Speed Thrills

[austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net]

> Byron:  I don't know you but that photo certainly did something to my
> salivary glands!

How to keep young? People sometimes ask me that. The first key to healthy
longevity is of course to choose one's parents carefully. Examine the
bloodline for patterns of chronic disease, genetic discombobulations,
general attitude.

Granny Shumate died in Bryan at 98 (though for the last five years she
didn't really know which way was up). My father's father (who predicted
I'd be in the penetentiary before I was ten years old -- sorry to have
disappointed him) and my other grandmother lived into their eighties
(Mammy dipping snuff from the same murky liquid-swirling tin can, gumming
her nicotine, fascinating horror-struck children).

Eat no meat. I stopped at 27 and never missed it. Okay, I fudge and eat
fish, but that's because of my former Japanese incarnation (early 20th
Century), ha ha. The fish becomes an honorary vegetable.

Hang around kids. Not at all practical in Norteamerica, where rampant
ageism curtails such options. Being a teacher will keep you young (or
drive you to suicide, optionally), I suspect as well.

Then there are role models. I've been hunting around on the Web for info
on the olympic ancients -- saw a pic of a 100-year-old man doing a javelin
throw some time back. Very very impressive. He looked somewhat the worse
for wear but nothing like a century. That's my target. Unless I kill
myself first with motorcycles (not an impossibility) or get stuck in
somebody's nuclear detonation (sad prediction but just wait and see).

Meditate and keep a cheerful attitude, even when you're picking off the
opposition with your Schmeisser. What a great time we live in! Who could
ask for anything more, mix of excitement and horror and unexplored
pleasures galore.

Uh-oh, there he goes again. I guess I'd better sign off now.

Thud.

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