Sex, glasses and the spice of life

Greenbelt on a Friday night is not where I would normally go, but I could not pass on the chance to have dinner with seven of my high school classmates, one of them visiting from Italy (the dinner’s "guest of horror"), another soon to fly off to the US, and the rest of us in for the laughter and the food (and good too–at the restaurant that used to be called a store but, because of the confusion, is now called Global Cafe). We had plenty of both, and at the end of the evening came a startling realization that we have known each other for about 37 years–some even longer.

One particular "remember when" involved the copy of The Joy of Sex that the girl from Italy brought to school, and which we all read on the sly, camouflaged within textbooks or hiding in remote corners of campus during recess or lunch break. Then talk turned to bad eyesight and the need for longer arms (only one who needs reading glasses will know what longer arms are for), and the observation was made about how far down the road we’ve gone when talk about sex is replaced by talk about glasses. Fortunately, we’re all growing old together, so it was easy–and painless–to laugh about it.

Having people to grow old with, and having people to laugh about growing old with certainly makes that inevitable process a lot more fun. Aside from these glasses perched on the tip of my nose, another sign of the relentless march of age is the number of emails I have of late been receiving about the subject. There are poems and jokes and inspirational pieces, and some practical advice too. This one I’m sharing with you–whether you consider yourself "old" or not is up to you–comes from my friend Tarsila, who practices what she emails by, among other things, sending me sexy little dresses and hauling the whole barkada off to Quezon province for lunch (that’s item no. 8 below).

So whether you’re of that age or not, whether you admit it or not, here are ten ways to spice up your life.

1. Use your good china. Do not deny yourself the pleasure of using fine china, linen, silver, and other things in life. If you’ve got the good stuff swaddled in bubble wrap, locked away for safekeeping or displayed in fine glass cabinetry, put it all out right now.

2. Visit the maternity ward of your hospital and just drop in and stand at the window. There’s a wonderful charge from being in the presence of new-borns, especially when we’re feeling the tug of our own mortality. If you are a parent, it can put you in touch with all the reasons you brought your own kids into this world in the first place.

3. Cut your hair. Go bobbed, go gelled, go asymmetrical, go crazy, go short. You will look 10 years younger.

4. Treat a stranger to dinner. Look for someone who is alone, perhaps sad or troubled or less fortunate than yourself and surreptitiously pay for their meal, anonymously. It might make a difference in their life and it will certainly make a difference for the better in yours.

5. Upgrade your vices. Read great books. See great movies. Drink better wines. Catch a live concert, philharmonic this time, and spring for good seats. You’ve scrimped all your life, now go only for the best.

6. Visit the folks. No one can give you a clearer forecast of what’s in store for the second half of your life than your parents. Connect with them, use the opportunity to open the door to a new mature relationship. Ask them about anything and everything they’ve experienced. Get all the gory details, especially the health-related ones they sheltered you from in your younger days so you’ll be able to age like a fine wine instead of a sour grape.

7. Try something different. You’ve still got the muscle tone and mobility to truly push the envelope and get the adrenalin roaring and flash test the old circuitry without winding up. Get out there and give it a go.

8. Get spontaneous. Seek new experiences, new technologies, new points of view, new possibilities. Pursue your bliss and let it guide you to new habits that will serve you better down the stretch.

9. Laugh more. An old folklore says that the first question we ask upon dying is, Why was I so serious? Life today is full of reasons to scowl, frown, sputter and fume. That’s plain defeatism and it only makes you look and feel old. Spend more time with people who make you laugh. Find things that make you laugh and surround yourself with them.

10. Set laughter goals. Laughing to tears, falling down, rolling, pants-wetting hilarity once a week. Laughter is your tether to youth, an instant facelift and the purest appreciation of what a cool ride this is......