I've been watching a 24 year old guy on YouTube who's interviewing older people he meets randomly and asks them how old they are and other general questions about what it's like to be the age they are.

I thought I might answer some of these here, now that I'm older myself.

If I answered the first question about my age, I don't think my answer would be useful to many people because of the unique choices I've made about how I wanted to live my life. One of the best things has been that I've avoided getting addicted to "adult" type pastimes. I've only had to deal with getting paunchier from not knowing how to deal with what might be unique dietary issues. You cannot imagine how much respect over the years I've received from those who got to know me - all from not having adopted vices. 

If I were being asked for a three to five minute answer as an example, I'd mention how my adoption of a number of mentors had driven the expression of my multi-creative interests. Accepting that I was a multi-talent with needs to express multiple interests was key to my own self-knowledge. I would be in trouble if I tried to live my life like "normal people" did; these multiple interests would act like gremlins if they weren't taken out and exercised.

I also made some rare life decisions - such as not to spawn my own children. I didn't have anything against parenting and spent eleven years being a step parent. I didn't make this decision to not have my own kids lightly. I had significant health issues that I was told were hereditary. There was always the lucky chance that the person I chose to have kids with would prevail in the physical gene pool, improving my potential for healthy children - but I thought that passing on of these health issues that have affected my entire life would be debilitating, selfish and mean to do to anyone.

Plus, I really couldn't afford to be a parent because of these health issues, especially given the high likelihood I would become a single parent. Though the rest of my relatives have long-term relationships with no problems, I seemed to routinely choose very unique guys to couple up with who were somewhat to very difficult people. (For instance, my current relationship is going through a rough spot right now because of his personal challenges that I'm really hoping will be resolved in positive ways.)

There were other questions that @sprougt asked those he encountered...something like, "if you had advice to pass on to younger people, what would it be?" 
I'd say, especially if you're a smart person, be sure to study and improve on your own communications skills, especially your ability to speak about subjective, emotional topics. Because if you discover information or an invention - anything notable or specialized, you're going to want to be able to present it so stupid people who happen to have money so they can support your inventions.

"What was a big risk you took in your life that you learned a big lesson from?"
Hitchhiking isn't as risky as people made it out to be. I met so many interesting people, (some of whom became fantastic friends.) Hitchhiking did make me more observant so I could avoid possible problems; turns out that using my intuition over and over again protected me. Happily, intuition and reading body language cues could be learned and trained over time.  

There were more questions, and of course I can answer the ones differently - but I'll do that next time...
  

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I've been watching a 24 year old guy on YouTube who's interviewing older people he meets randomly and asks them how old they are and other general questions about what it's like to be the age they are.

I thought I might answer some of these here, now that I'm older myself.

If I answered the first question about my age, I don't think my answer would be useful to many people because of the unique choices I've made about how I wanted to live my life. One of the best things has been that I've avoided getting addicted to "adult" type pastimes. I've only had to deal with getting paunchier from not knowing how to deal with what might be unique dietary issues. You cannot imagine how much respect over the years I've received from those who got to know me - all from not having adopted vices.

This is this phenomena that my best friend refers to as "Beer Thinking."  But I imagine it's better explained with the term, "Productive Procrastination." 

For instance, I bought these "desert boots" to walk on this road pictured above when it's raining and muddy. These boots need to be sprayed with some Rustoleum concoction that seals the leather so rain and mud roll off of it. I haven't done it yet, because it needs to be pre-sealed before the final treatment.

I write by hand quite often.

Mostly I do so because I enjoy it.
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WOOFer Warnings

There are some worldwide hospitality membership clubs that seem to work to forge some interesting scenes. But watch out for the model of accepting temporary work using the "WOOFer" model!

WOOF stands for "Workers On Organic Farms". It evolved because farmers couldn't pay the prevailing wage to keep its workers there to do the farm work required.

Why doesn't "no" mean "no" when a guy propositions a gal?

Guys don't understand what's going on when a woman is afraid of a man who seems to has the potential to get angry at a woman for rejecting him personally.

Coming home from college in the mid 1970s, I was riding in the back of the bus at night when I heard a man going through the pockets of a lone sleeping child with a knife, ripping the pockets of the kid's pack and coat. Rather loudly, (which could be explained because of the sound of the bus) I started talking about anything to distract the thief.

Suddenly, three very large black men moved in behind me, next to and in front of me in the empty seats that were available.

Logic says, "the only time another way is necessary to seek out is when current ways are blocked." I know ways to be more creative. Creative ways are "unexploited alternatives," usually in addition to "tradition." So a creative person looks for alternatives, even when there already exists serviceable answers.

I found that formally studying thinking skills has been the most useful to me in developing the ability to communicate my creative abilities...and to invite them to happen with others.

The weirdest thing about getting older is...your peer group starts dying. Relationships that have spanned decades suddenly vanish.

There's a strange routine that happens when people die...and it seems really tragic to me. People recognize how someone dying deserves attention. Every culture offers some recognition of those who are left behind. People feel a responsibility to show up to demonstrate their support...then they leave. It's as if it was a social visit. But it wasn't.

Just so I can attach this to an email...

I have quite a few friends who are passionate and feel responsible to become activists. I am thankful that questions opened by serious issues have inspired involvement and activism on a whole new level.

But really, I hate politics. It's an arena where cultural cliche`and manipulation is at its worst. I do not listen to the news on purpose, because of the sensationalism. I regularly impose a "news-fast" state for myself, mostly through music listening - often music without words.
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