I mentioned the other day that I've taken to reading magazines at the gym. I have not indulged in pop culture immersion in a very. long. time. Maybe in 1996 when E was a baby, and for a couple of months, while she was suckin' on my boobies, I watched Oprah and Rosie every day. That was before Rosie came out, I am fairly certain. Even that didn't stick. I've occasionally picked up a People magazine when I'm nervous - on an airplaine, in a doctor's office - and can't concentrate on anything deeper. So it's a little funny to know what people are wearing (outside of GFY's snarky comments, which I've been chuckling at for years) and who is dating who and who is being arrested (Did that used to happen as much? can't these girls at least figure out how to hire a driver? I mean, this is ridiculous).

One thing that really strikes me is how the magazines just don't know what to do about weight. They have one article praising the likes of Kelly Clarkson and the girl who plays Callie on Grey's Anatomy for not being "too skinny," while the facing page is asking whether someone has gained 10 pounds (not kindly), and then the next is wondering if Angelina Jolie is starving to death. The ads for weight loss gimicks are likely the most frequent, even though they're trying to talk about the dangers of being unhealthy out of the other side of their mouth. It's sort of funny to watch them dance the line -- failing miserably.

I was looking at Shape magazine the other day, instead of US Weekly or People (b/c I'd already read all of them), and came across an article on "How To Be Healthy - At Any Age." Okay. It talks to people in their 20's about getting enough sleep while club-hopping, and fun "young" ideas for exercise (i.e., roller blading, rock climbing), and I flip through, "yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever" to the section on women in their 30's.

Most of the tips involved how to eat healthy along with your toddler. How to fit in exercise time while nursing. How to turn housework into a workout.

Huh.

I'm 34.

No toddlers!!

No nursing!!

[No Housework!!]

I had to go to the FORTIES to find things that may apply to me. Such as "time to watch your blood sugar" (due to my family history) and "now that the kids are in school ...."

Not to mention the funky sound my knee makes when I do the leg press. I had to turn off my music b/c the clicky sound was so odd, and sounded nothing like it came out of a body.

I may look young, and I may be younger than most of my kids' friends parents, but reading that made me feel OLD.

I also got a little sad as they categorized one's 20's as the time where they can go to concerts and bars and date lots of people and be "carefree." In my 20's (early), I was going to church 6x a day, then putting a husband through law school, stressing about how to support a family, giving birth, nursing babies, and I don't think I went to ONE concert. Unless you count the Praise Rallies at Liberty University. Which I don't. At all. They sucked.

Of course, my early start means that in my 40's, when my kids are in college, I will get to have the freedom to travel, go to GOOD concerts and theater, and have more money to do it with. Maybe that's a good thing.

Labels: aging, media, weight loss, whining

posted by Zuska @ 10:28 AM

1 Comments:

At Wednesday, July 25, 2007 1:55:00 PM, Katie said…

I sort of know the feeling - I'm still in my 20's, but I don't go out or do all the crazy things that I'm apparently supposed to be doing. All the other paralegals in my office are doing it - going to happy hours, getting drunk every night on the weekends. K and I are at home hanging out with the cats and watching The West Wing on dvd. And my neck and my back hurt in the morning when I wake up, which I think is not supposed to be happening yet. We don't have babies, though - which I think we'll do eventually. That means that I'll be on the appropriate Shape schedule except that I will have missed the whole crazy drunken 20's phase. Crap.