Life advices

Some thoughts on the premises/scenarios of some of the things that Peter Sarsgaard has been in.

Firstly, there's this one movie that I haven't yet watched, but would like to watch, where he plays a 30 something man who begins a relationship of sorts with a 16 year old girl. It made me think about the idea of 30 something men dating 16 year old girls. Personally, I don't condone such a thing because I think it's kind of (or a lot) weird and I also would not get myself into such a situation. I'm somewhat older than 16, but I still wouldn't date a 30 year old. No way. I think that there are so many ways that something like that can go wrong/badly. So in general it's probably a bad idea.  (although I'm not saying that it necessarily goes badly in this particular movie, just that such a situation very well could) I'm glad that when I was 16 I did not get involved with a 30 year old and I'm glad that I'm not getting involved with one now, either. At present, I would only date someone who is a couple of years older than me, at most. Older than that I think would be weird. Obviously, other people may have other standards for this kind of thing, but that's my personal rule. I do kind of wonder what it would be like to get involved with someone a great deal older than me, but not enough to actually try it. (and, while we're on this topic, so many people on the online dating website are so ugly) 

The second one is a tv drama (possibly leaning more towards soap opera in terms of the amount of drama - granted, I don't watch this genre of show that much and the only reason I'm watching this one is because of Peter Sarsgaard) where Peter plays a father who is married, and just had his 40th birthday party, during which something happens that will disrupt the lives of all the people involved (his friends and family, and also himself, it seems). The events that I watched happen in just the first episode reminded me of the things I read about in advice columns, like the one Slate.com has and the two that are in the Washington Post, to give you an idea of the kinds of interpersonal conflicts occurring in the show. Getting to the point, the guy that Peter plays (his name is Hector, which to me sounds Hispanic, but this Hector is of Greek descent) is having an affair with the babysitter. He vows to stop the affair in the first episode and the babysitter agrees, but I have a feeling that promise falls through, and my prediction is that his marriage will fall apart as the show progresses. I wonder if I'm right about that.. 

The general idea of this post can be boiled down to two rules to live life by, probably*: Don't get involved with men twice your age (at least while you're still a teenager) and, if you're a 40 something married man with a family, don't get involved with the babysitter. Tsk tsk.

*I don't speak from experience, just from what I would consider to be common sense.  

Edit: as I continue to watch the show (assuming I don't get bored of it), I think it could be interesting to write fictional advice column inquiries from the perspectives of the characters. For example: (I'm sure I've read something along the lines of this before in an advice column, actually) "I love my wife, we have two children together, but I am having an affair wit the babysitter. I know I shouldn't, but my wife doesn't know [yet] and it's such a breath of fresh air to be with someone else every so often." 
Imagine that!