Hollywood stars panic at age 42

I read in our paper that Hollywood stars start to panic about being unemployable because of old age at about... 42.

But 42 is the meaning of life! Get over it.

Old lady loves working

Why would I stop working, when I love it, I'm good at it, and it's useful?

Some people just don't get it. They assume that every old lady would rather stop working, or work less. Why? Maybe they think I don't enjoy work. Or that work makes me tired. Or that work stops me from doing more fun things.

But there's nothing I'd rather do with the bulk of my week than work.

I'm not a workaholic or a perfectionist. My work is balanced by plenty of people time, granny time, me time. I dance, walk, socialise, read books, write books (for fun), watch TV and go to movies. I travel and have holidays.

No doubt the world is full of other exciting things I could be doing. So let other people do them.

Old lady loves new frocks

What do old ladies want? New frocks!

Among the saddest words old ladies say are these: "It'll see me out."

As your world shrinks, no need to go boring! An 88-year-old may need to forgo those 4-inch scarlet heels, but she can still wear a stylish frock. It's a joy to see a really old lady looking great.

As an incipient old lady I was thrilled to buy these two dresses last week. I mean frocks: that's a much nicer word! It's even more exciting because from 15-35 I made my own frocks, and for many years I bought most of my clothes second-hand.

Like many women, I have a secret fabric fetish. We FF-Femmes have a stash of fabric in the wardrobe. See it, love it, buy it, pretend we're going to make it into a frock one day. Yeah, right. My stash includes two lengths from Samoa: a wild orange and yellow polished cotton and red cotton with giant white leaves; plus green silk with multi-coloured splashes.

So, three weddings coming up soon! I felt that justified something new and frivolous, so I went to town intending to buy a pattern. But I diverted to Alexandra Owen's shop, where I bought a super high fashion origami dress in stark French navy cotton. Divine: it revealed my (well) hidden shape. It's an heirloom piece and an incentive to stay alive and sociable: my daughters will have to wait a few decades.

From this splendid accident I learned nothing. I went to town two days later on the same mission: find a dress pattern. This time I dropped into Frutti in Cuba Street and succumbed to an irresistible piece of flowery silk froth, light as a butterfly and crazy with it. The designer, Maiangi Waiti, was inspired by the dresses that old ladies wear. Perfect.

alexandraowen.co.nz
Maiangi Waiti on Facebook

"Scarlet Heels" comes a little closer

This week I'll get my new book to to the book designer. I'm sorting out a copyright statement, which I intend to be pretty radical. Creative Commons for a paper printed book? Unheard of! But then many things about this book are crazy to the point of being reckless, including the cover photo of this old lady. :-) More later.

Advance publicity about "Scarlet Heels: 26 Stories About Sex" on the publisher's web site:
http://ccpress.info/scarletheels.htm

Grandparents is not a synonym for elderly

This headline appeared in the Dominion Post, 19 October 2009:
Surfing's good for grandparents.

First sentence:

Internet use can boost the brain activity of the elderly, potentially slowing or even reversing the age-related declines that can end in dementia, researchers found.

The study was by Gary Small, professor of neuroscience and human behaviour at UCLA,and his colleagues. The results are fascinating, but they have nothing to do with grandparents. Possibly some of the 24 people studied were grandparents, as they were aged between 55 and 78. Possibly not.

The journalist, I'm guessing, was not of grandparenting age. Otherwise he or she would have noticed that:

• not everyone over 55 is a grandparent
• variables among subjects concerned age and internet use, not grandparenting
• the scientists used the terms older people and older adults, not grandparents.

First-time internet users find boost in brain function after just one week
P.S. Tim Jones points out that not all people over 55 are grandparents, either. A friend of his was a grandmother at 34.