Is Old Age Such a Bad Thing?

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My friend and I were discussing Downton Abbey a few weeks ago and agreed on how pleased we were that Maggie Smith looked like a genuine, wrinkled, saggy, old lady. As we talked, we realized one of our favorite aspects of British television is that many programs star actors and actresses who are middle-aged or old.

It seems like American television is overly populated with the young, thin and beautiful, but our U.K. brothers and sisters acknowledge that one can be over 40 and still be a viable human being with an interesting life.

I watched a program on network television last night that featured an actress I remembered seeing regularly in the 1980s when she was probably about 35. That would put her firmly in her 60s now, and she looked seriously bad.

Not because she looked like a real woman in her 60s - sags, bags, wrinkles and all - but because she looked like a woman in her 60s who was trying to look like she was a woman in her 30s. She possessed that sad, sad appearance that accompanies too many facial surgeries. Poor thing, I thought. In order for you to find any work in the U.S. you probably feel compelled to constantly shore-up that sagging flesh on your face and body.

I'm not too happy when I look in the mirror anymore either, but you can't fight time and gravity forever. I plan to keep on living, loving, learning and having a good time despite the sags and wrinkles.

Maybe that's one of the biggest advantages to never having been beautiful, you don't have so far to fall:)

Exiting in Embarrassment

I feel exhausted of ideas and extremely embarrassed that I'm unable to exercise my brain and extend myself enough to produce an excellent post about the letter X.  After all it is day 24 of the Blogging A to Z Challenge.

I could explicate on The X-Files, but I've never watched it.  I have nothing memorable to express about x-rays, except that I've only ever had dental x-rays.  Perhaps I should write in excruciating detail about xenophobia and its evils, or  being a xenophile, something I know quite a lot about, thanks to the BBC.

Wait a minute, should I extemporize about Xanthan Gum?  I've conducted research on this substance because it seems to insert itself into a plethora of food products.  But, no, it's not all that intoxicating to read about.

I could always expound on xenon, which is one of the noble gases.  Don't you like that phrase, a noble gas?  It makes me wonder whether the other gases on the periodic table of elements are ignoble.

In my search for the definitive X-word, I encountered Xanthippe, who was Socrates' wife.  Apparently, her name is synonymous with a quarrelsome and nagging wife.  I have no knowledge or experience in this realm.

Did you know a lot of words related to botany start with X?  There are xylan, xylem and xylose; xylotomy (which is something like a tree lobotomy); xanthein, xanthone and xanthophyll and probably a whole band of others.  Unfortunately, the exhilaration value of these words is limited, at best.

I'm afraid I am going to have to excuse myself and exit.  I will focus my efforts on executing a scintillating exhibit for the letter Y.


Blogging A to Z Challenge, the letter X