Dangers of Fasting

I've been fasting since I was 10 years old (I confirmed this the other day when I was hovering over my mother who was busy preparing the food for the breaking of the fast or otherwise known as 'iftar' and I needed to avoid drooling on the actual food so busied myself by grilling her about when it was that I started on my path to religious enlightenment.). I admit I was rather proud of myself when she told me that I started at such a very tender age.

But there are a lot of hazards of chasing after religious righteousness. Most would say that the obvious big one is that we Muslims pretty much starve ourselves throughout the day which includes a good bit of dehydration. Now considering we're fasting upto almost 12-13 hours a day, that's a long time not to grab a cool (or warm) drink of water. But this is most certainly not the hazard of which I speak. No the one I talk of is actually far more sinister.

The last two days I've been spending a lot of time langinshing in my cube gazing at the ceiling repressing the urge to groan as smells of Columbian coffee wafts to tickle my senses. It's been torture. Those are the moments I wish I had a roof on my blasted office so that I could close out the yummilicious frangrances. Closing the damn door just isn't enough, the roof needs to box me in.

Having no energy to actually work (which still isn't the hazard of which I speak of) I spend a lot of time pondering such important issues such as 'what color should I paint my bathroom?', 'can I find capri's when it's now officially fall for my trip to europe?', 'will Europeans laugh at my capri's, especially in the French Rivera?' and 'when will the sun finally set?' But the thing I most tumble over and over around in my head is 'what will I eat when I break my fast?'

Yes, there, the true hazard of fasting. It's the daydreaming of food which you will consume...eventually. And bigger hazard than the daydreaming? It's the pitstop one makes to the grocery store on the way home. Jeez. You won't believe how many times I've re-emerged from the month of Ramadan to take a good long look into my pantry and discovered foodstuff I would have otherwise never considered buying if not for pure hunger gnawing at my gut.

So to all my Ramadan observing brothers and sisters, here's a friendly warning: AVOID THE GROCERY STORE AT ALL COST, so a month later you don't delve into your cubbard or pantry to discovered a can of spam (no, I've never bought spam) gathering dust and wonder what the hell it was you were thinking off when you thought that that would be good eats.