Joe Barcello likes to think he's more handsome than the gentlemen is this picture!

I have hair in my ears. This shocks and appalls me. I also can’t touch my toes anymore and I have an arthritic thumb that can predict rainfall. How did this happen? I have the brain of a teenager but the body of well…my Dad. Actually I’m a little fatter than him now.

What kind of time warp was I in that I now find myself middle aged? Proper middle aged by the way. I’m 38. I find few things more annoying than a 64 year old Baby Boomer claiming to be “middle aged.” Really? Hey Pops do you plan on living to 128? I don’t so. I don’t care how much fish oil you take and what kind of erectile dysfunction medication you’re on. In my eyes you have one foot in the grave. Better make the best of your final 20 years (if you’re lucky). All I ask is that you embrace the fact that you want that Porsche to compensate for your baldness and not because of some stage of life you’re going through.

I guess in my mind I thought I’d be more evolved by now. Somehow more “grown up.” Sure I like some classical music and I can formulate an opinion on the corporate bailouts and the Social Security crisis. But I also still play video games and listen to old school rap. Does that make me interesting or conflicted? I’m not sure. For now I’ll just keep plucking ear hairs and playing Rock Band on the Wii with my kids.

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Joe Barcello is a self-employed city guy opts to quit his job, move to the country and stay home with the kids while his wife pays the bills.  Check out his own hysterical blog entitled Immature and Old.

Prototypical Generation X'er, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkin fame

At the risk of getting all gossipy here, blogger Lisa M posts this article about Billy Corgan and Jessica Simpson.  An interesting read on its own but it also provokes some very grave thoughts.

Considering Corgan fronted one of Generation X’s seminal bands (and probably my all-time favorite), The Smashing Pumpkins, it’s with great amusement that we are now linking our icons with midlife crises.  Are we really middle age already?  Is that possible?

Let’s see… according to the all-knowing wikipedia, the average life expectancy in the US in 78.2 years.  Uh oh.  My quick, back-of-the-napkin math reveals that half of that figure is roughly 39.  And I am 39 now.  Suddenly, this has taken an ugly turn from amusement to bewilderment.  I always thought the stereotypical ”mid-life” male was fat, balding, and incorrigibly boring.  Wait, I think I match a couple of those descriptions (I’ll let you decide which ones).

So, while it’s possible that I may now qualify as middle-age, in typical Generation X fashion, I will rebel against any social norm!  Which, in this case, means going to the gym, hairclub for men, then partying all night in NYC!  Are you with me?