Comic Tuesday: It's like counting the rings on a tree.

Cartoon Tuesday: Getting older......

Yep, no S1ngle this week. Hope you enjoy this one just as much.

Cartoon Tuesday: Is age an issue?

Robbie’s Rudebox became Dakota’s trip down memory lane.

Not sure about this title because according to the urban dictionary a rudebox means a dog’s ass….but hey, that’s besides the point! Ehmm….point, that reminds me of a round shape, which reminds me of a ball and oh, a game! So, if you are not interested in music, skip to the end of this post….there is a game waiting for you!

The other day one of my friends left a couple of CD’s behind for me to listen to and one of them was “Rudebox” by Robbie Williams. Hmmz….not exactly my cup of tea, I thought.
I am not a huge Robbie fan (I guess I’m too old for that) and I didn’t like the single “Rudebox” all that much, so the CD stayed in the same spot as it was dropped in the first place.

Yesterday however, the same friend came by to collect the CD’s again and asked if I’d listened to them all and if so, what did I think of them (for some reason my opinion seem to matter ;)). We talked about most of the CD’s but I meticulously left Robbie out of the discussion. My friend is no fool and quickly discovered that I hadn’t listened to it and reprimanded me. Bad Dakota….shame on you!! (Foei!…as we would say in Dutch).
After a while my friend had to go, I made sure he had all his CD’s (check!) and then waved goodbye.

I was quite astonished to find Rudebox near my PC with a post-it on it saying “Listen to it…..now!”. I, the ever docile Dakota, thought “Okay, if you insist”. I skipped the first song, which is “Rudebox” btw and then was pleasantly surprised by the rest of the CD. Okay, the first few tracks are a bit lame, but when you get to track 4 you are in for a surprise, a cover of Manu Chao’s Bongo Bong. Remember that one? The song is pretty much the same as the original, but I do like the added vocals of Lily Allen (ever listened to Alright still? Great CD!)

The fifth song reminded me of the 80’s electronic music era and is called “She’s Madonna” and is a song about……well, Madonna! (or Madge! as some of us like to call her). From there on it’s a lot of 80’s and 90’s music and you can’t help but thinking “Hey, I know this!”. Remember “Hotel, Motel, Holiday inn”, a line used in “Rappers delight” by the Sugarhill Gang? Do you remember the Human League? Philip Oakey’s hair (which is gone now)? I hate to admit it, but I actually liked the Human League way back then. Anyway, their song “Louise” is on this album. Or how about Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy's "Kiss Me (with your mouth)"? “What have I done to deserve this” by the Pet Shop Boys? Man, they say you are getting old when you can remember the original songs…...well, I guess I am pretty ancient! :)
Oh, almost forgot, there are two other songs I kind of like too "the 80s" and "90s” in which Robbie looks back on his life!

Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised by the CD. I’ve listened to it a couple of times now and I actually like it. Why,? Because it’s different, he is even rapping (or should I say..attempting to rap) on this album! No “Angel” or “Feel” clones, Robbie chose the road less travelled, a big step but I think he should explore this road further.

Oh…. Almost forgot about the game! Want to do a little bit exploring of your own? Try this annoying little came. It’s a simple game, just keep two balls in the air ;)

<-- Click the Pic to play! Good luck ;)
(You can change the language on the left)

Who wants to live forever?

The other day I was doing some shopping when I walked past a bus shelter. Over here we put ads almost everywhere, so no bus shelter is without one, two or maybe even 3 or 4 ads.

Last week they had put up a new collection and one was very prominently present. It was this Madonna for H&M one! At first I walked just past it, thinking ‘hey, that looks like Madonna for H&M!’ But then I thought ‘No hold on, that cannot be Madonna…..there is no wrinkle on her? So, I retraced my steps and went in for a closer inspection. There was no denying it, it certainly was Madonna, with no wrinkles, smudges or blemishes. Okay, when I looked really close I saw only one tiny line under one of her eyes (good that they left it there, if they had removed that too, she would have looked like a shop dummy) .
Man, how is that possible……she is 48 FGS!! Is this really what 48 looks like these days? Nah, I am not willing to believe that. This is either the work of a Photoshop-pro (can I get his number?) or a amazing plastic surgeon (no, I don’t want his number ;)), what else could it be? Kabbalah and a healthy lifestyle? I am really not sure that they can accomplish that! But there are, however other miracles coming soon! (in a pharmacy near you ;)).

Today I came across this: Live forever. - By Brendan O'Neill

“A Harley St plastic surgeon plans to sell an anti-ageing drug. But do you want to live forever, or perhaps to the ripe old age of 1,000? There was a time when beating biology to become immortal was the stuff of dreams.

Dr Jeya Prakash claims he has reversed the ageing process by injecting himself and his wife with a human growth hormone which has improved their memories and removed wrinkles. He now plans to open a clinic offering the anti-ageing treatment.

For staying young is a fantasy long indulged by navel-gazing billionaires who spend a small fortune to become cryogenically frozen upon death so that they can make a comeback in the future when medical science has moved on.

And it's the stuff of fairytales. Various mythical stories tell of a Fountain of Youth, a mystical spring that grants eternal vitality to all who drink from it.

These are pipe dreams. For most of us getting older, frailer and eventually popping our clogs are simple facts of life.

Now, however, there is a growing band of scientists and philosophers who truly believe that biological boundaries can be pushed back, allowing humans to live to 200, 300, 1,000 and maybe even longer.”

Full story here.

Honestly, I think it’s great if they really invented something that will improve people’s memory and maybe remove a few wrinkles, but do we really want to live for a 1,000 years? That is a mighty long time, isn’t it? Well, I don’t have to worry about that. According to the article, I can count my blessings when I reach the blessed age of 100. But how about you, yeah you younger people, do you want to reach your, for example, 200th birthday? (That must be one gigantic birthday cake, how else are you going to fit 200 candles on there)

Huh? Middle aged!?

Last Saturday I was at the library trying to find some of the books which are on my “to read” list. Of course most of them weren’t available (as usual) or lost in some archive …boohoo! But hey, that’s what you get when you have to go to a library. Sure, I could just buy the books, but I read too much (I am a book addict) to buy them all. It would simply cost me a fortune.

But back to the books I was looking for. One of them was a Dutch book called “Op de helft”. When you translate that into English you get something like “Halfway”. This book contains interviews with Dutch celebrities, who are in my age group. It’s not that I want to learn more about those celebrities, I think it’s interesting to find out how others look at life at this age.
It was quite a miracle, but they had that book on the shelf right there and then. Hoorah! So I wrote down the specifics, finding a book in the library can sometimes feel like going on a quest, and walked over to one of the bookcases which hold all sorts of informative books about life etc. Life is quite complex so there are a lot of books on the subject :) To make things easier (uhum) they have created all sorts of sub-categories. Still, it took me a while to find the book I was looking for, but when I finally did it left me a bit dumbfounded. Was I seeing things? Did they actually had the nerve to label this book as being part of the “middle age” section? No, I’m not talking about Middle ages here, but middle age!! Come on…..that would mean I’m middle aged too :( Totally dazed I left the library!

When I got home (with my book of course) I was still a bit perplexed. Am I really middle aged, living in the period they call midlife? Oh, such a shock to the system! My, my, my, I am old, over the hill, past my sell-by date*. This all might sound totally weird to you all, but I never think much about my age. I actually need to think when someone asks my age. I never ever thought about belonging to a certain age category! But I did some research and there is no denying it:

middle age
n.
The time of human life between youth and old age, usually reckoned as the years between 40 and 60. Also called midlife.

Middle age
is a non-specific age when a person is not old, not young, but somewhere in the middle

“Middle age is youth without levity, and age without decay”

Oh, just in case you are wondering……I did not depress me. Okay it did, but just for a few minutes. Now I am back to normal. Hey come on…..They can put a label on me, but I still can make sure it doesn’t stick :)

(* No I am not! :) But isn’t that the thing you supposed to say when you discover something like this)

What is old anyway?

The other day I went shopping with my Mum, a rare event but that's a different story. I noticed that she talked a lot about old or elderly people. My mother is in her 70’s, not a real spring chick(en) and a lot of people would say she is quite old herself. It took me a while to figure it out, but my Mum calls people in their late 80’s/early 90's old. But what is old anyway?

According to Wikipedia “Old age consists of ages nearing the average lifespan of human beings, and thus the end of the human life cycle. Euphemisms for older people include advanced adult, elderly, and senior or senior citizen. Older people have limited regenerative abilities and are more prone to disease, syndromes, and sickness than other adults.”

Old is a strange concept. When you are young you want to get older as fast as you can. All is well when you hit 16, 18 and 21. When you hit 21, you get the feeling that you have to live your life in 9 years, because 30 is sooooo old! When you hit 30 you probably start to worry about your 40th or maybe even your 50th birthday and you don’t even want to start thinking about hitting 60 or how about 65. But here is the thing, the older you get the farther away old age becomes. Isn’t that great?! You can still feel very young …….even in your 70’s.

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.” - Mark Twain

Is age difference still an issue?

The other day I saw this movie called Prime and the story is rather simple actually: Uma Thurman plays Rafi, a 37-year-old successful fashion/business-woman. She just got divorced and is seeing a therapist (Meryl Streep) for that. One night, at the movies, she meets David, a 23-year-old with a not so interesting job and some amazing painting skills. The first encounter leads to a first date, the first date to a first kiss and... once again Cupid fires off two direct hits. Little do they now about the mutual person (Meryl Streep) running around in their lives who'll soon find out about their relationship. I liked this movie a lot but this is not going to be a movie review, I rather like to talk about the age-difference thingy. Is this really still an issue?

When a guy is in his fifties and she is thirty, the guy gets congratulated but when a fifty year old woman falls in love with a thirty year old guy, there must be something wrong with the both of them. She is a “cradle robber”, he finally found the mother he’d never had. I believe there are people who enter into a relationship for all the wrong reasons (financial reasons, psychological problems), but I also believe that there are many people who truly fall in love with those who are much younger or older than themselves.

Although it is a fact that most of us will develop a key relationship with someone who is within three years of our own age, there are those who will go far beyond that standard. Is this wrong? No I don’t think so; in fact I believe that such a relationship can be very fulfilling when both parties really care about each other and love each other. Age difference is just another type of committed relationships that make up the fabric of our society. Man divided the years into 365 days, but he did not hinder some women from being younger at forty than others are at twenty, and some men from being older at twenty than some men at fifty.

I really like this thing one of my friends always says about love and falling in love “I don’t fall in love with a gender or an age; I fall in love with a person”. I can only say: hear, hear!

What does your key-ring express?

The other day I posted this alphabet photo on 43T – K is for Keys. Of course my Piglet key-ring got noticed (like so often) and that resulted in this interesting question by Wanderingthinker: “Piglet? My keyholder expresses a part of my personality. Is it the same for you?”

Like I said, interesting question. I’ve never thought about that. I have had the weirdest key-rings over the years: there was a fluffy giraffe, a frog (that actually was a prince charming in disguise according to a friend), a Saint Christopher, a nametag, a mini Maglite and so much more.

But back to the question: Does Piglet express part of my personality?

Let’s see:
Piglet clearly suffers from Generalized Anxiety Disorder and needs to be placed on an anti-panic agent……..well, that’s not me!

Piglet’s general traits: timid, sensitive, honest, reliable, compassionate, just, generous, ordinary, tends to mistake fear for lack of courage – when in a pinch, however, can overcome his fears admirably, is afraid of the unknown, runs away from his problems, is not known for his brain – but knows his strength and weaknesses well and perceives those of others clearly,

Funny…..I’m actually part Piglet. Guess I’ve learned something today

How about you. Does your key-ring express part of your personality?

Its ‘I've learned’ – Friday again!

I've learned - That age is only a number, a cipher for the records.

“How old would you be if you did not know how old you are?” You would probably not be the age you are today.

There are different ways to look at age.
First there is: Chronological Age
This is the most common way to look at age. This is the one that everyone is familiar with. It is simply the time that has passed since your date of birth to today. People who view age only from the chronological perspective are somewhere between dumb and dumber.

Second: True Age
True Age is another and better way to look at your age. True age is basically what a measurement of all the biomarkers of aging would reveal about you.

Third: Appearance Age
Appearance Age is the age you appear to be to others. It no doubt has some relationship to both chronological age and true age. Yet it is different. We all know people that appear to be quite a bit younger or older than their chronological age.

But wouldn’t it be nice if we could just forget about the numbers? Does it really matter if someone is 30 or 45? I don’t think so. People are very interesting at any age. It’s all about the person and not about the number that governments and insurance companies require of you and that your Doctor knows, even if your boy friend doesn’t.