my senior project settled and I went on a relaxing trip to San Diego and Hollywood (I have pictures!) I settled down and waited for that formality of an acceptance letter from Wilmington.
It never came.
What I got instead through me headlong into the worst fit of depression I think I've ever experienced. I wasn't accepted, I was wait listed. The letter informed me that I could request to be wait listed or not and that if I'd been accepted to any other university to please accept there because nothing could be finalized. the year before they had only taken the top 5% of the waiting list but the year before that they had taken over 50%. Heartbroken I was sure that I was totally doomed to the far reaches of the most doomed planet.
I'll never forget a letter my dad wrote me that night telling me that it didn't matter what the school thought, he still thought I was great...(or something to that affect.) Nothing helped at the time however and I spent the next 3-5 days in the biggest pity party I've ever experienced. I even got out of work for being so depressed! Not being one to enjoy such a state I tried to pull myself out as quickly as possible.
Within a week I had sent my late application (with appropriate fees) to East Carolina University. I toured the campus with my sister who had just graduated the semester before there and was accepted within a week. Though not particularly happy with the direction I gradually warmed up to the idea of being a pirate (after all...that is a really cool mascot) and just moved on. Fate-it would seem-had other planes. I'm sure due mostly to the fact that 'GreenviSloan' doesn't sound good at all, it sent me another letter just before graduation. This one, an acceptance to UNCW.
I thought I would be ecstatic at the sight of it but at this point I was torn. Where should I go now? We know how it ended but think of how close I came to having a completely different life. Being wait listed for an additional few weeks gave me a big wide pimp slap on the cheek and told me that I can't take things for granted. Some stuff isn't going to fall in my lap and I better appreciate the opportunities I've been given. Appreciate them I do!

#3-Exiting the Kerr: Second week in May

Before getting my job at Kerr Drug of Benson back in August of 2003 the only work experience I had outside of Caswell, which is just a summer job, was working for about a month and a half at an Andy's Cheesesteaks and Cheesburgers. That was a HORRIBLE experience that almost made me lose hope in the society as a whole, not to mention my ability to work with the scum of the earth. Thankfully I was blessed with the admittedly quirky, strange, and moody BUT nice folks that work(ed) at the drug store. My friend Matt got me the job there, well, Boone got me the job there but Matt was instrumental. For nine months I enjoyed the meager salary while getting along well with the folks I worked with. All in all a good bunch. There was Dwane the daytime photo guy, who introduced me to old school RPGs. Anthony the "Big Man" Assistant Manager who, while temperamental, was a man of most excellent humor. Boone, the quite but friendly Manger who shared a love of fig cakes with me, and April, quite possibly the sweetest lady in the world, with some darn cute kids. Mix all of them together with my best friend Matt, smart-alecky Nick, and the whole part-time crew...oh yeah, and all those "other guys" back in the pharmacy, and you have a recipe for an awesome work environment. As much as it felt like I hated working there I really hated leaving them more, as I really don't know the next time I'll be lucky enough to work with a bunch like them. Alas! Caswell and college called so I had to do it. Farewell Kerr Drug! I won't forget to visit!!!

#4-GRADUATION: May 24

You've either been there or you will be there soon. High School graduation not only marks your first step into the real world but it marks a turning point in you social and home life as well. No more is home really the same as it once was for me. Now it's the place I go every few weekends rather than the place I spend the majority of my time. The people I went to school with for 4 years...some of them for 14 (counting pre school) are pulled along different paths and I know well that I may never see them again. The celebration of this great departure from our old lives was, for me, a beautiful experience. ((bleigh))
Surrounded by family and friends and graduating with grades the just squeaked me into the school I wanted felt good and gave a brief sense of relief to what had been a chaotic time. No real rest for the weary though...as within 24 hours I was packed and heading out again.

#5-Caswell: May 25th-August 8th

Try as I might there is absolutely NO WAY I could fit everything about Caswell into this post or even five posts. This wasn't my first stay at the coastal retreat and conference center located on Oak Island NC. The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina purchased the site of the civil war and WW training facilities and forts from the federal government to use as a camp and convention center for their affiliated churches. I've always known Caswell as a camper but it wasn't until summer 2003 that I experienced it for the first time as a staffer for the summer. My sister worked in 2001 and again with me in 2003 but this past summer of 2004 will have been her last and the last one I'll have had to share with her there. That made the summer a pretty special time alone but add to that the 60 some people that I met and grew to love and be friends with, along with the amazing time I spent with God, and you've got an truly unforgettable experience. I got to know my beloved "building #2" or "LongBay", the largest of the barrack buildings and, actually, the largest at the assembly. Every day my helper (or was I her's?) Abby Hinton and I would wander over there and give the place a good clean up. Disgusting toilets and showers aside it was a great job. It also allowed me to keep close with the cafe staffers when I made biscuits and toast right behind my man, Mark Hardy, who was always hard at work on the pancakes. You gotta love those line girls and, after my first summer, dish roomers will always have a place close to my heart. I could go on for hours about all the people I got to know there and the good times I had but this post is already lengthy so I guess I'll just cut it short. If you're out there and you're one of my Caswell peeps just know that I love you all and I think about you a lot. Hope to see you at reunion! If you aren't a Caswell peep and you're still confused as to what the big deal is, just ask me sometime when you've got a couple hours to burn.

#6-UNCW Orientation: 5th session...sometime in late June

Taking a break from Housekeeping at Caswell for a day and a half was pretty nice, but the real beauty of Orientation at UNCW was the splendor of the campus and the excitement it gave me for the college life. I met my parents in Wilmington at the school and we hung out for a bit. They presented me with my beautiful, fresh Apple iBook G4 which I drooled over for a few hours before heading back for the first night. I don't mind saying this now because I'm nearly certain that there is no way he'll ever find his way to this page, but the guy I roomed with at orientation (don't remember his name) was a complete and total idiot. Dude was straight up dumb. Other than him the other people I met there were nice and I still keep in touch with a few. (Just before Christmas I ran into McKenna, who I met at orientation, in Barnes and Noble in Cary. CRAZY HUH?)

#7-UNCW Welcome Week: Aug 15-21

I...think...I'm...going to...be sick...

That was the general feeling in the pit of my stomach for welcome week at UNCW, as well as the weeks that followed. I moved in during a hurricane...in the rain..on Sunday the 15th and for a week tried to tell myself everything was going to be ok. My roommate was a complete and total shocking change from the roomies I had just a week before at Caswell. I didn't know anyone there aside from Tommy who lives off campus, and spent a great deal of time in the room. My family was worried that I was being a hermit and I was ticked at them for bringing it up. Just an all around ugly time but hey, it was a big adjustment. I'm just glad that I had the guts to stick with it and I'm happy to say the bad things of the first week aren't so bad any more. My roommate is still the same but he's cool and I'll give him a high five like woah. My boarders have extended, I'm now in a few campus organizations and I have a lot of dorm buddies. Classes didn't kick my butt despite my lack of effort in them...life is good! If you've never been there let me just tell you, there is nothing like those first few days or weeks at college. It'll open your eyes, make you hate life, then make you love it all the more.

#8-Freestyle for Friends of the Wild West: September 1

The day I created and first posted on WilmingSloan, the very blog you're now reading. I have a confession to make...I never even heard of a blog until a couple of days before that date and the original WilmingSloan was almost a carbon copy rip-off of my cousin Stephen's Blog. (theatremarine.blogspot.com)
(My other cousin David also has a funny random blog, 'meamdavid.blogspot.com', but I didn't discover it until a few weeks after I made WilmingSloan.)
I posted for a week before I let anyone know about what I was doing and then I let it slip out to my small circle of friends. As it turns out a blog was just the ticket to help a kid in college advertise himself and allow people that didn't really know him to get to know a little more about his personality online. After a few weeks of ripping off "The Ferris Wheel of Shame" and making fun of my roommate (JUST FOR LAUGHS, NOT FOR REAL!!!) I realized how lame I was being and I started to find my own blogging style. Interestingly enough it involves more posting than any of my friends, which I'm assuming is due to my apparent lack of "life."
For whatever reason my friends and family keep coming back (AS THEY SHOULD!!!!) and I'm getting a lot of random stranger hits. I'm now up to a crazy 150 hits a week!!! Though I'm sure this is largely due to my college popularity, ha ha, i'll keep writing even if I'm the only one reading. WilmingSloan has been a fun place to be random and stupid but it's also been therapeutic at times. I hope you have enjoyed reading it a fraction of the amount that I've enjoyed writing to you. If so, I'm well pleased.

#9-T.P. and Wilmington's One Take Film Festival

Ok, let me start this one out to say that I'm by no means bragging. Those of you who have seen the 4 minutes T.P. know that there is nothing to brag about in terms of total appeal. What is good about it is that we made it in 24 hours and with no budget. This little festival made it onto the list because it's the first time I've gotten real recognition for something that I've even just had a part in making. Honorable Mention and Crowd's Favorite are both great considering the time we had to make it and the number of people who entered. Me and 4 other people worked hard to make it creative and fun and we did it well. I can't wait for the spring festival! First Wilmington....then the WORLD!!!
or at least Four Oaks...

#10-Relationships With People (collectively)

No single moment in a year can come close to touching the many moments I had with my family, friends, and certain "special" other people throughout the year. I'm not going to go into too much detail on that last part but those of you who know me know that such is par for the course on that particular topic. Those people whom I've had ...close...relationships with (there weren't many) have, for better or for worse, helped shape me as a person a little more and I'm happy for them. The staggering number of friends and/or friendly acquaintances that I've made at Wilmington have been a true blessing and I can't even count the number of occasions I've been with someone and heard "the funniest thing ever" or had someone around to talk with me about the stresses of school and whatnot. The people I literally lived with at Caswell shared so many fun and so many encouraging moments with me and for that I thank you. My friends from high school are still awesome and I miss you greatly. Well, except for Matt ;-) My family has always been there for me and I'm thankful for their love and patience. Whoever said that things weren't important but rather, people, was "playing it straight." In the end you can never get the joy out of owning a material item that you can out of the time you spend with people who are special to you. Everyone..and I mean EVERYONE who is reading this and knows me personally, no matter what you think, I really appreciate your role in my life this past year and in years past. It has, and will continue to mean a lot to me.

Here's to next year!


[Now for the current Update]

As for the Slonowan update I'll be heading out to Caswell tomorrow for summer staff reunion. YAY! I can't wait to see all my friends again! The reunion will last until the third at which point I will pack my jank and move straight into the dorm (as it would be on the way home if I were going anyway.) No updates until the third or fourth. Thanks for reading if you've made it all the way though (you should get a prize or something) and I wish you the happiest new year possible.

Duck...Roll...and Spring! Am I'm talking tactical movements or Chinese food?

Thursday, December 30, 2004

To the Hier of the Kingdom of Polygons

A small awards ceremony

As a warm up for my post on my favorite moments of 2004, which I will be putting up tomorrow, I thought I do a less serious...more random post about some of my "Best Of"s of the year. LET'S GET STARTED!!!

NATHAN'S "BEST OF" AWARDS, 2004!

BEST COFFEE SHOP:

-Port City Java
With a chain of stores now spanning the country PCJ gets my nod for best coffee shop because it was started downtown in Wilmington back in 1994. Plus they have a delicious roast and some great shakes.

Runner Up...
Java City in Randall Library

BEST LOCAL PAPER:

-The Independent
Based in Raleigh and full of some of the funniest personal ads on the face of the planet, the Independent wins on originality of content and their excellent local concert listings.

BEST BEVERAGE:

-Capri Sun
It's deliciousness is unmatched and it comes in at least 6 flavors. As if that weren't enough you also get a great pouch to sip it from.

Runner Up...
Yeah right

BEST ALBUM...

-The Postal Service: Give Up
Hard decision but when it comes right down to it I just listened to the postal service more than anything else. Excellent album, I love almost every song on it. If you don't have it already go buy it.

Runner Up...
Halo 2: Original Score and New Music

BEST OFFICE SUPPLY:

-Stapler
Think about it. Nothing else matters without the stapler. If you don't have it then nothing holds together and you fail everything.

Runner Up...
Paper Shredder

BEST MAJOR OF STUDY:

-Spaaace
A degree in Spaaace can get you lots of places in life...like, Professor of Spaaace or Elementary Spaaace Education...

Runner Up...
Zooombies

BEST ELECTRONIC DEVICE:

-Remote Keyless Entry
I can't tell you how much I love just unlocking the car with the remote. It's like a game with friends to see who can unlock their car from the farthest distance away. Not to mention all those times I try to unlock my friends cars with it or...unlock my house door. Man they're great.

Runner Up...
Ice Sculptures

BEST FILM 2004

-Napoleon Dynamite
If you haven't seen this film see it. You won't walk away thinking it's brilliant but in fact, it is in it's simplicity. Such a great short and different movie. I love it when someone breaks in with an original and fresh story to tell.

Runner Up...
Collateral

BEST CAT

-Pollo
One of the tigers at the CPT I visited yesterday. He wasn't all that bright but he was playful. As we drove away in the truck he chased it all the way down the fence like a playful kitty.
...Only 799 pounds bigger..geeze I'm glad he didn't catch it...

Runner Up...
Stupie Kitty

BEST VIDEO GAME

-Halo 2
Halo 2 is awesome. All of you Half-Life 2 kids still clinging to your hopes and dreams please, just let go. Master Chief Came and wiped up the mess that Half-Life one was while still managing to best the sequel handily. The best game in the world just got better.

Runner up...
Pong

BEST ALL-AROUND 2004!!!

-Schwinn Bike
It falls apart weekly and the brakes don't work like they're supposed to but it gets me anywhere on campus in 5 minutes or less. HEY! That's pretty cool.

Runner Up...
Kittyana Jones (ask for details)

So there it is...my personal "best of" for the year. If I think of any more I'll tell you.

Until next time remember...
...umm...
I forgot

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Your New Aesthetic


Mr.Tiger
Originally uploaded by link5001.

...so the snarling is actually affectionate?

Always on the lookout for a new adventure I decided to follow up on my roommate, Brett Roach's offer to visit/work at the big kitty place he volunteers at all the time. The name of the place is the Carnivore Preservation Trust and it's all the way up in Pittsborough. I forced myself out of bed this morning and crawled out the door to make the hour or so long drive out to Brett's house in Apex.
Once there Roach reunited me with the lovely rat, Snuffles, (she constantly sneezes) who I spent a month with back in September as a third roommate. She crawled under my arm and behind me, under the couch cushion...I guess that means she was happy to see me again too. My stay at the Roach abode was brief as it wasn't long before the call of the wild beckoned Brett to venture out and to the CPT.
Once there we pretty much sat around for a good while. Then, Roach, his brother Christian and I stuffed toilet paper rolls with raw deer meat and straw to make a delicious, yet annoying treat for the smaller cats. Then it was out to the pins to "shift" the cats. What is shifting you ask? I didn't know either until Roach showed me.
We piled into an old Nissan POS truck and Roach pretended to know how to drive a stick all the way down the hill to the tiger cages. We were greeted by the loudest scariest form of purring you can possibly imagine. At first one's instinct tells you to run into the truck and hide from the 500+ pound cat that's pacing around just five feet away, only separated from you by chain link fencing. Then you realize that the noises they're making are because they're happy to see you. Much like a house cat the big white tiger just flopped down on the ground and rubbed his head against the fence and made his strange big kitty snorting noises. Roach switched them around to different cages via a pulley hatch system and the "shifting" was done. Then it was just time to wait for dinner...and wait we did.
I couldn't help but notice as we traveled back up to the main complex, how all of these vicious killing predator's names were names like "Jellybean", "Hannah" and "Romeo." As if death at the paws of a big cat weren't bad enough it seems someone thought it would be best if you were killed by a cat with a cutesy poo name. Well, I guess that makes it better.
Imagine my joy when the white van pulled up with a trash can in the back labeled "USDA CONDEMNED." On went the blue gloves and we spent the rest of the trip hurling chicken carcasses over the unusually high fences. Most of the cats just waited for the sound of the chicken, (if you've never heard a wet chicken carcass hit the ground after being lobbed about one story in the air you're missing out) but some attempted to catch the tasty treats in midair.
Of course there was the after feeding clean up of that HORRIDLY disgusting trash can and the knife but l got to see a lot of cool cats before we left...like the 23 year old jaguar and some leopards and a WHOLE lot of smaller cats that I can't remember the names of. It's just a shame that Roach didn't bring some of his infinite peanuts to share with the kitties. I could swear I almost herd one of them purring, "Hey Roachy, let me hit up the peanus man!"

MAIN CAPACITOR IS AT MAX VELOCITY CAPTAIN!!!

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

State of the Blog Address

Follow me and we'll get you out of here buddy...

An early SotBA? That's right! The usual monthly post that pops up on the first is popping up on the 28th of December for this month. Why? Because I'll be gone from January 1-3 and may not be able to update the old blog until the 4th. So without further adieu, here is your update.

As you can see I've made leaps and bounds in the Title Banner department. The sky is (almost) the limit now with the cool things I can put up there. The rest of the blog will remain largely unchanged for the time being but keep your eyes open for some interesting cameos on that banner.

Everything else is pretty much smooth sailing. I announced a drawing contest last week in one of my posts but so far there are no submissions...so if you send one in chances are good that I'll put it up. SEND!

Hits just keep a rising and a rising. Old WS is now up to around 150 hits a week, which I'm pleased with. Sadly I 'm fairly certain that at least half of those are from me...
(just kidding)
Keep telling your friends to come him...or rather, trick your friends into coming here. They'll only hate you for a little while I promise!

Finally, do be sure to keep checking back over the next three days and after the 3rd. I have some REALLY interesting posts coming up, not the least of which is my "Top Ten Moments of 2004" post that will but up at midnight on December 31st. In addition, tomorrow I have a promise to keep...to an old friend. DON'T MISS IT!!!!!

Today I spent the day at a sound and speaker place where a fat man treated me like a obnoxious child. I don't think there is any need for me to go into any further detail.

...seems like an ice fall is quicker than a regular one...

Monday, December 27, 2004

We'll Always Have Paris-

"No reward is worth this" ~Han Solo

Hey, the milk is gone!!!! No really, he took all of it...totally raided the fridge...THAT PUNK!!!

So Santa came and went to spend another year at his polar abode, leaving us goodies on the way. I got some pretty cool stuff and gave some pretty cool stuff. All in all I'm quite happy about the outcome of Christmas except for one present. One of my gifts is a speaker rebuild at a place in Raleigh. I went ALL the way up there (50 miles) today, IN THE SNOW, only to have them tell me that they didn't have enough time to get it done tonight and that I'd have to bring it back tomorrow. So tomorrow I'll have to bring my car up....sit around for an hour...then find something to do for another 3 or so hours until i can bring it back to have it reinstalled ...which will take another hour. An ENTIRE day just to get a speaker fixed. I'm seriously considering just not worrying about it.

Sigh

But on the bright side I did get a wide angle lens, a couple of cool DVDs and a U2 shirt. That's cool.

There is nothing else really to talk about but there are some interesting stories coming around the bend. Look for a State of the Blog address before Friday and some extra special posts for the new year and the next semester. Including an update on my roommate that's bound to be entertaining! ((slither slither))
As always, if you fail to check back regularly you will disturb my pet 'million angry dragons', and you really don't want to do that...

A hot glue gun and a mentally disturbed mall gift wrapper are all that stand in the way of my world domination!!!

Friday, December 24, 2004

Most Convincing Wig Ever


Christmas Cheer
Originally uploaded by link5001.

You know, nothing quite says "Christmas" like three armored men with big guns.

I doubt that you can blow it up big enough to see this but if you look at the guy on the right in the foreground, dude looks totally Bad. Like, I think he should have his own theme song or something...

"Christmas in DANGER"
(da da da duuun dun dun)
"I'm gonna kill EVIL"
(da da da duuun dun dun)
"Nothing can stop it"
(doo doo daaaa doo da)
"'Cause I am so BAD!"
(Dun duun da da daaaaa!)

Oh well, that sort of works. I'm sure he'd approve anyway...
So the terror threat that is always around isn't looking abnormally high this year. That's good, maybe it means those pansy's are either out of money or out of disposable people bombers. You have to figure that there are only a handful that are going to run around with a bomb strapped to them and, well, once they're gone they're gone you know?
Hmmm, I just got this eerie feeling that I've now been put on an Al-Quieda Hit list somewhere.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

There it went, I knew you were waiting for it. My sincere wish is that you all have a happy and safe holiday and that you take just a few moments at least to say thanks to Jesus for the gift he's given you. Happy birthday Jesus!
The older I get the more important that "real meaning" seems but sadly, the less I see it celebrated. Our employers can make us say "Happy Holidays" at work but there is nothing stopping us from sharing what it's all about with a resounding "MERRY CHRISTMAS" at Wal*Mart or the taco stand or anywhere else we go. JOY TO THE WORLD! THE LORD IS COME!!!!

...but a miniature sleigh and a million angry dragons...

Thursday, December 23, 2004

It's Like a Never Ending Chain Gun for Your Family's SUV

According to Johnson

Just in case any of you are wondering who "webley" is let me calm your nerves now. It isn't the address for a new blog of mine and wilmingsloan isn't moving. It is my friend Matt Johnson's blog and it could be a pretty cool place if he ever gets some posts up. Check it out!
(The contents held in the above link are those of their creator and do not represent the opinions or beliefs of WilmingSloan or it's employees)

So how about that night before the night before Christmas? I'm surprised that some of my friends aren't out opening Christmas presents already. You know what annoys the p i double "s" out of me? Families that open crap on Christmas eve. CHEATERS. I was made to wait until Christmas morning EVERY YEAR for my entire life!!! What the crap do you think you're doing with your Cheatmas celebration over there? If you're going to push it back to the night before why not get a little more impatient and just exchange presents a week before? heck...lets just have Christmas whenever we want!!! I WANT PRESENTS NOW MAMA!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAA!

please...please...get a life and open your presents in the morning.

I love you.

Now where did I put that evil potion cauldron of mine?

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

My New Wooden Liver

Have you gone out of business yet?

Hello hello! My, how good it is to talk once more to all of my adoring fan, as well as to the rest of you that are forced to visit due to an otherwise total lack of brain activity! There are several cups out there that you all could be successfully drooling in but I'm honored to have you drooling on your keyboards for the sake of this blog instead. I'm fast becoming the #1 way to totally waste 5 minutes of you life every day. In accordance with this growth I've taken in upon myself to spruce things here up a bit with a newly designed title banner. For the next short while it'll be decorated with the face of my beloved sister Melissa totally "rocking" hardcore. I hope someone out there enjoys this image as much as I do.

Refusing to stop at my title banner, Melissa is also the inspiration for tonight's blog topic which focuses on retail clothing company "Big Dogs." Before I begin my post I'd like to make a safety statement to all those reading. I, myself, own a Big Dogs shirt. That being said, let the harshness commence.

For almost ten years we've all, (or at least those of us in North Carolina), been plagued with ridiculously tacky shirts featuring everyone's favorite St. Bernards doing various humorous deeds and spoofing just about every popular movie, musician, ect. The shirts, while mildly amusing at times, are ultimately an undeniable festering pimple stain on the face of humanity. It would seem that at some point, a single or collective "creative genius" decided that it would be really cool to make a large dog do several things you would normally see a human do and market it as a brand. I don't know about you guys but when I dream of ideas for success in a market like retail clothing brands, a cartoon St. Bernard in a jersey dunking a basketball isn't anywhere near what comes to mind. So, like, is the whole joke is that the Dogs are doing things that people normally do? Wait! Is it a joke or am I confused? If it is, is it an inside joke? If it isn't a joke what could possibly be running through these people's minds? What kind of mindless idiots create a brand that is so completely and totally pointless and expect it to be successful?
Oh but wait just a second...
That is the wrong question to ask.
These people are really brilliant after all.
The question to ask is this.
What mindless idiots are buying this stuff? Because obviously the company is successful.
How did this ever get popular?
Why are they still open?
Nothing makes sense!!!! I mean nothing! For Pete's sake I have one and I can't for the life of me explain why. The only conclusion I can draw is that somehow a few shirts got out and people just started buying them and no one ever stopped to ask why. Pretty soon it was big enough to get people to buy it regardless because the only reason they needed was that all the other clueless consumers were purchasing it. It's like the computer virus of the clothing world. It corrupts the system and lowers the quality of life for everyone but, sadly, you can only control it....you can't eliminate it. Lately I've seen fewer and fewer proud people sporting a Big Dogs shirt but by some baffling act of mathematics or weiiiird science it manages to keep it's head above water and it's retail outlets stocked and running.
I'm not asking that you throw your Big Dogs shirts out or that you never go there again. All I ask is that the next time you're struck with sudden urge to shop there, simply ask yourself why. If you just ask why and think really hard about it, I'm sure we'll reach a reasonable conclusion at some point in the future.

((BigDogs fanboys, please direct all hate mail to link5001@aol.com))

"Sloano-Spray effectively eliminates 80% of visible facial rust!"

Sunday, December 19, 2004

The Paperweight of Life

A three parter

Those of you that have been neglecting your Coldplay I feel I you owe it to yourself to at the very least check out their video for their song "The Scientist." It's been out for quite a while and I haven't seen it lately but I was reminded of it today when I walked into Hardee's and "Clocks" was blasting over the speaker system. If you have the iTunes music store (which, if you believe in legal music downloads there is just NO better way to go...the cheaper services don't offer anything Apple's software does) you should click on the videos section and click on back towards the last pages. There you will find the glorious video of which I speak. (iTunes is a free download for Windows or Mac!!!!) I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone who has yet to view it but its extremely clever and strangely emotionally moving. CHECK IT OUT.

For those of you that don't like cryptically soft "little english boy" rock I have another important announcement. It's time for the WilmingSloan NEW YEAR drawing contest!!! Here are the rules. All drawings must be done IN PENCIL with NO COLORING and be submitted either by a CLEAN scan or CLEARLY VISIBLE in a photograph. You may have seen the pictures I drew for the site a while back. I want to see what my readers can do. Be sure to darken your lines as much as possible or the white from the computer will bleach them out! The best drawing(s) will be prominently displayed with honor and all high marks on WilmingSloan with an original post by yours truly, (whoopty frappin' doo) sometime in the new year. Send your stuff to Link5001@aol.com with subject heading "Drawing Contest." Have them in by Jan. 1, or...really anytime after. Good Luck....ya filthy animals.

Does anyone else not understand what the big deal with the George Foreman Grill a few years back? Honestly, I don't care to use the thing but every once in a while. On the commercials they show that woman using the little fork "cleaner" to scrape the fat and grease off of the grill and WHAMMO! It's clean. This was never the case in my experience. I usually used the fork for about 1 minute and then threw it in the sink because it never quite got the crap out of the little raised pieces at the bottom. I'd then spend the next 10 minutes using half a roll of paper towels to get the solidified animal fat out out the cracks around the side and bottom. A good sponge bath never seemed to relieve that thick fatty coating. Then you're left to wonder if it's safe to cook with next time (3 months later) when you pop it open and that tacky crap is still there. Yeah, it makes a delicious burger but you spend more time cleaning than you do enjoying it. Oh well....I'm a sucker for ex-boxers with catchy sell phrases. "I WANT TO KNOCK OUT THE FAT GEORGE!!!"

It's always fun to shock yourself with disposable camera capacitors!

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Hear You Me


Is it a Shirt?
Originally uploaded by link5001.

What a lovely shirt! It's the return of Indiana Sloan!

Yeah, this is a picture of my awesome Indiana Jones shirt that I received today from my excellent friend Matt Johnson. Yes, the same Matt Johnson that was in the Batman costume and is soon to be sporting some Boba Fett armor. In case some of you readers don't know my history with Indiana Jones I'll go into a little back story for you.

About 2 years ago, (summer 2002) I was stuck at home for quite some time. I had loved George Lucas' Star Wars Trilogy for quite some time by this point and decided to turn to his other classic trilogy, Indiana Jones. I researched Harrison's costume for countless HOURS. I must have logged over 100 hours on "Club Obi-Wan", the indygear.com prop forum. I found out more about that costume that anyone that didn't work on the set should know. I spent that summer, fall, and winter in total dedication to collecting all the authentic parts to the costume worn by the adventuring archaeologist himself. I got an ACTUAL WW II British Mk VII gas mask bag from the costumer that provided them for the movie...as well as a custom tailored authentic Jones (crusade style) Leather Jacket from Wested Leather (also maker for the movies). I picked up a few other items but never really got the whole thing together due to lack of funds.
This brings us to this shirt. At the time of my collecting the Noel Howard shirt was $90 and not really accurate. Noel made them for the movie but these were just too expensive and not what I was looking for. Now he doesn't even offer his Indy stuff. I shelved the project.

NOW 2004...Merry Christmas! My best friend Matt picked up a thread online with some useful information on getting an authentic shirt made. He had it put together for me and I must say I'm impressed. GREAT GIFT! Will this new bit of treasure re-ignite my flame for the Jones costume? Probably. The hat is the next thing in my sights!

Another plume of smoke shaped like Ron Howard's head???

The Breakthrough Is Patented Technology!

"Not another serious post Nathan!"

Though I have a good deal of confidence in myself and the power of a dream in the hands of someone with extreme determination it is hard not to look at a field of study, such as my own, and not feel a little tinge of worry when it comes to what the future will hold for me. Film Student? In North Carolina? Nathan, what are you going to do with that? If you're a drama student, a writer, a fine arts student, ect. ect. you know the feeling I have. You either teach it, take a job in some random and unrelated field, or you wander the streets in search of the direction that will lead you towards success. Is Wilmington the final destination for that success for me? Almost certainly not.
Wilmington, at one point, had a booming film economy. It was by no means as big as it's west coast relatives but with it's beautiful locations and third largest studio outside of Hollywood in the U.S. there was a great feeling of promise for old port city and film. From the early 80s to the early 90s several great films were made at or near Wilmington. All through the 90s films were made in locations all around North Carolina. It was a huge boost to the economy with increased tourism and jobs in the film industry but also lent a feeling of pride to the locals who saw their beloved state as the backdrop for big-budget films screened nationally and globally.
Sadly, since the mid-90s, rising production costs in the state and much much lower ones in states like Arizona, which offer incentive packages to filmmakers, as well as lower costs in Canada and overseas, have aided the decline of the industry not just in Wilmington, but in the entire state. Wilmington is but a dry petal of the once blossoming flower it was. The lack of an incentive package from the state could kill what little influence we once had on the film market. Wilmington's luster might fade. Which could leave me in a bit of a pickle.
I know that I don't want to be just another cameraman. Just another production assistant. Just another slobberingly alcoholic writer on the verge of breakdown. I want to nose in and make it as big as I possibly can. Strong words for a relatively quite joke of a kid from middle-of-nowhere North Carolina, but if I'm going to do this, I'm going to go for the whole sha-la-la. Which brings me to the question of should I do this? If I'm going to be a real filmmaker I first have to learn what I'm doing, then prove to everyone that I have the talent to do it, then I have to beat my way though a sea of other excellent talent to somehow (through luck or will of God) find a place in what may be the most competitive job market on the planet. I can't see that happening in a place where the biggest production jobs are second rate TV dramas and commercials.
If North Carolina doesn't pass the proposed film incentive package this January, it could be the end for me and film...or me and North Carolina. A move out of state and a decision to follow film could be the kiss of death to my or my family/friend's hope of a normal life for me. No 9-5. No wife, not for a long time. No kids. What direction is this going and what direction am I going? I guess the truth is that I don't need to nor am I supposed to know. I know that whatever happens I'll be taken care of and, hopefully, though perhaps bit reworked, my dreams will still come true.
If life is a day long then I'm at 5 AM. The sun is just breaking over the horizon and I have a long and mysterious road to travel. But from birth we all started at the same place and somehow found our ways to the paths that we felt most suited us. Somehow I feel this unpredictable road ahead of me is just the road I was made for. The road I've been stumbling in the dark to find for all these years. With God's guidance I trust it will lead to a wonderful place and a happy ending.
If you like me and want me to live hear please contact your representatives or research more out the proposed film incentive online or through other means. Let them know how much this stuff means to you!!!

For those of you bored to tears/skimming out of indifference...never fear. I have a post of me showing off my Christmas present from Matt coming soon! STAY TUNED

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Flamboyantly Heterosexual

Take the garbage out...and while you're at it why do you do my life for me too

another AMAZING day of sleep. Only until 12:30 this morning..err uh...afternoon. I really hate sleeping the day away but I just can't seem to straighten myself out. I got up and went through the usual stuff. Dad calling me and asking me to do something. Me going to his office and spending the day. The usual "on break" ritual. Then something struck me. I don't know if its the extreme amount of Halo I've been playing or what but I just didn't feel like wasting hours away online or gaming. I broke out the old Final Draft Pro and decided I was going to learn how to use it. Final Draft Pro (for those of you not in the movie/theater scene) is a lovely piece of software that does all the formatting of screen/script writing for you. Just a few clicks of a mouse and taps of the return key between passages and everything else is taken care of. I spent about 10 minutes learning the ropes and then, randomly enough, completely scripted out the lunch I had with my father earlier today. It ended up being about 5 pages and taking place entirely inside the restaurant, well, almost anyway. I sat amazed at how easy and fun it had been to play it all out. Now, given, "Nathan chews burger" isn't going to be winning an Academy Awards any lifetime soon but for a practice round I was well pleased! Screenwriting, with the help of this software, could prove to be a fun hobby of mine. (It's great for stress relief!) Dear lord I sound like a infomercial lady. "GEE BOB! WHAT ELSE DOES IT DO!?!?!?!?

I was originally going to post the script in it's entirety on this page but then I realized people would hate me for doing that, TOO MUCH WORDS NATHAN...ME NO LIKE READ!!!, and I'd probably wake up tomorrow with speared and skinned cat carcasses sticking up out of my lawn, so I decided to refrain. If, however, you aren't a primitive "native" and you would like to read my script I'll be happy to email it to you. What's a coffee break without a screenplay from an obscure screenwriter about lunch? Hit up my email at Link5001@aol.com with subject heading "git me sum er day fancie wrote stuff" and I'll respond with the script. You my also email me with subject heading "I want a million dollars NOW... and I have exotic pets!" ...but honestly, I'll likely just ignore that one.

Hey...let me hit up the peanus yo! ((burp))

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Filled With Anger: Also Justice!

...I have laundry to do...

You know, I really would hate having nothing to do for the rest of my life. To me, not having a scheduled work day would be total death. I sit around all day and twiddle my thumbs while playing Halo and talking to people online when I'm stuck at home. That's kind of...depressing. You know what else is depressing!? Blogs where depressed people talk about depressing things ALL the time, which is why I'm going to stop my tear jerker of a story dead in it's tracks. Instead I'll take a look at the horrific excuses for blogs that there are out there. Usually just some drama queen (male or female) that likes to talk trash about people and *pretend* that the people they're talking about don't have access to the page. Meanwhile the rest of the world that blogsurfs, like myself, waste valuable seconds and yes, even minutes of our lives, looking at your widely available cry party online. Cheer up! There are plenty of things in life to be happy about like...spiky "dog collar" bracelets and cheap tattoo artists. Next time you're feeling bummed out just think of how quietly tortured you look in black and how awesome that is because you've been working for years to perfect your "void of soul" face. And if you aren't that kind of depression blogger but the relationship kind you have plenty of things to smile about as well. Take your 24th boyfriend for instance. He's sure to pop up in the next couple of weeks! Wonder what nifty way he's going to choose to NOT meet your expectations? Sorta like a game huh? Or how about those friends of yours? You know! The ones that you say are losers just because they think the same person is cute but then you have to cry on their shoulder biweekly after the latest drama. Those people are reliable and support your horrid cycle. Think of what it must take to do that! What great friends!!!


I'm being a bit pointed with this post but the real point is that no one wants to read about how crappy your life is. Write a post about grilled cheese sandwiches (coming next week to WILMINGSLOAN!!!) or a very natural fear of clowns that you may have. That's interesting and people like to see that jank. I may, at some point in the future, write a post about how stupid blogs are for companies and organizations. Blogs are PERSONAL ...we don't want to see your Heating and Air Conditioning company's diary! Oh well, free country...and without bad blogs would go blogs be so good?

I hear an old man just a-churnin' some butter and if there's one thing I can resist it's churnin' butter and makin' lye soap!


Tuesday, December 14, 2004

I Got Your Audio....You Got My Video

gift giving...behind the bunk

Has this ever happened to you? You're out somewhere and someone starts to buy something but before they can someone else says "WAIT DON'T GET IT!" because they want to get it for them for Christmas. There is a small percentage of times when I think this is ok but lets face it. If you've got to struggle that hard to get someone a present you're totally defeating the purpose of getting a present in the first place. It's not exactly thoughtful to stop someone from buying something they want and make them wait two weeks to get it just so you get a lame "easy out" for their gift this holiday season, in fact it's down right rude. That is almost as thoughtless as buying a gift card. Look, give 'em cash so they can buy whatever they want but better yet invest the time to think of a heartfelt gift. The bottom line is, if you don't want to get someone a present then you just shouldn't, even if they're family or something. So what if this means that some people get no presents for Christmas? If this rule were in force then maybe it'll help to give those people a good idea of their social standing with everyone and encourage them to work on not being hateful losers for the rest of the next year. Then if they win some people over they'll get presents next time. When presents stop being from the heart then they're just obligatory "niceties" like say, tipping your waitress. At first people tipped waitresses because they did a good job (or were really hot.) Now no matter HOW sucky the person is you have to leave them something. Waitresses get paid less by their employers now because of it and we all have to deal with the extra $6 loss at a nice restaurant for the 2 refills and extra bread he/she brought us. Geeze. I'm off to frolic in grumpyville for the rest of the evening. JUUUUST kidding. I'm quite happy as I'm about to play some halo2!

I once knew a guy that could choke a grizzly with a coaxial cable!

Friday, December 10, 2004

The Folk Dance of Hickbillies: A Brief History

"Complaint Department, this is Nathan speaking...could you please hold? Thanks." ((now where is that 'smite caller' button?))

Ok ok, so I didn't update for a little while there and my earlier posts were garbage.....WHATTAYA GONNA DO???

It was exam week. I was busy...but the good news is that as of thursday at 3:30 PM I'm DONE. What does that mean for you? Why it means more canned beef giblets and a NEEEEEW CAAAAAR. Or like...a '93 model year car but its the best I can do!

Ok so now I'm going to tap dance around my exams because I don't want to go into painful detail about how horribly I did on them. ((rattata tap taaa ti tappy tap tap taaap))

Ok..I couldn't make it one more week without talking about how screwed up the weather is again. So, here goes.

THE WEATHER IS FREAKING SCREWED UP! Why is it 71 degrees in DECEMBER? I'm starting to freak out. I think I read somewhere that when stuff like this happens that a million angry dragons shower down on the world...or something. Maybe I read that somewhere. Oh well...

To all my UNCW buddies I have this to say. You all can only hope to one day be as cool as me and I'm sorry you have to go 3 weeks without seeing me. I'm sure if you drink heavily or continusouly shock yourself with a cattle prod it will momentarily alleviate the pain of my absence in your life. Don't fret! Because when I come back I promise to give you all hugs and say a couple of things to you (pending your smell status). Keep your chins up!
No seriously I miss you guys and I hope you all have a happy holiday! Keep checking back!

Why is maple syrup pouring out of my left eye?

Monday, December 06, 2004

They Fear the White Tray

3 more days...2 more exams....1 more box of Kapri Sun

Yesterday I experienced my first bit of school spirit when I attended the Seahawk basketball game against Virginia Commonwealth University. VCU are the defending champs from last season. Now I'm no sports enthusiast but I have to say I got quite rilled up at the game when, in the second half, The Dub came back from a 10 point trail to win it 68 to 63! Hoo AH! now that's excitment, I guess. That's what the scary bald men in the Atheletic Department tell me excitment is anyway.

I promise more interesting posts soon as the garbage I've been putting on here is making me sad to have a blog. Please accept my apologies and continue visiting. It'll get better, just let the exams pass.

Brake for moose, it could save your life!

Saturday, December 04, 2004

I May Destroy Your Entire Village


DasMoousee
Originally uploaded by link5001.

I think this photograph of my roommate speaks for itself. I added the type in to give it some color.

So I took my first exam today. I FAILED WHY WHY WHY....ok maybe I didn't fail but I probably did. What is the most ironic part? It was my FILM class. He had all sorts of stuff that I just don't even remember him talking about. I guess it would have helped if I had read the book and took good notes. I really don't know how to study. School bites!

Friday, December 03, 2004

Kid Tested, Mother Approved...


Napoleon Dynamite
Originally uploaded by link5001.

I'll read when I'm good and darn ready...

So I went to see Napoleon Dynamite for the second time last night at the Cinema Grill off Shipyard Blvd. Again I'm reminded of how great a movie it is. Not because there is necessarily anything obviously brilliant about it except that it's just inherently brilliant. Made on a shoestring budget and shot entirely on location in Iowa this film utilized masterfully constructed extremely memorable characters and excellent casting with some of the best actors of the day. Fresh and funny I'd recommend this film to ANYONE! A movie about nothing with a great ending! When you leave you'll be asking yourself why you liked it but even with no reason you won't be able to deny it. It's being rereleased in theaters this christmas season by MTV films (who were smart to snatch it up when they did) and the DVD will be on shelves December 21. I know I'll be in line to pick up a copy, you should too!

Now I'm off to read as this is the university's scheduled "reading day" ugh...Reading is for weenies and extremely intelligent lab monkeys.

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Salt Sweat Sugar


Nathan on the Nines
Originally uploaded by link5001.

...just 3,888,000 blinks later...

I've had this picture all semester but somehow it's eluded WilmingSloan for all this time. In the end it's perhaps more fitting that I post it now, on the last day of classes, since it was taken on the first. UNCW did a big firework display right outside my dorm to "kick off" the school year and I just happened to be right next to some roving reporters looking for the usual village idiot commentary. Happily I obliged.
It makes a neat desktop wallpaper if nothing else.

So the semester is over? Well, there are still those exam things but they'll be over in another second. I'll never again enter the warming comfort of my beloved first semester classrooms. It's almost sad. After just one more semester I'll no longer be a new kid. I'll be that slightly new kid and there will be all these new little freshmen. I guess it's just a part of getting older. I'm at the point where all I can do is study and cross my fingers for what comes next. Hopefully I'm not a total academic failure. If I am I'll pick up the slack in January. GOODBYE SWEET FALL SEMESTER. You held many laughs...some sad times, some sweet times. I saw my oldest sister get married and I saw my dorm room ceiling for hours as I lay sick in bed. I waddled through the political marsh of an election and met so many good, kind, and occasionally extremely attractive people. All in all, I loved you, dear dear sweet semester. It is my sincerest hope that you truly rest in peace.

...Tina come get your HAM!

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

State of the Blog Address

Way better than all those other "State of" addresses...

Sniff sniff? What's that smell? Why, i'm pretty sure I wouldn't be mistaken if I said that were the sent of a blog that's been left out for 3 months. Why yes it is! Ahhh mi amici! Today marks that wondrous quarter year milestone for WilmingSloan. Just to bring you up to date on "what's goin' on" that little thingy that tells you about my site. Yeah, the "profile." It's broken! This is a known problem that the people at blogger.com are supposedly "working on." The last time that information was updated was September 19th. At that time I had 15 posts and around 4,500 words. I'm proud (or really embarrassed depending on your view of it) to say that this post marks my 62ed since September 1. I likely have WELL over 10,000 scrumptrulescent words for your reading pleasure and a growing public photo album on flickr.com. In case you want to check them out either click on any one of the photos and go to my photostream or just copy and paste this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/56841558@N00/. Pictures make me happy. You know what else makes me happy?
Women!
Haha! Had you for a second there! no no, women only bring heartache and suffering!
Comments make me happy. If you want to receive that oh so special (and completely imaginary) WilmingSloan gift basket this Christmas you won't forget to post your thoughts on my posts. Remember, when you comment you can do so under "anonymous" as to keep from having to create a blogger account but if you fail to leave me your name within the comment it is quite possible that a million angry dragons will crash through your ceiling and obliterate you. Just a little heads up.
The only other blog news I have to offer is that I plan on doing some form of major cool "remodeling" to this place. I'm not really digging the default floral banner at the top that makes me feel as if I'm a part of some Lifetime original event. At any moment I'm fully expecting some emotional woman to bust through my door and tell me how my blog changed her life, and I blame is solely on that banner, so it must go. Of course all the super cool changes and additions are pending that I remember my HTML and that blogger hasn't somehow made their templets totally impossible to change. DIG IT!!!!

In non blog related news the night before last I had a dream I played backup guitar for David Bowie. No lie! Before you get all excited let me stop you, there were absolutely NO sexual encounters in that dream. At least I really hope there weren't...

Bee Keepers...proof that stupid/pain ignorant people reap sweet rewards!

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Get Me a Milk Shake Lieutenant...On the DOUBLE!


Four Oaks
Originally uploaded by link5001.

Homeward Bound...

The home stretch! All I have left to do is write a little paper and study for 3 exams! Doesn't sound like much but somehow it will overwhelm me and I'll be reduced to an organ grinder's monkey companion by midweek. That's kind of exciting... So when is my last day?? I'll be saddled up and heading west on December 9th. That's a week from Thursday if dates make you angry.

Here, for all to see, is the beloved water tower standing guard over quiet, beautiful Four Oaks. A true sight to behold in person. In this post I'll talk about stuff I'm going to resort to in order to keep from dying of boredom this break. Some are more likely to occur than other.
-Build random furniture with my dad
-Play an insane amount of xbox
-clean out my childhood toy closet
-clean out my childhood skeleton clo..hey wait!
-VASTLY improve my blog
-get some of my work up on dangerpenguin.com
-dance with the devil in the pale moonlight
-buy some gifts..dang it...
-get some gifts...YAY!
-hang out with my caswell folks at reunion. Holla!
-perform some regular bike maintenance
-make sure the plans get to Alderan
-pet my dog, bandit
-help out with dad's new office (pending miracle)

So now that i've made all of your winters seem bland and meaningless I think I'll run away snickering!

If you find an envelope full of white powder be sure to sniff it REAL good. That's how you tell if it's anthrax or not...

Monday, November 29, 2004

His Head Exploded; Where Did You Put the Oreck?

we all have our vice...

Sloan family thanksgiving was yesterday. Yaaaaay! I got to see all those family people again you know. The food was...well...typical Sloan family food. Lots of baked things with green stuff in them. I ate a good bit of it and it was tasty...what I ate was, I mean. I also finally got to challenge my cousin stephen in some good old slayer on Halo 2 for the first time. After totally destroying him in, like, 10 games (he beat me once) I looked at the old watch and saw that it was time for me to be heading out to the Dub. Not before involuntarily packing a bag of ham dad threw at me on the way out the door though! Ahhh special times.

I hate the interstate

Once I got back I had a LOVELY evening with Caroline and found myself staring at the computer for a good while later last night into this morning. Then it hit me like a North Atlantic Sea Gorilla in a motorcycle sidecar going 50 miles an hour with a helmet on! I needed capri sun!!! See, for those of you who haven't had it lately, capri sun is the most delicious beverage on the market today, HANDS DOWN. If you believe there is a better beverage of some other variety, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you that compared to capri sun your beverage of choice is rancid bird bath water. It's true.
Ok so I'm hit with this need for capri sun at 1:15 in the morning. After putting the thought that I'm an idiot in the back of my head I decided to try and make it back before 2 am. Wilmington, home of the worst traffic in North Caroline, is deader than Four Oaks at 1:30 AM. It was nice. So I got to walmart(bleigh) and went straight to the juice isle. there I got a little insane and decided to carry more juice than I could hold. The juice box on top slid off and popped on the floor sending precious ounces of bleeding capri sun everywhere. Words can't fully express my sadness in seeing it go, but I had a schedule to keep so to the register and back home it was. I downed 3 of those bad boys when i got back but...man they were awesome. Strawberry Kiwi...mmmm mmm delicious! Now i have to write a paper...dang it....

Hey kids! Don't forget to make your parents buy you the new Michael Moore Action Figure! With 5 flannel shirts, 3 random hats, and 10 different annoying phrases he's sure to be the nightmare your parents never imagined this Christmas!

(CORRECTION) Stephen said we played like, 2 games and we each won one of them...yeah ok, allegedly we played two games...

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Dynamically Posable!!!

Turkey spelled backwards is yekrut. That sounds like something from the netherlands...

Another year and another ThanksGiving! Sadly, as we all well know, Turkey Day is little more than a grand send off to the Christmas shopping season. No one really cares about thanksgiving. It's that holiday your obligated to celebrate because your family thinks its "special" time but in reality the only good thing that could come of it is some tasty food. Hold your tater tots there! That isn't my view on thanksgiving, it's just the way I see most people celebrating it now. The total evil mutation of Christmas has swallowed Thanksgiving alive! It's now not only that people have forgotten the meaning of Christmas but now it's destroyed the meaning of Thanksgiving as well.

Now it is time for me to hate on Jimmy Kimmel...

Late Night Television! A wonderful world of laughs and fun. David Letterman's witty, strange, and dry humor has kept audiences laughing for decades. Likewise classic bits like "headlines" have helped the stand up mad man Jay Leno lead the way in the ratings. Then you have Conan O'Brian...hilarious. For a while there was Craig Kilborn but we'll just pretend he never happened. That is what audiences did for years anyway. Then ABC felt the urge to urinate an undeniable stinking stain of death onto the air waves every weeknight. One so horrendously awful that I can smell it still at midday. Jimmy Kimmel Live.

I know I've used this phrase on many occasions before but only on ones that are really deserving of it. This is one of those situations. Jimmy Kimmel has found a way to defy the very LAWS of physics by both sucking and blowing at the same time. The guy just ISN'T funny no matter how you slice it. He's a trash face scum bag that somehow sold himself into TV in that oh so wonderful series The Man Show. THE FRIGGIN MAN SHOW! That's right. Somehow a host of the potty humor show that had one joke, women, which got OLD, was able to seduce someone at ABC and make them think he was material for Late Night. If he's material for late night the I'm material for "traditional asian spirit dancer!" Every time I've had the misfortune of seeing his show I have never laughed but rather been offended by his lack of good humor or his horrid leftist slant. Lefties out there, don't hate me...I'm not a conservative either but taking it to EITHER extreme ticks me off like "woah." So I'm watching him last night and he says he likes Thanksgiving because it's not a religious holiday. Religious holidays pull us apart, he doesn't like them. It's a day when we can all sit together and give thanks. Ok Mr. "Cool Guy".... thanks to WHAT? oh ...thanks mom...for...uh having me. You think that's what the pilgrims were thankful for the first thanksgiving? I'm pretty sure the pilgrims were thankful to God for bringing them across the ocean. I mean after all they were PILGRIMS!
Pilgrim(n):
1:A religious devotee who journeys to a shrine or sacred place.
2:One who embarks on a quest for something conceived of as sacred.
Pilgrim buddy...these guys were Christian. Sure they had some native friends there but I don't think they all agreed to be thankful to just...uh...well...something. Pretty sure the pilgrims were thankful to God.
Listen if religion isn't your thing then FINE but don't dog it on national television in an attempt to be humorous. Even with all the religion stuff aside JK is a stinking bag of flowering poo sporing lameness. Do yourself a favor and watch JKL and ask yourself... "Is this lame?" A resounding yes will boom from every center of your brain and you too will know just how unfunny Jimmy Kimmel is. oh...its past the eleven O'clock hour...Jimmy Kimmel will be on soon. I think I'll go watch my dog scratch at the floor as this is a much more humorous sight. (sigh) don't forget that deep down inside...I still love everyone....

That aside I believe its time for me to go home and eat some leftovers. But what if leftovers got really pissy about the earlier meal and totally came to life and ate the people. That would be trippy....just think about that man...

Monday, November 22, 2004

A Post Entirly Devoted to Kelsy Grammer


caswell04
Originally uploaded by link5001.

In an attempt to add to the images on this page I added another hideous picture of my own face. This one is a little interesting though. Check out the camper on the right of the frame. If you're thinking "what the crap?" you are correct! Thats what should be running through your head when you look at any number of campers down at Caswell. I also think I look like I'm about to sneeze or I kinda look like Anakin from Episode II. Hopefully I'll be totally evil cool like he is going to be in Ep. III as well.

On to the next topic...let me see here, oh I just remembered! There is no topic! I'm about to leave the beautiful Wilmington in about an hour or so for home....where I will spend Thanksgiving break drooling on my pillow until 1PM and stuffing my face with all assortments of food and leftovers. You know how it is.

If we all pull together, we can probably shake and bake our way out of this cave. ONE....TWO ....

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Sailing in a Gravy Boat

So you're going to pay with pennies? Oh ok, ((THWACK!))

Let me start by sending a big 'ol shout out to my man Jeffery Share-Ron who, I'm told, reads my blog in his spare time though I never referred him to it. +100 cool points! Keep it up and you'll win the DELUX Cat-in-a-Freezer 2005 edition! (wilmingsloan exclusive)

To everyone else, don't despair! Your day will come...but in the mean time you can feed your starving boredom with my writings! Like this one where I talk about how pennies...AND nickels annoy me. Pennies are like mall security officers. Everywhere you turn there is a FRAPPIN' mall security guard! You'd think the President was browsing The Gap or something because I swear they're everywhere. Once I even saw them on the roof. SNIPER ON THE ROOF..oh...wait never mind. Just mall security reading another coupon pamphlet. Yeah ...you always have all these mall security guys around but then the one in a million times you need that ONE security guy, aka watching your tires getting slashed in the parking lot, you look for them and see their annoying blinky golf cart flying in the opposite direction. Guess it's too important to stop that "running" kid coming out of Hot Topic.
Likewise pennies really annoy me. I have no idea where they come from. I know I don't intentionally keep them but it seems they spawn in my pocket or on my dresser. With there little mocking Lincoln faces they say, "Hey Nathan, what’s up? Hey man you going to eat all those cheetos. AWESOME! Let me hit up some of the poofys man!" I just hate pennies. Then, as if a hallucinogenic midget cast his mighty spell, as soon as I reach a total of $21.76 they all seem to have vanished! The quarters clocked in for work like they were supposed to but did the STINKING penny?
Thats when you go for the nickel, which is like an airline ticket checker. It's going to help you out but it's going to piss you off a little bit first. You searh your pocket once...twice...the other. Nothing! Then it's in that one pocket you never really use and after frisking yourself for 3 minutes while Lurch makes groaning noises behind you Mr. Nickel pulls his lazy head out of his trailer and does his job.
Thaaaaaaaaaks! Small change=Big Headaches!

I can seem to get past level 17 on Tetris. Stupid hypnotic Russian music! Dooo dee dee doo doo doo dee dee doo doo dee dooo

Friday, November 19, 2004

The Opposite of Awesome

I selected orange juice...mmm, yes. That was an intelligent selection was it not?

Strange twist of events led me to crawl out of bed at 7 this morning rather than my usual 7:30 for PE. The occasion? Breakfast at Wag. You see, it's been nearly one semester here at the Dub and I have yet to eat a breakfast meal. Mostly because, well, I sleep until lunch whenever possible. Also because I've grown to be totally indifferent to Wag's menu. I decided that against my better judgment, it was time to give it a try.

I must say that it was nice...aside from the fact that my waffle tasted like unsalted Zesta (r) Brand crackers. There is pretty much no one in there and and empty Wag is a RARE (and pretty) sight.

Oh wait, on a side note I missed Wag's Thanksgiving Dinner last night which cheeses me off because apparently that is the best meal served in Wag all year! ok back to where I left off...

...Wag is a RARE (and pretty) sight. The most interesting discovery had nothing to do with the breakfast meal however. I found out that in the mornings, when put into a small group of people, I'm totally stupid. You know...mouth hanging open drooling zombie boy only, HEY! This one talks! Boy do I ever. I'm not even sure what I was saying. Maybe it was just the absence of anyone else talking that made me sound like Heraldo on crack cocaine but I swear to you I couldn't talk any faster to the Sheriff if Lassie had captured "the jewel thief" on top of Mount Bunkee. Well I mean you know though rite? I mean you know...

and on that note I'll gnaw my bedpost...pass out and dream of world domination

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Press "Back" for More Info.

Gambling isn't healthy, neither is your life.

Totally random post time. Ahhh yes, you remember the good old days! Sometime back in September when I would write a post about something really stupid that left you feeling cheated from 5 minutes of your life. Yeah its one of those days.

Earlier today just before freezing my rear off in the 37 degree air on my way to the OTHER SIDE OF CAMPUS for PE, I read a little article on Safari's home page. It was about people who win the lottery and blow all their money doing something(s) stupid in the first few years. This is the kind of stuff we all knew happened but the lottery people never let you hear about. Ted Bumpus over in Arkansas gets 1.5 million. His half cousin/half sister who is pregnant with her third ...uh...thing....suddenly becomes a brilliant financial strategist and well advises him into investing half his money into a new mud-slingin' pit down at the water hole. "We can charge admission and we'll git all that money back SHUCKS!" Of course Ted agrees and while he's at it he even buys everyone in the family a new nextel so they can all get there daily dose of "10-4"s and "Roger that's. Turns out the target audience for mud-slingin' don't want to pay no admission to no fancy pit so they's just go on down out back of the flyin' Eagle gas station and do some slingin' there for free, man. Business venture FAILURE! The remainder of the money is invested in fine liquors and ..well cheap ones too in an attempt to drown out the sorrows of life in the marsh and before you know it Ted is right back were he started. Unemployed...in Greenland.

Though this is just a mock story it pretty much encompasses all the sad stories in that article into one. Well, except for the guy that straight spent 2 million on coke. Wow, now that's strangely impressive. Moral of the story is: luck and intelligence have no real connection to one another...and we should flee the British.

...Stupid Red Coats...

Monday, November 15, 2004

Egads!!! Turn That Thing Off Before Someone Gets Chocolated!!!

Peanuts anyone?

In my roommate's infinitely successful campaign to inconvenience and annoy me there have arisen two new instruments of evil. Before I explain them any further I feel I should give a little back story as to my roomie's current condition. I have never seen anyone that eats as much as Roach. I say this having seen both the chinese kid that packs away 40+ hot dogs and Michael Moore. Once at Wag he had a plate of chicken nuggets and the guys at the table really thought is was a serving plate...there had to be 40 on there. He ate them all, and two roasted chicken breasts.
Imagine his shock when he ran out of meals at Wag a week ago. After threatening to call the dean and state simply "What the ___k?" on her answering machine he came to the sad realization that he had just eaten all of his meals in record time. As of late he's taken up spear fishing. Sounds kind of cool right? He snorkels around in the water and shoots fish with a huge spear gun. I am still perplexed as to how he gets in and out of the dorm and campus with a 5 foot long, fully lethal spear gun, no questions asked. Anyway he took this up for fun. Now he's taking it up for living. Swearing to live off the land (and sea) for the remainder of the semester he has stated his intent to kill, filet, and bake his own dinner in order to survive. If anyone else had suggested this I would chuckle and carry on, but sadly I know that my fridge will be filled with fish corpses from now until december.
With the remainder of his money he purchased a bag of frozen pop corn chicken and what might possibly be Planter's "Silo" sized container of Dry Roasted Honey Roasted Peanuts, (which apparently taste better when you're drunk). Long story short I wake up Friday night to the sounds of a rustling bag of chicken and the blaring loud beeps of the microwave and again Saturday night around the same time to a wandering drunk hall mate who was close range screaming an inquiry as to if he could have some peanuts. PETE'S SAKE! Given the sheer volume of peanuts in that container I don't see why you would even ask. You could take cup fulls and no one would be any the wiser! It's like the holo foodmaker thingys on Star Trek. They never run out. Just keep taking peanuts!

No random comment but I will link you all to family operated sister-blog where you'll find slightly wittier content and possibly fresh napkins. Nathan proudly links my cousin David's blog... http:// meamdavid.blogspot.com

Sunday, November 14, 2004

Do Ants Walk, or are They Tap Dancing?


T.P.
Originally uploaded by link5001.

The weekend has come and gone and during it so did the One Take Film Festival that I participated in. Devin DiMattina asked me about a month ago if I'd be interested in entering it with him and I agreed. I have to admit I was worried about it but in the end it all went well.
So here is how it works. Friday night your team is given a booklet with a list of requirements and the rules. Following these rules you have to make a 3-8 minutes movie in 24 hours from the time you picked up your book. We were in a team of five and our group name was Nuclear Space Zombie.
One of our required items was a roll of toilet paper. While brainstorming this idea I suggested the entire movie be from the toilet paper's perspective as it got caught on someone's shoes in a bathroom and tracked, literally, everywhere. The other Zombies liked it and from there it mutated into a story about an abandoned roll of toilet paper that goes exploring on it's on.
For any more on the movie I'm just going to make you watch it. Just ask me sometime, I have it on my laptop...as that is where we put it together. Everyone on the team helped out a lot and was really great to work with. In the end I'm proud to say that out of 19 team's films, T.P. took home the "Honorable Mention" (4th Place) and "Crowd's Choice" awards. Not bad Zombie! I'll be looking forward to this spring's One Take Festival to see if we can kick it up a notch....
...
BAM!!! (sorry)

Until next time, remember to churn your own butter and granny will keep on knitting!

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

If I Pelt You With Candy You Aren't Supposed to Care...

yet another brief post.

I have no idea why I'm even bother to post tonight. I guess just for the sake of posting. It can be fun. I told a friend of mine that yesterday's post would be the last one that mentioned Halo 2. I had to extend it one day for this reason. It seems my cousin, Stephen, has made the news. Front page in fact! With his permission (in spirit) I'm going to post the link here for all you guys to see. The Sanford Herald: For some, it's worth the waitBy TIM PRESTON
After seeing that article I gave up the last shred of hope. I respectfully pass the title of biggest Halo superfan in the family to him. He's touched ground I dare not tred on. Of course, being the biggest fan doesn't make you the best in multiplayer. I'm sure I could pepper him with fire and swiss cheese him in a good old Slayer match! Or at the very least give him a run for his money. We'll know soon enough!

I really really promise I'm done talking about Halo 2.

...

no really this time!

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Tepid, but Still the Most Delicious Selection We Offer

Double Kill

It is fast becoming apparent that Halo 2, something I once viewed as a blessing from the video games gods, could just as easily have been a curse from the anti-normal life gods. I spent somewhere between 10-11 hours playing it in the last 24 hour period. Yeah, can I get a "woah" on that? Of course, it's only been out for 24 hours but who's counting? I'm sure that in the next week I'll look at my unbathed, unshaven self in the mirror and say, "I think I'll stop playing now", (a total lie) and slow down to about 3-4 hours a day. I'd give it a good month before I go back to 4-7 hours a week. The glory days. What frightens me is that Bungie, being evil as I have recently decided, released this at the beginning of the end of the semester. The most hectic time for students. Now I have yet another distraction. Research paper...sleep...research paper...sleep...oh well I guess I should probably do my.....oh wait...or Halo...yeah...Halo!

This is not going to be good.

And while you're at it you can stop stepping and my blue suede flask...OH DON'T YOU...STEP ON MY BLUE SUEDE FLASK!!!!

Monday, November 08, 2004

I Know What a Bloody Tapestry is!

Years ago you served my father in the clone wars....

As I sit staring at my clock, (4 hours and 8 minutes to go!!!) in anticipation of midnight madness for Halo 2 I can't deny that I have this eerie "Nathan you're about to be really screwed" feeling. I don't know if that makes any sense..hmmm... Let me put it this way. Have you ever felt as if you're in trouble before you've even done something, or that something has gone wrong and you have no idea what it could be? Yeah, that’s the feeling I'm talking about. I wonder what it could me. Are my academics slipping about and my subconscious trying to say something? Is it a forewarning of how much Halo 2 is going to dominate my time after tonight? Are my biscuits burning and I still don't know about it?

Maybe its just built up excitement and I'll soon see that there is nothing to worry about. Famous last words eh? At least I can feel a little better now. My roommate is typing a paper and, talking to himself I suppose, randomly just blurted out "F___! Where's the 'J'?" Good Times Good Times...

Pass the bacon or feel my wrath!

Saturday, November 06, 2004

Ceremony of the Broken Heart

Dance of the sugarplum nerds

I just had what could have been the geekiest conversation I've had in my life. My cousin, theatremarine.blogspot.com, Stephen IMed me and we proceeded to have a long conversation about Halo 2 and how big of nerds we are. Well, not exactly like that but if you were to read the conversation that is what you'd get out of it. Sadly that's not the end of it either, or the beginning. Earlier tonight I purchased a Halo T-shirt and poster. Then I spent a large portion of the evening, up until now, browsing the internet for any new Halo 2 news. Sigh, only 2 more days 'til it's out!

Please forget this post for future reference...

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Peer Into my Crystal Sloan!

Rock it out...

Slacademics is now a word copyrighted and owned by Nathan Sloan Inc., 2004.
No no, in reality I'm not doing as badly as I was even a few days ago. I realized that it was time to get in gear and so far I've picked up on what I need to be doing and am (hopefully) heading in the right direction. Or at least one that won't get me booted from the university after my first year. Or semester.
...
or yesterday...
gulp

but aside from that oh WHAT interesting things have been happening in the world! I just finished, or "I", I should say just finished doing my part to finish out our third 201 project. I think it was our best one yet mostly because it was the first one that successfully made good use of humor. If you'd like a copy of it for yourself...well..you aren't going to get one because I don't feel like doing it. Sorry, oh don't worry, it wasn't good enough to want to see anyway.
In exactly one week I will be working on the one take film festival right here in Wilmington! (For more information please visit http://www.onetakefestival.com) I'm in a group of 4...ugh, or 5, and I really only know one of them. It will certainly be interesting to see what we can do and if it will be any good. My spirits are high-ish. Well, maybe a little closer to just above sea level. In any case I'm sure it will be a good experience.

The people have spoken and Mr. Bush has been given four more years as president of our country. In other words, Michael Moore still has a job.
And that's all I have to say about that...

What demented freak at Pepperidge Farms thought it would be a good idea to have your cute little snack crackers smile at you. I feel like such a loser! ((munch munch munch))

Monday, November 01, 2004

State of the Blog Address

Another month gone and another State of the Blog Address. Thrill Thrill! Indeed it was September first when I slapped down my first post "Freestyle for Friends of the Wild West" and it seems like it was just yesterday. Since then I've raised the bar with Images and ouuuuuuu! Even the outbound link or two. I hope these technological miricals haven't boggled your mind too often. In the mean time lets get down to business!

I plan on doing MORE interesting stuff like linking you guys to interesting sites online and writing posts about stupid stuff that I find online. Hey hey! Off the edge of that seat you!

Any suggestions you have for content on this jank would be GREATLY appreciated.

Back to commenting, if you comment GREAT. Comment often but i'm now adding a NEW rule to commenting. You can comment under the anonamous setting but PLEASE leave your name unless you REALLY don't want me to know it. I like to know who is talking to me. So...yeah...THANKS.

PUBLICITY. You know it, I know it, anyone thats ever been to WilmingSloan knows it. It's JUST a blog of a 18 year old college student that sometimes gets long-winded and boring but can sometimes be quasi-interesting. Even in light of this the page means a lot to me and my development as a writer, something I plan to be involved with my future profession, so i need as much of a reader base as possible. Tell your friends and, YES! Link my page on your webpage with the link title "most awesome site ever WilmingSloan" or something along those lines. It'll help me out a great deal and I thank you in advance.

Water Buffalo....Yes...walk towards them my child!

Sunday, October 31, 2004

Watch Me As I Moonwalk on Your Face.

A random collection to round out the month....enjoy!

* I made an interesting observation the other day. John Kerry's hair closely resembles the hair of famous slavery advocate, John C. Calhoun.

*A Haiku from me to You

The beautiful girl walks up
Nathan turns his head
she asks him to go away

* I'm still sick from a virus I caught over a week ago. I don't know why I put this up here. Uh, just know that it sucks.

* Performing my civic duty on Saturday was a real "treat." I had to wait in line, WITH MY FAMILY, for nearly 2 hours to vote. Oh well, at least I have the right to complain like a whiny old lady for the next four years if my candidate doesn't get elected.


* Maturity is over-rated. There is a time when everyone needs to be mature and a time when people need to realize that being so serious makes them more stressed and less fun to be around. You aren't fooling anyone you suit wearing closet hippie!

* Ellen DeGeneris' TV show is funny and I like her...even if she is a lesbian.

* It took me 546 licks to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop.

* Shopping is something to be done alone, with an attractive girl, or not at all. Especially not with parents. (of course I'm being sarcastic, geeze stop writing that hate mail!)

* To go to UNCW and be (cool) one must apply for and be an extra on the WB series "One Tree Hill." In a related revelation "One Tree Hill." as well as "The WB" were conceived by Satan in the 5th level of Hell and we should all douse our TV sets in Holy Water.

I hope you all (all 3 of you, man you guys are great!) have enjoyed the first two months of my (near) daily rantings and moan fests on this Blog. I know that I have personally enjoyed flexing my writing muscle and seeing just how weak it is (nearly as week as my physical muscle!) More than that I've enjoyed all the lovely feedback I've received and I hope to see nothing but more of it. Stay Tuned...

hey! My printer just flipped me off...in grayscale!


Saturday, October 30, 2004

Forgot your password?

Time management, Sloan style.

It comes as no surprise that in the seemingly infinite amount of time I spend doing nothing, or, what amounts to nothing I have completely organized my thoughts on time management. This is the part where you say, "Now wait just a second, boo. That don't make no sense." Well, neither does Oprah's long run on television but there are some things in life we have to set aside and forget.
...
yes...forget Oprah....
...
ahhhhh
Now doesn't that feel better?

I have come to the conclusion that a man is only two things. Created by God and what he personally does with his life. God may have a plan for your life but if you're ignorant of it you might as well throw that out of the picture. So no matter what you're either what you accomplish, or rather interestingly, what you don't do. How much time does the average person spend doing nothing every week? Well, I don't think there is any way of knowing but lets do something interesting. There are 168 hours in a week. Lets take the standard recommended daily allotment of sleep out of that, 8 hours a night or 56 of those hours. Now lets make the MORE than safe assumption that a normal person spends 5 hours a day doing unproductive stuff like, taking a poo, walking the dog, watching tv, chatting online, ect. thats an additional 35 hours a week of lost productivity. So at the VERY least I'd say people are losing 91 of their 168 hours to nothingness. Thats a bit frightening but, hey, in the end we're safe because we're still working for the betterment of mankind for 77 hours.

Now lets take a look at a week in the life of Nathan. I sleep sporadically. Sometimes 5 hours a night sometimes 12. I'd say on average I shoot for around 9. We'll go with 9 just to make progression easy. 9 yes 9 sounds like a good number. Ok, ok, I was doing that to be annoying I apologize. So that is 63 hours I flush away dreaming about bungie swinging in a huge circus tent, every week!(you laugh but its awesome.) 105 hours left to play with. Every day I spend at least an hour, all throughout the day, checking email. I just do. 70 wasted hours. Another 5 hours a week updating this jank, (don't get me wrong, I don't view this page as a total waste, just not the type of productive activity I need to be doing as a college student). 75 wasted hours a week.
To find the rest of the wasted hours lets look at the legit time I spend doing stuff each week. Around 4 hours of worship/bible study time, a number that SHOULD be increased. 13 WHOLE hours in class. About 5 hours doing outside of class classwork...again I should be doing MUCH more of that. 2 hours of club meetings. 3 hours traveling. We'll be generous and say I spend about 5 hours doing basic maintenance stuff. 5 hours in the bathroom. 7 hours eating. FOR A TOTAL OF....44 ...aw shucks...we'll say 45 hours of legit time spent each week.
Meaning a total of 119 wasted hours a week.

What does that leave me with? 49 WASTED HOURS! What the CRAP am I doing for 7 hours a day? SEVEN HOURS that I can't account for. I'm spending time talking to people I know outside of class. My family and friends on the weekends. I know I daydream a lot but most of all my NUMBER ONE enemy is my own computer. I spend more time on it every week than I bet I do working of class work outside of class. In fact! I'm SURE of it! On occasion I've even caught myself staring at the screen and thinking, "What are you doing?" No one is online, I have nothing in particular I want to look at yet I'm browsing articles on how to make the most SINFULLY delicious brownies. What is wrong with me? Is it that I just lack proper motivation or am I just a lazy dingus that will never be able to find any. I need time management HELP so if anyone out there can help me CONTACT ME!

In fact...I'm going to put this message into the memory systems of this R2 unit...

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Approx. 1 Million Angry Dragons

Just a post to let you guys know why I may not post much this weak. I'M SICKTACULAR. Apparently I've caught a "cold" that gives me a horrible fever for 7-10 days. I'll be missing class and freezing/sweating in my boxers for that length of that time. You know what really bugs me about the whole deal? The NURSE that saw me at the doctor's office on campus was just OH so happy to tell me exactly what I had and why there was no perscription that could help. Couldn't she pretend to be a little depressed for me? AND ANOTHER THING! Whats the deal with that token abstract "doctor's office" art that they put all over the walls? Is a pastel grouping of squares and circles supposed to make you feel better? Oh well, just another one of life's mysteries...

This would be 10% less painful if I had a pet squirrel

Monday, October 25, 2004

Parenthetical Paradise Part 2


Department of Sloanland Defense
Originally uploaded by link5001.

Locked, loaded, and ready for action sir!

I’ve never done a part 1 and part 2 before but there is a first time for everything I suppose. As I alluded to in my last post, I wasn’t feeling to hot last night. In fact, I was actually feeling too hot. Indeed I had a fever and sleeping last night was not an enjoyable experience. Lots of tossing and turning and freezing and sweating. I alson had this weird dream I was fighting a Shadow Man with a special sword...uh...you can talk to me about that on a one on one basis. In any case it was not at all the kind of rest I had hoped for at the end of the week. I got through it, however, and woke up around lunch when mom and dad got home from church and I informed them that I wasn’t feeling well. Dad got the thermometer and sure enough! Over 12 hours later I still had a boiling 101 degrees. At times like these you have very little to do but roll over and try to rest. Of course, just because my body is sick it doesn’t mean my imagination is turned off...
I asked mom why I would have just a fever with no other symptoms and she told me that there was just an infection in me that my body was trying to fight off.
“So the process of fighting off that infection causes extra heat?”
“Yep, you got it.”
As soon as she left and I rolled over I pictured my white blood cells, (WBCs) as these big giant blobs that were stepping on and killing the bad little germs but there were so many of them that sometimes the WBCs would get overwhelmed and fall. Then I saw the WBCs with little machine guns firing on the clouds of germs. It helped kill the germs but all that firepower was heating me up on the inside....the steam of war from their guns and grenades was making me too hot. Thankfully there is something that helps this problem. Tylenol bombs act like cold bombs that strike and freeze all the action for a few hours until everyone thaws out. At that point I can drink a lot of Vitamin C to drop re-enforcement packs to my men on the front. Usually extra ammo, food, you know. With the extra support eventually the WBCs will be able to knock out the germs and from then its just a sweep up job of everything that's left.

I’m hoping that these WBCs can get me back in good working order by tomorrow. i have a big day ahead of me.

UUUUgh....perhaps I should bring in the Advil bombs for extra support...