Does life really begin at 40 ?

ZENER

I am probably part of the minority here on boards thats 40 or over. See I just turned 40 yesterday the 9th and I'm thinking . .well does it get better from here ?

I've seen 2 children enter this world, I've seen them grow up to the ripe old ages of 8 and 14, I've gone through the rent - buy - move house etc I've had a couple of different jobs, been to college done exams got the t-shirt etc. and I'm now at the stage where I wonder . . well what's next ?

Can anyone tell me what happens next ? I've taken on a degree course and will be 47 by the time I can reap the benefits of this ! At that stage will I be too old to consider as a valued employee or someone who could be considered ambitious?

It's not that I'm particularly worried or anything, I'd just like to know if there is anyone that is/has been in my situation.

Does life really begin at 40 ?

Tinky

Armadillo

Have you seen the film 'American Beauty'. If not - I recommend it.....:)
Kevin Spacey's character is the one to look out for.

ZENER

LOL ! I've seen it alright . . not exactly the future I was lookin' forward to however !!

Tinky

ixoy

Originally posted by tinky
Does life really begin at 40 ?

Well I've no clue. Life is meant to begin at a load of different stages - how do we recognise when it's begun anyway? Not like some switch is going to go off, or a sudden Nirvana like insight is going to be achieved. I guess the 40 thing is basically being applied to a time in the life when, generally, the kids are growing up, the family unit is cohesive, the job is settled in. You've got all that society expects of you - in a sense - founded. Now you can look to pursue your own spiritual exploration or achieve the other goals beyond the 2.4 children. Nice in theory....

Lafortezza

Have you been looking at purchasing a phallic-shaped red sports car at all recently?
might be something to look out for.

happy birthday btw

ZENER

not a red one but I do have a very macho type black one !!!

What I was hoping for really was some who's been there done that etc. Does anyone have any idea or experience of employers attitudes towards 47 y/o graduates. Are we employable or would we be considered to settled to change or conform to new ideas of employees, any over 40's here with a view on this?

By the way now I'm being told life begins at 80 . .

Answers please before demensia sets in !!!

Tinky

Beruthiel

Originally posted by tinky
Does life really begin at 40 ?

well tinky
I certainly hope so!
I doubt there are many people on boards who can answer this question though, 'cept for maybe Paddy20 and Yoda
anyways, I'm not quite there yet, but it's in the post and all I can do is hope!
I have to say though, my thirties has certainly been the best decade so far in my life

my parents, who are both in their mid sixties think it's great and I've never seen them happier, dad thinks it's his second childhood

D!ve^Bomb!

Originally posted by tinky
Does anyone have any idea or experience of employers attitudes towards 47 y/o graduates. Are we employable or would we be considered to settled to change or conform to new ideas of employees, any over 40's here with a view on this?

it would probably depend on the career itself, some people might want young enthusiasm, some might want an older more settled with a good head on their shoulders kinda person... fair play for doin another degree at your age tho, i bet there are a lot of people your age who are stuck in boring jobs that they hate that want to do somethin else but dont get off there asses to do hence being constantly unsatisfied in there lives.

Lafortezza

Originally posted by Beruthiel
my parents, who are both in their mid sixties think it's great and I've never seen them happier, dad thinks it's his second childhood

same as my parents, I was home a week or two ago to say hello to them, and dad was packing a bag.
"Where are you going?"
"Barcelona"
"Since when?"
"Last night, a friend called with cheap tickets on the internet"
"Right so, have fun"

mr_angry

I'm looking forward to retirment already. Pity I'm only 22!

dr_manhattan

Heh, tinky, for some people life never begins at all: I hate to state the obvious, but any idea of a cartain age making an impact on your existence is surely heavily cross-referenced with your own attitude to it?

I'm just turning 31, but have a number of mates over 30, and I have to be honest, they range from utter proof that life begins at forty, to utter proof that it ends at 40, haha.

My own father never really recovered psychologically from redundancy at 46, and it was a slow process of alcoholism and despair until he killed himself three years ago: so I'd suggest not taking that route ;-). But the poor man had no real tools with which to change himself, and that was his undoing in the new job market / life market / whatever the hell ya call it.

However, my mate Bill is four years your senior, and project manages large scale building projects in the UK and here - as far as I know, aside from years of essential experience and night courses to cover numbers, he's got very few qualifications except the gem of cop-on. I could name a handful of people your age that i know who live very active, moving from job-to-job, high paid and exciting lives.

The bastards ;-)

Which brings me to my point: despite some terrible things in the world, we seem to be so much more flexible in the past 50 years as to what we can achieve and when we can achieve it. Your prospects at 47 will very much depend on the preofessional reputation you make for yourself rather than your age:

The incredibly competent IT chief at one of my jobs was employed at over 50, his experience as a radar operator stood him in excellent stead to enter IT 12 years ago, and I honestly believe the old beast will never be unemployable, as long as he keeps the booze in check, hahahaha. I see him in 30 years, 50 years, 100 years, just like the professor in 'Futurama', still doing what he does.

And thinking about it further, i know many, many more people under 25 that i'd describe as unemployable than I do at say, over 55.

But it's hard to say. With people saying "hey, 30 is the new 20" and all that crap (to which my reaction is "my 20s!?! Again!?! **** off!!!") it's very hard to establish a straight line at which someone becomes 'over the hill' - or even a hill to *be* over. As qualified, high skilled work becomes something that you can do from home atop a bamboo tree in malaysia, the metaphorical slop of that hill becomes much less daunting...

I mean, you're unlikely to get work at 47 marketing Nintendo or doing liner notes for christina aguilera - but I would think of that as a good thing, right?

Anyways, happy birthday to ya, and to be honest I wouldn't sweat it ;-)

The Muppet

HI Tinky

Happy Birthday.

I can't answer your question as I still have a little way to go. Have you listensed to Fred Wedlocks oldest swinger in town lately, it will give you some indication of what lies a head;)

Don't worry about the Job at 47 as I,m sure there will be a spot for you somewhere even then.

ZENER

@ The Muppet. tick-tock-tick-tock

@ newband. "At your age" you should be calling me SIR ya whippersnapper !!;)

@ Dr_manhattan. Interesting view on the whole getting old(er) thing. Sorry to hear about your father I can imagine you were very upset.

The truth is, as I'm sure many will confirm, I really dont feel any different now than I did at 29 except that the things that worry me have changed. The job I have now is not as secure as it was once considered. At 29 this didn't really worry because I considered myself still employable. At 39 though I started to feel that if I lost my job during my 40's maybe it wouldn't be so easy to get employment that would keep me interested and happy hence the course.

This thread was not meant to be a cry for help but merely to seek others views and find out if anyone had given it any thought. If you were to lose a job that you had been in for over 22 years do you think it would be easy to slot in to a new environment. About 6 years ago I took 9 months off from my job to try something different and the truth is I loved it, I felt alive and needed again. At that stage I was 34 so probably still employable if I lost my job. Now, though, it's a different matter - I'm not sure I could fit in so easily to a new structure unless I change my direction.

One of the students on my who works for an American company and is in her early 40's told me that the company take a very dim view of employees who do not attempt to further themselves no matter what age. IMO this is not a bad idea and would certainly have encouraged me, at an earlier age, to take on the degree course I'm doing now.

Thanks for the replies guys, keep 'em comin'.

Tinky

Beruthiel

Originally posted by tinky
[BThe truth is, as I'm sure many will confirm, I really dont feel any different now than I did at 29 [/B]

this to me is the biggest pain in the arse, I don't feel a day over 28, the mirror quickly reminds me thats not the case - I don't care though and carry on as usual, I imagine I shall soon be getting some funny looks though, hard to keep dancing/drinking with a zimmer frame tripping you up!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

you don't look a day over 27 and you dance like a teenager.. you little minx

Beruthiel

Originally posted by Mordeth
you don't look a day over 27 and you dance like a teenager.. you little minx

ah Mordie ya silver tongue devil *

*money to the usual swiss a/c I suppose?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

cash in hand at the boards beer

*now, back on topic!*

ZENER

this to me is the biggest pain in the arse,

Mm! Ya know they say at your age your body needs more roughage !

Please don't mention the mirror . . . aything but the mirror ! A few years ago someone in my house replaced the mirror on the wardrobe door with one of those fairground distorting mirrors . . . honestly they did ! . . . there is no way that belly was there 2 years ago !!! :mad:

Tinky

Beruthiel

Originally posted by tinky
Mm! Ya know they say at your age your body needs more roughage !

brown bread and a banana for lunch every day will sort that for ya


A few years ago someone in my house replaced the mirror on the wardrobe door with one of those fairground distorting mirrors . . . honestly they did !

indeed?
interesting idea....

cash in hand at the boards beer

ya, I may just liquidate that to an alcoholic beverage

dr_manhattan

Heh. This is a goodnatured thread, I think I'll just throw my stuff over here and sit down ;-)

Just to get back: thanks for the commiserations re: my Da but it's a while back - my main point was to underline that your ability to adapt is (or, at least, *seems to be*) in your mind. As far as what you said about the US company taking a dim view of employees not furthering themselves, I think that's the view *all* employers should take, as both parties benefit immensely.

The reason I have thought about these issues was because, not long after my Da's demise, I popped a bit of a nervous breakdown and my freelance career collapsed with no medical insurance. I don't want to be too explicit but it was a serious disaster and I had to start again with pretty much zero except my friends and family's support.

Now, 27 doesn't seem like an old age to restart, but when you've spent most of your life thinking of 30 as old (as I did) then it seems like a big ravine at the time. And I certainly have no idea as to how I did it, but I managed to get from institutionalised to solvent to earning within 6 months. And this is from a position of being unable to conduct a conversation.

Now, I'm wary of dropping my personal history online as some kind of "ooh look what I've done" routine, all I'm doing is calling on personal experience to try to underline that your age, as far as employability is concerned, unless the work is physical, is determined by your ability to change.

Anyways, enough oprah winfrey stuff ;-) sorry about the rant. I better go do some work.

happy birthday. Oh and speaking of which, I'm 31 tomorrow, yaaay.

spudulike

i have the answer - start a business - that'll certainly get you going...

ZENER

As far as what you said about the US company taking a dim view of employees not furthering themselves, I think that's the view *all* employers should take, as both parties benefit immensely.

It's all very well employers taking this point of view but I wonder how many actively encourage staff to better them selves and then help them financially. In my case I am lucky to work for a company that does exactly that. The rewards for doing well are a position - when one becomes available - in a relevant department in the company. I think someone over 40 would feel important if their employer sought them out and encouraged them to take up further education.

And I certainly have no idea as to how I did it, but I managed to get from institutionalised to solvent to earning within 6 months. And this is from a position of being unable to conduct a conversation.

A close relative of mine went through a similar situation. The support of family and friends is of the utmost importance here, it took my relative about 3 years to get over it and even now she is still borderline. Her employment situation did not help matters, her job is mundane with little prospect of advancement and certainly no encouragement to further educate herself. This is where I would be concerned - If one was to suffer from depression or a nervous breakdown in say their late 40's - how easily would they recover? indeed does status have any effect on how susceptible one is to depression? If her job was more fulfilling or she was better educated would she have recovered quicker. In your case did your prospects help your recovery, you are obviously well educated and self motivated, was this a factor during your recovery ?

IMO your ability to change depends greatly on your age. For example would a person of 55 who's settled in a job really want to start learning all over again to do something new. I'm sure there are examples of this about, how many unemployed people are in their late 50's for example. In my case I can't ever see a stage where I would want to stop learning and settle for what I've got. In a way I suppose thats what I really want to know here, will I reach that stage? What else would I do if I was to give up education of some sort ( aside from the employment aspect)?

Questions - questions ??!

Oh Happy birthday by the way dr_manhattan.

Tinky

McGinty

Interesting thread, well I'm only 33, so I can't say what it would feel like when I am in my 40's, however when it comes to employment there are two things I've learned and adopted, well three, one - no job nowadays is for life, so view yourself as self employed. That gives you a great deal of personal power in your work situation. Although I am employed, I view myself as slef employed, I owe no alliegence to some company, I work for myself, if the situation doesn't suit, I move on (making sure I have something to move to). 2) aquiring a job imo, depends on your confidence, having a belief in yourself, you will get that job. I have changed career several times (worked in hotels, service industry, postwoman, factories, childcare, clerical, IT - web maintanence, etc) and I have a whole lot more to do. Apart from a bout of low confidence, I could always get a job, it all depends on your confidence. Yes, its true that some companies discriminate on age. If that is a problem, you could become self employed, there is so much finiancial help and advice for start up businesses.

As for life starting at 40, like Manhattan, I don't feel that life starts at a certain age, I feel that events propell you to review and take stock of your life, sometimes you are presented with a life changing moment, sometimes not. I was at 28, and I am still on my wonderful adventure of really living. I think it is great that you are back re-educating yourself, I hope to do something similar in the next year or two, it all depends on how another project takes off, if that goes as hoped, well my education will take a back burner. Live for yourself that's what I beleive.

kobrien_ie

Well then, being an over 40 what can i say? Firstly you still get up in the morning. Most of your bits work, I think.
I will say that you don't give a damn anymore what people think of you. You also creep ever so slowly towards your second childhood. Weird things you might have thought or said even three years ago are now verging on the eccentric and are allowed.

I can't comment on ageism but I would say if it's a tossup between you with your life experience and a young thing of 32 well, it is tricky.

All in all, welcome it, have a party, do something you'll rememeber. It's time for a stocktake. But most importantly cultivate a "young" personality. Most people then "can't believe your over 40"

"Life's been good to me so far" - Joe Walsh

The Corinthian

“A man is only as old as the woman he feels” - Groucho Marx

Paddy20

tinky,

Hmmm, you seem to be pre-occupied with education and work. I will be 58 in April and to be honest I am just surprised that I am still around.

Since my 40th birthday I have hardly noticed the years flying by. I believe we should work in order to live, and not live to work. Lifes experiences both good and bad have had an effect. I worry a hell of a lot less, about what might happen. I can only cross a bridge when I get too it, and not before.

For what it is worth. At this particular moment the only advice about getting older that I can give you is - Just get on with living, in particular look after your health, as that really is number one. You will find that the little things are really not worth worrying about. You will be surprised at your ability to cope with lifes inevitabilities, such as losing close relatives, and slowly realising that you are becoming the older generation.

Count your blessings, look after others where you can and do not try and overstreatch yourself.

Be cheerful. Life is good and surprisingly enjoyable, if you really want it to be.

Finally, be lucky.

P. :ninja:

jerenaugrim

My parents hit their 60s in the past few years, and I've never seen them happier. I think it's because they no longer care what anyone thinks of them, they've raised six kids who I think they find amusing and actually like...they're travelling more than they ever did, we don't know where they are half the time...and when they're at home, they're as likely to stay in bed all day, after a lifetime of rising early and long hard days...so, as far as I can see, age and its effects are as much to do with attitude as anything else. Good luck.

pro_gnostic_8

No, man, it's all downhill from here on in, I'm afraid.

There is no pleasure in growing old. The future holds only decrepitude, sickness and pain. Neither is there dignity ............. the young will unconsciously shun you, your children will feel embarassed by you, and your carers will wash and clean you only because they are being paid.

In the meantime, in later middle-age, your circle of friends will gradually deminish to zero thru natural wastage and their other commitments. You find yourself gravitating towards old mens pubs for company because you know it looks like you're a saddo if you continue hanging out in trendy joints whose clientele is only half your age. You do your drinking during the day.

The beauty of youth has faded to be replaced by aches, stiffness and sagging cellulite. Worse still is the realisation that all the dreams and ambitions of long ago have crashed to earth and are in ashes. All you have are regrets and reminiscences of a mis-spent and half-lived life.

TBH, I think any angst about getting a job at 47 should be the least of your concerns. If you have to re-enter the market at that age then the probability is that you will be seriously financially insecure at retirement age. Start planning Sheltered Accomodation now! Even BUPA/VHI won't want to know you at 47.

This isn't intended to be a Song of Despair ............. just being pragmatic. I turned 49 last month and I don't like it much. Anyway, Happy Birthday.

Beruthiel

Originally posted by The Corinthian
“A man is only as old as the woman he feels” - Groucho Marx

that would make you about 19 then?


jebus pro_gnostic_8 I don't know what to say to that post!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i'm only 20 and it scared me

oscarBravo

Originally posted by pro_gnostic_8
This isn't intended to be a Song of Despair ............. just being pragmatic.

No, it's being pessimistic. Re-read some of the posts about 60-somethings living it up, and ask yourself: what's the difference between living life to the full at 60, and slowly dying at 49?

Read jerenaugrim's post again - especially the line about attitude.

dr_manhattan

Damn, I have to say, i gigled all the way through that post, fully expecting it to end with "just kidding"...?

Pro_gnostic_8 - lighten up: if the other posts don't do it for ya, read mine about my Da's suicide. He was a great man, been all over the world, well read, physically very fit (ex army) but completely unable to change himself and see the good things he had. He loved his family but all he ever saw was the trouble he'd given us.

Because you saying "you drink during the day" and "you seek out old men's pubs...etc" makes me think of him. Such an intelligent man and he never once knocked the booze off until it killed him. If you are really as unhappy as you seem about things, I'd advise a change of approach, cos with your attitude, it's not gonna get any better.

And as for saying it's pragmatism? You can only be pragmatic about things you cannot influence.

Best of luck mate

Paddy20

Pro_gnostic_8,

You can not be serious ?...

You are pulling our legs. Goodness if I was to listen to you, I would not know whether to shoot or hang myself ?...

Thankfully, I am quite a bit older than you, and yes I have experienced and survived a lot of this lifes more difficult times, but they are part of life. I accept the bad as well as the good and up to now I have had had more real enjoyment in life than pain and misery.

As for whats left. I intend to look upon it as a challenge. I always liked a challenge, it for me has always made life worth fighting for.

In any case I have still got far too many things left to do, and if I am allowed the time I should live for about another hundred years.

P. :ninja:

pro_gnostic_8

Originally posted by oscarBravo
Re-read some of the posts about 60-somethings living it up,

This is a myth. The measure of an individual's contentment index is a direct corollary to his financial wellbeing. The amount of liquid assets in the bank colours your attitude to life.

Of course the Saga brochures peddle the image of tanned and healthy sixty-somethings in cotton beachcomber pants strolling hand-in-hand in the surf off Barbados, but the reality is very different. For every pensioner who can holiday at the drop of a hat there are ten who are obliged to apply for work as a bag-filler at the local supermarket to make ends meet. They are everywhere....... from toilet attendants to lollipop ladies. This is not a labour of love but hard- labour undertaken as a matter of sheer necessity. They are not doing it for the job satisfaction.

Manhattan, I had indeed previously read your post re your Dad and I was very moved by it. Part of the human condition as we grow older is an over-anxious sense of our perceived usefulness and worth to society in general and to the family in particular. After a lifetime of work and providing for family the older person (in particular the male of the species) is often traumatized by no longer being capable of fulfilling that function. This sense of being a non-productive appendage can induce severe psychological effects on the individual often only salved by the balm of drink.................. or death. It's certainly not for us to be judgemental. May he rest in peace.

Paddy20

Ah ! Now I understand. You are drunk as a skunk, and need to change your medication.

P. :ninja:

ZENER

Wow !!! What sort of hornets nest have I stirred up here?

I was waiting for the gotcha at the end of pro_gnostic_8's post too!

My feelings now are that this is someone who has become exactly what I fear becoming . . no offense mind.

Ok, everyones priorities in life change when kids get older and move out and retirement looms large on the horizon but I hadn't really expected to be looking forward to that much gloom. That said though this is obviously someone who's got the t-shirt etc. I'm sorry if things really have turned out this way for you but your post has had a profound effect on me. Your apparent situation, though, is not to be taken lightly and it would be wrong to take the mickey from you so to speak. Maybe you could tell us a bit about yourself and your experience so far so we can understand why you hold such harsh views.

I doubt my circle of friends will diminish to the extent where I feel lonely - I have a lot of acquaintances through my job and outside interests (and you guys of course) that will still share my interests when I get to that age and I fully intend to make the best of them.

Still though I have every intention of continuing with my education and just hope that I will be financially ok because of it when I get to that age.

Tinky

oscarBravo

Originally posted by pro_gnostic_8
This is a myth. The measure of an individual's contentment index is a direct corollary to his financial wellbeing. The amount of liquid assets in the bank colours your attitude to life.

Absolute and utter, knee-deep, wall-to-wall horsecrap. Miserable poor people who win lotteries tend to end up being miserable rich people.

I mean, come on. Who doesn't know people who are as poor as churchmice but are the most cheerful people you could meet? At the opposite end of the spectrum, you may not know them, but everyone knows of rich people who are as miserable as sin.

As long as you're waiting for something outside of yourself - money, job or whatever - to make you happy, you'll stay unhappy. Once you realise that happiness can only come from within, your circumstances start to matter a whole lot less.

pro_gnostic_8

Originally posted by oscarBravo

but everyone knows of rich people who are as miserable as sin.

And to make themselves happier, all these rich people give their money away, do they?

Absolute and utter, knee-deep, wall-to-wall horsecrap

There might be one positive to growing old -- you become less confrontational............. less given to scatter-gunning words like the above around in a debate.

pro_gnostic_8

Originally posted by tinky

My feelings now are that this is someone who has become exactly what I fear becoming . . no offense mind.

Hee hee, you think I am a tetchy old misery-guts don't you? I'm not........really. I like to think that I enjoy life and have a reasonably modernistic outlook. (I prefer Cradle Of Filth to Daniel O'Donnell)

My post was about the Future. Was just opinionating that the autumn years are not the nirvana you might think................ that ageing corrupts everthing, that old age withers mind and body and even the will to live. There is no such thing as the "dignity of old age"; that is only a placebo oft-repeated to soothe the concerns of the insecure middle-aged.

If I had one piece of advice to give it would be to live every day as if it were your last. This (the present) is as good as it gets!

Regards.

ZENER

I prefer Cradle Of Filth to Daniel O'Donnell

Thank GOD for that . . . If someone was to tell me that once I reached the age of dodderism I had to listen to wee Daniel I would change my views on youthinasia completely !!!

Absolute and utter, knee-deep, wall-to-wall horsecrap. Miserable poor people who win lotteries tend to end up being miserable rich people.

Mmm! I'd still like to try that out ! Rich and miserable like . . . Mr Burns ! *Shudders*

Just to address what someone said earlier re my pre-occupation with education and work, it's not so much a pre-occupation as a hope that I will never be to old or incapable to learn. Learning is one of those gifts we all have in different amounts and is something we should all aspire to. I can see why some people would think it's a waste of time and energy persuing that which will be of no use to us after 60 or 65 but that doesn't make it right for everyone does it. Should we all just switch off our learning abilities at 60 and then presume to know enough to cope with whats ahead ?

It would be interesting to get peoples views on how they see themselves at say 55 or 60, assuming of course they are not at that stage yet. How about it guys, are you at the age where you could care less because you are having too much fun now or is 55 just around the corner and you are worried about it?

Happy St. Valentines to all!

Tinky

oscarBravo

Originally posted by pro_gnostic_8
And to make themselves happier, all these rich people give their money away, do they?

Neat little straw man there: can you quote the part of my post that said there's an inverse correlation between wealth and happiness?

There might be one positive to growing old -- you become less confrontational............. less given to scatter-gunning words like the above around in a debate.

What I typed was a damn sight more polite than what I said out loud when I read your post.

Beruthiel

Originally posted by tinky
It would be interesting to get peoples views on how they see themselves at say 55 or 60, assuming of course they are not at that stage yet. How about it guys, are you at the age where you could care less because you are having too much fun now or is 55 just around the corner and you are worried about it?

well
I keep daydreaming that I can sell my apartment and move to france were I will be able to buy a cheap little gaf for cash (no more mortgage \o/ ) perhaps teach some english (I’ll do an English teaching course before I head off) and make myself a little money on the side, my sister also owns a business over there so I can scab off her too
I don't think I want to live in Dublin when I'm 50/60, so we'll see....
that's about as much as I've thought about, I'm too busy having a good time right now to dwell on it too much
I don't even have a pension in place

oscarBravo

Originally posted by Beruthiel
I keep daydreaming that I can sell my apartment and move to france were I will be able to buy a cheap little gaf for cash (no more mortgage \o/ )

Keep dreaming - the more real you make it in your head, the more likely it is to happen in reality. Always think about "when I move to France" rather than "if only someday I could move to France..."

I don't even have a pension in place

Do it now! Have you ever seen the difference five years delay in starting a pension plan makes to the value at the end?

Beruthiel

Originally posted by oscarBravo
Keep dreaming - the more real you make it in your head, the more likely it is to happen in reality. Always think about "when I move to France" rather than "if only someday I could move to France..."

you're right of course, I tend to say 'if' cos nobody really knows the future, but it's been in my head so long now that it will most likely happen, also, as my b/f is french it is a real reality for me doing it! I just have to get the 'partying phase' out of my system first as it's not the same for that over there


Do it now! Have you ever seen the difference five years delay in starting a pension plan makes to the value at the end?

you are of course correct on this, I know nothing about pensions though, can people recommend a good one that won't rip me off down the line?, after seeing what happened to people over in england, it makes you wonder how secure all that is

dr_manhattan

"Keep dreaming - the more real you make it in your head, the more likely it is to happen in reality."

Ahhh... so my wondrous martian space empire replete with scantily clad green slave women and cheerful, workaday robot chums and emotionally competent computers is a certainty after all?

(sits back in chair with eyes closed and hears the crowds roar at the imperial games)

;-)

Beruthiel

sorry dr_manhattan..

I just have to play this at ya

dr_manhattan

(awakes from reverie just before pinning the gold medal on the winning chariot, sorry, err.. space chariot)

...how did you know I shagged me girlfriends ma?

Oh, I mean, sorry, ahem, yes, dreams, reality, must remember that one

Slightly more back on topic, I actually quite like those recruitment ads at the mo, where kids' aspirations are VO'd on an animation of a kids drawing, and we're advised to "not sell ourselves short, cos we never did as kids"

In every piece of dumb marketing is a tiny pearl of true wisdom (being manipulated to sell garbage, haha)

cheers beruthiel - where's the card come from?:D

Beruthiel

Originally posted by dr_manhattan
cheers beruthiel - where's the card come from?:D

I help moderate Personal Issues
someone actually set up a thread saying he shagged his g/fs ma (troll)
one of the lads in 'pix & mix' did the card up for me at my request

for more amusing cards:
http://www.boards.ie/gathering/index.html

Paddy20

tinky,

When I stated that you seemed to be "pre-occupied by education and work" -

I certainly did not mean you should ever stop learning. None of us ever really stop learning whether we like it or not. Personally I believe that education and learning are vital and satisfy our need for enlightenment in all spheres of life.

I was simply trying to state that education is not based solely in what we are taught in classrooms or other educational establishments, but in living and in growing older we come to realise just how little, we truly know about life and its infinite mysteries.

As for work. Well I always considered that a lot of people work so hard that they forget about living. Which is a pity as very often when they suddenly realise what they have missed in watching their children grow etc, it is often too late to turn the clock back.

P. :ninja:

dr_manhattan

hee hee hee... they're great.

Won't stop the empire though: OscarBravo SAID.

DapperGent

http://www.theonion.com/onion3546/abortion_oped.html