MetaChat - Speaking of old people...

MetaChat is an informal place for MeFites to touch base and post, discuss and chatter about topics that may not belong on MetaFilter. Questions? Check the FAQ. Please note: This is important.

23 August 2007

Speaking of old people... I guess I'm officially one of them.→[More:] At age 30, the human body's major organs begin to decline.... Which means I've been on the downslope for years. Time to start thinking more about sex, I guess.

post by: dersins at: 14:30 | 35 comments

This is why I plan to overdose on heroin while falling from a plane on April 4th, 2011.

posted by Ambrosia Voyeur 23 August | 14:43

Is that your 30th birthday?

posted by malaprohibita 23 August | 14:55

They say memory is the first thing to... um... what? Say... you ladies look nice.

posted by Joe Invisible 23 August | 14:57

Ha! A few years ago, I mentioned some malady in passing to my older brother. He arched a brow at me, said, "What are you, 30? Yeah, that's when it all starts going to hell."

Inspiring.

posted by Elsa 23 August | 14:58

Well that's just fucking GREAT.

posted by Specklet 23 August | 15:16

eh, I'm quite old, and feel great. Better than I did at 30, when I was having migraines and backaches all the time. YMMV, and stress, or lack of it, as well as how you eat, sleep, and so on, has a lot to do with it - but it's not always the case that you just keep feeling worse.

Up to a point.

(I'm not even reading the article, because I don't want to find out how I'm supposed to be feeling.)

posted by taz 23 August | 15:32

Ah, don't worry about it, 30 is the new 29 1/2.

posted by doctor_negative 23 August | 15:36

Oh yeah, get off my porch you lousy kids!
(turning 44 on Sunday) :(

posted by doctor_negative 23 August | 15:37

malaprohibita: the day before my 30th birthday.

posted by Ambrosia Voyeur 23 August | 15:44

Bah. 30's young.

except that my hip hurts when I run now and I can't drink as much as I used to and I get backaches and actually have to go to bed before 11 now and please somebody help me it's all falling apart

posted by cobra! 23 August | 15:47

You guys are all puppies.

I am 48 and a half. Never felt better. Life is good. No one thinks I look as old as I am (or else I am surrounded by lots and lots of liars.)

I plan to get older, but I'm gonna put off getting old.

posted by bunnyfire 23 August | 15:50

I'm a lot more physically fit than I was at 30. I think I look better (hell, I can afford better haircuts now), and I don't smoke anymore. So I wouldn't trade 38 (there I said it) for 30.

Besides, as they say, consider the alternative.

posted by Miko 23 August | 15:53

I've enjoyed my 30s more than any other time in my life since the age of 7 or so. Until I was struck by a car this winter, I was strong and flexible and my body did almost any reasonable thing I asked it to do. For the moment, I creep around, prematurely old, but I'm working hard to get that strength back.

I turned 38 this month. I'm confident and outspoken, but life has buffed off some of the brash idiocy of my youth. I'm old enough to appreciate the physical manifestations of my youth, and so for the first time ever, I routinely like how I look, much more than I did when I was a 20-year-old sylph. I've come to see the traces of aging as a gift, not a burden.

Yeah, cobra!, I can drink only a wee bit these days. But hey! Two drinks and I'm giddy! It's fun! And frugal!

posted by Elsa 23 August | 16:01

Besides, as they say, consider the alternative.

My first partner never lived to see 30, and that shaped how I feel about my own aging: it's something I get to do. Yay, me! Don't die just yet, me!

posted by Elsa 23 August | 16:04

Yeah, cobra!, I can drink only a wee bit these days. But hey! Two drinks and I'm giddy! It's fun! And frugal!

That's the upside that I try to look at a lot. if I have a beer with dinner, I get my money's worth out of it...

To be honest, I really do enjoy being 32, hip pains or not. I often find myself wanting to travel back in time so that I can punch my 25-year-old self in the face for being such a smarmy wiseass; I think age has made me a lot less punchable.

posted by cobra! 23 August | 16:09

I often find myself wanting to travel back in time so that I can punch my 25-year-old self in the face for being such a smarmy wiseass

yes. very much so. only not you, me. i just turned 39 for the record.

posted by lonefrontranger 23 August | 16:19

Like I always do when I have a birthday coming up, I've been reflecting on age and immaturity. They both seem to increase at the same rate -- for me, anyway.

I've also had to start increasing the font size on pretty much every website, else I can't read the text. It's a touch depressing.

posted by mudpuppie 23 August | 16:26

Yep, I've joined the old cheap drunk set too...course, now it just makes me want to go to sleeeeeppp.

posted by mightshould 23 August | 16:26

This is why I plan to overdose on heroin while falling from a plane on April 4th, 2011.

DAMNIT THAT'S MY EXIT. Except I'd probably choose different drugs. And I'd be as naked as a bird.

Though, that'd probably be a pretty good time to try heroin.

posted by loquacious 23 August | 16:30

All these age posts today have me thinking I should go find people my own age to play with. . .

posted by danf 23 August | 16:38

Yeah, I'm just joshin' about not wanting to get old. I have nothing to fear, apparently. My grandparents are all yet living, and my great-grandad kicked it by falling down the stairs and breaking his neck. But then he went to the pub. Where he ordered a pint. Which he had to use a straw to drink. Then he kicked off. Cool guy.

posted by Ambrosia Voyeur 23 August | 16:41

Pup: It could be your eyesight, or more likely could be that you're using a higher-resolution laptop screen that renders a given point size as physically smaller.

posted by Triode 23 August | 16:56

Thanks, triode, but it's not laptop-specific. Any computer, anywhere, the print's too damn small!

posted by mudpuppie 23 August | 17:07

Your organs decline and your cognitive abilities are at their peak so you can keep track of every single dip in performance and ability. I have a birthday in a few weeks (yay Virgos!) and, like Miko, I swear I didn't feel half this good when I was 30.

posted by jessamyn 23 August | 17:15

(yay Virgos!)

The world can be divided into two groups:

1. Virgos
2. Virgo wannabes

(right, jessamyn?)

posted by danf 23 August | 17:22

41 in six days.

posted by craniac 23 August | 17:24

(right, jessamyn?)

Yes. I'll go make a post about that right now.

posted by jessamyn 23 August | 18:00

Meh, turning 55 was the best thing that ever happened to me.

posted by cmonkey 23 August | 18:00

I turned 41 earlier this month, and when I say it I feel like I'm lying (to make myself sound older). I feel good, for the most part (aches, pains, the usual - I pay attention to my body more). The best part is really liking myself at this age. I wish I had this kind of self confidence when I was younger. I can't believe my oldest child (that I gave birth to) is 14 and going in to high school. How can that be, when, I'm still only in my 20's?

posted by redvixen 23 August | 18:56

I have Virgo rising and was NOT pleased to learn that...chupahija is one. The men are generally sweethearts though-- with one or two exceptions.

I'm 39 and still look like a naive cow--I had to replace my suitcase and a saleswoman cawed, "are you running away from home?" as I was wheeling it out of Macy's.

I've learned that regular exercise makes me feel better.

posted by brujita 23 August | 22:37

I love being 43 personally. I feel like I've just figured out how to actually live my life in the last few years. I'm definitely creakier than I was twenty years ago but I was so fucking clueless about everything when I was young that I'm sort of amazed that I managed to run my life at all.

posted by octothorpe 23 August | 23:07

I wish I had this kind of self confidence when I was younger.

Ain't that the truth? If only we could take our confidence and self-knowledge and do it all over again. Knowing what a difference that make sometimes makes me want to find ways to mentor teenage/college age girls. And just keep repeating to them: Be confident. You're fabulous. Be confident. You're fabulous. Until the belueve.

Honestly, if there's a single thing that delayed my development, it was this personal hesitation coming from the whispering voice "maybe I'm not good enough." Screw that! Wish I'd known to say "screw that" when I was 18.

But anyway, here we all are now, and today's what we got. Yee-ha.

posted by Miko 23 August | 23:51

I'll be 40 in the next few weeks, and I can honestly say that physically I don't feel any different than I was in my 20's.

Maybe I just don't remember and it's my memory that's going :~P

I would never in a million years want to be 20 again. My god I was just plain stupid. I'll save that whole saga for another time ;)

Moral of the story is that I don't feel old, and I know I definately don't look old! Thanks for great genes!!

posted by cleo 24 August | 00:40

I'm gonna shoot myself in the head the minute that smoking pot, pretty wimmin, and loud guitars are no longer interesting diversions. That said, I'm in better shape at 41 than I was at 21, even if I am a few pounds heavier: somehow I've made gradual healthy lifestyle changes (better diet, more exercise, fewer late nights) that weren't really planned, but sort of just evolved. I actually like myself now, and feel that I have nothing to prove to anyone, which is, really, Punk As Fuck. And my idea for the perfect death hasn't changed a bit: I wanna be walking down the street on a cool spring afternoon, eating a corned beef sandwich with lots of brown mustard, checking out a pretty girl's ass, and have a piano fall on my head. Of course, having written this, I'll prolly have a heart attack in my sleep tonight.

And AV, that sounds like an excellent plan, but I'm waiting until the comet hits on 12/21/2012 (Mayan calendar, y'all, respeck), at which time I will consume large quantities of powerful hallucinogens and spend my last few hours running around telling people what I REALLY thought about them.

posted by BitterOldPunk 25 August | 00:47

Ain't that the truth? If only we could take our confidence and self-knowledge and do it all over again. Knowing what a difference that make sometimes makes me want to find ways to mentor teenage/college age girls.

If I had my current level of insight and confidence back when I was in college in 1992, my relationship with college girls would *not* have been characterized by *mentoring*. So, it's a good thing that I was socially deficient. I lost my lip virginity at age 24, I think.

posted by craniac 25 August | 00:58

← bonus friday! w00t! || "That's what I think of TV news." →

HOME || REGISTER || LOGIN