[Noah930]

OK, mini-vent:

It's back-to-school time. My kids are little: in elementary school. My daughter wants to go back-to-school shopping with Mrs. Noah tomorrow. On her list, my daughter mentioned a new backpack. (Here's where I, ahem, disagreed.) She's got 2 backpacks she can use. But she's spurred by a BFF that is now on her 3rd backpack of this back-to-school time of year.

Are you fookin' kidding me? First was ordered from Japan and is on backorder. 2nd was ordered from China and arrived, but deemed to be too small for American-sized notebooks. So now the kid's on her 3rd of the season.

I told my kids this is ridiculous. I got through all of HS, college, and grad school with 2 backpacks. I still remember them. I still have the one I bought sophomore year in college. It got me through 3 years of college and 2 years of grad school classes, as well as a motorbike crash and bicycle crash where I went sliding on asphalt on it. And it still works fine.

I told my kids: you use your backpack until it breaks. Then you sew it back together. If you don't know how to sew, you teach yourself. And then, when your repair fails, then you can get a new backpack.

Now get off my fooking lawn!