Men Can't Live With It

I've noticed a problem with society lately. I've labeled it manification. It seems that people are trying to manify things in order to justify the male genders use of it. This is an problem that stems back long long ago in our history. However to date the problem has not been as bad as it is now.

The example that first comes to mind is a commercial that has been running. I don't remember the product but it refers to itself as a hydrating body wash. Look we all know what a hydrating body wash is; it's a friggin body moisturising soap. The notion of a body wash is unmanly anyways, but somehow we men can think it manly enough if we call it a hydrating thingy. Yeah, because athletes hydrate, solders hydrate, you know hydrating is a manly thing. I've got news for you people hydrating isn't manly. Drinking is manly. Now that would be manly, a skin drinking soap.

I'm probably the most guilty of manification. I was looking for a new bed a week ago. I was laying on a queen sized to check it out. I was thinking screw this I'm getting the king sized, because well king is just more manly than queen. Problem is the king is bigger, and provides more comfort. Comfort is not manly. You know what is a manly bed; the ground.

Pop culture has taken masculinity and made it pretty much worthless. Shows like Manswers and the now gone Man Show pretty much exemplify what is wrong with masculinity now. It seems that now being a man is about having a six pack for abs, liking girl on girl action, and collection everything that is huge and over sized. No wonder the average single male owes more than 10k in credit card debt. Yes that is single male and credit card debt. What ever happened to the notion of manly being the ability to chop wood, fix stuff, and pay bills?

There and Back Again a Big Hobbit's Tale

I've almost been back a week now from my vacation to Utah. I did the usual flurry of nothing really productive in the itemization kind of way. I did visit with friends and family. I think there is something to that. Hanging out with your loved ones is an activity that is productive. When somebody goes to the gym to maintain their health people usually think that is a productive activity. So I think hanging out with your loved ones is maintaining your emotional and social health, which is just as important as your physical health. Come to think of it I'm pretty sure there are studies that suggest that being emotionally and socially health leads to longer happier lives.

I can also see that I could have been socially active while not on holiday. So to better view what I actually did on vacation I made a list of things I normally wouldn't do unless on vacation back to Utah:

Hugged a lot of men
Lost twice at Iron Chef, once with onion, and once with orange
Seen people I haven't seen in over eight years
Slept in till noon or later
Play analog games (board games)
Watch eight hours of football every week
See the Utes win huge
Walk around in a shopping mall
Stay up till midnight so I would be awake for Christmas
Clean dog pee out of the carpet
Bought clothes (too include running shoes)

Well that's all I can think of off the top of my head. I sure I did more stuff that I normally don't do, but I'm getting old and my brain is failing.