dust sampler

I don't have many big cohesive thoughts this weekend, so this is just a sampling of little ones.

First and foremost, I have been thinking about the responsibility of taking care of NJ. I am very glad we had him, but I am even more glad that we had him now rather than earlier in life. The level of commitment from a time and money perspective is significant enough that I know I wouldn't have been ready for this even a year ago. I think I am ready now.

I can think back through all the times when people told me that you shouldn't wait until you can afford kids, because you can never afford kids. I kind of agree with that with the caveat that you shouldn't completely abandon all common sense. We actually didn't wait until we could afford kids, but a few things in our finances have lined up in the past six months or so that NJ won't break the bank, though Golden will still need to work for a while. Given that I don't really have a bad job and our house payment is lower than average, I don't know how people who make much less than me do it.

On a related note, we'll never be able to afford the time NJ requires. :)

Next, my parents are visiting us next week so we can have NJ dedicated on the July 30. This is only the second time they will have seen my house (and obviously the first time they will see NJ). The last time they were able to visit us in KC was three years ago.

Also, I've seen three movies in the past couple of days. Two were duds and one was pretty good. I wasn't that impressed with Domino or Carrie. It wasn't that they were particularly bad movies, but the elements that some might find appealing were wasted on me. However, the 1954 French version of Diabolique was very entertaining. It was one of the first plot twist movies made, and Golden said was the scariest she has seen since she watched What Lies Beneath six years ago. I was concerned that the subtitles would detract from the movie, but in this case the story was strong and intelligent enough that the subtitles weren't a big deal. The movie actually concluded with text requesting the audience to not spoil the ending for their friends.

Finally, a couple of people I didn't know real well struck up conversations with me today. First, I was outside when the mailman came by, so he stopped and talked about how nice it is now that the heat has died down some. I like our mailman, so I enjoyed this conversation. Someone else started griping to me at the gas station a little later, though, that he couldn't believe he has to pay for gas before pumping it. He started with, "This isn't Iran, is it? These people act like they can't trust American citizens any more." I pointed out that since I pay at the pump that policy doesn't affect me as much. Then I heard about how people put too many purchases on plastic nowadays. Sigh.

I have a new idea, though. I think I'll start commenting to posts before reading them. That way everyone will know that I am not trying to fill up on their stories without providing the proper textual payment.