Oops. Forgot to delete that "more inside" thingy.

The face I am making to express consternation is extremely refrained and not at all animated.

All the women round here who look young have non-animated faces, but that's due to Botox.

It just seems to me that if you're more interested in looking young than feeling young, to the point where you're gonna be policing how animatedly you interact with others, something's a bit off.

Or a lot off.

lol, occhiblu, this falls hard on the heels of a yahoo fluff-piece I read recently that claimed facial *exercise* is the new tried-and-true way to combat wrinkles.

either way, you lose, eh? I think hard science is in favour of just keeping the sleep levels up, and the stress levels down. Beyond that, I find I'd rather be mistaken for wise than callow, and aging is inevitable.

essexjan: eurgh, Botoxed faces (to me) look plasticky, fake and not-quite right, almost like burn/skin graft victims, or airbrushed catalog pics or something. Of course, I live in a region that proudly embraces sun-enhanced, windburned premature aging, tho. The outdoorsy crowd in CO tends toward the leathered/weathered look compared to most. Eh, well, at least they're not overweight!

well here you go. Bingo, Fountain of Youth, right?

...well, all except that:

"Topical inhibitors of NF-kB already exist for treating inflammatory skin diseases like dermatitis. It's unclear, however, whether those creams would deliver a high enough dosage of the inhibitor. And a higher dose could lead to unforeseen side effects since NF-kB has a variety of other functions aside from controlling aging.

"If you inhibit it too much, you might cause too much rejuvenation and cause cell proliferation," said Hoffman. "The possibility of causing cancer that way may be there."

and even more to the point:

"aging might actually be an evolved protection against cancer. As cells age they start undergoing changes which reduce the rate of reproduction and, hence, reduce the risk of transcriptions errors giving rise to cancers. This link has some more information on this. Anyway, it seems that without the 'advantages' of aging people would die relatively young due to the proliferation of cancers."

Story about the price of vanity:

I saw a woman at New Year who used to live near me, we were good friends for a while. But she moved away in the spring, to a horrible little commuter town right out in Essex, because she wanted to free up equity in her house to pay for plastic surgery.

She's in her late 50s, and is very, very fit, she started running about 8 years ago, became obsessive about it and started to run marathons, do triathlons, do a spinning class every lunchtime then run 10 miles every night. She ran competitively in veterans' races, was President of her local running club, she lived for running.

She looked marvellous for her age, very Latin looking, dark flashing eyes, fabulous legs, always tanned, always dressed to the nines.

So, she moved away, and I saw her during the summer when she was back at Holly House (the local private hospital) for a follow-up with the surgeon who'd done her boob job.

In addition to the boob job, she was planning on having liposuction on her thighs, butt and stomach, a tummy tuck, a butt lift and the skin on her arms tightened. I couldn't see any reason why she needed all this, but she was adamant about having it. (I've had major abdominal surgery and boob surgery - both for medical reasons - and nothing on earth would persuade me to have cosmetic surgery.)

Anyway I saw her on New Year's Eve and, as always, she was dressed to the nines, and I asked her how she was, did she like her new home, has she joined a running club out there?

She's had all the surgery she was planning to have, that cost her almost £50,000. But she can't run any more because of her new boobs. She misses the running, and because she's not exercising so much, she's put on weight, so the lipsuction she had was a waste of time.

And she said she's lonely. The place where she lives now - South Woodham Ferrers - is a commuter town where people travel to London to work. It's a soulless place and she's found it very difficult - a widow in her late 50s - to make friends because it's mostly young families there.

So, she has new boobs, new teeth too (I could've bought a new car with what she spent on her veneers), and an empty life. She lived for running, she absolutely loved it, and now she can't do it any more because her new boobs are too heavy and she's been warned they'll sag if she runs, even in the firmest bra.

And the one thing that she can't turn the clock back on is her skin. She always has a deep tan, her idea of a holiday is to go somewhere hot - very hot - and lie in the sun all day. And it's taken its toll. She's very, very wrinkled and whilst from a distance she might look 35, up close her skin betrays a lifetime of sun damage.

I felt sad seeing her - because of vanity she moved away from the area she'd always lived in, to the middle of nowhere, and she's had to give up the sport she loved. The man she thought would be the result of her efforts has not come into her life.

ugh, jan that sounds terrible, what a shame. I have what might charitably be called 'mosquito bites' on a good day (and in a padded bra, at that) but nothing would EVER persuade me to augment. Full disclosure: my mother (!!) hounded me about getting a boob job when I was younger (this explains loads about our non-relationship, I think) but even back then when I was even sillier, shallower and vainer than I am now, I knew it was a bad idea.

Turns out that most of the cool guys I ever truly enjoyed being with? yeah, that's right, they honestly didn't care about that. But then I've always dated men who prefer the trim, outdoorsy, athletic type, and I'll settle for being "cute" over "hawt" since it means I can keep up with, and even beat the boys on occasion.

Besides I've heard from the well-endowed girls that it's very tough to win sprints in a bike race when your boobs hit the top tube (ow!).

I'm all for trying to stay out of the sun and using creams and such, but I am going to work hard to earn the face I will have in a few years.

I'm hopeful it will include smile lines rather than frown lines, and I'm hopeful it will be very animated. I can't imagine trying to sit still and not live just to look one way or another, I want to live!!

And over on the guys' side of the aisle, we have men who take steroids. The drugs make them look buff and hawt; unfortunately, they also tend to create (being discreet here 'cause I'm typing this on company time) performance issues.

So they have no problem attracting people. But they can't connect with the people they attract.

But these processes are rooted in narcissism, so connection probably isn't the point anyway.

I use anti-hag cream every day, which seems to work for me.

hehe at essexjan :)

I went to see Elaine Stritch tonight at the Caryle. I thought Feinsteins at the Regency was fancy, but it has nothing on the Carlye. I saw the woman I want to be in 30 years- you know Bridget, one of the "Girls Next Door"? (Hef's "girlfriend?) She looked like that, only older, but more tightly pulled- perfectly done, nothing over the top, but clearly worked on. Long blonde hair, tight leopard dress, fabulous shoes. DO WANT.