This is Major Tom to Ground Control

The Christmas ham is the centerpiece of the table. The sides stay on the side. This story glazes over the last six months of my life: an abrupt decision to uproot from Texas to California with my girlfriend, moving in with my childhood best friend (now landlord), and my current view from the side. 

It was supposed to be about me. After a humbling three years in law school during which I started sleeping erratically (once every two days became once every three days), having suicidal thoughts (asking my bioethics professor if the running-car-in-the-garage trick was painless in the middle of a Right to Die seminar), and went 14 months without cutting my hair or shaving (self-explanatory), I was ready to start anew. 

Like a Christmas miracle, it just so happened that my best friend decided that he wanted out of his steady job at one of the larger tech companies in Silicon Valley and it just so happened that he bought a house right before he quit. We would work on a surefire million dollar app that would revolutionize the way people communicate (this brilliant plan was conceived by me during one of those sleepless nights and confirmed to indeed be brilliant by him, hammered and in Vegas at the time). Miracle. 

My faithful and loving girlfriend decided she’d come with and before long we became three peas in a pod. I cut my hair, we watched Fantastic Mr. Fox at 2AM, a single car meant a full car to Safeway and Yogurtland. Each new day became a new week. My app idea collided with his secret ambition to play baseball professionally. She worked remotely while diligently hunted for jobs. Weeks turned into months. The app developed into an excuse to chill, the ambition to play baseball persists, she found a job before Labor Day.

I’m not sure when I realized I was a part of the supporting cast and not actually the main character. Was it some time in the 28 hours it took to drive her car? Or was it when I parked it in the second and last designated parking spot? Was it even earlier than that, when baseball became his thing, made clear to be an individual endeavor, and “our” idea became “my” idea? 

Surely it has been made clear in the last two months as I’m confined without house keys and cash flow, and with limited (after 8 PM or before 5 AM) use of the car and very limited cash. More likely, I was never the Christmas ham and rather one of the boring sides at that: no zest, no bite, no fight. 

I'm stepping through a door.

The song is in The Secret Life of Walter Smitty, a film that can easily be dismissed by elitists as having been "dumbed down" or diluted by "product placement," and a movie that has true artists scoffing at the idea of being introduced to David Bowie by such a recent flick.

Unfortunately I am neither true nor artist regardless-- but what a great song for a person in my position right now. Or what an awful song for a person in my position right now.

I need me some ground control -- not because I'm seeing the stars very differently today -- because I've exhausted my thrusters short of 100,000 miles and I'm floating, nah, hovering somewhere just above the ground.

How you say no? At the door screaming "Let me in"

From the outside it's lookin' gooder than it ever been

Growth: a list of things to do in the next three weeks

1. Get massive 

2. Build Hogwarts Castle Lego Set 

3. Watch Cars 2

4. Buy "Flo's V8 Cafe" Lego Set (Cars 2)

5. Attempt #1 at Banana's Foster

6. Attempt #2 at Coq au Vin

7. ?

8. ?

9. ?

Young Justice is a great show. I literally had a smile on my face through all ten episodes so far. What makes Young Justice so successful as an animated television series vs, say, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes or even Justice League? 

For me, it is the introduction and formation of "strange but familiar" elements. Now let's make one thing clear. DC blows Marvel out of the water when it comes to animation. Maybe Marvel is too busy pumping out Hollywood pictures and still freeloading off the success of X-Men: The Animated Series, but the two aren't even in the same league. Pitting the two together would be like putting Anakin Skywalker head to head against Han Solo, Superman against Nightcrawler. GTFO.

But even within DC - how many times can I watch renditions of Bruce Wayne's parents getting murdered? Young Justice brings a fresh approach, not unlike the short-lived but excellent Spectacular Spider-Man. By focusing on the sidekicks, the audience is engaged in a two-fold manner. 

There are the familiar elements: each of the sidekicks have powers similar to a fundamental DC character. Then, there are the fresh elements. Questions abound that would never exist if it was the almighty Superman or the super sleuth Batman's show. Is the team over its head? Can they develop and harness their powers, and co-exist? The figurative and literal immaturity of the team adds a complexity that far exceeds the expectations of a children's show.

By far, my favorite character in the series has been Red Arrow, formerly Speedy, formerly the sidekick to Green Arrow. Red Arrow actually is somewhat of a periphery character in that he channels his inner Nighthawk and refuses to be part of a team of sidekicks. This rough, tough, and disgruntled exterior is counterbalanced by his constant habit of looking out for the team, as well as a newly developed Romeo and Juliet-esque connection with the villainous Cheshire Cat. 

Young Justice is not without its weaknesses. One of the biggest weaknesses of the show falls on the square shoulders of Superboy. Because of the expectations that might arise from the "sidekick" to the most iconic superhero ever, the creators of the show have made Superboy a dumbed down one-dimensional "angry" kid with muted powers. He punches hard. He can't fly. He is angry. At everyone.