I have something to say!
It's better to burn out
Than to fade away...
...There can be only one!

Kurgan, Gimme the Prize / Highlander

When I look back at those summers of ago, that time of '96 into '97, Queen's It's a Kind of Magic comes to mind, an album that served like a soundtrack to Highlander and by extension, the TV series by the same name starring Adrian Paul (a show I absolutely loved). I say "served like a soundtrack," because the album itself can stand on its own without a movie. I also played the first 4 selections from the actual CD that feature the franchise's scores, though its sequels were rubbish (and the 4th song sounds like this from Band of Brothers which makes sense as they are both from Kamen).

I look fondly back at that old Queen CD, because I never returned to it as I grew older, so as I listen to it now, it reminds me of all those drives with the top down, feeling invincible with a wide open horizon to explore and love life. I TOTALLY bought into the paradigm of being among the Princes of the Universe, from those iconic lyrics that might describe how I viewed my existence at 18-19. I've already written how my first presence on the Internet autoplayed a piano MIDI of Who Wants to Live Forever. Playing that old song reminds me of who I once was...perhaps at my core, still am...

...and these 44-year-old eyes now look back at those 18 and 19-year-old days and consider how the rain fell on that sunny ride. Looking back at 18 and 19 when you've got 44-year-old eyes that see how things the machinations churned out..I guess I'm reminded of Wahlberg's Invincible, a movie with a great soundtrack in its own right. It would be naive for me to believe I'd keep the top down forever on my convertible.

I have no interest in fading away. I know at 44, this might seem to be a silly thing to say—gosh, when I see "44" I find in of itself to be UNREAL. I'm still me! I just employ a collective use of EM dashes, ellipses and semicolons now!

No, I have no interest in fading away. If I'm not cranking out the reps when I'm 60 to 80 years old, it doesn't mean my will has been snapped; it means a hot balloon wicker basket has come crashing down to Earth on my noggin'.