Bob Dylan on being 80

[ergophobe]

Dylan is 85, but the NYT asked a few celebrities about turning 80

The best thing about being 80 is that you outlive the clocks that have been chasing you. It's freedom from that lie that anything was ever under control. You don't chase the parade anymore. You're an old king from some vanished country. You're harder to program. You're not rushing to become anything and you're not haunted by things that you did. You're haunted by how little of it really mattered in the way you thought it would.

The worst thing

The worst thing about being 80 is that you still want to say yes to everything, but the world moves without asking. The old fire in your heart still tells you to do this and that, but your body says we already did it. Also, nothing surprises you. It sounds like a luxury but it's not, and also you've run out of illusions. People treat you like either you've solved something or you've lost something, and you haven't. You see life repeating itself everywhere.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/14/opinion/trump-turns-80.html

[rcjordan]

US 2026 report: "For females, life expectancy increased 0.3 year from 81.1 in 2023 to 81.4 in 2024. For males, life expectancy increased 0.7 year from 75.8 in 2023 to 76.5 in 2024."

I'm 76.3
You don't worry too much about stuff that was bad for you when you were <65. I could start smoking cigars again.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db548.htm#section_2

>80

Money is a adder.

[ergophobe]

>> Money is a adder

What does that mean?

>>stuff that was bad

Until yesterday, I was holding down the fort solo in Austin while my BIL and his family take the RV on the road for three weeks. I'm taking care of my MIL who is 91 and has serious memory issues. Maybe she'll live 5 more years, but clearly not 20 more.

So we put butter on everything and eat ice cream ad libidum as the doctors say. She complains she is getting fat, but it's only a problem because her bathing suit is too tight.

But I often think she is beyond the world of good for you and bad for you. I make sure she eats enough and drinks enough and gets at least a bit of walking or swimming, but beyond that, as long as she's having fun, it's all good. And we have quite a bit of fun. Despite the memory issues, she still good company and still likes a bad joke.