"Geezers"

[tangomonster]

This week's issue of TIME had an article about OJ, saying OJ3 (OJ2 was the 1997 civil trial after the criminal trial in 1995) has teh tone of a high school reunion, with familiar faces (OJ's current girlfrined looks like Nicole, Fred Goldman and Marcia Clark being interviewed) "but with thicker makeup and deeper laughlines"). It then goes on to say that OJ is a 60 yo man allegedly staging a geezer commando raid to literally recover his past.

Can you really be a geezer at 60? And as much as I hate OJ, he still seems to be in fairly good shape---does he really qualify as a geezer? How old do you have to be to be one? And what's the female equivalent? At less than seven years younger than OJ, I feel like I am either in or not far from this category!

 

[REWahoo]

Can you really be a geezer at 60?

I just looked in the mirror. The answer is "yes"....hell, yes.

 

[Nords]

Can you really be a geezer at 60?

I think the appropriate term is "longboard surfer"!

And as much as I hate OJ, he still seems to be in fairly good shape---does he really qualify as a geezer?

I've read that he's nearly crippled with arthritis and, like many football retirees, on heavy pain/mobility meds.

How old do you have to be to be one?

I think it's an attitude, not an age. But you probably have to be old enough to remember the name of the 5th Beatle.

And what's the female equivalent?

I believe that the appropriate term is "gorgeous". Or at the very least, "exceptionally well preserved"...

At less than seven years younger than OJ, I feel like I am either in or not far from this category!

I just looked in the mirror. The answer is "yes"....hell, yes.

In the book "Younger Next Year", the 70-year-old author spends nearly an entire chapter describing how, at age 50, Father Time starts beating on guys with the Ugly Stick. The version of YNY for women also has an entire chapter describing various techniques to deal with "Old Fred"... the faithful companion who's provided years of service yet is growing old, fat, gray/bald, has developed some disgusting habits, no longer responds to commands or learns new tricks, and is not very pretty to look at. We're not talking about the family dog-- we're talking about her spouse.

 

[Achiever51]

I
I believe that the appropriate term is "gorgeous". Or at the very least, "exceptionally well preserved"...

Oh, bless you!

 

[TromboneAl]

"Younger Next Year",

Recommended?

Does it come in large print? (ha ha).

 

[Nords]

Recommended?

Absolutely, with full credit to Cb for his recommendation in post #8. The authors are a bit over-the-top in their approach, but the 70-year-old guy's light burns very brightly and he has a way with words that will appeal to a certain segment. The book delivers big doses of tough love to those of us approaching (or departing) our 50th birthdays.

The authors claim that the body is going to start decaying more rapidly after age 50 unless defensive measures are immediately instituted. However the over-50 lifestyle can actually encourage decay by being even more sedentary than the workplace. Sure, you may be traveling and golfing and playing with the grandkids, but you may not be aerobically fit or have sufficient musculature. Sort of a vicious death spiral-- you don't feel like exercising and the next day you feel even less like it, a few years later you fall over and break a hip because you haven't been exercising to minimize potential balance & bone problems.

Two of their nuggets:
- Work out six times a week, including at least two sessions of weight training. No breaks, no negotiations, no excuses. Exercise or die.
- "Quit eating crap!"

I stumbled across this book at a good time for me, since my knees have healed "enough" to the point where I can (and need to) start weight training again. The more I build up the muscles around the remaining ligaments, the longer I can hold off the ACL transplant surgeries. (For at least a few more years.) It's probably preaching to the choir of this congregation of the converted, but it's an entertaining read.

Younger Next Year - Turn Back Your Biological Clock

Does it come in large print? (ha ha).

Eh, borrow a large-print book from the library sometime and you'll be surprised how comfortable it feels in a presbyopic lap. Of course it's about twice the usual size & weight but it's nice not to have to keep pushing 2.00 reading glasses up your nose.

It comes in large print, paperback, and audio. They already offer the book in a men's (yellow cover) and a women's (pink cover) edition. The women's edition has the "Old Fred" example but my spouse hasn't let me read the rest of it yet. I think I need to learn why, while she's reading the book, she keeps looking over at me and smiling...

 

[tangomonster]

I believe that the appropriate term is "gorgeous". Or at the very least, "exceptionally well preserved"...

Nords = Patron Saint of Women of a Certain Age!

 

[TromboneAl]

Thanks, Nords and Cb -- I've put it on my wish list at PaperBackSwap.com.

 

[Achiever51]

I can certainly vouch for the ideas in the book if my dad is any example. For his first 50 or so years, he was a typical couch potato after work. He had a pretty physically strenuous job as a plumber until his mid-40s, but then he moved into a desk job working for his union. Most days, he'd come home, eat red meat and potatoes for dinner, have a high fat snack after dinner and fall asleep on the recliner by 9:45. Exercise was pretty much limited to looking for the TV remote.

Around the age of 50, he realized that he was headed downhill fast unless he made some real life style changes: he decided to take better care of himself and lost about 50 pounds, gave up smoking, improved his diet and started exercising regularly.

Fast forward to today: he's 88 (he'll be 89 on January 1), looks and moves like he's several decades younger; walks 6 to 8 miles A DAY! (now mostly on his treadmill) and does both strength training and balance work (using a balance ball); he still lives alone, drives his car and has become the local "babe magnet" among the widowed ladies in his neighborhood! Except for some hearing loss, his docs say that he's in amazing health for his age.

 

[Fireup2020]

I don't use the term geezer in a deragotory fashion - more of a term of endearment. I refer to (and include myself in the crowd) of my fellow veteran representatives as "Vet Geezers" (still a few WWII vets in the mix!)

On the generic front, well...despite the fact my parents are really active FIRE'ees...they are geezers (he's 70 and she is 63)

Geezer: Old enough to know better, and old enough to do it anyway!!