Hello Art Institute

I can't believe it... the time has come... the day I've been waiting on all year long, is less then 48 hrs away. I remember as a kid growing up thinking the week before school had to be the worst week of the summer. It was kinda like a bitter feeling because I always had so much fun during the summers and the thought of having to go another year before I got that same amount of time off made me feel dreadful. Nowadays when I look back on my school years, I think they were the best times of my life. What I mean is school was a time when you were always around your friends. When I was in class I remember thinking...why in the world are we wasting time going over this crap. There is nothing in life where this will help me out!!! Well that may be some what true but I still wish I would've paid more attention because these days I love to learn about all kinds of things... Whether it be a poem by Shakespeare or a rattling muffler on a go cart... I want to know. I don't know when or where I got struck by the wanna-know lightning bolt but it has most definitely struck... Oh and by the way, wanna-know is the brother to a wanna-be.... I know... that was dumb but I had to throw it in there. So anyways, I said all that to say this... as of Tuesday Oct 2nd, I will be officially... in class... from 6pm to 10pm.

Do you remember the times when your parents would take you to your favorite toy store? The excitement that you had once you entered the store was sky-high. Well that is kinda what I've been feeling lately. I am so excited I can't hardly stand it. I am just ready to get in there and drain all the knowledge outta them suckas. I have a feeling I will be in debt to that place for years to come because they offer bout everything I want to learn. They are even starting up a photography course! The instructors that teach there work in the industry they teach and they are very professional. My web design instructor had a huge part on the 90210 TV series and even had some work with the movie American Pie. I just cannot wait to tell my instructors the appetite I have for the desires in my heart.

Since I've been feeling like a kid in a toy store these last few days, I figured I would act like a kid once again in a grown up kind of way... just for old times sake:

On your mark......... get set.............. GO............

Ready or not...... here I come.....

I would like to thank my wife Shelly because without her all of this would not have been possible. She is a true believer in me and she is willing to sacrifice so I can pursue my dreams. I already owe her more than I could ever repay so for now a Thank you and I love you is all I can say. Shelly is a big supporter of me in so many ways... you will never know...but there is one I will share with you though. You see, I believe in myself.... and I believe that I am going to succeed in life, no matter what I do or where I go. How do I know??? Because she is living proof as a wife to me that dreams do come true.

Money making idea

I wish I could say I thought of this idea but I didn't. I have stumbled on a way to make some money. As I was on my way to a class the other day I was greeted with some really heavy traffic. My destination that was 25 minutes away took me an hour. As I finally got to 77 going into Charlotte at 7:45 on a Thursday morning, I noticed all the lanes... even the lanes on the exit ramp are at a stand still. The idea is to mount a Starbucks coffee shop on the back of a bicycle and ride through all the cars.... I bet you would make a killing!!!!!

Alone on 742

About 5 years ago, me and a friend were headed out to Amos's in uptown Charlotte to see a 80s rock band. At this time in my life I was still working at Vulcan but living in Lilesville. Before I go any further, I want you to understand that everything you are about to read is true. I am not making ANY of this up. Now that we have that straight... lets continue.
That night after the show, I decided to head on home instead of sleeping over at my friends house. I knew it would be a late night anyway so my thoughts were at least I'll be home and I can sleep in.... BIG MISTAKE!!!!! Well It's about 1 am and I'm on my way with an hour and 15 min drive on my shoulders. This was also the time when I was driving that old geo storm to save on gas mileage. Since I was working in Concord, I knew the shortest drive would be down 742... which is a back country road that will take you through ... no-where-ville. Ever heard of that place??? Now it's gonna start getting good....
This particular year had to be the worst year ever for big deep pot holes... cause they were everywhere. You know, the kind that feel like they're about to rip the transmission out from under your vehicle....So I'm driving down 742... where there are no street lights...no nothing except trees... radio is blasting.... windows down... flying like speedy gonzales..and then all of a sudden...BAAM....I hit one of those pot holes. Crazy part about it was I knew a big pot hole was coming up but I was so drowsy I didn't react fast enough. Well, that woke me a little and as I turned down my radio, I heard a little hissing noise. Yup, you guessed it... a flat tire. Well you can't drive on a flat and I was a good 45 mins away. If there was ever a surreal moment in my life, that would be the one. So as I pull over on the shoulder... I just took a minute to get my thoughts together. Well it's just a flat.... I guess it could be worse...BIG MISTAKE!!! I'm going to say this again.... If there was ever a surreal moment in my life, it would be this night. To make matters worse I didn't have a freaking flashlight.... my hatch back light was out and my phone was beeping at me from a dead battery. It was basically useless anyways because I was so far out of range for a signal it was pathetic. Well, as I was about to make the world record for changing a flat tire in the dark with no light I discovered my sweet little geo storm never had the spare tire took off and the dad blame thing was so tight, I couldn't budge it. I know you are thinking... if that was me... I would have gotten that bolt to turn. Trust me, I gave that stupid bolt everything I had and then some. I didn't want to be stranded out there in BFE no more than superman wanted to destroy metropolis...but I was. The time was almost 3 am and there I set in a geo storm on the side of the road in complete darkness with a freakin flat tire that I couldn't get off. I tried to call out but my phone was so whacked out, that an automated operator kept coming on. I was so frustrated but I had to keep my cool....There was a house up the road but it's 3 am and I'm in the country...nuff said... I didn't want a shotgun in my face. I didn't want to freak anybody out either. I mean that can be a little scary for someone living by themselves especially elderly folk. So I thought, screw it...I'll try to get a little nap cause in 2 or 3 hours, I should get some day light and I can see what I'm doing and then I can be home before anybody wakes up....BIG MISTAKE!!!! By the way, the whole time I was out there, not one car came by. As 5:30 am approached I tried once again... nothing. At this point my thoughts were.. I don't give a %@#&, I'm gonna drive this car back into town if I have to drive on the rim. As I was driving up the road, I put my car charger on my phone once again to see if I could get anything... when all of a sudden I got a signal. When I called home, poor mom was worried to death about what was going on and she had every right to be. She had been through something like that before but it didn't have a happy ending. So I get mom on the phone and I try to tell her where I'm at so she can get some help on the way. When they arrived, Harold, which is an old friend that lived close to mom was kinda joking around about the spare tire...boy you gotta put some muscle in that thing .. I said go ahead my muscles are give out. I want you to know he barely got the screw off with a pair of pliers. The stupid bolt had rusted on the screw... that was what caused it to be so tight. Well my tire is changed and I'm on the way home....BIG MISTAKE!!!! I guess since that stupid spare tire was never put to use, it pretty much didn't have any air in the dadgum thing... but I at least made it to Wadesboro to put some air in. On the way home mom gave me a call on my phone which now had a perfect signal to stop and get some breakfast. What a night... I spent the entire night all alone on the side of a road where there were no lights- no nothing but crickets and frogs singing lullaby's out in the creek beds. Needless to say I made a few changes after that weekend... one of them was a new phone and the other was a complete package of tools, batteries and flaslights. Now that it's all over with, I think to myself... it could have been worse, it could have been freezing weather or snowing!!! Hey I was just glad the seat in my car reclined back... if that would have been broke then I would've been REALLY MAD!!!

9/11

Another anniversary has come and gone for 9/11. A day that has changed America forever. I think I am speaking for everyone when I say this will be a day that I will never forget. I was a little mad that this happened but I'm not getting into all of that. I was even more sad for the people that lost their lives that day. New York is a place that I have always wanted to visit for some reason. I have heard from both sides of the fence. Either it sucks or it is beautiful. With me being fascinated with big tall buildings I would say NY is the place to go. I see movies from time to time that were filmed in NY and they show what the buildings look like at night. I have always wanted to be there in another building looking over the skyline of the city. Although I will never get to see the twin towers in person, I will always remember what they looked like on TV.

To all the families that lost loved ones that day, this is for you. There is not many days that go by that I don't think about what people have had to go through. My heart goes out out to all of you and may the Lord be with you always.

Sue Valley

If you are wondering what in the world I'm up to shooting an old convenience store then sit back and read on. When I was growing up this store was owned and operated by a local couple that went by the names Hazel and Jay Chewning. It was a small store but they had bubble gum and ice cream and that was all that mattered. I can remember so many times when I had friends that spent the night and we would ride our bikes down there to pick up a soda pop and some gum or of course ice cream. I wish I had a nickel for every drink I got from that store. This was when mountain dew, coke and all the others came in a long bottle. You had the bottle opener on both sides of the drink container and you put your bottle in there, pressed down and off came the lid. Ah... those were the days...I also remember going in and there sit a few other locals that just hung out almost all day long. Every time I go down to Lilesville to visit Mom, I go by this store and the memories just start to flood in my mind. The store was called Sue Valley. On any given day, you could walk into Sue Valley and Hazel would be behind the cash register and Jay would be in the back watching TV. Every once in a blue moon Jay would come out and take the order but not that often. I will always miss riding my bicycle down the road to get a pop and some gum. This same store was owned by my Dad at one time but that was before my time. It's a shame good things come to an end. Other people have tried to run a business from this store but nothing seems to come out of it. No matter who or what this store turns out to be- I will always remember this place as my soda pop and bubble gum factory and although times may change, my memories will stay the same.

James Tillman

I will never forget the year 1995. I was sleeping in from a 3rd shift job one afternoon and was awoken by a phone call for a job offer at W.R. Bonsal. Little did I know, there was more to that phone call than a job. My position was loading rail cars and then after lunch loading customer trucks in a control tower. This where James Tillman (A.K.A Blue) comes into the scene.

The first time I met Blue, he acted as if I had known him all of his life. He was super cool about everything. Always smiling and always ready to listen to what you had to say. That loadout tower was the perfect place to get to know somebody. All we had to do was mash buttons... the conveyor belts did all the work. Even when it got real busy, we were kicked back having a blast. We hardly ever had to work hard.... Anyways, Blue just had an outgoing personality that you could get use to very quickly. He was always cheerful and full of good news. Since Blue had that kind of personality, our control tower became a gathering place at anytime of the day. At this point in my life I would say working with Blue was one of the best things that could have happened to me. Not only did he become one of my best friends but I was going through stupid things in life that I just couldn't see the light of day on and he always seemed like he wanted to try to help me solve what was going on. I'm not even gonna tap into the things that were going on with me at that time... you will just have to take my word.... it was stupid... trust me. I don't know how he done it but he could manage everything that was going on in his life and still come to work and act like he is dying to hear whats was going on in my life. To go along with his warming personality he was hilarious to be around. One of the funnest things I can remember was I had been leaving Halloween suckers in the control room and I noticed that a mice were getting in and gnawing on my suckers. This particular day, there were a couple of other employee's in there and we all were yapping away. At the same time, we had some material running and I was kinda glancing over as we were cutting up . You see the material we ran went into a bin and then the drivers loaded themselves... all we had to do was keep the bin full. So were loading a bin and I looked over and the bin was over flowing... I quickly jumped over to hit the stop button and I saw Blue do a 180 in the air. When he leaped in the air he threw his arm around thinking mice were crawling on him. I had just finished telling him we couldn't leave any more candy in there cause of mice and he said the mice were on his mind when he jumped up. I was laughing so hard I couldn't hardly stand up. You just needed to be there for that one....

As time went by I started leaning towards working with heavy equipment and eventually got a job at a different company. I was sad that I was leaving one of my best friends and such a easy job but I was reaching for my dreams and an opportunity rolled into my lap. As even more time went by, I continued to conquer my goals and then what seemed to be the snapping of my fingers- my chances of catching up with my friend were slim to none. You see for me- there were many things Blue told me that stayed in my mind... things like " the sky is the limit" and " never give up on you dreams... keep reaching out until you have it" and many other positive comments he made to me about not giving up on the goals I set in life... or my dreams.

Almost 10 years later I was starting to think I would never get a chance to meet up with ole Blue when all of a sudden I got a message. I was finishing up my lunch when a co worker told me Blue was working with Vulcan now and he said hello. I knew then that it would only be a matter of time and with the same snap of my fingers... we were reminiscing about the old days. It's funny how things turn out. In one moment I thought I would never hear from him again... another moment we are catching up and come to find out he was living only 15 mins away. Small world huh!!! Now that we are back in touch- I have been asked to be in his renewing of vows wedding. You know something, when Blue told me not to ever give up on my goals in life, I believe he meant big or small... well.... this is one I can mark off my list.

Now that I think about it, I don't remember if I ever thanked my friend for all of his advice. The things he was teaching me were more than how to do our job but how to reach for the sky in everything I do in life. I would like to dedicate this story to none other than my friend Blue and his family. Thanks for all you have taught me. I will never forget your words of encouragement.

Weekend wedding

I was sitting at my computer one night ( imagine that) when all of a sudden I got a phone call from my good ole friend Blue. He begin telling me that he wanted me to be in his wedding. At first I was a little disoriented but as I asked him what was going on he said he was renewing his vows. My mind has been known to play tricks on me you know. After I got my mind straightened out, I of course said I would be honored to be in his renewing of vows. The date was set for the 25th and all I had to do was get fitted for my tux.

As the 24th rolled around we headed out to Morven to rehearse. JJ rode with me while Blue , Parnell and John rode there motorcycles down. When we pulled up to the church I didn't think much about it but when I opened the doors and saw everyone that was going to be in the wedding, I almost dropped my jaws. This was gonna be a big wedding.

Well here we are.... the stage is set and everything is prepared and sitting on go. With everyone armed with there tux and there flowers.... all we had to do was strut down the isle, bow to our bridesmaid and escort them down to where they were standing. As big as this renewing of vows was... I believe everyone had a good time. I got to see a lot of people I use to work with and even went to school with. I wanted to get a lot of pictures but since I was in the wedding it was a little hard to do that but I managed to get a few. Congratulations to the Tillman family on 25 years.

A few photos from the wedding

Parnell on his steed...

JJ was all about fashion... can't you tell!!!

More delays

Well what can I say.... I said earlier that an explosion of stories are about to happen and what do ya get... I know you are going to think I'm crazy but since I quit my job to prepare for school... I thought I would write down all the things I've been meaning to do... whether it's small or something that might take a while. Well I don't know how in the world I'm going to get everything done. I guess I have put off so much that I didn't realize how much I have been wanting to do. Just give the ole Bunny a little patience. I am working on everything as fast as I can. I have lots to share with you.... There I go again!!!!!

Mr.Breaking vs Mr.Mazda

Well I'll be dadgum...... Good things come to those who vacuum out there truck!!!! I thought my Breaking Benjamin CD had grew some legs, got up and walked off. Apparently Mr. Breaking got stuck under my drivers side seat as he was getting ready to make a run for it. I thought my CD was gone forever. I have searched high and low for that bad boy.... I was even at the FYE in the Concord mills mall the other week prepared to buy it- but it was not in stock. Way to go Mr. Mazda..... you were taking one for the team. I guess this was a present for me spending all that time washing the grit and grim off since I don't have to go back to the quarry anymore!!!!!

Goodbye Mining

As a kid growing up in a small town, there were many sites and sounds I vividly remember. The sounds of back up alarms, horns and the sight of heavy equipment in operation and conveyor belts sticking up in the air were all a big part my childhood. In fact, the town was so small that Dad knew a big portion of the workers at both the mining operations that were located about a mile down the road- so from time to time, he would take me out to watch the the drag lines or over to the plants to see how everything was run. I was even able to climb aboard some of the equipment while in operation-which is something that would not be allowed by any means these days. It was from that moment on that I knew what I wanted to do in life.

After graduation (1993) I started off working 3rd shift in a cloth mill but in 1995, my hopes of some day being employed with a mining operation became a reality at W.R. Bonsal Co. Although heavy equipment was what I wanted to do, I was hired to load rail cars and customer trucks by control tower- but that didn't stop me. I had such a zeal to learn equipment operation that I would often stay over and practice on my own time without getting paid. I was determined to learn no matter what I had to do.

Several months later I was told of a company that had equipment twice as big as what Bonsal had and decided to check what I thought was a fairy tale. With a simple drive by the quarry I found out the so called fairy tale was true. So with that being said I set my sights on this huge operation that I discovered to be Vulcan Materials Co.

In July 1998, I got the phone call I was waiting on and a week later I was employed with Vulcan Materials operating the biggest equipment I had ever seen. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever think I would be in the position I was in that very moment. I worked at the Rockingham quarry from 1998 to August 2000 and then transferred to the Cabarrus quarry where I would remain until August 31 2007.

As time was passing by I started to notice I was getting more and more interested in the creativity of computers and movie editing and thought this was something I could pursue on the side until I was embraced by the ending product of something I created and the effect it had on my family and friends. I spent a lot of time in thought wandering if I was chasing a fantasy or was I really interested enough to begin another walk in a different direction. As doors began to open for me, I uncovered a passion that I did not know existed. After a little research I learned the best way for me to make this new pursuit a reality was to put my childhood dream at rest so I could fully devote my time and focus to studying and learning this new path I'm headed in life.

In retrospect to my feelings of wanting to work for a company like Vulcan, I am applying that same zeal that I once had for learning equipment towards my new ambitions. You see to me- it is not the years of experience you have- although that goes a long way, nor is it your skill talent- although that too goes a long way, but it is how you apply your heart to what you are doing. That to me is what will take you the distance.

In closing, I would like to say goodbye first and foremost to the employee's of Rockingham and Cabarrus quarry because you were basically my second family and a big thanks to Jim Cooper and David Holsinger and other management that I did not mention but are just as important. It was all of you that hired me for the positions I always wanted to do as a child growing up.

Thanks for the memories.

W.R Bonsal Co- Joey Murdock

Vulcan Materials Co, Rockingham- Jim Cooper

Vulcan Materials Co, Cabarrus- David Holsinger

Free Man

I'M A FREE MAN.................no more getting up at 4:30 am to get ready for work......From here on out.... it's party all night and sleep all day........everyone has fun with when you hang with the Bunns.......... just kidding.... I still get sleepy and start thinking about bed time around 10 pm. Maybe I just need time to get use to not working. I feel a little weird though, I have been working since I've graduated, and to not have a paycheck coming is a little uncomfortable but this is one of those times when you just know beyond the shadow of a doubt-I am headed in the right direction. I was brought up not to be lazy and to be a man of my words... so to sit around and actually take time off feels funny as odd as you may think that sounds. My parents taught me to be a good hard worker and to be honest in everything I do- and that is something I plan to carry with me through school and everywhere else I go. So with that being said... it is now time to turn my focus into studying and not about work. I desire you thoughts and prayer because this is going to be a new challenge for me. Even though this going to be new territory for me.... I am soooo excited to get started. I know the Lord will take care of me through all of this. I have often heard that if he brings you to it- he will bring you through it... and I believe it with all my heart. School starts in October so I have about a month off to prepare. There is one thing for sure... I am ready for this. I am in attack mode and I will not be satisfied until I learn what it is I am going for. I will not give up and I will fight till the end- and I will give it everything I have... this I promise you.