Friday Follies...

Well, we MADE it...to the END of the week, AND , the BEGINNING of a brand spanking new month.
Today is starting out fine enough, too (until someone comes along and f*cks it all up...LOL)
Our Hooiserland weather will see us with party to mostly sunny skies and temps reaching up to around the seventy-degree mark.
There is a hint of a possible shower later today, but by the way things look NOW, that's a way's off.
Today's post looks to be packed tighter than a Tokyo Metro subway car at rush hour (or Scarlett Johansson's jumpsuit), so let's get our cup or glass of Friday Fortitude poured and parked within arm's reach, as we see what's going on elsewhere...
*** First out of the Big Apple is our salute TO the (merry) month of MAY.
Month:
Date Your Mate Month
Foster Care Month
National Barbecue Month
National Bike Month
National Blood Pressure Month
National Hamburger Month
National Photograph Month
National Recommitment Month
National Salad Month
Older Americans Month
Weekly Celebrations:
Nurse's Week - first week of month
Wildflower Week - week two
National Bike Week - third week
National Police Week - third week of month
Emergency Medical Services Week - fourth week of month
==============================
This day has a score of events as well
May 1 - 
---Today is INTERNATIONAL TUBA DAY

(blow 'em if 'ya got 'em)
---It's also MAY DAY

(get yourself a Maypole and take to dancing around it, folks)
---It's LOYALTY DAY

(If you're a soldier, police officer, fire fighter, or even an AVENGER, that means something!)
---And, it's MOTHER GOOSE DAY

(It's the FAIRY TALE gig, and we won't even speak to goosing mother...will we?)
---It's also SAVE THE RHINO DAY

(the ANIMAL and NOT the super-villain...got it?)
---And, it's SPACE DAY

(a good day to crash an orbiter into the planet Mercury, for example...or perhaps be a high school student, and just...TAKE UP SPACE...lol)
Now you know more than MOST ALL of those high-schoolers...
*** Well, our trash pickup did NOT occur yesterday (as scheduled)...AGAIN.

I would NOT brag about "service", folks...

Recycle did come by later than normal (1300 hrs), but NO trash pickup.
I shot an email to a friend downtown, and he plans to rectify this today.
Republic Waste Removal isn't instilling a sense of CONFIDENCE in me these days...wonder WHY?
The odd thing is that in the LAST week of MARCH, we also had a missed pickup.
Helluva "trend", don'cha think?

Not a one in sight...on the day they PICK UP trash-WTF?

Seems that we have too many of these trends down here to suit me.
I expect to at least get what we pay for (in taxes).
But, we do come to sorta "expect" things to NEVER go as NORMAL as say, in the MAYOR'S neighborhood...and we know WHY, right?
The SE side get the shaft, while everyone else gets the gold mine.
Moving on...
*** Part of the fun of NOT living in some big-ass city is being able to "commune" with nature (to some degree), and I always try to present the evidence to back that up.
It's the birds and other critters than come by our little slice of this planet, have some food and water, duly provided with no charge to them by us.

Mr Wrinkles: Still...THE most photographed squirrel in Fort Wayne

Wifey likes to park a chair by the patio door and just watch the "action" when it gets busy.

I tend to get more up close and "personal" with some of the "friends"...and they with me.

Whew...that was a LOT of sunflower seeds

And then there are those times when you just have to slow it ALL down...and rest a spell.
(because eating CAN be tiring work)
I have to say if it were not for these critters (and classical music), I'd be way off the deep end by now, for those who are passing themselves off as the top of the Darwinian evolutionary heap, aren't "holding up THEIR end of the log", as it were.
(that's a P.T. - physical training reference)

If more people took time to back away from their obnoxious behaviors, they MIGHT learn a thing or two, and thereby come to appreciate a great many things much more.
*** Next up...today is... AVENGERS DAY - the U.S. premiere of the 2nd installment of this part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

THE AGE OF ULTRON is the name...don't forget it, because it has the possibility of blowing past the first movie, which became the ALL-TIME leading box office opening in the USA. It also became the THIRD highest grossing movie OF...ALL...TIME.
Not bad for those of us who grew up on superheroes.
Age of Ultron first premiered overseas (last week - the 23rd of April) and has ALREADY taken in over $200 MIL, so, I'm thinking something similar might be in the offing HERE in America.
((Already made $27.6 MIL LAST night alone!!!))
And yet, this is a case where our city (Fort Wayne) again shot itself in the damn foot...and WHY, you ask?
Because we NO LONGER have a DISNEY store at Glenbrook Mall (as well as anyplace else around here).
Considering that both STAR WARS and MARVEL signed onto the DISNEY brand, it makes NO damn sense to close the store HERE...but they did.
I've been to cities where they have BOTH a DISNEY store AND a WARNER BROTHERS store (for D.C. comics merchandise).
They seem to do very well.
So, we in Fort Wayne, Indiana's SECOND LARGEST city are relegated to finding whatever merchandise we can...wherever we can.
And you just KNOW that between tthe Avengers movie AND the impending continuation of the SW saga, there will be a LOT of "stuff" to get.

---Now, about the REVIEWS of the Avengers movie - well, there are those reviewers that DO "get it", and others that would never understand the franchise or it's history if "you wrote it all down for them...in CRAYON...and read it to them" (gratuitous Iron man 2 paraphrased quote)
The reviews run the gamut from a mere TWO stars to a whopping FOUR 1/2 out of FIVE.
And those who rate such a movie LOW show that they never waited at a drugstore to hold a silver age Avengers comic between their hands as they were growing up.
The ones that see past all the action to the characters and what they go through, really GET what Marvel has done since the beginning - show extraordinary people with ordinary problems...just like WE have.
Hell, the Avengers are some of THE most powerful (albeit fictional) people around and yet, they have some real "issues". Just because you're a superhero does NOT mean that all of life's problems go "bye-bye"...not by a long shot.
In fact, whatever problems you had become MULTIPLIED and more complicated.
But most of us already know how life works, right?
Let's just say that I think that Marvel's Avengers - The Age Of Ultron will be a winner, and could become the number one box office hit of all time.
At least I'd like to think so...I'm biased when it come to such things...lol.
*** In a related and little-known factoid (not to be confused with an ADAPTOID), is that it's the annual FCBD tomorrow.
Never comes around soon enough, either.
(that's FREE COMIC BOOK DAY to the uninitiated)
This means that every comic store will be giving away free comics.
Here's a website that shows WHICH issues will be available:
http://www.freecomicbookday.com/Home/1/1/27/981
I already have the ones I plan to get picked out, and after seeing the list, I think YOU know which ones they are.
(wonder if they'll let me take MULTIPLE copies???)
Anyway, that's the plan...a divergence from the usual grocery shopping event. Something to break the banality of life in Fort Wayne.
*** Last back to the Stark Tower...in simpler times, we, as a people were a lot better in many ways.

We knew what hard work was, we knew what cooking and sewing were, we knew the value of a dollar (even if we never had that many to speak of most of the time), we had a greater sense of respect for ourselves, other people, and property.
We knew what boundaries were, how to appreciate what we had and were willing to work for what we wanted or needed.
We were more content, more focused, and had a better ethical belief system.

We went to church, knew what was meant by morality, and behaved as such.
We took little for granted, much for truth, and were not afraid to speak our minds when needed.
So...what happened to us?
Is all this just being "old-fashioned"?
When did we, collectively, shrug off all these good aspects of humanity for the sake of folly and nonsense?
Granted, not ALL of us have done so, and that alone is a godsend, because we have to not only remind ourselves, but OTHERS that we are the sum of our parts...indeed better than we realize, or are willing to admit.
I think in this day and age, we have an opportunity...AND an obligation to rekindle that which we seem to have lost.
"Maybe we could use a little old-fashioned" once again (another gratuitous Avengers quote)
If not for ourselves, than for the generations that will follow.
And, I also feel that we would be none the worse off for doing so.
Therein lies the lesson for the day.
DO have a great weekend.

Be well, make a difference to someone today, and as always...
Stay SAFE out there, America.