$4 Oil. Go, go, go!

I didn't used to be a cynic. I had a roommate once who said he "hated people," but I couldn't believe it. How could he think that?

Fast forward ten years to the dregs of my late twenties. I have become a grumpy old man. Which brings us to my new favorite sport: rooting for the price of gas to hit $4.

Maybe there's a sort of bandwagon phenomenon here -- if everyone knows that one team is going to win, why not join? A gallon of gas is going to hit $4 whether I like it or not -- might as well root it on.

Now this might not be as funny if Helen and I didn't have too much money, or had long commutes, or two cars. We have one car that we don't drive that often. So while I notice the price of oil -- it used to take $19 to fill 'er up, now it takes $36 -- it doesn't really affect me. It's a pizza. No biggie.

But I love to watch people freak out about the price of oil. Most of those freaking out don't need to worry about anything -- the real people in a crunch are figuring out solutions: drive less, second job, no vacation. That sucks, no doubt.

All I'm saying is, we can dread the future, or we can embrace it. When they talk of Homer and $4 gas, they'll say, "He finally loved Big Brother."