when i started this blog in november of 2003 i was working as a project manager for a graphic design firm. this blog originally started as soup with a smile and talked about friends the television show, and the counting crows, to name a few things. life was good, i made good money, i was a quirky twenty-something with a positive outlook on life and no worries. for a long time i wrote passionately on here, things shifted from television shows to religion and politics, and then back again. i had written for a now defunct music review blog called spinning hosted by a guy named joshua. when spinning went the way of the slap bracelet i collected all of my thoughts on music and moved my blog here, to songs in the key of west. somewhere along the road, life got in the way. i made choices i regret, depression ruled my life and my free-spirited attitude changed.
then i had the two most wonderful daughters any mother and father could have, and they began to rule my life. in 2009 i decided to do the things that i had longed to do the most. i finally grabbed the bull by the horns and started classes for a bachelors degree in history. i was terrified not having taken organized classes in years, and worried that between family and a full time job, i wouldn’t have the time, or the energy to be successful in school. for my first semester, i got a 4.0 and made the dean’s list. while it was difficult, it was interesting and fun too. having done well i decided to be aggressive and pursue other things as well. this home, which we’ve lived in for nearly 7 years has accumulated junk here and there, and i’ve finally decided to purge it. so we’re cleaning out our closets, so to speak. it is not a new year’s resolution. it is just a decision to be free of the junk that has bogged us down over the years. i am throwing out the clutter to grow closer to god, because it is the things of this life that have kept me the furthest from him over the years.
a little over six years later and this blog has aged, and had its ups and downs, but we are not going anywhere just yet. element is still out there, though it is a one man show now, and much like myself, john has given up more trivial things for the widows and orphans of the world. i am not going anywhere any time soon (in the figurative sense), so stick around, we all might learn a thing or two.



Do not confuse this film with the Abomination that was Ang Lee’s 2003 release
First, let me preface this by saying that I was never a huge Iron Man fan. The X-Men were more my thing so I didn’t know a whole lot about Iron Man and Tony Stark before seeing this film other than the basics. 