"Back in my day..."

These days I catch myself starting stories with "When I was younger..." or "Back in my day...". I sometimes think I'm an 80 year old man with a bad back. However, it's only because I feel today's youth is misguided.

When did being innocent become out of style?

In today's celebrity obsessed culture, there are no role models for these kids born after 1984. MTV has become irrelevant in my opinion, with the exception of Vanessa Minnillo. After all, she is my soulmate. That network bombards the public with super-sweet 16s and Orange County beaches in which greedy, spoiled kids spout shit that would get them kicked out of the house if ever uttered in the Generoso household. Celebrities are put on almost god-like pedestals and yet we enjoy watching them fall. Britney, the picture of domesticity...or Paris, the model of chastity... did you feel that scoff? It was pretty loud.

Where did sitcoms in which kids weren't the wiseasses go?
What happened to playing in the park and drawing on the sidewalk with chalk?
Can we get a gaming console that we'd have to open up, blow out the dust and turn back on to make it work?
Where's the next Michael Jordan...or at least a figure EVERYONE wants to strive to be like?
Saturday morning sitcoms where teenagers got into all sorts of mischief but had a positive, self-affirming message at the end of the episode?
What's so wrong with wearing 'Roos, come to think of it, why don't they make LA Gears anymore?
Forget cell phones or even pagers...how about old fashioned note passing or desk messages to the girl who sat in the same seat 6th period.
What song will trigger the next "Fresh Prince" type of reaction?

Forget the bling, forget the emo, forget everything...

I miss the simpler times.