5 Alive!

The Rapid Fire Panda
Originally uploaded by link5001.

A little bit of Root Beer on that cut'll fix it right up!

I know the question that must be running through your minds. "What is The Rapid Fire Panda? Whatever could it be? I'm so confused and excited!"
Yes, those are all valid responses to have but I'm afraid that the above picture will be the only teaser I can lend as to what it may be until fall semester at the earliest.
It's just a quick sketch I drew up, the next time you see the panda he'll be all professional looking (and probably killing something.) If you really, really just haven't had enough panda then you should head on over to my online store and check out the new sticker that he's adorning.

When it comes, it comes swiftly...

So sorry for not updating over the weekend-izzle but as stated in my last post, things have been hectic.
You know how you forget you have five dollars in the pocket of your dirty old jeans and then one day you find it and you're like "YESSSSS!" Well the same thing happened to me today except it wasn't money in pants but it was a test in class and rather than saying "YESSSSS!" I said something along the lines of "abub...a....rereeee..((twitch))."
Thankfully I, by some miraculous mishap, packed my required materials into my backpack this morning. Though I feel bad for not doing as well as I could have, I am sure that my professor will get a good chuckle or two out of my short answer responses.

Sunshine can be deceptive! On many occasions here in Wilmington I'll look out the window in my beloved dorm room and see nothing but blue sky and bright sunny rays. Then I step outside in my Hanes Hef-T and realize that the sun is a dirty liar.
Naturally, being that this happens regularly I decided that when I saw the bright sunny rays outside today, I would avoid the urge to go out unlayered. I tossed on a hoodie...
...Only to find it WARM AND PLEASANT! Would you make up your mind?? I mean REALLY? Can't we develop some standard where sunny always means warm and cloudy never means humid and disgusting?
Maybe I should just start opening the windows or something...sigh...

Has anyone ever thought about how much it would suck to have to tap dance in glass slippers?

I Swear if I Find One Leaf, I'll Get Him Fired

Peck o'pepper
Originally uploaded by link5001.

I can relate so much as to how this cat must feel right now.

I really love the ocean. To my friends at UNCW this must come as some surprise since I never seem interested in venturing out to the beach, but it is true. I think there is something about it that really strikes a particularly striking chord in me. Maybe it's the wide open expanse that seems so open and free to be explored. Maybe it's the ambient sound as you stroll along a bay side walk. Or maybe it's the fat man in the swimsuit he's had since 1988 who is just realizing how unwise it is to feed a seagull, for the first time.
Whatever it is, I can't deny it. I think that I will always be near a large body of water, or at least visit one often, for the rest of my life. Things seem so much simpler. Sky and horizon are finally allowed to meet without all those pesky trees and shrubbery getting in the way of things.

I just realized how much crap I have to do over the next 2 weeks and it's kind of frightening the crap out of me at the moment. so as the cabby in Collateral, taking a minute to look at the ocean and go on vacation could do a lot to help a brotha out.

...and no, I'm not at liberty to explain to you why my roommate keeps petroleum jelly next to his bed.

Cheese Dip. Now That Could Save the World.

I may have won this battle but the war is far from over.

I'm sure you remember my endlessly talking about how I despised my film class this semester due to it's INSANE grading policies. Well, I just got the grade back for my big scene review project and it was an astounding "A!" That's a good 25% of my final grade that is solidly taken care of and a huge sigh of relief. My respite must be brief, however, due to the fact that quizzes are still to come as well as my uber hard final paper and final exam (collectively 50% of my grade.)

But I know people don't come to WilmingSloan to hear about my depressingly normal student life. Or if you do I must question the quality of life of those who read it.
Juuuust kidding...
So now I'm going to go into a completely random story, as is become my custom.

Tonight's topic will be restaurant decorations and how they can be related to people, (top that for randomness!)

Earlier this evening the family and myself went to the oh so enjoyable restaurant Ruby Tuesday. Please note that there is not possessive "s" attached to the "Tuesday." This is a common mistake that even I must admit to having made quite frequently.
While I was in there I glanced around at all the decorations they put up on the walls. Movie posters, college flags, North Carolina tid bits, you guys know what I'm talking about. Just random crap. If I were in the movie Office Space I suppose I would call it flack. Well, I got to thinking about it and all that crap is pretty interesting.
You know that Ruby Tuesday and Applebee's and all those places that do that kind of stuff have to send someone in to find all the local stuff out about a place. Of course, these people only hit the bigger, general, more obvious stuff about a place and miss the little details. They go in and get the high school jerseys, trophies, newspapers, ect. ect. I guess that makes them feel like they're fitting in with the location but to the actual locals, we feel it an awkward attempt.
Then I started thinking about how I know people just like these restaurants. The only way I could identify it was by the emotion or feeling that I got from it. In my life I have met so many people that are absolutely astounding and gathering superficial details about how to fit in and implementing them in their life. They usually have a lot of "friends" and get higher up on the popularity ladder but if someone they're trying to emulate really gets to know them, it's just awkward for them.
Believe it or not, there are some people out there that try to emulate nerds. As a card-carrying nerd these people in particular stick out like sore thumbs to me. The only reason I can guess as to why they would want to do this is because, being unable to define themselves personally, they attach a proxy identity to themselves based on the identity of someone they admire or enjoy the company of. Sadly, it just doesn't work.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying these are bad people. To some extent we all define ourselves through observations we make of others. I think its just that some of us do it less consciously than others. That makes a big difference.

The U.S.S. Constitution, which is now docked in Boston Harbor, packed some heat. 52 cannons worth of heat to be exact. Now get your music pirating butt off the internet before in sails in and takes over your booty!

Can I Help it if I Think You're Funny When You're Mad?

Yesterday was the first day of Spring but does that mean spring has sprung for UNCW? Doubtful. I'm willing to bet that there will be at least one more day with a high below 50 before all is said and done.

Also with the first day of spring came the first of a certain type of visitor to my dorm room since early November. One of my roommate's close relatives....a cockroach. Words cannot express the anger that seethes in me from these insects. I have done all I know to do to exterminate these vile creatures from my room and I really thought I'd gotten them. The warmer the weather the more there are. Sigh. Schwartz would be the best dorm in the whole world if it weren't for roaches....

Maybe I'll do an interesting post tonight...otherwise...I'm sorry for nothing good today...but I must study.

There is nothing quite like stepping off the elevator on your floor to find campus police watching "Step by Step" on the common room TV.

Rocket Powered Boots: $49.95

Which way to the horse poop?

The weekend was spent with Caroline and family in lovely old Four Oaks. On Saturday we all headed out to Bentonville Battleground to see and enjoy the reenactment festivities. I tried doing an audio post from the batter but sadly, the signal in middle of nowhere, Johnston County isn't the strongest in North Carolina. My call was lost leaving me to talk to myself for 3 minutes with cannons blasting in the background.

So yeah, every five years a bunch of professional old nerds (and some young ones) gather at Bentonville, where my grandmother is from, to dress up and pretend to be some of the most miserable Americans in history. Despite my strong urge to dismiss the event as complete lameness, I even find myself suddenly drawn to this period in history. Envisioning myself in officer's garb I spent the day walking around wishing that I had a cool horse of my own.

We were quite stupid and didn't leave for the battlefield quickly enough to get good "seats." Of course no one was sitting. I could barely make out what was going on over the sea of hats in front of me. Poor Caroline had to be periodically hoisted up to see anything other than smoke.

Even in the face of this trouble I had a good time out there. Where else will you get to hear the infamous "rebel yell" as a group of CSA on horseback go thundering by with the stars and bars waving gloriously above them?
Now that I think of it...
-Wal*Mart in Smithfield
-Anywhere in Benson
-South Johnston High School Parking Lot
-Any street within a block of my house

Obviously it still has ripples today.

So that isn't quite as uncommon as some of us might hope, but at Bentonville at least it was done by guys that really looked like the real thing and wanted to show a true appreciation for the historical value of that tragic battle. Never ever discount one of these events as nerdy or not worth your time. It's a unique experience and I recommend it to anyone even remotely fascinated with history.

I'll have pictures (I took three rolls) sometime this week. You won't want to miss them, trust me.

The old dynamite in the nostril ploy! Gets 'em every time!!!

If the Spaniards Don't Attack, Then Who Will?

Evil people keep taking the fun stuff...

To commemorate the 21st day since we last saw a real post from cousin Dave (and the seventh day since he posted promising a new post "soon") I've decided I'll pick one of his better posts and create a spring off of a post.

So the Nazis are still stupid and living but have now moved over to the US of A. Now I look at them a bunch of complete morons and don't view them as a threat at all. In light of that I was thinking the other day about swastikas. Every public restroom I go in seems to have a swastika on the wall in one of the stalls. Now one might jump to the conclusion that there are a lot of evil Nazi loving goons out there but after some reflection on the idea, I think I've reached a much more logical conclusion.

Swastikas are just fun to draw.

Please, please, please, no one kill me. Seriously though. The little bent cross, that is now so commonly associated with the evil SS, is not only challenging to reproduce well, but aesthetically pleasing when perfected. Now, given, there are a host of other symbols that are equally pleasing to draw, but that doesn't make the swastika any harder to avoid. I can remember sitting in class on more than one occasion doodling swastikas (inadvertently) in my notebook, happily ignoring my lessons. Then someone would walk by my desk, something snapped in my brain and I'd suddenly and awkwardly hurl my body on my desk and over my notebook. As if by seeing the swastikas next to my math calculations and several swirlies (also a popular note time doodle) would make them assume I was a loyal follower of the fascist party.
In reality, the bad connotations that follow the swastika now are just one more reason for me to hate the Nazis. Originally this was an Indian good luck symbol. It's like the word gay. Did anyone ask the word gay if it wanted to stop meaning happy and start almost soley meaning homosexual? Sometimes it's a strange and unfair world.

Be sure to check out Jump Cut Radio if you get a spare moment (and a lot of bandwidth). We recorded our second episode yesterday and had some good times. Remember though, I can't be held responsible for their occasional foul language.

"It's not what you have in common, it's what you have that's opposite" ~Roach

If Nobody Loves Me

Looking back on the past few weeks.

I realized that most of my posts as of late have been somewhat boring. OK, maybe mind-numbingly boring. That is why I'm just going to start typing and hope something amusing comes out. You have been warned...

Coin and stamp collecting have to be the lamest of all types of collections, yet for some reason if someone had a really nice coin collection I think I would really admire it. In fact, if it were a nice enough collection I might even be tempted to start a collection of my own. That reminds me of how kids in elementary and middle school act. Remember Giga Pets? A couple of kids had them and then (despite their inherent lameness) everyone else wanted them. Strange phenomenon really.
The other boys and myself all watched as more and more girls carried them around on their key chains and we grew more and more envious. Unsure of whether they were a "girl" thing we were forced to sit brooding in our pits of 3-bit jealousy. That is, until one of the "cool" guys finally granted us relief by stepping up and buying his own digital pal. Then we were finally clear to join the fad.
Of course those simple programs were harder to take care of than real living things. If you forgot to feed it for 30 minutes your squirming blob's fate was sealed. No amount of play or pizza could bring it back from the icy grip of death. It was a evil idea really, and I'm convinced that the people and Ban-Dai secretly enjoyed breaking children's hearts via their software.
Then there was that whole yo-yo fad at my school in seventh grade. To me no one looks more hopeless and unproductive than a hardcore yo-yo guy. If an intellectual were to write an essay on "Hopeless and Unproductive" for a respected national journal, you can bet your life there'd be a picture of a grown man with a yo-yo next to it. Yet once a couple of the populars started "walking the dog" down the halls at school and executing the oh so impressive "around the world" an unheard of 20 times, everyone inevitably found themselves drawn to purchase a yo-yo of their own. Not only that but we dreamed that we could practice hard and one day find ourselves competing in the world championships of yo-yo, next to that mythical Japanese kid that may or may not have actually existed. Once we shamed him with our awesome skill, we could pick up a couple of adoring females and live out the rest of our lives on money from our sponsors.
Strangely enough I've recently learned that the real world isn't too far from that. Now, in the Halo 2 field at least, there are sponsored professional video game players. It's like stock car racing only more intelligent and less respectable. John A. Nerd spends 7-10 hours a day "at work" improving his game, and why not? Last year one impressive (or depressing depending on your perspective) gamer earned a respectable $80,000 of income for his talent. And they all laughed at little Johnny when he said he wanted to play video games when he grew up!
Maybe one of the hardest things mankind will ever struggle with is to be separate from everyone else, though all of our instincts or natural inclinations lead us to want nothing more than assimilation. Love itself is perhaps most accurately viewed as our desire to have complete unity with another person. At least it is amusing to observe how these desires of ours manipulate our interests in the unimportant things, as in the cases above above, and how the ways of the world change to accommodate them.

Is anyone else sad because of their unnecessary amount of excitement over the prospect of vegetable oil as an alternative to conventional fuel in diesel engines? Or....umm..maybe that's just me.

Only This Time, With an Asian Flair!

Caswell Letter
Originally uploaded by link5001.

...and the job goes to...

And so it starts again. The ever majestic Mr. Brian Hemphill was gracious enough to extend a hearty Baptist invitation to return to Caswell for my third summer of service. This time I'll be thrust into the helm of Mother Hatch herself. The auditorium that is, as I was asked to be the one and only, AV guy.

I'm excited but there is still a lot to pray about. The people still waiting to hear back, the people still deciding if they're going to go, and the people that scraggle in their applications at the last moment. I'm happy that I got the job that I did and I'll do my best at it but in a way it worries me. Will Hatch ever be the same? Only time will tell.

Other than that news let me just say that my "Links" page it royally screwed up. I'm trying to fix it but I honestly have no idea when I'll have the time to do it so....yeeeah.
Make sure you check back Wednesday as that should be when the next episode of
Jump Cut Radio hit's the "air" waves. Also check back after the weekend as mine eyes will be seeing the glory of the Lord. Well, by that I mean that I'm going to a civil war reenactment. Now that sounds like fun!

No prints come from fingers it machines become our hands.

...A Great Picture if Smithfield Wasn't There

The valiant efforts of four very attractive soldiers

We had it all. The best of the best. There was no doubt in our mind that the four of us would sweep the tournament. We would have, had DTP not shown up at the last minute. DTP are 4 very talented Halo players that have obviously put in far more hours in Halo than I. The First match was rather close, but in the second and third matches, we were no match. No one else really stood a chance at beating them aside from us, but sadly we were not enough. We went down like little girls in the championship round, 3-0. In our defense it was 1-Flag CTF on Zanzibar, which one of the members later told us they had a lot of practice playing. They were all good players and they worked together next to flawlessly. Kudos, big friggin' jerks.

It was still fun but I'm now $5 poorer. Oh well. Let's put all that Halo 2 fooy behind us and look at what is really important. COMMUNISTS!
...
I mean, ham...
I mean....NO! Something even BIGGER.

Introducing
Jump Cut Radio! Some of you may remember the pathetic attempt at a radio show I guest starred in a couple of weeks ago (sorry Devin) with my future roommate Devin. Well he's upgraded it a lot and most importantly updated it with me as a co-host! On the show we talk about anything film related that we care to talk about but with a distinct student filmmaker flavor. Click the above link or visit my "links" page to check it out. I'll warn you that it's about 25 minutes long so you might not want to sit and wait on dial up, but broadband downloading is lightening fast. Should be a new episode every week.
P.S. I'm going to do my darndest to get Devin to shut that background music off in future episodes.

What's the deal with professors assigning stuff all at the same time? I swear I have had 2 papers assigned thus far this semester, both from the same class and spaced apart. Now, all the sudden, I have 3 due in the same week! This is garbage! I think that professors, in their never ending quest to make students miserable, must hold biweekly conventions to determine the most effective way to schedule their assignments in devastating combinations. So far no one else has caught on, but when they do...
resistance comrads...resistance...

Shorty, you don't know me

I Hate Morton Hall

Big Blue
Originally uploaded by link5001.

What is Love? Baby don't hurt me....

Check out my flickr photo album by clicking the above picture "Big Blue" I added 5 pictures from mine and Amanda Shearin's downtown photo extravaganza this past Tuesday. It's always fun to go on photo sprees!

Today I had/have two tests. One in math and another in Psychology. Thankfully neither seem to be that difficult. In my Lit class today we got into a big discussion about Love and what exactly it is. For the first time I think I found my definition and I really like it. I won't go into all the detail here because, well, honestly, if I do you'd probably think that I was some heartless hater of St. Valentine. I'm not but I do detest the more superficial aspects of what commercial enterprises, our friends and family, and yes, even our significant others tell us regarding love.

I'll most likely go on a mad tangent on this subject sometime in the not so distant future.

I have officially scheduled my appointment for preregistration advising for next semester. It seems so ....weird....errrrr.

I'll post some decent content soon, (Halo Tournament tomorrow!!!) but as for today, just enjoy the pictures....Adieu!

The last exit on I-40 at Wilmington?
#420
Coincidence? I THINK NOT

I'll Punch Your Butterfly...

Just a quick post to apologize for not posting. I feel like my cousin Dave, only not quite that bad. Alas I do have a hectic life and so the blog must suffer on occasion. Don't fret! I'll be back soon with TONS of neat pictures and a sto-rey or two.

Gnaw on leather...It's one of those things that makes your go "Mmmmmm"

Welcome to Awkwardville! Population: Nathan

Coming to meet you...

It's hard for me to really grasp that the first three quarters of my freshman year are over with. When I return Sunday afternoon I will have roughly 2 months left before I'm packing my bags and heading back home. It seems like I just moved in on that hellish Sunday afternoon in August. I can remember the knot in my stomach well, and I remember the fear struck in my heart when I first met Roach. How I lived in relative seclusion for the first 3 weeks. It seems like I met a few people, had a few laughs, and now I'm about to part ways with most of them. I'm going to miss a lot of them, including my once frightful roommate.

I spent this week attempting to complete my FST 203 scene analysis project. I got about halfway through it instead, though I still feel ahead of the game I worry about the quality of work that I'll do on the last portion of it. Tomorrow is going to be weird. Spring break flew by and I'll have just 24 hours more to finish up what I'm trying to complete on the project, spend time with my family, wrap up the Halo insanity, and avoid housework. So what was spring break for me? Mostly a time of reflection on where I'm heading but also some fun.

I'll be glad that when I return I'll have less than two months of class. Though I'm not especially displeased with the schedule I have this semester, I am by no means pleased with it. It is mostly basic studies and the one class in my current field of interest turned out to be craptacular. I will be spending long hours with myself and my advisor trying to decide what direction to take my schedule for Fall '05. I won't be completely done with basic studies until the end of my sophomore year and at that point I have to know for sure what I want to do. I'm still mostly interested in film but creative writing sounds good too. I'll just have to see.

I just hope my grades turn out well. I'm really trying to keep my nose above a 3.0. I'm still interested in the prospect of study abroad during my Jr. year (if it's nay Scottish it's crap!) and I have to keep my grades up both for that, and for official admission to the film program. Some of the classes I'm taking this semester are easy but some of them are deceptive in their grading policies and others (cough cough!!! *FST 203*)) are just plain retarded/hard any way you look at it. At this point I suppose all I can really do is keep my chin up and cross my fingers.

Much of the week was spent sitting in my Dad's office, on the computer opposite him, setting up my FaceBook account and learning Photoshop CS. I also too the time to add a couple of little updates to my Links page. By FAR however, I spent much of Wednesday and Thursday playing Halo 2 online with (and without) Matt. It's amazing how this game just doesn't get old when you have friends to play it with. Next weekend is the meeting of the third Halo 2 Lan tournament and this time they're doing it with teams. We have a good team set up and I have a good feeling about it.
((nerrrd ne..ne...NEEEERD!!!))
It was nice to spend time in the same place with dad even if we didn't get to talk much.
I got to spend all afternoon this afternoon with mom too. She treated me to Arby's and took me to get my phone fixed at Alltell.
I do miss home and my parents (and sometimes my goony sisters) so it was a lot of fun to revisit Four Oaks.

But perhaps the biggest realization I came to was that Four Oaks is no longer the same place to me. When I left for my months at Caswell, and came back, it still molded itself back into that familiar feeling. The same no longer rings true. It feels like home but it is missing something it has always had before. What exactly that is I can't be sure. It's sad in a way but I guess it happens to all of us once we start our journey into that nightmarish "real world."

I wonder what that world will do to me if I never decide to show up. Maybe I, along with John Mayer, can rise above it.
But then I'd have to deal with being in his company constantly, him always asking me for bottled water and easy cheese, so I may be better off nine to fiving it at the local ABC store. We'll see.

Flintstone's Vitamins taste like poo. If you don't believe me...try them now.

State of the Blog Address

A couple of days late but still fresher than the competitors!

So what's up? I'll tell you what's up!!!! Some exciting and some not quite so exciting news in the world of Nathan...let's get crackin'.

Spring break continues...I'm continually board. It's nice to be around the family and catch up on all the work I'm behind on but it would be nicer still to have something to do. I think going back to school won't be so bad after all. I did brush up on my "drool in cup" skills some these past few day...err...riight.
YAWN

IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!!!!!
Due to some possible changes in my home ISP I am having to do the unthinkable and abandon AOL (yay) possibly for good. There is no easy way to make the transition but I'm willing to try anything so here it goes. My primary E-Mail address is NO LONGER Link5001@aol.com
Everyone understand? Ok...
Please direct all emails to me at link5001@gmail.com
Gmail is a Google operated web based e-mail client that has been getting really good reviews. It is currently on an invite only system but Matt was able to hook me up with one. THANKS MAN!
Please tell everyone you know that might remotely be interested in knowing my e-mail that they can now reach me at my gmail.

AGAIN MY NEW ADDRESS IS:
link5001@gmail.com

ADD IT TO YOUR ADDRESS BOOK!!!!

Ok now what else...
Oh yeah, remember how in the last SotBA I said I was going to start reviewing bargain bin movies? I never got around to it but I still plan on doing it because I think it's a neat idea.

Now for some blog stats. This post is the 120th Nathilicious post since I started on September 1, 2004! The blog is steadily growing, I now get about 250 hits per week and about 38% of my total number of hits come from a time zone outside of the eastern time zone! Isn't that exciting? Those of you that viewed my site meter may also have noticed that I recently passed 2,700 mark on my total hit counter. Thats not even counting the first 2 and a half months! I opened up that counter at the end of November. Sadly Roach informed me that there was a rumor going around school that my blog was giving away free kegs back in December. I should probably attribute most of those hits to him as he repeatedly visited my site in frustration...sigh...
I'd like to keep encouraging you to post comments if you enjoy my blog, even if it is just a simple "ugh" to let me know that you're alive out there. Blogger has recently updated the commenting section so you can now comment, with your name and web site address, without signing up for blogger. There really is no reason not to comment now unless you're just plain lazy.
...and if you're reading this from work or when you're supposed to be studying...you probably are...so mute argument, ok never mind...

Now for what might be the most EXCITING announcement of the post! I have been, for quite some time now, trying to get my sister Melissa to start up her own blog. After much pestering I think I may have convinced her! She is in the process of choosing a name right now so if any of you have any suggestions then please do plug them away into a comment box and I'll run them by her.
She's almost as cool and funny as me, and she can spell better, so it's a really good thing that she's starting. I'm sure she'd be the perfect addition to the Sloan family blogline!
As soon as it is up an running count on my posting a link both somewhere in a post of my own, and on my "links" page.
In the mean time, I still have a lot of cool stuff up on my links page for you guys to check out if my blog is not hitting the spot, for whatever reason.
...dirty #$*(@&!...

I mean...uhhh...I love you anyway

And now if you'll excuse me I have some Dancing Cows to attend to. WITH MY SHOTGUN!!!!