Smashing Weekend

I've got a stiff neck today... It's bloody annoying. I was tempted to take today off work, but decided to man up and take the pain. To my surprise, and my disappointment, it actually felt better once I was out of bed. Even though I can move around, my head feels like it's in a permanent fixed position. Much like a Victorian lady, who is practicing good posture. I swear I could balance a bowl of fruit on my head as I walk around. I will probably feel it tomorrow morning as well, but for now it feels better.

Topic for today, are my weekend activities, which resulted in me watching the Avengers, trying to open a bank account and visiting grand parents.

SMASH!

First off. The new Avengers movie is awesome! As much as I'd like to write a review. I won't go into too much detail. For me it's the best film of the year so far. I had watched all the previous marvel movies, bar the Incredible Hulk. However after watching the Avengers I wish I had. I have never been a big of the Hulk fan, even when I was young. I didn't enjoy the cartoons, I didn't make a big deal out of the tv series. I sort of enjoyed the Ang Lee adaptation apart from the ending. In the Avengers, Hulk managed to steal the show for some reason. There was an underlying flawed character, with a monster inside him was really well done by Joss Whedon. He got alot of laughs, he gave me a few scares, he provided awe inducing destruction. He seemed so damn powerful, to the point my friend said he's OP (overpowered).

Not to give Hulk all the credit, Captain America gave me nerd chills when he stepped up to lead the team. Iron Man still provided a lot of laughs with his quick jabs at other people's expense. Thor and Loki provided some great drama. Black Widow provided nice eye candy, impressive fighting sequences, interesting psychological mind games, and she also provided the catalyst of fear from the Hulk. In terms of story plot, it was at it's most basic level, but considering that this is a team origins movie. I think the story can take a little step back to concerntrate on the characters coming together. The sequel will no doubt happen, after I believe more solo franchises. Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2 are already in the works. And you know what I wouldn't mind a new Hulk, or Hawkeye/Black Widow movies too.

So with this new found enthusiasm on the whole comic book super hero genre. I've been looking into the best comics for each of the characters to to catch up on. I've never been into the western comics, as I've really only read the japanese manga comics. So this is new territory of geekdom for me! I have managed to locate Planet Hulk, World War Hulk, Infinity Gauntlet, Annihilation, Captian America Vol 5 1- 33 and the Thanos Imperative for the time being. Looks like studying for me is going to take another step back....

Free Money

Also attempted to open a bank account at Bank of China on Sunday. For those who don't know. Hong Kong is giving HK $6,000.00 to every Hong Kong Citizen.  Everyone that has a Hong Kong ID with 3 stars is eligible. Funny considering the world is in full of debt. Hong Kong seems to have too much money and is giving it away. I suppose this would actually boosts the economy within the country as well. Anyway to collect the money, you need to either fill the forms and collect it in Hong Kong, or you can nominate a Hong Kong bank account and transfer it there. Even though the $6k is probably an equivalent to a free flight to Hong Kong, I decided it would be best to transfer the money over. Especially considering that the money could go towards more furniture. And as I can't say no to free money, a bit of effort to open an account is worth it.

I'm glad the bank is actually open on a Sunday, considering it's pretty non existent in this country. I suspect it's probably due to the demand from the local chinese community, but this also means it's extremely busy. It was pretty much a failed attempt for me, because I didn't have an appointment, not only that I didn't have all of the documentation necessary as I needed proof of address. This was also a cause for concern for my grand mother, who also wanted to open up an account. It's just unfortunately that she doesn't have proof of address, because my grand father's name is on most of the bills, and her bank account is a booklet, so she does not receive any statement via the post. Luckily she does received some annual statement, but she has to wait till May for it.

Grandmother advice

So visiting grandparents and the obvious discussion came up of what happened with my ex. I didn't really talk about it, but her advice was to find a girl not as smart as me. Ahem....  I'm not sure if it was an insult to me, or to my ex. They obviously assume that it was a factor in the relationship.  I mean intelligence does play a factor in choosing a partner for me. Only to the point at the very least that I'm able to converse with them, otherwise I'm pretty open to the level of intelligence. ....Oh grandmother, still in her old ways.

It does put something in perspective though in terms of compatibility. If anything it's insecurity. It's not nice feeling stupid, I was probably quite condescending, or patronising at times to my ex. I'm ashamed of it now, as I did it without realising. Maybe there's a sense of insecurity, or I'm just being an ass hole in feeling superior. I don't know, I mean I'm not even that smart but these are life lessons I suppose. I'll try to be more considerate. I mean if I were to make quick jabs/ quick corrections I'd try to make a joke out of it, or be more playful when saying it, and try not to embarrass them entirely. I have a friend that corrects people all the time and it gets to the point where we tire of it.

Courting back in the days may have been simpler, but now there's more equality. Females are not just trophy wives any more, they have careers and are just as smart. Males also need to be able to groom themselves, look after themselves, be able to cook for themselves. As much as I still like to spoil my girlfriends, I also expect them to be more humble about it, rather than expect to be treated. I'm still a little old fashioned, but I'd like to think I'm the best kind of old fashioned. :p Saying all this, having a sense of humour is still the top in terms of attractiveness for me.

Overall a good weekend from the usual of just staying in playing games and watching tv. Even though I still love those types of weekends.