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?