One of my favorite things to do in this world is have fun. I love ..love. absolutely love going out with my crew. We hang out / drink beers/ talk about life---yell slurred lyrics at each other on the dance floor. The best memories I have come from the moments after we transcend the smoky haze of the bar emptying ourselves into the streets to be ushered on to find that late night meal. You know the one; When the romantic prospects of the evening have dried up and a different kind of appetite strikes. When the all-night diner comes to the rescue, nothing else matters. In these hollowed booths of slippery leather / advice is sought, heart break is consoled, dreams are interpreted, and career choices are mulled over. Real bonds are fortified in these moments over cold pancakes and little gems of heart-felt flora blossom into memories and spontaneous outbursts of obnoxious laughter.
For you it may be the waffle house or Ihop. For me and mine it was Canter's Deli on fairfax. I say WAS because Canter's has made the unfortunate decision to close it's doors on weekdays from 3-6am. They're still open for delivery from one of the food delivery apps like grub-hub or uber eats. But basically people are still looking to satisfy those late-night cravings only they'd rather do it at home, in their p.j.'s from their iPhones.
So how have i reacted? In classic Jordn form I stopped having fun. Canceled summer and put up the beer pong table. Nahhh but we now hit up mel's diner for the late night chow pow wow. And it pushes me to contemplate (and blog about) this trend towards convenience and short-term comfort. There are these buttons that come out every month that find their ways onto our iPhone home screens and provide us with another option to have what we need delivered to us, our way and when we want it <FAST>. What is the price for this convenience? Well aside from fucking closing my favorite after-hours diner / There might be some harmful results of becoming too dependent on these luxuries. In a way these short term luxuries are just that. And we slowly accept that as our standard. By the wayside may go our social skills (we already have people glued to their phone half the day)(we also have huge statistics of depression) we become a little more isolated and disconnected as a society and we jeopardize the fibers and webs that positive psychology recognizes as the main ingredient for a happy life ---- strong social bonds we develop through group activity out in the field of life.