Bit of a Rollercoaster Night

Man, my emotions have been jangled up all night. Started off good, having dinner with my family, putting Katy to bed, watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with my wife. I hadn't seen it before now, but it's definitely my favorite of the movies so far, and I'd say it's the first one where I liked it as much (and in some places, more) than the book.

Then, after Suzanne went to bed, I watched Gone Baby Gone. Which is from a Dennis Lehane novel about a 4-year-old girl being kidnapped. It's a good movie, every single one of the cast is amazing in it (neither Monaghan or Ryan really have a lot of screen time, but they make the most of what they have), but... damn. If you have kids, you probably spend a good chunk of time worrying about what might happen to them. It's one of the reasons I stopped watching CSI and Law & Order: SVU... things happening to kids is one of the easiest ways to do drama in a crime procedural, and... I don't need help thinking up nightmare scenarios.

It's also a mother-fucker of an ending, about as dark and bleak as you get. Or at least, that's how I interpret it.

So I was in kind of a bummed, reflective, sour mood, and then I picked up the mail, and found that we had gotten our stimulus check (right after paying off our bills, so we can actually afford to spend it!) and a letter from the Saturn dealer about possibly trading in my car, and I start pipe-dreaming about that...

Then I flip on my computer and find, quite shockingly, that a friend I didn't know was sick has pretty severe medical problems. Which is kind of overwhelming me now, and that's why I decided to vent the entirety of my night onto my blog.