REMEMBERING 2002 AND GOING INTO 2003
JANUARY 2, 2003
Well, well,
well�2002 is officially over, and 2003 has begun. So, I�ve decided to look back
at all that I have done throughout the past year. I intended to do this on New Year�s
Eve when I was supposed to, and I actually started on this. However, technical
difficulties and procrastination got in the way.
Well, 2002
marked the 10th Anniversary of DRC Unknown Entertainment, so I was
hoping to celebrate that special occasion in some sort of way. The goal was to
really represent all that DRC Unknown Entertainment was, is, and could be. In
other words, I needed to really showcase any creative skills that I have or
had. Other than that, for me 2002 was a year of remembrance, attempted creative
expansion, and showing off. In a way, this year was an excuse to hang on to my
more glorious past. Some of these moments are great. Some are cheesy. Some are
dull. Yet, these are the ones I remember most.
JANUARY 2002
Nothing really
happened this month except returning to school after a Winter Break vacation. I
was somehow attempting to prepare myself for the month of February, which is
what I consider the official month of DRC Unknown Entertainment�s anniversary.
The month before (December 2001), I gathered a few ideas for creating a few
songs, and I laid down the beats for them. A day or two into the New Year, I
somewhat continued that hoping to seriously get into the craft. Unfortunately,
I haven�t done too much with them.
FEBRUARY 2002
Hmmm�it�s DRC
Unknown Entertainment�s 10th Anniversary. To celebrate, I�ve
attempted to create songs again since that�s how it all started in the first
place. At this time, only one song was being fully concentrated. I also tried
to recreate a song that I�ve done ten years ago. That didn�t go to well, so all
my efforts went to my new production. It was going not too shabby, and the
creating would last into the next month. At the end of the month, I discovered
the Nice Guys Finish Last website. I made my presence known at the message
board available at the time. After that, things wouldn�t be quite the same.
MARCH 2002
As previously
stated, I was still trying to create things. At this point, my drive was
becoming more serious because it was during this month that I found out that my
boy was involved in music making and being a rapper. As a musician, he was
known as da_soundman. As a rapper, he was known as Smo Logic constantly delivering material at One Mic Studios and being part of The Nice Guys with an album
that was in production at the time. Throughout the coming months, he constantly
perfected his craft through song and spoken word. It wouldn�t be long before I
become a fan. I did display a little bit of my music making �talents� (if
that�s what you want to call it) to two selected individuals. They responded
positively and that somewhat pushed me to do even more.
Oh yeah�during
Spring Break (in the last week of March), my family experienced a bit of
elevation with the installation of Time Warner Digital Cable in the house. That
meant lots more channels to choose from and all that other mess�but for me, it
meant one thing: to watch the Noggin network. Many of my favorite shows from
the past are there�Allegra�s Window, Gullah Gullah Island, Sesame Street from
the 1970�s through 1990�s, 3-2-1 Contact, and Ghostwriter to name the few most
worthy ones. I only had a week to watch that channel in the perfect form that
it was in before it would change on April 1st to have a section for
preschoolers and a section of programming for the teens (called The N). It was
great though�four episodes of Ghostwriter back to back, multiple episodes of
the other shows too. *sigh* It was the best.
APRIL 2002
By this time,
I�ve created one full length song, and a few short little ditties that I have
done privately. They weren�t much. That stuff ain�t worth public listening
(even though two of the selections have been heard by someone). Besides�my
better stuff comes later. However, through the creating, the legacy of DRC
Unknown Entertainment becomes solidified�I suppose.
MAY 2002
As soon as I
came home for school, I voted in some preliminary election that I don�t even
remember what for. Also, I won a contest that I forgot I even entered. It was a
Sega/Bubblicious Ooga Booga contest, and I won second prize�an Ooga Booga game
for the Sega Dreamcast system. It gave me an excuse to play that dusty system
for a little while. It�s a pretty cool game. Throughout this entire month, I
allowed myself to be lazy and just sit in front of the TV�with the Noggin
channel on at least 75% of the time.
I created yet
another song�and this one was surprisingly pretty good. I only made it within a
couple of weeks. This song was entitled �You Just Don�t Know.�
It was suitable for public listening, but I never let anyone hear it since I
still considered it unfinished.
At the end of
the month, I started doing something else that was productive�creating the DRC
Unknown Entertainment website.
At this point,
with the website up and my little materialized creations, DRC Unknown
Entertainment, Inc. is almost in full force�almost.
JUNE 2002
The DRC Unknown
Entertainment website was open to the public�more or less�at the beginning of
this month. I witnessed a little kid acting a fool in a Payless Shoe Store. He
was running around having him a ball. That definitely made my day. My lazy
times that I enjoyed a month ago were over because I went back to work again as
a summer youth intern. This would also be the month of
arcade and amusement chaos as I went with my sister for some unusually fun
times. You can read more about these little moments in the June 10, June 23,
and July 2 entries.
JULY 2002
Not much went on
this month. I celebrated the Fourth of July as most people usually do with
fireworks and stuff. I�m still working on music stuff at this time. I worked on
a song that I would finish later on in the year. The song was entitled �Know
This.� I continued working, and I was slowly preparing myself to come to the
realization that my summer vacation would soon be over. At the end of July, my
sister and I went to some ghetto bowling alley and attempted to actually play
the sport. We both sucked. I guess it was another recreation of the amusement
chaos that we had earlier.
AUGUST 2002
Hmmm�my summer
work has ended. Summer vacation was rapidly coming to a close. I returned to
that dreaded college of mine, and on top of all of that the folks in that dwonky Financial Aid office wanted to play around with my
finances and my emotions. They are damn lucky I didn�t raise any hell up in
there. Not all was bad during this month though. After the summer months of
listening to his stuff on the internet, I finally became the proud owner of my
boy Smo Logic�s first album, Against All Odds.
The month
concluded in an interesting way. The day was Monday, August 26, 2002. It was
night time. I�m minding my own business walking somewhere at college when I�m
stopped by a group of individuals who were a part of an organization called the
Wesley Foundation. One dude I know, Brian was up in there. That�s one of my
boys right there. He�s the one to actually call me out. He�s all like��Is that
my boy Derrian right there?� He then told me what was going on. He and his
group of friends were involved in an organized scavenger hunt, and one of the
things to do was to bring a friend along. I definitely had nothing else to do,
so I did tag along to help my boy out. Somehow in some kind of way, he let it out
that I can dance like Michael Jackson. The only reason he knew is because he
caught me doing it one time on the sneak-sneak. As soon as he said something,
the information became widespread. They all wanted to see me dance. I didn�t
think I could do it because I didn�t have on the right shoes for dancing (like
that actually stopped me before). Once we got into a building on campus so that
the hunters could continue their game, I decided to see if I could do it. My
test was a success. I sidewalked, moonwalked, spun around a few times, and did
the famous toe stand much to the delight of those spectators. I thought that
would be it, but noooooooo. Everyone finished their scavenger hunting and we
all went back to the Wesley Foundation facility. It was time to see which group
would win the game. When it came time to introduce the guests that were brought
along (and to my recollection, I think I was the only one there), Brian
introduced me, and he along with a few of the ladies in the group just had to
make sure that everyone knew I could dance like Mike. Well, that became an
instrument in this particular plan�if I danced for my group would get extra
points for their scavenger hunt. So, I actually went up there and did my thing
much to the delight of everyone. Needless to say, the group I tagged along with
was the winner. That would have been the end of that, but noooooooo. Some other
girl came in�I don�t remember her name, but she was cool. She missed out on the
fun, and they wanted her to see me do my thing. So�I did an encore performance,
and this time I got more into it. I moonwalked, sidewalked, moonwalked in place
and in a circle, spun around, did the toe stand, and did some robotic moves
too. It was really fun. Later, she confessed to me that she really liked
Michael Jackson as well, so that was a major plus. Oh yeah, the winning team
got prizes, and since I was a part of it I got a prize too. We got to pick it
out of a box. What did I get? This little miniature teddy bear with a small
book attached to it named Baby Bruno�lol. Hey, I liked the prize! Later on at
night, I told my mom about it, and she was so proud of me. I shouldn�t have
told her though, because not too long after, she would want me to do the same
thing at a future event in the next month. Needless to day, that moment was a
precursor to what would happen next.
SEPTEMBER 2002
Well, the month
got of to a decent start thanks to the fact that I was out in Detroit, Michigan
for the annual Family Reunion. Well, I actually left on Friday August 30 and
made it there that following Saturday. You can read all about that moment where
I detail what the previously hinted future event is and what went on. It's the
September 8 entry.
Other than that,
this moment was typical. It took the Financial Aid office at my school a full
month to straighten my situation out. They were trippin� big time, but
everything was solved. After a month of visiting because I just couldn�t let
go, I was back to work at school holding it down at the office of Electronic
Media Communication. I�ve been working there since August 20, 2001, and I�ve
been connected to that place ever since�for better or worse, lol.
Back on
September 21, I saw how absolutely ridiculous some kids can be. I was outside
doing a little recreational walking like I always do on the weekends. I always
walk away from my college campus as a little "adventure" so to speak.
I was making my way across to this little playground that was a part of this
"campus school" facility across from college. It's for the little
people. This is the one area where I always pass by (that is, if I'm not
actually going to playground *ahem*). As I'm going across the grass, I see
these two kids at the playground on the swing set trying to get my attention. I
ignored.. One dude comes running to me. He's like
"Hey...come here!" I figured I'll go to the boy to see what he
wanted. His first question was like "You're not going to kidnap us, are ya?" I looked at him all ridiculous and quickly
answered "No." He asked other questions about where I were going and
stuff. I just gave general answers, and that should have been the end. But,
nooooooo. He asked, "Do you want to come and swing with us?" or
something like that. I decided to go with the little boy. He and the other kid
had cell phones. I'm wondering what these fools are doing with cell phones. I
would find out soon enough. Well, I sat on a swing with them, and they started
talking about strangers and kidnapping others and stuff like that. However, I
seemed like a nice guy to them. Yeah, how thoughtful. I soon found out what the
goofy-oofy-oofies were doing. These kids were calling the Telecommunications
Relay Services (TRS) as prank activities. They were having a ball acting like
fake grown-ups, giving fake phone numbers, and then using bad words. Well, they
continued on with that for quite a while, and the older kid was outrageous
using numerous expletives that should not come out of kids' mouths. It was so
funny. Then, they decided that they were getting ready to go to their house.
They asked me if I wanted to come. Now, what could I do with them at their
house? Why would they want me to come in the first place? I don't know, but I
went with them. Shortly before that though, they asked a very atrocious
question. "Will you kidnap us?" LOL...Obviously, something is not
right in their household. I declined their offer. To make this story short, I
went with them, and they invited me in. Ridiculous. After they were acting a
fool, we all decided to go back to the playground. As we were on our way, the
older kid was talking trash with these people (who looked to be in college)
that were at this house across the street. Words were exchanged between them,
the older ones got the best of him verbally, and the kid threatened to call
911. He actually did it too. We were anxiously waiting to see if the police
would actually come. The older people were trippin� out laughing�and so was I.
The younger kid was scared, and rightfully so. Many police cars passed by�so to
speak�but none actually came to the scene of the incident. After a while, I
left the fun. I wonder if the police actually came�and how much trouble and
punishment both kids got into. That was mad ridiculous.
OCTOBER 2002
I�ve celebrated
my 20th birthday. I�ve gotten two gifts, one from myself and one
from a friend. The one from my friend was a new backpack�very efficient. The
other present I received two days afterwards�an official Wimzie�s House doll:
Talking Wimzie! She says 15 fantabulous phrases! Phrases include: �I�m Wimzie!
You�re my best friend!� �Hi there! You�re super fantabulous!� �Wowee! I love
you!�
Also, the song
that I started working on in July��Know This��I finished it, and I was actually
proud of myself. I listened to it many times in disbelief. Although it was
finished, I went through two post-productions before finally considering it
finished. After the first post-production, I kept it to myself until the start
of the next month.
On Halloween
night, I had quite a bit of fun with two female friends. Fun times, I say. Fun
times. Read more about the events in the November 3/4 Reflective Moment entry.
NOVEMBER 2002
Well, at the end
of the month, my proud little dance number, Know This, became�uh�public? Well,
yes�as public as I allow it. The same two individuals that have heard my
previous stuff listened to this track as well, and the response was positive
once more. I was glad. Nothing really happened in this month except celebrating
the traditional Thanksgiving holiday.
DECEMBER 2002
This was a fun
month. Once again, I danced MJ style for a group of individuals for two days.
On the second day, I even attempted to teach two girls how to moonwalk. That
effort failed. For the first time, I�ve stayed up for a full 24 hours between
Tuesday December 10 and Wednesday December 11. I was working extensively on an
art project during the wee hours of the morning. My school semester comes to a
close, and I soon realize that it was my best semester as far as grades are
concerned. I definitely didn�t like the semester too much though. I received
quite a few gifts this month. First, I received a special gold reindeer
ornament from my friend Hayley (thanks a lot!) Second, I receive a Christmas
mug with hot chocolate and a lollipop thanks to those wonderful secretaries
that I work with up in the office. Third, I get the wonderful Christmas with
the B.U.N.K.S. compact disc. Finally, I get two Wimzie�s House videocassettes
that were waiting for me at home: Happy Holidays and Pet Tales. My last two
gifts were received on Christmas Day. You can read more about much of this
stuff in the December 14 and 30 entries.
Unfortunately,
this is also the month that my grand uncle (who I actually refer to as my
uncle) passed away. He was in the hospital for a little while in a coma at the
beginning of the month, and then his condition improved later on. Next thing,
he died on the 20th of this month. That was very baffling. The last time I�ve
seen him was first back on Christmas 2001 and then at the very beginning of
2002. R.I.P. to my uncle�you will be missed.
Oh yeah, on the
22nd I got a new cell phone. Everyone say it with me�oooooooh. I didn�t really
want one, but my mom really wanted me to get one. Plus, it was an excuse for
her to get another one. Why she always gotta be worried about her little boy?
lol
Well, that�s
pretty much my recap of 2002. Yeah, pretty ridiculous, huh?
Now, if there�s
anything that made the year 2002 somewhat acceptable, it would be the friends
that I�ve been hanging around and trippin� with. I can say that I�ve associated
more with people this year than I ever have been in a long time. I shall now
proceed to give these people appropriate shout-outs. I doubt everyone will see
this, but I�m doing this anyway.
First, to two
of my favorite musicians�
JOSH **THE UNTOUCHABLE SMO LOGIC**
I definitely
have to say that thanks to your music, I have had an entertaining year in that
respect. You�ve never heard me say this before, but seeing and hearing you do
your thing in the past year has inspired me a lot. It
really has. I�ve done more things musically than ever in such a long time, and
you�re a major reason for that. I look up to you in admiration for you have
pushed me to do more not only in music but in art too. Keep representin� as
best as you can and as I have said before I got your back all the way. I�ll
always be down with you no matter what.
JOSH **THE ONE AND ONLY GROMATIC**
Yeah, I got to
put you in here too. Due to your absence, I missed insulting you in person for
the second half of the year. It wasn�t the same without your face around�lol. You are mad cool, and I�m glad to hear you doing your
thing as well. I definitely hope that you continue to rise and keep on doing
your thing. You got a lot of talent, and I�m glad to know that you are showing
it off. Hooking up with Smo Logic, you two are
unstoppable. Together or separately, you are definitely doing your thing. Keep
it up fool, and you will definitely have my continued support.
To these people of the lab assistant
crew at MTSU that I have been a part of since August 2001:
MITCH
You always held
it down in the lab ever since the time we both started. For some reason, you
seem to be the one that�s the most grounded, although the opposite may be true�haha. Keep doin your thing.
BRIAN
Didn�t see you
around that much in the Fall 2002 semester, but I
still had to put you here because you�re my boy. It was fun actin�
a fool with you and hatin� on you in the beginning.
Hopefully I�ll see ya around in the next year. Oh
yeah, and thanks for showing me off to the Wesley Foundation. I felt the love
man, lol
CHRISTIN
Yes, very on point,
but very crazy�wouldn�t have it any other way of course. Being a major part of
the lab assistant crew at MTSU, everyone refers to you or asks about you for
this reason: you bring lots of joy to everyone with your comments and antics
JESSICA and KAREN
Oh yes I had to
lump you two together�y�all are so off, but that�s why I like you both so much.
You two have to maintain the chaos in the lab assistant crew being all flirty
and stuff. It wouldn�t be the same without y�all. Oh yeah, and keep practicing
the moonwalk. You�ll get it someday�well, I�m not so sure about you Karen�lol
HAYLEY
You�re the one
who acts the least out of control of the bunch, but you�re not excluded from
being very crazy, haha. Anytime I want to remember
the good ol� days of TV, music, or whatever with all that useless information,
I�ll turn to you. However, I still don�t remember this �Jellybean Junction�
mess, lol
TILLMAN
You are NOT an
essential part of this crew. I don�t even know why you�re a part of it. Naw, I�m kidding�maybe. You know that I still have to hate
on you no matter what, right? Yet, through all the hate you�re still my boy.
That little jam session we had back on October 16th in the lab was tight as
hell. My beatboxing and your guitar playing�well a water bottle and a rubber
band doesn�t necessarily qualify as a guitar, but I digress. I�m not gonna forget that though. It was fun. Well, keep being a
fool. It�s what you do best�lol
Let�s see, anyone else?
LAIA
You�re so
intelligent, yet so silly. Perfect combination. You
know your �Uncle Clete� had to put you up on this
list!
LACEY
The artistic,
yet highly insane one�it�s all downhill from here. Thanks for the backpack on
my birthday. I know you felt sorry for me with my little bag, hehe.
HANNAH
Even with highly
corruptible forces in the office, you still managed to say as normal as
possible. Very admirable.
CHRISSI
Congratulations
on your graduation. It was well deserved.
T.V.
(Lucky I didn�t
put your full name) My favorite Art and Digital
Animation partner�all ridiculous and stuff. My down ass Asian chick�lol
NATHANIEL
I hate your
dusty ass�lol. Keep doing your thing in Digital
Animation. You got skills man, but dang�you ain�t gotta show off all the time you duck!
DAVID
I haven�t seen
you as often up in the office as the year went on. Maybe that�s a good thing�haha. In any case, it�s always fun trippin
with ya.
ZACHARY
One of my
favorite fluffy people to hate and make fun of. Yes, I�m mean to you, but I
think you deserve it sometimes. However, since you still like me through all
the jokes, you are the bigger man in all of this�literally and figuratively. lol�Sorry, I couldn�t resist!
RANDALL
You�re yet
another individual that I must hate on in the office, but you�re still cool.
Don�t worry though. I don�t hate you as much as I hate some other people�haha.
To all of the other people that couldn�t
fit in the previous lists, I still have to put you here.
MY ART CLASS CREW:
T.J., Hope,
Zachary, Kimmy, James, Meredith, William, Bo, and some of you other ones I�m
forgetting. I am so sorry, lol
EVERYONE
ELSE:
Jon, Chassidy, Stephanie, Ben, Semaj
a.k.a. Shauty Mac, Antar,
Charles, Davina, Andrea, and Russell
If I forgot anyone
for any reason (considering that they actually see this), please forgive my
forgetfulness. I got nothing but love for all of you, especially the silly
females and the ones that always make me laugh. Somehow in someway, I have you
all in my heart.
Well, all in all
2002 was not that bad of a year. By my expectations, it was not the year I
hoped for, but I guess it could have been a lot worse. As I go into the year
2003, I will not set any goals or make any New Year�s Resolutions so that I
won�t disappoint myself at the end of the year. The one major good thing for
the coming year is that DRC Unknown Entertainment will celebrate its 11th
Anniversary, and hopefully I�along with this establishment�will continue to
elevate as it should.
This year has
already started off slow and boring. I didn�t even count down to the new year
like I once did. Once 12:00am hit, it was just whatever. I actually was close
to missing it by being asleep. Well, I wasn�t that close. On New Years Eve, a
tradition of mine is to watch New Year�s themed episodes of two of my favorite
TV shows: Fudge and Arthur. I saw Fudge in its entirety. Somehow, I went to
sleep on Arthur. I woke back up at like 20 or so minutes to the New Year. I
watched it again shortly after. New Year�s Day was a day for me to just plop in
front of the television to watch some archived videotapes of my favorite shows
and stay in bed among other things.
So, the second day of 2003 is already in progress at the time of this moment. Even though I already don�t care about this year, I want to wish everyone else a prosperous new year, and hopefully it can be a decent for all of us. Peace.