Muck Man took his family to see the new Captain America movie last night. I told you they would, since they are a superhero family just learning how to be a superhero family with odor-based super powers. They all loved it, as was to be expected. But it was a great movie experience because it was full of unforeseen surprises.
The first big surprise came from Muck Lad. Muck Man chose the Friday showing at Valley View Mall because Muck Lad had to work both Saturday and Sunday and couldn’t attend otherwise. His job at the Asian Market making and serving boba tea is the most important factor in his life right now. He needs the money to buy a gaming computer. You know how important that is to a teenager in this day and age. But when the time came to go to the movie, as much as he really wanted to see it, his headache was too much to allow him to go. He needed to stay in the Muck Cave with Muck Dog and play RPG computer games instead.
The second big surprise came after Muck Momma drove Muck Man and Muck Girl… er, Muck Woman… to the mall and the movie actually began. Muck Man is such a big comic book fan that he read every Civil War comic book he could lay his smelly hands on back when it was a big multi-comic event thingy in the Marvel Universe. There must’ve been at least a hundred titles to track down, and either purchase to read multiple times, or find in the library to read when Mucky was supposed to be doing other more school-teachery things. And as the movie unfolded, besides the fact that there was a big disagreement between Iron Man and Captain America that made everybody choose up sides, nothing was the same at all! The story was good, and made sense in the context of the other Marvel Movies, but the details were all different and the story was completely new. Not only new, but better! Muck Man was fully prepared to face one of the two major characters dying at the end of the movie, because that’s how the comic books turned out. But in point of fact, the movie found a much better way. Muck Man tells me I can’t explain that point further because spoilers are simply not allowed in a world where heroes are real.
Muck Girl… er, Muck Woman… was surprised at how much she liked the character of Spider Man played by young Tom Holland. The character was played as a teenager. A rather handsome, wisecracking teenager with some killer superhero moves. And a new Spider Man movie was promised at the end. Muck Girl… er, Muck Woman… was enthralled in ways only a Muck teenage girl… er, woman… can be.
And the movie was seriously funny. That was, perhaps, the best surprise of all (even if it is an oxymoron). There were more light-hearted moments than tragic ones, more laughs than tears. It taught Muck Man and his Muck Family a very important lesson about how to be a superhero. Being all dark and violent and Batman-y is fine for DC superhero movies, but it is also the reason we don’t love them as much.
And the delayed-for-another-time surprise was the trailer we got to see for Dr. Strange on the big screen. Muck Girl… er, Muck Woman… is not-so-secretly in love with Benedict Cumberbatch too. The Muck Family’s plans for movies in November are now set.
Catch a Falling Star 
Trudging Towards Tomorrow
My three kids used to be cute, even with goblin grins.
I spent a lot of time yesterday looking at old photos. The journey seems a lot longer looking back than looking at the trail ahead. But there are good things beside every signpost on the road behind us. I am proud of where we’ve been.
The Three Faces of the Princess at the Kingdom Hall;
We are basically right with God. Oh, I know I haven’t been a very good Jehovah’s Witness the last three or four years. Being an atheist might have something to do with it. But I actually believe in God. It is just that my God is a bit bigger than theirs. My God is not some old man with a white beard on a golden chair in some invisible dimension. He is everything there is. And he doesn’t have to promise me eternal life and goodies for a lifetime of doing what I believe is good and right and benefits the lives of others. I don’t do it for theological dog treats. I do it because I know in my heart it is right. And I live for the here and now. Because that is the only part of existence that is relevant to me here and now. “I am a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars, I have a right to be here.” (from Desiderata by Max Ehrmann)
We used to do a lot of camping and traveling. We have seen some amazing things in amazing places.
The Grand Canyon is improved by having my middle son posed in front of it.
At the Grand Canyon Railway Station;
In a land where dinosaurs once roamed;
You can find dinosaurs for tourists without spending big bucks to visit Jurassic World.
Don’t worry. The Princess is the scariest dino running with this pack. That goofasaurus rex is going to regret that nose-bump to the back of the head.
In the end, she ate every last one.
But my kiddos hatched a replacement, so they are not personally responsible for the re-extinction of the dinosaurs.
Appreciating nature;
Posing with dead nature.
Posing with living nature, including wild and feral cousins, is also fun.
Filipino nature and wild and feral Filipino cousins.
And we have allowed ourselves to have fun along the way.
But children grow up and begin to have their own lives. They get jobs. They learn to drive. And we have to fearfully accept the consequences of the monsters we have probably created.
As I continue trudging down the road of life, I am somewhat weary because I am old. My bones have a lot of walking-around mileage on them. My heart has a limited number of beats remaining. But my biggest regret is… you can only go back and walk the path again through memory and old pictures. Time and I march onward.
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Filed under autobiography, commentary, compassion, daughters, family, feeling sorry for myself, goofiness, humor, kids, photos
Tagged as adventure, boring old family photos, Doofy takes on old photos, humor, kids, nature