Let’s just hope that a song originally written for Batman & Robin does not foreshadow the quality of the Watchmen movie.

What a disappointment.

Compared to RFK, it’s a magical fairy world filled with wonderment. Compared to any other new ballpark built in the last five years, it’s pretty much the same thing. The park has no real identity. It feels cookie-cutter in the same way RFK truly was a cookie-cutter stadium. The differences between Nationals Park and Citizens Bank Park, where the Phillies play, are not significant. Oh sure, there are cherry trees planted at Nationals Park and Citizens Bank Park has a giant bell that rings when the Phillies hit a home run, but these are superficial differences at best.

Where is the effort to make the park fit in with the identity of the city? Nationals Park is a giant concrete and steel I-beam structure, just like all the new parks. If the designers truly wanted to build a park that fit in with DC, they would have white pillars supporting various structures instead of steel I-beams, ornate iron handles on doors instead of aluminum handles, brick walkways instead of poured concrete. The stadium should feel like a monument so it fits in with all the other monuments in the city. Instead, it sticks out like a modern disposable stadium.

The Nationals had a golden chance to build a stadium to rival the best stadiums in the country. Instead, they built one that is, at best, forgettable. The fans, and our nation’s capital, deserve more.

That’s really all I need to say about it. This movie was fantastic. The acting was superb, with no one feeling like they were typecast (i.e., no Gary Oldman in the role of a villain). The direction was great, something I never saw coming from Jon Favreau back in his Swingers days. Don’t get me wrong, Swingers was a great movie, but who could see a special effects extravaganza like Iron Man coming from Swingers?

The only thing I didn’t like was some of the dialogue in the very beginning was slightly over the top. Like, the scientist who was in the cave with Tony and helped him to escape, some of his lines were very obviously said in order to affect a great life change in Tony. It was just a little bit of being hit over the head with those lines. But, this is such a very minor quibble.

Definitely go see this movie. If you want a bit of a cliffhanger, stay until after the credits. I won’t say anything more than that.

Apparently Florida is the place to be if you’re an underage boy and you’re looking for some hot action with a female teacher.

Somewhat related is the news about Tiffany Shepherd, another Florida teacher, who may have been fired for taking a part time job as a bikini-clad fishing tour guide. I’m just waiting for someone to discover that she had sex with an underage boy, too.

I only applied to NC State because they have a program that is specifically designed for working professionals, such as myself, to attend part-time. That and the other big schools in the area had deadlines much sooner than NC State and I missed them because I’m an expert procrastinator.

The program is an MCS, which stands for Master of Computer Science. It’s different than their regular MS program in that it’s a terminal degree, which means you couldn’t use it to go on to get a PhD, which is fine with me. The program requirements are also a little more lax than the normal MS program.

Somehow, I managed to apply for the regular MS program instead of the MCS program. I don’t know how I did that. But since I was being considered for the MS program, which is a heavy research-oriented program, and being that I only have a CS minor and my GRE scores were just OK, my application was declined. Oh well.

I guess no one actually reads the statement of purpose you’re supposed to include in your application, though, since I very clearly spelled out that I was applying for the MCS program on a part-time basis. You’d think someone would read that and it would raise a red flag since two + two is not adding up to four. But I digress.

So now my plan is to retake the GRE’s, this time giving myself more than four days to prepare, and to take a CS class or two on a non-degree basis so I can bolster my CS knowledge (on paper, anyway). I’ll reapply in the Spring or, if they don’t allow that, in the Fall. And if Duke or UNC has a program that would work for me, I’ll apply there too.

I just have to somehow trick my inner procrastinator.

I love Marci. She is a wonderful person with an amazing ability to laugh in any situation and deal with life with her own particular brand of aplomb. We get along really well. She picks up on my pop culture references and laughs like a good girlfriend should do. She’s an excellent cook and seems to genuinely enjoy doing things for me and making me feel good (especially when she plays with my hair or gives me a back rub). In short, Marci is a catch and I think any guy would be happy to be with her.

So why did I break up with her? As much as I love her, those feelings have not gotten stronger in the four years we’ve been dating. I don’t know if she’s the person I want to be with for the rest of my life or not. Shouldn’t I know by now? And if I don’t know, does that mean she isn’t? Or am I just being blind to what I already have? Are my feelings exactly what I should have for the love of my life? Or do the Hallmark moment type feelings actually happen in real life? Have Disney, Hallmark, and chick flicks warped my sense of what I should be feeling?

I don’t know. I do know that I’m scared to death of making a mistake and either being miserable in marriage or having to get a divorce.  I don’t want to do either of those things. So I think the only way I’ll be able to tell what I want is to spend time apart from Marci. I figure I’ll either miss her terribly and realize I’ve made a huge mistake (and then beg her to come back to me and I’ll hope that some other guy hasn’t swooped in already) or I’ll realize that, while I love her, we weren’t meant to be (which would be a shame because she gets my humor).

So that’s it. I’m an idiot that can’t figure out his life. When I move to Raleigh in June, I’ll be moving by myself.

I’m sorry, Marci.