Nothing important

Michael C. and I took both of my cars in to Winchester yesterday and got the oil changed. It was about 6:00PM when we left, and Michael had missed dinner, so I took him to Chili's. I had a good time talking to Michael. I haven't had a one-on-one conversation with him in a while.

The things that can be said in a one-on-one conversation seem a lot more meaningful than things that are said in a group setting. Group conversations are good, don't get me wrong -- I just find it very hard to actually engage in meaningful conversation. In a two-person conversation, I do not feel the need to try to be funny. In a more-than-two-person conversation, I do feel that need, and it is a horrible thing to feel like it needs to be done. If the group is talking about something not too terribly amusing, like philosophy or history, I always throw in stupid comments or one-liners that are funny at first thought, but incredibly stupid after the words have been said.

My other problem in this matter is that my pride makes it next to impossible to learn from mistakes. OK, I know it's not actually next to impossible -- it's just very difficult. Why is that? Because I've filled my head with so much nonsense about "I'm the greatest" or "I'm so cool" or "I never make mistakes."

{giggles}

It sounds like I'm listening to motivator tape that says, "Tell yourself that you're cool. Tell yourself that you're the greatest at what you do." Well, I confess, I don't. (I had you, didn't I?) I just say that to get a laugh out of a group, because it's so obviously not the case. The downside to telling it to a group is you actually begin to think that.

Come to think of it, that's probably why there are so many jerks in the world -- they're all telling themselves that they are not jerks and that they are good as gold...

Anyway... Sorry about that tangent.

I watched Yours, Mine, and Ours yesterday, a movie about an admiral in the military with eight kids and a fashion design artist with ten. In both cases, their spouses passed away. (That's already a bonus -- neither of them were divorced, so they actually can get married.) They were sweethearts in school, but they went their separate ways, until they met up again, and got married. The courtship, engagement, and marriage went by really quickly, and so now this couple has eighteen children.

Eighteen kids, plus the parents. Twenty family members. Isn't that awesome? Seriously. There are five in my immediate family. That's 1/4 the size of that family. No one would ever be bored. Ever. Video games would go out the window. Exercise would not be a problem. Quick thinking and expert judgment would be practically ingrained into you.

But, no, the modern world views the "normal" family as two parents, and (if they are lucky) two kids. Usually one kid. It's weird seeing a family with four. Five, you must be out of your mind. Six? What are you, a rabbit?

Eighteen.

This movie showed the power of large families. I saw this movie, and I loved it. It showed no religious viewpoints, at least none that I picked up on.

But, if you look at it right, it was a slam against extremists in either the conservative or the liberal party. Here's how I saw it, and this is stretching.

The admiral is the father (obviously), whose name is Frank Beardsley. This family reminded me of the Sound of Music. It was actually very refreshing seeing a father in control of his kids. (Once again, another score for people who have no control over their kids, let them run absolutely wild, show them no discipline, buy them everything they want, and then, when the kid is bad, say, "I don't know where he got it from."

The fashion design artist, whose name is Helen, is, on the other hand, a pretty good example of the other end of the spectrum. Her house is a mess, they have about five pets, and her kids all do their own thing. Nothing too terribly wrong with that, because she does keep a certain amount of control over them. However, her motto is, "Home is for free expression, the outside is for good impression." Sounds a bit quirky to me, but OK. It works for her. The entire family is involved with the arts at some point, so everything works.

Imagine mixing military discipline with the arts. There is restricted freedom of arts. On the other hand, the discipline no longer goes unquestioned. The happy medium is shown in the movie.

The only thing I saw with the movie that could potentially bug me is that it conveys the message, "Why can't we all just get along?" On certain levels it would bug me. I don't think that it was trying to convey the meaning across the board. If it did, there would be problems.

Today, I went to Mass at Christendom. Nothing special. We did some singing around the brunch table, led by Lizzie, Michael and Draper, and joined soon after by many others.

I'm watching the Sound of Music tonight with Sarah and Carissa, possibly a few more people -- I'm not sure.

Aside from that, I think I'm looking forward to starting work again on Monday. Why? I'll save that for another time...