Buying a House, or "Twilight of the Idols"
Well, it's official, I have placed an offer on two houses in my hometown of Vacaville, CA. In preparation, I have begun selling off some possessions for the sake of padding my bank account balance for the closing costs, down payment, deposit, and so on.
Purchasing a house forces you to think long-term and to have clear priorities. For example, I am selling my prized DVD boxed set of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which I would never have considered selling a year ago. Of course, since then, the various incarnations of Star Trek have become available for instant streaming on Netflix, so the DVDs are not as necessary as they have been in the past. But it is possible to think of the Star Trek DVDs as a symbol, an idol of sorts, a testament to the priorities of a younger and more frivolous former self.
Granted, I will probably purchase the soon-to-be-released Blu-Ray edition of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but the short-term tradeoff of my beloved Star Trek collection for the sake of long-term stability and owning my own house is a wise financial decision.
Besides, owning my own house will allow me to focus on some of my other interests and passions in life, such as vegetable gardening and raising backyard chickens. So perhaps it is not the Twilight of the Idols after all, for new idols and priorities ebb and flow with the seasons and years in the course of a human lifetime.
