The End

The end...of BLOGGING?

No, not quite - but today does mark the end of my official internship and thus the end of my Raleightivity. It's been a really good 9 months or so - but I have no clue what I'm going to be up to after the summer is over. Stay tuned for a new blog once I settle things out with my life. In the mean time, I suggest you grab a Twitter account and search for Nathan_Sloan. It's kind of like following my blog, only usually much less interesting. I'm sure I'll post here or there on this blog before I officially retire it but I just wanted to give you all (all 2 of you) a heads up. Thanks for reading!

Pollen - nated

There are few things as beautiful and absolutely reassuring as a day like today.

Amidst constant talk of poor economic climate, it's ironic how something related to our physical climate can make people forget their heavy woes - money, family, jobs, etc. For one beautiful sunny day, the only thing you really care about is going for a walk or taking a ride with the top down.

My friend Matt is a cool guy. I'm really thankful to have friends in my life like him - and I'm blessed with friends from every season of my life. Matt is one of my last remaining friends from the high school season and we're still just as comfortable hanging out as we were nearly 8 years ago when we first met. In a time when everything in my life seems uncertain and insecure, it's nice to go back to Benson and wander into Matt mad laboratory of a basement and talk about nerdy movies and stuff that only we think is cool.

I left Matt's house around 11 PM and started the 15 minute drive back to Four Oaks under a clear, star-studded spring sky. Music blasting and crisp air swirling past my face from an open sunroof, I replayed memories of the similar trips I've made so many times before. A younger man with no less of a plan. Sometimes life in this crazy and imperfect world is truly beautiful.

Show me the ....

Actual Picture of Death Cab playing in Davidson, NC on my birthday - 2009.

"Amazing still it seems
I'll be 23
I won't always love what I'll never have
I won't always live in my regrets"
Jimmy Eat World

I. Can't. Believe it. This just doesn't seem real that right now I'm 23 years old. I know that sounds dumb to everyone else but this is my blog and I hereby give myself permission to sound dumb on it. Truthfully, though - I'm getting older and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Funny thing is, by the time I figure it out, I'll probably be 25 and struggling to come to terms with that.

I'm not sad to be getting old. Just sad to say good by to the people and places of my late teens and early 20's. I know that in reality, they've been gone for a while now, but these anniversaries and their numbers force us to come to terms with such.

And not only the past, but the future as well. So many of the people I look up to and admire the most were already flying by the time they were my age. Here I stand with paper wings taped to my arms and a confused expression on my face. I have a long way to go before I bloom into whatever God has made me to be - or at least it feels like it.

No girl. No job. No house. No Roots. No idea.
NO IDEA.

...of where to go from hear.

But thats ok. Good, even.

Yesterday, my old roommates Jeff and Bryan and Caswell friend, JaySun, joined me for a Death Cab for Cutie show in Davidson, NC at Davidson College. The college is Beautiful - if I had been wealthy enough, smart enough, and perceptive enough, I would have gone there for the landscaping and architecture alone. We made our way to Belk Arena and then found four of the most AWESOME seats totally vacated right in the middle. We took them and the rest is history.

I usually write a lengthy review of shows that I go to, especially one's like DCfC, but this time I'm going to save it. I was able to bootleg (shhh!) the whole show, so I hope I'll always have a digital record of what it was like (complete with dumb conversation in-between songs with my friends). The last time I saw DCfC was at about the same time in 2006 - so I can say that they've come a long way and now have so much material that their full set and encore is over an hour and thirty minutes long!

What a birthday. Thanks to everyone who made it as fun as special as it was.

For now. I have some work to do on those wings of mine...

Sure-Fired

I thought it would be fun to start April off with a brilliant craigslist find that Joe ran across today. Here is the listing as it appears in full:

Iphone 3g 8gig - $200 (Durham)
I'm selling my Iphone cuz it was left in the shower didn't get wet but the steam got in the screen.
And it looks foggy only asking 200 no charger no data cable The phone is in good shape.\

I'm going to forgive a few things here right off the bat - namely the poor spelling, sentence fragment, and the fact that "I" is capitalized in iPhone. Beyond that let us consider what he is offering.
It's an iPhone with a moderately to severely water damaged screen, no charger, and no USB cable. Assuming you would like to buy one that did happen to function correctly, (for instance, a brand new one) you would pay just $199. That's right - with a service contract, AT&T will actually sell you an iPhone for less than Mr. Shady's water-damaged special. I suppose we shouldn't really worry about the damaged screen, though. After all, it's not like the screen is a part of the phone or anything, (?) and according to his listing the phone portion of the phone is in great working order (though you may have some trouble confirming this if the battery is dead because there is no way to charge it).

Ah, America!

Hardly Breathing

I'm going to start a video production company that does quality commercial work at an affordable price, but only on the weekends. I'll call it "Nearly Professional Videography."

I'm going to move to New York and break into the publishing industry from the ground up. Some day I'll work in a high-rise building and live in a townhouse overlooking some trendy urban park.

I'm going to be a missionary to New Zealand and spend a year there sharing Jesus with a country that would largely rather forget about him. When I'm done, I might decide to settle in there for a good long while.

I'm going to study law and work at a local (to my home) practice for the next 15-30 years.

I'm going to apply for Teach For America and start a long career in education by jumping into the grittiest urban education systems in the U.S.

I'm going to run for state congress while I'm still in my 20's and with my victory, seek a long career of public service.

I'm going to move to D.C. and - do whatever I can do in D.C.

I'm going back to school.

I'm going to become a college professor and wear tweed suits and bow ties.

I'm going to write the next great American novel and market it myself.

I'm going to eat more Indian food.

I'm going to become an amateur photographer.

I'm going to become a craig's list hawk.

I'm going to learn to write music that people other than myself can enjoy listening to.

I'm going to make wise investments and use my money to help people.

I'm going to find my true love.

---

I'm going to look back on this and think, "So that's what I was going to do..."

I Am Art Official

Earlier today I had the great pleasure (slight exaggeration) of eating at "I heart NY" pizza on hillsborough street. While standing in line I wondered why some businesses and rooms are welcome to be qualified as "parlors" and others arent. Your house can have a parlor, and if you serve pizza you are certainly welcome to call your establishment a pizza parlor. The same is true for ice cream, you are welcome to make it a shop or a parlor at your discretion. I've even seen smoking parlors in cigar and pipe shops where all the old men go to talk about the boat the just bought (that they actually can't afford) and laugh at silly Democrats. Troubled, I returned and quickly took to the dictionary for some answers; here is what I found:
PARLOR(n)
1.-DATED a sitting room in a private house.
-A room in a public building for receiving guests (mayor's parlor)
-A room in a monastery or convent that is set aside for conversation.
2.-A shop or business providing specified goods or services.
and lets not forget
3.-(also milking parlor) A room or building equipped for milking cows.

So under the guidelines set out by definition 2, any shop or business that provides a specified good or service may then call that shop a parlor so long as it is accompanied, first, by an adjective describing said goods or services.

Thats right America, the floodgates are open for this great nation to be covered in hamburger parlors, Lamaze parlors, and the ever-exciting insurance parlor. As for me, I plan to opening a didjereedoo parlor next week. Stop on by and kick it Aborijinal style with me.

I always think of bread when someone wears loafers.

Scotch Tape and Cigar Butts

New York City is - in a word - amazing. I spent the past week there for CCF NC State spring break as we went out each day serving the people of the city in a variety of different ways. I couldn't possibly cover everything that I've thought about and experienced in the past week - but I can talk about one of them that is pretty simple.

Freedom from the internet. I went almost a week with no email, facebook, nothing. Funny thing is, I kind of liked it. I would encourage anyone who reads this to take a few days off and see what I'm talking about because it's pretty refreshing.

Also refreshing - Malta. A Latin-American soft drink that I discovered thanks to Jon when we ate at "Munch Time USA" in The Bronx. Tastes like liquid horehound candy.