I don't see anyone selling socks big enough for a whole plane.

The other day I shot a plane in my compression socks. Inside the plane it was too dark to read.

Anyway, I have compression socks because they are supposed to work for plantar fasciitis better than a tighter elastic ankle brace.

But the hip arthritis is what gets me now.

You need compression-roos.

I believe those are called Spanx.

I'm trying to lift to build those muscles.

I don't even know if Spanx have big enough nut holes to make them wearable.

To the OP -- I dunno, 35? 40? Nothing much about me hurts seriously. I stay sore from working out longer than I used to, and I wake up with sore feet which I believe is some level of plantar fasciitis, but that's about it. I don't have much of a sense of how beat-up the average person is at 50, though.

I don't even know if Spanx have big enough nut holes to make them wearable.

For planes with truck nutz?

9: Like Wilford Brimley in Cocoon.

I'm in some kind of resonance structure between 60 and 30. I can still do kid stuff on the monkey bars with my daughter, and my body has stayed relatively small and quick through pure genetic luck. However, I take just abysmal care of myself, and the assumption is that I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome like the rest of my family, so my joints get fucked up easily. I don't know, and probably don't want to know, the effects of long-term major depression on mental acuity.

Dead

I was finally getting back to a good place, exercise-wise, when I started developing pains this summer -- the worst of them in my right shoulder and left hip. It got so bad that I stopped exercising for the last several months.

And I feel great! The pain is almost entirely gone, and I'm just really depressed and edgy all the time. My resting heart rate has gone up 10 beats/minute, and I've gained 10 pounds.

Plus I hate everybody, but that's pretty much always been true.

And I can tell that as soon as I pick up exercise again, the shoulder and hip are both going to go bad on me again. I need to see a doctor and find the appropriate physical therapy, I think.

I don't know how old that makes me. But a few months ago, I felt really, really old.

I don't know, 39? Maybe a few years older. Physical sensation aside I feel like the last few years have aged me more than the years before them.

Two years ago I would have said I was in awesome shape. I feel like commuting by bike was great for me. Six months ago I would have said I was in terrible shape due to not biking to work. Over the summer I tried to jog regularly and now that Atossa is back at school in person I've been taking her there by bike most days, and her school is about half as far as my office but on the other half I'm carrying added weight, so I'd say I'm no longer at my nadir of fitness but still not as great as circa 2019.

In hindsight an office job was probably bad for my physical health and perpetual WFH good for my physical health in one respect. I used to get lunch from food trucks near the office often and it would be bigger and greasier than I'd need and that's no longer the case. (I specify "physical health" because I've known all along it's not great for my mental health.)

13: To be fair, that's probably less painful.

I definitely look a lot older than I did a few years ago -- after flirting with it for a long time, my hair went unambiguously grey, and my skin aged a lot in that discontinuous way things do. But I feel pretty good.

As the thread is revealing, aches and pains aren't a particularly good way to track age; they vary too much with your diet, exercise, technique, rest and all that. I think LB's 17 is on the right track: hair and skin tend to go in only one direction (WORSE). Probably some other things are like that, too. The diminishing joy of trolling? Maybe.

17: I have more gray and keep thinking about coloring it. I just started a retinol anti-wrinkle cream to try to arrest the fine lines.

I'm committed to not coloring mine out of a combination of laziness and irritability, but I admit I'm a little unpleasantly surprised by how much older and less attractive it makes me think I look. In another year or two I figure I'll be used to it.

14: I hate to state the obvious, but get a referral for physical therapy? There's a good chance whatever the problem is can be solved.

retinoids, used consistently at a strength that does not irritate, in combination with daily sunscreen, absolutely will improve skin appearance. not wholesale reversal of decades of damage, but you will notice an improvement. the deterioration of under-skin connective tissue and muscles aka the loss of your jawline is irreversible short of the knife.

I can just grow a beard.

Not a good one like Gandalf or Grizzly Adams.

23 - fair enough. & if you're willing to compromise on facial expressiness you can temporarily smooth out smile lines, forehead furrows, etc all for the small price of letting a perfect stranger shoot you up with paralyzing toxins.

I have my own bulging can collection.

My hair is noticeably starting to go gray, but I figure as long as I have hair, I'm in good shape. I guess I'm starting to get a bit of a bald spot in back but my dad was a cue ball at my age. (I exaggerate a bit.) As far as I can tell my face isn't any wrinklier than it was 10 years ago but it might be a bit saggier.

My hair went from blond when I was a kid, to brownish/blondish as I got older, and then increasingly gray, but slowly enough that I was a little taken aback when I floated "sandy" on a form with a zillion choices and got a big laugh and "no, I think you're just gray." Oh well.

Oof. Things I'm noticing: I don't recover well from exercise at all any more; some neck/nerve issues that vary with a) hormones and b) whether I'm good about sleep, exercise, and posture (so I'm in pain all the time); hair has thinned a little but that's actually an improvement, and I don't have any gray (and the hairstylist thinks I'll likely keep my color until it goes white) which I think takes a lot off one's age. Still in reasonably good shape (can bike up mountains) but need to get smarter about diet as it turns out nutrition is important for recovery & muscle mass.

I am unreasonably healthy for the complete lack of effort put toward (indeed, a-plenty explicitly against) that outcome. No allergies, no chronic conditions, no medications, back at my college weight. Still flexible enough to sit comfortably in a full lotus position. My left knee gets a little sore from time to time and scratches take a lot longer to heal than they used to, but otherwise not appreciably different from my mid-30s.

I am unreasonably healthy for the complete lack of effort put toward (indeed, a-plenty explicitly against) that outcome. No allergies, no chronic conditions, no medications, back at my college weight. Still flexible enough to sit comfortably in a full lotus position. My left knee gets a little sore from time to time and scratches take a lot longer to heal than they used to, but otherwise not appreciably different from my mid-30s.

But sometimes I double post. And the interval between "hmm, I have to pee" to "JFC, I have to pee right now" keeps getting shorter.

In some respects, I'm in pretty good shape considering I'm 50 next year. My resting heart rate, cholesterol, and all of my blood work/indicators are very good. My cardio-vascular fitness is pretty good, too, as I do about 4 - 6 hours of reasonably intense cardio a week (outdoor cycling) and I walk 10K steps pretty much every day. I'm also reasonably flexible and my balance is good. I haven't been able to do much strength training post-lockdown, though, which I notice the lack of.

On the other hand, I've had various aches and joint pains more or less since I was in my late teens. Nothing bad enough to be genuinely debilitating, but there is a fairly continuous underlay of mild pain in my knees or hips, more or less all of the time. I'm totally fine if I keep moving, but if I go somewhere and have to stand still for any length of time, I'm wrecked. I'm also quite overweight. I successfully lost more than 60lbs a couple of years ago, but I've put about 15lbs back on since then. I'm still a good 40+ lbs down from where I was, which is good, but for long term health I could really do with being 30lbs lighter than I currently am. Part of that is vanity: I'd like to look visibly fit, but part of it is just the afore-mentioned joint pain.

I have a few mild/chronic health conditions which are not really affecting my life, but which are currently being investigated, to see if there has been any progression in the past few years. None are life-threatening or likely, as far as I know, to lead to chronic ill-health in later life.

I'm balding, and have been since my late 20s, but if I look at photos from 20 years ago, it's not really much worse now than it was then, so it's clearly progressing but progressing slowly. I'm also not very grey. I have some grey hair at the temples, but mostly my hair is the same brown-ish colour it has been since it stopped being reddish-blonde. I've also done OK, I think, with wrinkles. Friends tell me that I look a younger than I actually am. Not freakishly youthful, but OK for ~50.

I'd take a guess at looking and feeling about 5 - 8 years younger than I actually am, but I could be kidding myself.

I also feel cognitively pretty sharp. Some friends who are the same age as me occasionally complain about mild memory issues or issues concentrating, but I'm all good. I think they are describing just mild ageing, and not anything medical in nature. My job is intellectually quite demanding, and also quite social, which I think keeps me thinking.

||

I have a bleg. I'm being promoted at work, into a "director" role. We are a really small company, so it's not a huge deal, although it is a positive change. Part of what I need to do is decide what I want my job title to be. Currently I'm "Head of X Solutions" where X is related to the domain I specialise in. "Head of Necromantic Solutions", or whatever.

I have no real sense, in terms of external perceptions, if there is any difference between:

Necromancy Director
Necromantic Solutions Director
Director OF Necromancy
Director OF Necromantic Solutions
Director FOR Necromancy
Director FOR Necromantic Solutions

I don't care how it looks internally. Everyone that works with me knows exactly who I am and what I do, and there's no requirement to advertise my seniority (or lack thereof) to anyone I work with, and there's little or no internal politics where I work.

I do care how it might look when I am meeting with clients, though, and if, at some point, I leave the company, how it might look to another employer. I've looked at what some of our director competitors do, and they use all of those patterns, often within the same company.

I'm inclined to keep it simple: Necromancy Director (or the Director OF/Director FOR versions of the same).

>

It varies by field of course. Our construction is a little weird, it's just Director, Necromantic Solutions. I think externally you want the director up front. I'd go with Director Of Necromantic Solutions which is most similar to your current title so shows progress when they're listed sequentially on a CV.

Director of Necromancy sounds so good, though. and would look great on Linkedin: D. Phil (Oxon). ND, San Serafino Order of Purity and Truth (3rd class), etc.

Same general field as 36. We do Director, Necromancy. Agree that Director should come first. I've never seen "for" only "of" at other places I've worked with. IME, the more words, the sillier (and more likely self-chosen) the title. I worked with someone who was the Director of Operations, Global Necromancy Implementation and Potion Recipe Late Stage Development. Folks who'd been early hires got to pick their own titles, and it got a bit out of control. I had to ask him more than once what his title was because I kept needing to introduce him to people as someone who had a lot of key information, but "Oh, talk to Rob at the partner org because he's in charge of that kind of thing" wasn't the level of authority that was helpful to convey.

Yeah, I guess. The new job has a slightly broader remit, from "Head of Necromantic Solutions" to "Director of the Dark Arts" or something (encompasses Necromancy but also other related areas).

Director of Neuromantic-related Program Activities.

FPP is a bit on the nose for me at the moment. Am now 67 and have been of course feeling the aches and pains and other impairments of aging all along but losing ~40 lbs in the year or so after retirement (in 2017) masked that to some extent resulting in improvements in "spryness", and reduced knee pain. However, since the latter part of the past summer a combination of reduced activity due to several Covid quarantines, cataract surgery and then Lyme (and the Lyme itself) have made it feel like I've aged a decade in over a few months. Starting up the physical activities has been non-smooth with several muscle pulls and other assorted BS. Bazz fazz. Probably gained about 10 lbs back over that period and I think I can no longer afford that. My main form of locomotion can best be described as hobbling. I am no doubt exaggerating a bit, but do have benchmarks with my rowing and pickleball play which are bit more revealing than I like.

"Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made. Our times are in his hand who saith, 'A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust God: See all, nor be afraid!"

Robert Browning can kiss my withered ass.

38- Heh- at my last place there was a junior person I was trying to recruit to do a relatively specific thing and he said he'd take the job but wanted the title to be Head of Specific Thing. I said whatever, IDGAF what your title is if it makes you happy. But one of the other managers who'd spent a lot of time in industry was adamantly opposed, said only VP level people are called Head of anything, and it made us look unprofessional to give someone junior that title.
So about a year later I left that place and took my current (non-VP level) job and made sure to include former industry guy in the email saying I'd be leaving to take a new position as Head of (what I currently do).

If you fel delusionally younger than you are, as I do, a good cure is to read history books that include lines like "defending the river line was not seen as a priority - it was only garrisoned with second line reservist units, many of whose soldiers were as old as 40" and then you just think "I'm done, wheel me off to the cemetery now".

Never ever have "solutions" in your job title. That's just raising unreasonable expectations.

Except in chemistry, where it's too broad.

43: Wasn't a lot of that just because they, correctly, expected men that old to be less fit for sustained marching under heavy load with bad food.

Anyway, one of the worst parts of aging is that I can't really drink beer in reasonable amounts.

I'm being promoted at work

Congrats.

I also feel cognitively pretty sharp

Fuck you.

re: 42

Yeah. I've been there in previous jobs, where I had a job title that was probably slightly misleading in terms of my seniority, and where I was at least partly involved in choosing that title. I really was in charge of that area, and in a relatively senior grade within the organisation, but I wasn't as senior as the title might have implied, because it implied I have overall authority across the entire organisation in some domain or other, but the truth was, only people in one department ever listened to anything I said. Head of Necromantic Strategy for the Necromancy Department, but ignored by all people involved in necromantic activities outside the Necromancy Dept.

In this case, I report directly to our MD, and would be equivalent of something like a VP in a US company (if small companies the size of ours even have those in the US? which I doubt). We aren't a big company, though, so the job title is more about advertising to clients and other people that the buck stops with me, for all Necromancy related activities.

My small company has 5 vps and 9 directors. That's about equal to all the other employees.

re: 47

Jesus Christ, yes. Horrible hangovers.

Apologies for a Youtube link, but this is quite accurate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvJZ6rzmrfI

Wine is easier and less painful. Even whiskey is easier.

For my entire adult life I've had very poor flexibility in my hamstrings and hips (can't sit on the floor comfortably, e.g., and can hip-hinge only to maybe a 120-degree angle with my legs straight) and only in the last couple of weeks did I finally see a physical therapist for a stretching program to work on this. Then I played soccer for the first time in >20 years and strained a quad from just running, even though I was careful to try to warm up properly. I'm 41 and usually feel ~mid-30's, but these last couple of weeks have me feeling .. much older than that.

At age 23 or so, I went out to play soccer for the first time since high school. I took a shot, and pulled one quad. "No problem," says I, "I can just shoot with my other foot." So I pulled the other quad as well. This was within the first 15 minutes.

47, 51: Yep, same here, and at ridiculously small amounts. Two drinks and I'm very plausibly going to wake up seriously unhappy.

I can drink most of a bottle of wine without issue if I'm taking Prilosec, but I can't drink six beers without being miserable for a couple of days. It's not the hang over, which I can manage, but just the feeling of being a poorly maintained blimp.

Oh and I'm apparently pre-diabetic, so I have to try to manage my sweet tooth in a way that I have steadfastly refused to do forever. Sigh. I have noticed in the last few years that if I overeat, especially in a carb-heavy way, I just shut down and need to sleep. I hope this is a sign that my body is giving me feedback that will help to keep me from exacerbating too badly my genetic predisposition to diabetes.

54: I am impressed that this happened in only your early 20's! What gets me is that it's not like I've been totally sedentary -- my normal exercise program is a random mixture of running, rowing, and lifting that does use my leg muscles. Just not in a way that is very similar to soccer, I guess, and also I do feel like the new stretching regime has my quads/hamstrings looser and more tender without having appropriately maintained tone/stability.

Everyone not diabetic is pre-diabetic if they live long enough.

I guess it's a question of how long a person hopes/plans to live.

54 is so impressive. I imagine being like "Yep, I've still got it! My quads cannot even keep up with my undiminished awesomeness!"
That kind of attitude is probably why I'm always injured.

re: 56

I'm part of a Friday night group of 6 that goes out every week; all dads from my son's year at school. It started when, in the UK, you could only socialise in groups of up to six as part of the COVID restrictions. We still do it, with occasional extra attendees. That's quite a heavy drinking crowd. Last Friday there were 7 of us and the "round" got round all 7 and then back round another couple, and then some savage decided we all needed tequila.

It's less about headaches or nausea, it's more about what a friend calls the "heebie jeebies" (no reference to H-G of this parish). That sort of post drinking depression and crippling angst that's referred to as "The Fear" in Ireland.

We all have early morning Saturday commitments, too, in terms of child care and children's sport, so it's like playing Russian roulette.

I didn't know "the fear" was optional.

At least it doesn't go away when I don't drink.

I always liked Elvis Costello's The Big Light as a description of that feeling. It was almost less unpleasant when I was younger and there was a much greater chance I'd done something actually regrettable the night before -- now that I'm old and sensible, the same feeling turns into questioning my life as a whole, rather than who I shouldn't have (made out with/been rude to).

Yeah, that doesn't stop for me.

I mess up lots and people get mad at me for messing up lots, but they don't really correlate very well.

Yesterday my new sister-in-law sent out the link to their wedding photos from September. The second one is a shot from the back of Jammies and me heading into the rehearsal dinner. It's unbelievably unflattering of me. My head is down, shoulders rounded, one shoulder higher to keep my purse from falling off, and I'm walking with an awkwardly wide stance that connotes lumbering. The whole thing gives a whiff of humpback-Shrek-in-a-dress.

That alone probably aged how I feel ten years since I posted this post yesterday.

Oh, and this was an event comprised entirely of lithe WASPs who were either under 35 or over 55. Plus the lumbering lady-shrek with all the small children hanging off her.

To be fair, I don't have small children anymore. The shreklings are mid-sized.

Heavy drinking is less fun when it turns out that I've got no chance to make out with anybody and it's just going to turn into ill-advised Facebook trolling.

I took Facebook off my phone because it's evil.

The laptop can handle it though.

One of my heart medicines really doesn't go well with drink. Anything more than half a bottle of wine, and I wake up at two or three with palpitations. But there's a bit of me that's still shocked when people think I'm old, because I'm still interested in life. In that sense I am much younger than when I am depressed.

Still, hangovers do become worse, physically as well as mentally, as I've grown older. Increasingly I can't remember what I ever found pleasant about getting drunk.

There's still nothing like three or four drinks when you're having fun talking to people, but without that it's not worth it these days.

The combination of this thread and the finance thread are making me feel distinctly unimpressive.

My own sense of my age has shifted upwards significantly over the last two years; I'd say that pre-pandemic I was probably clearly young for my age; in both appearance and attitude and at this point I feel very middle-aged.

Financially I'm doing fine, with no particularly good decisions and a tendency to keep more in cash or cash-equivalent than I should; which has not been the right decision over the last 5 years.

74L: Fun? Talking to people?

I'm in much better shape than at any other time in my life. Barely any aches and pains, recover reasonably quickly from exercise.

Have you considered not drinking the blood of the young?

Dagger aleph!

I drink like a fish. I think that's part of expat life when you're on your own.

Dagger aleph!! I'm glad to hear you're doing well, at least as far as aches and pains go.

Heebie!! Barry!! ogged!!

79: are there healthier things that you can do socially? Walking or hiking clubs?

We have a group here that drinks while they run. They have a slogan: A drinking group with a running problem.

83 is that the Hash House Harriers by any chance? My god daughter belongs to their junior branch (they drink tankards of orange squash).

Probably. The idea made me sick so I changed the subject.

84: She's no longer your Small Goddaughter? Everyone grows up, I guess.

Except Peter Pan.

86: I haven't seen her in a few years and she is very definitely no longer Small.

I have a smallish goddaughter.

Smaller God Daughter is still small, I hasten to point out.