How not to become a slob

[Sean]

During middle age the metabolism slows down, or some such medicalese...

Any thoughts on not going from this ten years ago to the me other day, and in fact today at the same restaurant...

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

No profound advice here:

Exercise, including 30min to 1hr vigorous aerobic exercise (swimming, elliptical, running, what have you) at least a few times a week, combined with being active throughout the day is a good way to start. You are supposed to take 10,000 steps per day, or something along those lines. Consult your doctor.

I do an hour of yoga two days per week, and I try to do 20-30 mins of mindfulness/vipassana meditation daily

I take a 20-30 min brisk walk usually first thing in the day (I would say morning, but I often get up in the afternoon  ) and it really helps me to get my thoughts together and to be optimistic

Have friends, be social, and not a total hermit

Eat a healthy diet

Get enough sleep--ie., so you are not tired through the day

Sex (plenty of)

Do things you enjoy every day. Challenge your brain with new activities, hobbies, etc.

As obvious as all this sounds, I never really paid attention to much of it (except the sex and mental stimulation parts) until I was in my 30s and acid reflux problems forced me to really evaluate my health, habits, etc.

Losing your hair you can do nothing about, so just go with it. Chicks dig bald guys (far more than those with comb-overs) or so I am told.

Women also claim that men become more "distinguished" as they age, but I suspect that this is just a thinly disguised way of saying RICH and SUCCESSFUL. An older man who is poor (no matter what else he may have going for him) will probably NEVER be accused of being "distinguished".

[DaveF]

I know we only have two photographs to go on, but in the first you look nervous, wary, distrustful of life; in the second genial, relaxed, at one with the world (and the beansprouts in oyster sauce or whatever).  Perhaps there's a bit more round the middle - or it could just be the way the shirt falls.  Here's Jerome K. Jerome visiting his doctor, worried about his health:

Then he opened me and looked down me, and clutched hold of my wrist, and then he hit me over the chest when I wasn't expecting it—a cowardly thing to do, I call it—and immediately afterwards butted me with the side of his head.  After that, he sat down and wrote out a prescription, and folded it up and gave it me, and I put it in my pocket and went out.

I did not open it.  I took it to the nearest chemist's, and handed it in.  The man read it, and then handed it back.

He said he didn't keep it.

I said:

"You are a chemist?"

He said:

"I am a chemist.  If I was a co-operative stores and family hotel combined, I might be able to oblige you.  Being only a chemist hampers me."

I read the prescription.  It ran:

    "1 lb. beefsteak, with
    1 pt. bitter beer              every 6 hours.

    1 ten-mile walk every morning.

    1 bed at 11 sharp every night.

    And don't stuff up your head with things you don't understand."

I followed the directions, with the happy result—speaking for myself—that my life was preserved, and is still going on.

Perhaps the Victorian dietary advice wants amending slightly, nor would I wish to suggest that you don't understand about your health - but you get the idea.

DF

[snyprrr]

I misread the Thread Title. Nevermind, haha!!

[Cato]

I misread the Thread Title. Nevermind, haha!!

I did too!  "How not to become a snob!"

[The new erato]

Or sob.

[Sean]

XB-70 Valkyrie

Hi, sorry for the late reply but a most engaging perusal of those notes of yours, cheers.

Firstly there's a quite amazing swimming pool here if you don't mind me saying-





This stretch is 100 metres...


When this is open it's a laned 50m pool great for some serious fitness


I still do 20 minutes of meditation twice daily, as I have since 1994; however I'm also more a practical worshipping Hindu these days.

I had a nice girl in February, plus distinct opportunities with two students since then, though really they completely bored me and I let things drift, as usually do- the subconscious kicks in and thinks You what???

But yes aging in men doesn't have much effect on women, it's kind-of peculiar when a girl's physical beauty peaks at 21...

I keep a short haircut, thanks.

As for not being a total hermit, it does seem to be my station in life- I recently trashed several of my phoney relations with the other foreign staff, telling them their ideas of socializing as five hours of two-second conversations, adolescent noise, insistence on home culture and simplistic television and music was entirely opposed to an intellectual environment. More serious but happy conflict to come.

[Sean]

Hi DaveF

Sincere thanks for this-

we only have two photographs to go on, but in the first you look nervous, wary, distrustful of life; in the second genial, relaxed, at one with the world

You brighten my day...

However in a sense I'm more wary and distrustful than ever, though perhaps more genial- if you understand the psychotics around you and the social drugging they need to keep half-sane then your tolerance levels are much higher.

Some people with a nice genial disposition see the world on another level... Most of the time I'm horrified at life and pretty far from being at one with the world. Much of it can sail off into the night and burn if it likes.

S

[Sean]

Slob, snob, sob, snub, snout, s.o.b, sociopath, all good.