I cut my walk short this morning...

because once again my left hamstring was telling me to.  I got in almost the desired 30 minutes, but I'd rather cut it a bit short and let this thing have some rest than listen to it whining loudly.

Speaking of whining, I'm going to do some for a moment.  I've blocked two people on FB within the last 12 hours, because I'm sick of their whining and hypocrisy.  One who called me names and whined because I pointed out their hypocrisy and claimed calling them a hypocrite was name-calling.  Another who I'm just tired of political discourse with because he's so close-minded I'd wager he uses 1/2 inch square scratch pads.  Civil, open and honest discourse is always welcome.  Hypocrisy is not.  Okay, done whining.  Sorry for failing to serve cheese with my whine.

I'd seen IMAX films before last night.  Not many but some.  I'd seen 3-D films before last night.  Not many, but some.  Last night, albeit on a smaller than normal IMAX screen (it was at a screening room, not a great big theater), I saw my first IMAX film in 3-D and I was extremely impressed.  The "glasses" provided were the best I've ever seen, more like goggles and completely covering my own glasses.  The film was a Chinese wuxia film starring Jet Li, who had said that after 2006's "Fearless", he would do no more martial arts epics.  Apparently he changed his mind (he's not alone in making statements like that, back in 2008, Clint Eastwood said he would do no more work in front of the camera in movies, but he's starring in a film due out next month that he apparently did as a favor to its director, his former 2nd unit director) about martial arts films, because "The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" is definitely a martial arts flick.

Oh, I am remiss, for those who don't know what wuxia means.  From Wikipedia:

Wuxia, literally "martial hero", is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua (Chinese comics), films, television series, and video games. Wuxia is a component of popular culture for many Chinese-speaking communities worldwide.
The word "wuxia" is a compound word composed of the words wu (武), which means "martial", "military", or "armed" and xia (俠), meaning "honorable", "chivalrous", or "hero". A martial artist who follows the code of Xia is often referred to as a xiake (俠客, lit: "follower of xia", "hiệp khách") or youxia (游俠, "wandering xia", "du hiệp"). In some translated works of wuxia, the martial artist is sometimes termed as a "swordsman" although he may not necessarily wield a sword.
Typically, the heroes in Chinese wuxia fiction do not serve a lord, wield military power or belong to the aristocratic class. They are often from the lower social classes of ancient Chinese society. Wuxia heroes are usually bound by a code of chivalry that requires them to right wrongs, especially when the helpless or the poor are oppressed. The wuxia hero fights for righteousness and seeks to remove an oppressor, redress wrongs, or to bring retribution for past misdeeds. The Chinese xia traditions can be contrasted with martial codes from other countries, such as the Japanese samurai's bushido tradition, the chivalry of medieval European knights and the gunslingers of America's Westerns.

"The Expendables 2" is still in theaters, won the box office battle last weekend, and yet there are already rumors of the next sequel being on the drawing board.  Hollywood will milk a winning film idea like a cow that produces milk four times a day rather than just twice like ordinary cows.

There is a random factor that makes the morning walks interesting.  Whether or not people leave more lights on than normal when they go home at night.  This morning it was the music store.  This was the first time I could see inside and it was very interesting.  I'm not going to run out and buy a keyboard, or a saxophone, one of which I can play a little, the other I'd need to learn completely.  But it was just a bit tempting to consider.  The fact that as a child I played three instruments (violin, clarinet and drums) and that I couldn't play any of them today bothers me.  But then again, there's someone who lives here who tortures, rather than tickles the ivories when he sits down at the piano in the activity room and if I were to attempt that, I'd sound much worse.  So my musical involvement will continue to be limited to listening to music.  Oh, and using my iPhone's Shazam app, to identify songs I don't know.

I'm avoiding watching the coverage of the Republican convention in Tampa.  I can learn everything from reading the news accounts, without having to sit through the speeches and other activities.  I did hear some highlights from Ann Romney's speech last night.  I feel badly for her, suffering from MS and all, but do her horses really provide theraputic relief from her illness?  I guess I shouldn't question that, if she says they do, I guess they do.  But clearly not a cost-effective treatment for all suffering from that ailment.

I thought about Linda Ellerbee this morning as I walked.  Love her book "And So It Goes", which I highly recommend (another tome to pick up at the next run to the used bookstore).  She refers to some TV news reporters and anchors as "twinkies", and she isn't discussing creme filling when she does.  Watching the news coverage of the convention and of the hurricane, I'm reminded that there are real reporters in this world, and then there are twinkies.

Speaking of the hurricane, what fool was making comparisons between Isaac, category 2 or 3 at worst, and Katrina, the first category 5 storm of this century??  I actually dreamt last night of one of my experiences with a hurricane.  Well, with a typhoon, which is the same thing, a tropical cyclone, they just call them hurricanes in one part of the world and typhoons in another.  We were in the barracks on Guam during a hurricane when the eye passed over the island.  Some of the guys went out into the cool, crisp, calm air of the eye and played football on the sopping wet golf course across the street from the barracks.  I had to go out and order them back into the barracks, because when a tropical cyclone's eye passes over, it doesn't go gradually from calm to windy.  It's calm one instant, and then maximum speed winds are blowing the next.  With those winds in excess of 80 knots, it wasn't safe to be outdoors during the eye for more than a minute or two.  I took a lot of flack for that order, but I didn't care.

I wanted to go past a certain spot last night on the way to the screening, but there wasn't time.  I'm worried about getting to and from my classes that start next month and the available parking, if any.  Oh well, there's always tomorrow to put this problem off until. 

I've been meaning to return something to Best Buy for a week now and continue to forget to do it.  Either I don't care, I don't need the $33 or I don't want to stand in that long line at customer service.  I'm going to get it done by next Monday, come hell or high water.  Tomorrow, the etymology of that phrase, because now I'm curious where it comes from.