And now, for the lecture
One of my favourite ever pieces of research happened in America a few years back. Concerned at the escalating levels of mental illness among the population, a university decided to conduct some research into what the most effective-stress buster was. A few years, and a good few thousand dollars later, the researchers proudly revealed the fruits of their labours.

Yep, the best stress buster ever invented, is, apparently, a beer and a smoke.

And, while I’m on, I KNOW that smoking is bad for me, I KNOW it costs a fortune (in the UK anyway), and I KNOW it’s a filthy habit that makes my clothes stink. But, consider this:

I smoke. I drink probably more than is good for me, eat red meat, and don’t do a lot of exercise – I have a job that currently involves (a) long-ish hours, and (b) me sitting on my arse a lot, so going to the gym after I get in is the last thing on my mind. I just want to relax.

My ex wife, on the other hand, is a vegetarian, doesn’t smoke, drinks in moderation, and is a health nut – gym four times a week kind of gal.

I’m not the one who has just been diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour and probably won’t live much beyond my 40th…
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Thu 20 Mar 2008, 10:14, 2 replies)

its a strange world.....
when something like that can happen. I sometimes work in a medical school as part of forensics and pathology for my job with old bill and I see lots of cadavers. We open up some ravaged livers and lungs whose cause of death was nothing to do with the excesses of their vice ie: old age etc. We also open up some healthy fine specimens of human organs (so perfect that we use them as comparisons to show what perfect lungs/livers should look like and patient history is exemplary) whose cause of death was the major malfunction of another vital organ. Seems like no matter what you do if your card is marked then its marked. Might as well live life to the full. Of course some peoples idea of living life to the full consists of them being dieting vege eating gym fitness freaks who seem to have an over inflated smugness of their biological purity and making other feels bad in the process.
(CaptainFellatioNelson is trying to kill me, Thu 20 Mar 2008, 10:45, closed)

To be fair to my ex
She became veggie after the 2000/2001 outbreak of foot and mouth disease. She never particularly enjoyed eating meat anyway, and a news report showing sheep getting slaughtered kind of strengthened her resolve to give it up altogether. Her dad smoked heavily and only had one lung as a result - so not smoking was a no brainer. The health kick came when her mum was diagnosed with breast cancer for the third (and unfortunately, fatal) time - basically she wanted to do everything she could to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I wouldn't say she was ever smug about it. But yes, sometimes if your card is marked, then there's precious little you can do about it.

I wish her well.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Thu 20 Mar 2008, 11:02, closed)