Shame on You, The Duke Indeed!

I'm too gullible.

Yesterday at Barnes and Noble I went to the Starbucks and saw some of the prettiest water I've ever seen. It's Fiji brand and it comes in a rectangular bottle with a little tropical scene label on the back so that when you look through the front you see palm fronds and ripples. This water is $2.50 a liter but looking at the beautiful exterior I couldn't resist. After all, this was untainted water from the virgin ecosystem of the islands of Fiji. In our acid rain filled world of Aquafina, Dasani, and Le Blue it's just too hard to resist that claim.

Unfortunately for me I failed to remember that water gets turned into a gas, carried all over the face of the planet, and redeposited wherever. In the case of Fiji brand they actually had the audacity to say on the back of the bottle that "The purest water comes from the purest clouds. Our rainfall is purified by trade winds as it travels thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean to the islands of Fiji." Oh yeah, that sounds really scientifically accurate. The old "purified by the trade winds" bit. Perhaps I'd be satisfied if they cared to explain, rather than fancifully state how their water is clean. In my head I'm picturing a bunch of creative guys in Fiji filling up pretty bottles barefoot in the creek behind their "processing plant" or as it's more likely referred to, the house.

I wouldn't be so upset but it seems that my $2.50 bottle of water that looked so delicious, was actually the most disgusting water I've ever had. Never, never buy it. You have been warned.

I demand TEN LAYERS in my lasagna and if I count 9 it's going to be your JOB!

Thoughts Formulated While Gnawing on a Cotton Ball

Don't ask...

Ten things I wish I had right now that don't go in a waffle cone:

->1800's banker sideburns
->One of those things on Star Trek that materializes any food you want
->The ability to tell people I punched a shark in the gills to scare it away and not be lying
->Two mahogany framed degrees with my name on them (of any discipline)
->A real functioning light saber
->A pet deer that talked (only to me) about it's favorite literature
->My own forge and blacksmithing studio
->Belt with holsters for candy bars
->3-story tall mechanical Panda with R/C remote
->Frozen yogurt...oh wait..DANG IT!

And all the Hillbillies in the choir stoically raised their pitchforks in respect.

Pull the Pin and Let the Metal Ring

Southport trip!
Originally uploaded by The Sloan.

Once again...I have failed my loyal readers by not posting on the correct time spot. It's ok though because I HAVE posted the day after and so now the actual posting shall commence.

You know what? It's about time someone shed light on the anti-social's favorite; the cell phone bluff.

First of all, let me say I'm totally guilty of this. Second of all I'm writing about it because I want to see who else is either guilty, or suspects themselves of having been victim. Ok, so here it is. The Cell Phone Bluff is the (as far as I can tell) the common practice of checking your cell phone strategically in order to avoid awkward passing moments with people you know vaguely. What I mean by this is that when person A spots person B from a distance ( person B is someone who they don't know all that well, but well enough that they should say something to them), person A picks up the cell phone and is like, "Wow, need to look at that clock...yeah...still looking at it. Hmmm. I think I'll reread all my text messages." In doing so Person A avoids having to say anything to them.

People are funny sometimes.

I like giant pandas.

Too Close for Missles, I'm Switching to Guns

It's the Sunday Post on Monday Morning!

The long haul has finally arrived. I'm now stuck with the daunting task of writing an 8 page research paper in one day. That's what I get for putting it off and having several other classes in which my stuff is also due at the exact same time. I feel kind of bad because yesterday I bought my first lotto scratch ticket for a dollar. Though that does disappoint I won $7 so I made $6. I'm thinking I might just stick it to the man and never buy another lotto ticket. That way I have still taken $6 for the state government, and more importantly...those noisy kids and their PUBLIC education. Wait a second...I was publicly educated...oh well.

Yesterday I drove all the way home with on windshield wiper blade half off. This wouldn't have been a big deal but after an hour the flapping against the glass gets to you. I'm not sure I'm completely mentally stable anymore, but whose to say I ever was in the first place.

...Don't touch my ancient Chinese Bronze Bells!

My Humble Wigwam

As promised I updated now on a Thursday. I know you didn't think I would, it's ok, I'll forgive you eventually.

So, much has happened since my last post. On Friday I got to see Franz Ferdinand (eh) and my personal favorite, Death Cab for Cutie in concert at Duke. Caroline took me as a part of my birthday present and it was a lot of fun (aside from my inability to navigate unfamiliar urban areas without freaking out). You can find four pictures from the concert in myFlickr photo album. If you haven't exposed yourself to Death Cab yet I highly suggest your doing so.
...
and by that I mean listening to their music, not literally exposing yourself to them. That would just be weird

So yes indeed, I did turn 20 this weekend. Surprisingly I feel as if I'm moving out of the glory years of youth already. I know 80, or even 40 year old Nathan would probably wish he could go back in time and smack the current 20 for being so dumb, but it's just one of those things I guess.

I might as well get the bad news out in the open, I didn't have an especially good birthday this year. I really enjoyed spending Sunday afternoon with my family and with Caroline, (we went to Carabbas for lunch) but when we came home we found a sad sight. Bandit, our Yorkshire terrier of 11 years, was in a pitiful state. It was a very sad night for me already but after Caroline and I headed back for Wilmington he apparently took a turn for the worst. Sad story short, the sweetest and best dog I've ever known passed away late that night. I wouldn't mention the whole event because I don't like sad stuff on my blog, but I felt I needed to because I just enjoyed that dog so much and he deserves some kind of recognition from me. I grew up with Bandit and he was, in many ways, my best friend as a child. As we both got older I neglected him and I'm regretting that now. All of you that have pets you enjoy that are still alive need to go out of your way to treat them well because we don't get that much time with them. Our house just won't be the same without his guardian bark coming from the back of the house. I miss him already.

Questionable Irritations

Out of the Blue-ish mists.

Well ladies and gentlemen, I have lots to cover this evening.
First thing's first! I have been SOOOOO busy. This has been, hands down, my busiest semester and I think that has really reflected in the content of this blog. I'm pleased to report however that from henceforth I'm going to re-organize WilmingSloan and bring order to this chaos. Effective (almost) immediately, WilmingSloan will be updated on a bi-weekly basis and at regular times. That's right, Every Sunday and Thursday WilmingSloan WILL be updated. In addition I've decided to at least try to write about interesting things (e.g. not my life) and take you, dear reader, into my whimsical world of off-beatedness. After all, isn't that how this all began in the first place?

Secondly, I support Chef Boyardee in all his endeavors, regardless of what the press has to say about this recent scandal.

Thirdly, (and with notable emphasis) This Sunday will be my 20th birthday and I will officially NOT be young, but rather an un-hip older person still trying to masquerade as one who is still "with it." One day I will look on those words with disgust, most likely on my 41st birthday.

Fourthly...as long as I'm on the Internet kick, I might as well mention that my gimpy Internet counterpart, nathansloan.com, will be updated at some point this month with new reading reviews and hopefully a better-looking interface. From then on the site will be updated PROMPTLY on the first day of every month.

Fifthly, I have yet to mention that I am officially going back to the big Caswell for a fourth summer and I will be reclaiming the position of A/V guy. I'd use the word stoked to express my emotion towards this if I didn't hate that word so very much.

I think that just about covers it. I'm sure there is more that I've left out but I'll return on Sunday to cover that AS WELL AS the Death Cab/Franz Ferdinand concert that Caroline is taking me to tomorrow night and any other interesting birthday festivities. Ciao my Internet friends!

P.S. I'm thinking of starting up titles that actually are relevant to the entries. What do you guys think?