Now that everyone around me is popping babies like there is no tomorrow, and I guess that’s the natural circle of life, and the normal progression of my generation is to reproduce, however, one cannot help but notice how these newly “devoted” parents are completely acting like insane maniacs.
I understand that our generation was brought up with somewhat tough circumstances, I mean back then, most parents thought second hand smoking will strengthen the lungs and maybe cure  a child’s asthma, when whiskey was an appropriate desensitizer, and most families considered the space between the backseat and the back windshield a legitimate seat for the smallest family member, who is almost always just a little bit beyond infancy age;  even the lap of the driver at times was also considered as a suitable space for those kids who are able to steer the car responsibly, while the driver is trying to light up a cigarette from the car lighter, more than often it would be dropped on the car’s floor and the entire residents of the car will start looking  for it so the car won’t catch on fire, mind you the responsible steering kid is not part of the searching squad , hence his duty to begin with.

When has complaining become the core of every single conversation?
 Nowadays, whining became more of a competition; the one with most things to moan about is the one working the hardest.     
I accidentally ran into two old friends of mine at a coffee shop near my office, I have not seen them since we lived back in Jordan. At the beginning, it was a typical catching up about current news and of course, lots and lots of smoking took place on their part, Jordanians are the heaviest smokers in the region, cigarettes are such a big part of our lives that we actually use it as a time unit, a typical complaint about unpunctuality would be “you are so late I smoked half a pack waiting for you”; it is even used to measure distances, “smoke two cigarettes and you will be there”, planning for gatherings requires careful cigarette inventory forecasting, in posh funerals, we place all brands of cigarettes on a tray as a gesture of generous hospitality.      

I  Like to do things right, or so I believe. Others might say, no, this is a textbook addictive personality trait. Nevertheless, my coffee has to be so strong it gives me the shivers, my drink will get me drunk, my workout will get me numb and sore, if I like a TV series, my life will stop, and I will stay up for 2 nights in a row to finish it, ice cream must give me a brain freeze, my motto is: if 1 is good then 10 should do it. Have you ever liked a t-shirt so much you bought 5 of the same exact one? If you did, you will know what I am talking about, maybe not to the extent to be rushed to the emergency room for consuming a Costco Nutella jar during a Soprano episode!  Among the other effects of my “absolutely-nothing-in-moderation-attitude” are the facts that I can no longer drink tequila if my life depended on it, cotton buds are my worst enemy, I refrained from taking any medication, because I always think that I can take more to heal faster. Again, no mediocracy and no half-assing things GO BIG or GO HOME.
 
So, what’s up with all this tough macho talk you might ask?
 
Ok, here it is, I won a gift voucher for a full day pass at a renowned spa.

 Eid El Adha just passed, and I look around to realize that much of its tradition has changed so much that it is not recognizable anymore, I see kids hovering around on mini Segways while texting, I don’t know where to start in regards to how strange this picture is, don’t get me wrong, I am not by any means nostalgic or claim to belong to a generation who label this new generation as pampered rotten, but one must admit that we are the last surviving generation of the OLD WAYS.
 
Whether it was good or bad, that’s beside the point, but during the period of the “old ways” it was a completely different experience growing up, and it is not entirely technology related, attitudes were entirely different, admittedly there was no internet, or video games, no cell phones, back then calling a friend could have meant speaking to most of his family members before they get a hold of him, sometimes hearing an entire argument that was taking place in his house before he actually attended your call, and you could easily loose a friend because his brother decided to screen all his calls to spite him for wearing his shirt.