The first strike of allergy season.

I was hoping it had somehow skipped by this year because of the weird weather and all that.  It came about quite suddenly and with the same old level of sinus chaos as I seem to remember it being over the last few years.  I really hope I grow out of this one.

The spring break has been nice though.  I basically have a day and a half left of what was a semi-productive two plus weeks.  I do look forward to getting back to it, though, since the regiment is generally quite good for me.

I also had a good reminder that I need to be going on dates and stuff.  I'm not sure I've even gone on any dates this year(and if I have, and I've forgotten, that's equally sad.)  The last two consecutive rejections took quite a bit of the wind out of my sails I guess.  I'm not even sure where to start.  I think I need to learn how to not be so picky about girls.  I seriously feel cursed.

Luckily, I also feel blessed(is this a thematically possible statement?)  I really have a lot of good things going for me and so much to look forward to.  I am blessed far beyond what I could possibly deserve.

The day away from home.

It can be work, golf, or some other form of generally useful distraction... it is all an opportunity to do something useful.  It is all an opportunity for me to become something useful.

Unfortunately, I am far too tired to express any empowering exposition at this time.  The lids fall heavily closed upon the view of my understanding and ability to share it.

I love golf, by the way.  Ya, that's pretty much it for today.

Like a Hulk in a china shop.

I think there are many reasons to be satisfied with the new Avengers movie.  One of them is the mere fact that I now have a new category label since I think writing my own review on things seems like a fun, exploratory sort of thing to do once in a while.  This category shall be called Review From the Top.

Anyway, this is my review of the movie called: Avengers(it will have to be incapably short tonight.)

This movie has had a lot of high expectations riding on it for several good years of already good movie making as it's direct predecessors.  Each of them created the setting for what promised to be a thrilling, potentially complex story of multi-heroic proportions... a promise which was, to my mind, fulfilled in total and then some(with the minor sneak of my favorite villain of all time at the end of the credits!)  I often shy away from the title of fanboy in general but this one has me amped up pretty good.

The good: This movie did a good job of balancing the tremendous disparity of the power levels of all the major players.  From Black Widow(a speck of dust on the super-powered being radar... albeit a very attractive speck of dust?)... to Thor and the Hulk(crushing the radar in their sleep) they all had a valid role to fill which created an actual team dynamic(whenever the team actually functioned as such.)  I can only imagine the challenge this would be to write and Mr. Joss Whedon handled it ever so adeptly.

Every character was humanized quite well, showing their bickering, faulted natures from the get go.  This lead to a very believable personal-divide-that-needed-crossing sort of element that could have put me in the shoes of any one of the heroes in question given my own personal foibles.  My sympathies were drawn out to many of the struggling moments they faced.

The action was pretty much as delightful and exciting as I hoped, my favorite parts being the Hulk and his nearly perfectly executed thrash-about style of existing.  I was one of the smaller number of folks who really enjoyed the first Hulk movie but the intensity of his ferocity was closer to the way I had always hoped to see him than ever before.  All the other action was right up there with it.

Lots of good comedy all the way through.  Stuff that pushed(or smashed) my laugh button with Thor's hammer several times.

The bad: I can't afford, neither do I have the time, to see it as much as I'd like.  I'm sure, once the slightly euphoric feeling still lacing my bones finally fades away a bit, that I can find a few more critical comments to offer about the movie as a whole... but I guess it'll just be stuck in the recesses of my joy-saturated mind for the moment.

Overall rating: 4.5/5 - Not perfection, but pretty stinkin' close.

Music is exciting!

Especially when you get the privilege of playing with such delightfully cool and talented folks as I currently have the privilege of playing with.  We have our first show coming up next week and I think, even though we are currently short the drummer ingredient, it should be a highly fun experience!  I think we will even be broadly entertaining to all sorts of folks, so that's kinda cool too.

I really need to be very thorough in my practicing habits this coming week.  I would like to bring something powerful to the table and I know I am capable of doing so.  It will be even more exciting once the drummer finally joins up with everything.  Especially since he is a savage good drummer!

Back to the late night grind.

Though, I guess it's good to get some things done when one is inspired to do them.  I would generally prefer it happen in the morning.

Thus, I am now quite tired and think that the sleeping option of the day seems best.  I don't really like keeping these entries so short but I think I would just be stabbing at the dark even more so than I normally do when I try to force something out in these situations.

At least today was a productively pleasant day.  Score one for the good side!

Changing who we are... carefully crafting character.

Certainly, the benefit of actively seeking a goal is found in the seeking more than the finding... this is not news to many.  The true aim of a goal is what we become in our efforts to achieve it.  The purpose of life is found in the compilation of our goals endeavors to become.

At the end of this life there will be little to no regard for our earthly accomplishments.  They are merely the ends to the greater means of sculpting one's character, the one truly valuable aspect of us all.  Our character is defined by our trials as we attempt to navigate their challenges, each in our own personal ways.

Accepting whatever help and direction we will allow from others is an important part of defining our character.  This life is a collaborative effort because we are all a part of the entire human family.  It is called a family for a reason.

I sometimes wonder why much of what I write about is so seemingly obvious sometimes.  I realize much of it is very simple and probably sounds repetitive to some.  Part of why I do it has to do with the natural benefits of testimony and expression.  It is easy to scholastically learn a fact by reading, hearing about, or seeing it... it is another thing entirely when a person truly synthesizes the information internally in a way that they are able to express it themselves having experienced it in a personal way.  I hope that much of what I write is truly born as a mixture of the scholastic and experiential elements are drawn out of me in words.

I am quite exhausted this evening.  I guess my day was a bit more rough and tumble than I expected.  Something to be thankful for there.  Not everybody has it so good.

Musical discovery.

If ever you feel like your life needs a little something more... and you have the immense courage to absorb something far removed from the reality of a normal human experience... then taking a moment to discover the fascination of either Sun Ra or the Residents might be your kind of journey.  I must offer warning, however, as their incredulous oddity, yet powerful reality, can be something of a system shock.  Nothing profane or vile.  Simply fascinating insanity.

I would like to say I have more to offer this fine day's entry of life.  I would like to say things are a little bit different for me.  I will say that I am not that I am when I will or want to be... just for the heck of it.