End Of July

This has been a pretty eventful month. Through the month of July, I have seen a good amount of new movies, started listening to a few new podcasts semi-regularly, went to a great concert, came out, got myself a date (if I can make it out to fucking Michigan), tried a dab (not a fan), and got myself a promotion. Overall, I'd say it has been great. There were a few rough patches in there, but not more than I could handle.

I think I'll start off with some of the movies because one of them is very fresh in my mind. Today I saw Teen Titans Go To the Movies. Personally, I thought it was a great film. There were solid jokes, great music, and a fairly generic plot that they were very self away of. There is a very good chance I'll be going to see it again before it leaves theatres. The new Jurassic World was a fairly generic Summer flick, but it didn't disappoint. It is definitely one I'll be adding to my collection, but I might wait until the final film comes out, to grab a bundle. My favorite of the Jurassic films would still have to be the original. This new one had a pretty easily discernable twist to it. It wasn't really a problem because they still told the story smoothly and the effects were incredible. I'd probably put the order of films as 1, World, Lost World, World 2, and finally 3. Unfortunately, Sam Neill was not enough to save the third film in the franchise. I finally got around to seeing Incredibles 2 and I have to say that it was one of the best, animated films I had seen in a long time. Wreck-It Ralph still beats it, in my opinion, but it was nice to see a bit of a refreshing movie. It didn't feel like the same thing over and over again. Having a focus on the family learning to adapt to a regular life without their mother was an incredible twist on the film. Using the 60's to showcase a lot of modern problems was such a beautiful, yet haunting thing. We were starting to see the rise of women in the workforce, but it was still considered wrong to have kids and be a working mom. The film obviously takes some liberties with the time frame and technology, but I couldn't imagine the movie being set in the current time. I feel like I should have dedicated an entire paragraph to just this movie. It was really great to see Mr. Incredible taking the role of caretaker. I feel like there was a bit more of an honest struggle with single parenthood than what we see in most movies about the specific subject. Before I get off of movies, I need to quickly talk about Cooties. The farther it gets from when I saw it, the less I remember. I know that I really liked it, but I had also taken my first, and probably only, dab. It was an interesting experience, but overall I didn't like it. I was way too high, too fast. I felt like it went on for hours longer than it actually did and kept having a feeling of panic. My heart felt like it was pounding and I kept thinking I was starting to have a heart attack. Of course, after getting myself calm, I would think my heart was then going too slow. It was a few hours of back and forth. Anyways, Cooties was great. I always love Elijah wood and there were some great homages to other amazing horror works.

The podcast section will probably be pretty short. The new shows I gave a shot were Anna Farris' Unqualified, Marc Maron's WTF, and Grace Helbig's Not Too Deep. Of the three, WTF is probably my preferred show. Part of it is the selection of guests he acquires. Don't get me wrong, both of the others get great guests, I just feel that there are more consistent ones that I want to hear from on WTF. I think my favorite episode of Unqualified, that I've heard so far, is Topher Grace. He has always been very interesting to me. It was really nice to hear more about his film, Take Me Home Tonight. I hadn't realized that it was his project and he had directed the movie. Grace had an amazing interview with Miyam Bialik, where she talked a lot about raising two boys, running a youtube channel, blogging, and acting. She also writes books and is a Neuroscientist. My usual shows have been lacking in content lately. There has been nothing new on Spotify from ID10T since the beginning of June and I have to imagine it has something to do with some allegations against Chris Hardwick. It appears that all of the episodes of Inside of You are going to be placed under the Unqualified show, but there are still some being released. Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert has continued to get better and with every guest you see him getting more and more comfortable. Obviously, he is a very open person already, but you can sort of hear that he is more relaxed. I'm very happy to have a job that gives me a couple of hours each morning to get through my podcasts. The last thing I'll bring up on the topic of podcasts is my friend's Halo Pro League podcast. Two of my friends are running a weekly podcast about the world of Halo Esports. It is kind of amazing how good it is. By that, I mean, I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT HALO ESPORTS. The last time that I watched a pro match was never. Somehow I'm honestly entertained and interested to hear about the new rosters and changes made to the league every week. That is the other crazy thing about the show. There is new, pertinent information about the league on a weekly basis. I believe I technically started listening to this one in June, but feel I should include it either way.

I feel like I have gone into at least semi-detail about the rest of the information in the first paragraph, in previous posts so I don't really have to talk about the rest. I'll slightly go over how happy I am in my new job. It gives me a set schedule (I wish I had some weekends off) which is something that my life has needed for a long time. It has helped me keep things a little more organized. Now don't get me wrong, I'm still really bad at cleaning and putting things away, but I'm slowly working on it. Getting the promotion has helped my confidence and it is getting me out of my comfort zone. I have some paid time off that I need to use up by the third of Sept. so I am trying to get the end of August off. Initially, I wanted to drive to the East Coast and was going to be stopping in Michigan to take my friend out on a date. The more I think about it, it might not be wise or possible for me to do both. My plan might adapt to be more of a, stop in Michigan, spend the night, and then take her out somewhere a state or two over. Just something out of the ordinary and fresh. I haven't been on a first date in about five years, so I might as well make it count. Honestly, there was some real fear about this date. When I set it up there was nothing but excitement. After a while, it kind of hit me that I haven't gone out with anyone in years and haven't been intimate with someone in a bit over two years. That isn't even a fancy way to say haven't had sex. I genuinely haven't been close to someone physically in a few years. No kissing, hand holding, or cuddling. It's a little nervewracking but after a good long freak out, I came to the conclusion that I need to just relax and go for it. Part of my goal with this blog is to open up more and be more honest, so I actually plan on talking to her about my fears before going to visit her. One of my favorite things about her is her ability to be accepting. She actually seems to listen and want to understand. My only real concern with the entire situation is that I might like her too much. With distance being such a problem, especially the amount of distance, I have to keep my thoughts in check and not rush into anything, but sometimes it is hard. My ability to take things slow is not something that I am known for. It sounds like she usually has a very similar problem so I'm actually excited to be going through this together and see if it will eventually lead to something more.

I hope that everyone is doing well, but honestly that everyone has something to struggle with, in their lives. Growth comes from resolution and everyone can always grow to be more. There have been so many things that I go through on a daily basis, that have bothered me for years, that I'm truly starting to work on. It feels amazing, but I know there is still more to get past. My mind is doing better, even so, still I get stuck on things and can learn more. I have been feeling a desire to learn again. It has been many years since I've really felt like improving in any sort of field of education. I've taken a bit of an interest in history and would kind of like to explore that. The biggest thing that still eats at me, on a daily basis, is exercise.

Before I let everyone go, I'd like to just ask a few questions. First off, what podcasts have you been listening to lately? The other is just for any movie or music suggestions from the month of July that you, personally, loved or couldn't imagine not being released. For me, that would be Incredibles 2, Teen Titans, and for music I would say Death of Me by Daughtry (kind of a surprising one), and Your Body, by Plain White T's. Anyways, as always, thank you, everyone, for reading.