Yes, because I have experienced varying levels of prosperity myself, and because my dad’s family had money and my mom’s parents literally lived in a trailer.

Not sure that it influences my perspective, except that I have an urge to “be nice on the way up, so you don’t crash so hard on the way down”, and I feel comfortable in most places whether run down or opulent, and consider that an asset.

Ramsey Midwood, Feed my Monkey

Damn near every song by Joshua Ray Walker

Yannis and the Yaw, Clementine

I agree, 45-55 looks similar but somehow 55-65 usually doesn’t. It’s a change like adolescence.

I do think Martha Stewart has the right approach to cosmetic work, what she does is what I’d do if my purse was bottomless, and I had to be in the public eye.

Hmm, well what else can we bring? Guitar and strings? How much of the day is busy with work, and how much left for recreation? If we aren’t going to be busy then yeah I would love to read. But it takes my whole attention. Music can play and work, so if our time is mostly spent working and sleeping, it would help a lot.

Music, music, and more music. I would say books but I read too fast, they wouldn’t last. Might as well just remember the stories I have already read. Well, actually - my favorite books please yes.

We do bring our guy food, everyone in the neighborhood looks out for the homeless people who live in their little nooks in our neighborhood. No we don’t house them, and no we don’t want them rounded up. It’s fine, they live here. They could go get help from the city or county, they don’t. They don’t want to participate in the economy, aren’t cut out for it and yes of course there need to be more government programs to help. The government is us, isn’t it?

Yeah with orange liqueur and orgeat I can’t imagine it needing more sweeter. Looks lovely!

You look how I expect 53 to look, well maintained not young. People are aging more slowly for sure. I look at pictures of my mom at my age and we don’t look the same age.

But if you don’t have money (for gym or weights, Retin-A, good sunscreen, a job that doesn’t stress the fuck out of you) it really is more difficult. Stress is so aging, rich or not, but less stress is easier with money.

My friend Mary said her grandpa just stayed alive to spite her mother, he was mean. Should have been dead for years but hung on to make her take care of him.

On the other hand, my mom’s dad shut himself in his house, laid down and died when his wife (my mom’s mom) finally divorced him after decades of abuse. Not killed himself using anything, just died. She lived for her happiest years after that, just sitting on the porch with her boyfriend shelling pecans.

Fancy Napkins!

[https://imbibemagazine.com/recipe/negroni-paradiso-a-negroni-flip/]

Just came over my news feed and seemed very related in flavor; this one might work for the no-bourbon crowd.

Probably exercise. Lifelong habit of exercise. Different sorts at different times but never nothing, always something on purpose to strengthen & keep flexible, most days of the week.

Night cream and sunscreen since my early 20s too, I do not look how I expected to at this age, nice surprise that was.

I like penultimate, next to last.

I have a story about heat and flavor. Often the flavor and heat ARE intertwined, if you “cool” the pepper you mute the flavor.

So I make lentil salad sometimes, it’s one of those dishes so much better than it should be - cooked al dente lentils, jalapeno, onion, carrot in a dressing of olive oil, mustard, lemon. My little kids loved it but would whine that it was too spicy. So my older daughter graciously de-seeded and took out the ribs of the jalapenos when helping make it one time and

They whined because it didn’t taste as good. The flavor was contained in the spicier part of the pepper.

Not everything should be spicy but it’s good to have a tolerance because some flavors are in those spicy foods that simply aren’t in the mild versions.

Posture is so important for health, both as a practice and an indicator.

As a practice, stacking your body up in a good position lets it work better and protects your joints.

It is also an indication of strong enough muscles and bones, very weak people or those with osteoporosis often can’t achieve good posture.

It’s also free, nothing to buy, a free intervention that can only benefit you, so why not practice it?

I don’t think of selective gene editing of one person as eugenics and do think we will get that, we have some versions of it for born people already. Editing it out of humanity? No that’s probably a bad idea. One of my kids works in genetics and was horrified when I joked about her making designer babies like in Gattaca, so I don’t think science thinks it a good idea. Push on one thing, another pops up.

You might enjoy Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis and Patternist books, if you like thinking about this stuff.

I’m a lady and haven’t had any trouble here. The only place I really notice how ridiculously male - skewed Lemmy is, is on the NSFW. That is definitely all “male gaze” stuff, with the occasional actual lesbian also posting stuff guys like. Even the posts OF men are FOR men, everything posted with some assumption only men are looking at the posts.

The other communities just aren’t so gendered, I don’t notice much whether someone seems to be one or the other, it isn’t relevant to cocktails or cooking or gardening or science fiction.

Like Gattaca?

I do not think people have enough information to even do a good job of it, we’d accidentally make everyone prone to some disease and wipe out humanity, we don’t have a great track record with selectively breeding plants and animals. So no.

In the way it has been done ever in real life? Oh hell no. Some vague idea that certain people are worth more than others based only on their looks, and a push to make a better world by making them the only model for humanity?

So no. I don’t trust people to use it for good, and if it was somehow used for good, would probably still have unintended disastrous consequences.

Pineapple juice & whiskey is the gateway cocktail. Make some fresh pineapple juice and just taste it mixed with even a float of Scotch OMG, so delicious! Bourbon on vanilla ice cream is so good too.

I hesitate to say this out loud, but mid-50s and nothing hurts yet, except the migraines I’ve gotten since teenage years.

Knees last if you take care of them. Back lasts if you take care of it and are lucky, and don’t get fat, and are lucky, and don’t work a physical job, and are lucky.

Stretch. Exercise. Don’t overeat.