Is it any wonder I harbor misanthropic tendancies?

Went to a deal at the Girl Scout leader's house the other night. All of the girls in the troop go to parochial school with my kids, and I am definitely po' folk in that crowd. (On occasions when my wife makes me go to church I take great delight in pointing out those who double park their BMW SUVs so they don't get scratched, then walk past the poor box without a thought. She usually doesn't bug me about going back for a couple of months...)

Anyway, I'm sitting there amongst a very affluent group (not a beer in sight, $%*& it), listening to them, and I'll take my SF buddies over that group any day.

Got one skinny, undersized guy who has to be heard, no matter what. Probably a salesweasel. Has the obligatory kewpie doll-looking wife. Here he is in somebody else's house and he loses track of his three-year old. Never got off his posterior. He went on at length on how his kid dismantles things, then opines that since it's dark he doesn't think the kid will wander far. Never got off his butt to look for the kid. Kid eventually shows up and starts breaking stuff. The guy and his wife tell the kid to stop two or three times, then go back to dominating conversation. The kid knew they wouldn't do squat, so he never paid one bit of attention to them. I hope I don't have to see them again. Not just because the guy is annoying, but also because I don't want to listen to their whining when said kid grows up to be a sh*thead.

Then the subject of school band came up. The girls are fourth graders, so they've been invited to begin instrumental music this year. One of the joys of parochial school is that band is not covered in tuition. Musical instruction is supplied by a contractor. So I get to spend the kids' college fund on tuition and my beer money on band. It's ok. I call it being a parent.

Well, another kewpie doll wife (with dark roots in her platinum hair) had just been going on at length about how they lease a place at the ocean every summer and spend most of the summer there. That's fine. I drive a 15-year old truck, but I don't much like the beach anyway. Moments later she related that her husband announced that if band was going to cost $60 a month, no way in hell was their daughter going to join. In other words, they spend all summer at the beach, but 60 bucks a month is too much to give their daughter the opportunity to explore instrumental music.

I @$%#*!@ hate people.

Oh, and for the record my son has opted to continue playing tenor saxophone and my daughter has picked up the torch and is playing my old clarinet. I'm still playing baritone bugle in a drum and bugle corps. And the wife...well, she plays on my nerves.