Banner doesn't live here anymore...

This blog will be a tad embarrassing of me as it is exposing that I am in my 30s and I still watch cartoons and probably will until I am dead in the dirt and then I will get out of my grave to see what new cartoons have been released.

Besides cartoons, I am also a huge comic book fan and one of my favorite heroes when I was growing up was the Hulk. The story of Hulk is that radiation scientist Robert Bruce Banner was caught in an gamma radiation explosion when saving teenager Rick Jones. Instead of burning him to a crisp, Banner seemed fine until he he became angry or agitated (in the beginning, it could also be triggered by the moon) when he would become the Hulk, a gigantic creature of near limitless strength, durability and invulnerability. He had limited intelligence, making him easily angered and the more angered he was, the stronger he became. Even though he was considered a superhero, due to his quick to punch attitude, he often found himself battling heroes along with villains.

With Hulk's popularity came cartoons, some I found loveable (like the 1982 Hulk cartoon), some I found damn dark (the 1996 Hulk cartoon) and some I found bizarre (the original 1966 cartoon).

 

The 1982 Incredible Hulk show, my personal favorite

These days, the Hulk can be found on the following shows, "Avengers Assemble" and "Hulk and the Agents of S.m.a.s.h." and while they are good enough shows, personally I liked AA precursor, "Avengers; Earth's Mightiest Heroes" a lot better because I think there is something odd about how these shows portray the green goliath. Neither show feature Hulk's alter-ego, Bruce Banner. To me, there is no Hulk without Bruce Banner and vice versa. In fact, there was an brief period where the two were separated but couldn't live without being one entity who just changed into the other every so often. The shows of today though show that Hulk is Hulk 24/7, 365, and to me, it makes the show kinda boring. Banner brought a complexity to the character, he didn't want to be the Hulk but he knew that being the Hulk had its uses. However, in the new shows, He's always Hulk and the easiest way to solve problems was to smash things. Not even the 82 show worked like that and that show featured some goofy storylines and Banner, after Hulking out, always returning to normal with clothes intact.

Though the Hulk is in fact an excellent super hero, and one of my personal favorite heroes, I feel like the more recent cartoons are leaving out what some would could call his best side, his more human side, his Banner side.

The mother of all questions, Answered...

Unlike my last few posts, this one is pretty serious because it involves questions I've been asked for the past 3+ years; "Why is it taking me so long to finish college?"and "How much debt have you put yourself in trying to finish school?" . Everyone or at least everyone reading this, I'm about to give a hopefully reasonable answer so grab something to drink and begin reading...

I began attending Sinclair Community College in 2003, without a real plan of what degree to strive for. Most of my fellow high school graduates were attending Sinclair so it seemed like the best thing to do. I'm sure I spent most of my first fall quarter hitting on women, unsuccessfully. My favorite class at the time was "the freshmen experience", a class for incoming freshmen that was so easy, you could sleep throughout the class and receive an A and ironically, I got a C. Throughout my 3 original years at Sinclair, I took classes that looked  interesting but didn't go really go towards my major, even though my major was liberal arts. I guess classes like "art of horror films" and "tennis" would've just destroyed my academic standing. Well, one day, in my advanced English class, someone from Wright State University came and talked with my class about the advantages one would have at Wright State when finished at Sinclair. This interested me and after speaking with a classmate who happened to be at the event told me I didn't have to finish Sinclair to attend Wright State, that sealed the deal for me.

Like my first time at Sinclair, My first few years at Wright State were me not taking things seriously while being happy that I was not living at home anymore (How I miss those days). While spending most of those times were spent  gaming and hitting on girls, unsuccessfully, I still wasn't serious about school. In fall quarter 2008, the class I was in, linguistics, had a visitor from the English Department who talked about the TESOL program, which would allow students to go overseas and teach English to children. I honestly liked this idea and after receiving more info on the program, I decided that the program what I wanted to do. The following fall quarter, 2009, I was able to take an advanced writing class and I was really influenced by both the class and the teacher. It almost felt like my teacher could bring the best out of students, me included, and I decided I wanted to do that along the TESOL program.

So, in answering one question, part of reason why I am still in school is because I didn't know what I truly wanted to major in, English/Creative Writing, until 2009. The other reason is because, as a close friend of mine has said, "Life happens".

As for the question on my financial situation, I have this to say and I apologize if I come off as rude; I am the only person paying for my school, besides the government. If my financial woes were such a big deal for some, maybe they should help me out. It just angers me that I'm told and even chastised about the further and further debt I'm putting myself into with loans when no one is insisting to help me. Finishing school is a dream for me and if I have to drive myself into further debt to make it happen, then God Damn it, I'll do that! Sorry, I got carried away there.

Now, hopefully, this has answered a few questions and I hope I did not piss off too many people.