Age Guesser

I received what I felt was an odd compliment: Our waitress liked my hair (not an odd compliment), "It makes you look young," she said (odd compliment). I felt that this was an entirely different comment than, "That haircut makes you look younger," as fed to you by someone who knows what you looked like before said haircut. But this woman was a complete stranger. To her, I just looked young.
It is not new to me to hear people who know the number of candles on my cake say that I look young for my age. Since I've always been my own age and looked the way I look, I'm not sure what to think of this. I am fortunate to not have wrinkles or to have found any gray strands yet. I know it's coming, and I don't dread it, exactly. I've never been ashamed of my age, and once I begin showing my age I don't see any reason to lie about it.
Thanks to the magic of Facebook, I have seen pictures of the classmates I graduated high school with, and they don't look any older than I do. So, since they are my age and appear no older, how is it I look young for my age? Was my entire graduating class genetically blessed? Is my age reading skewed, or are others'? What is my age supposed to look like?
Obviously there are many answers to that question. Our modern times allow for anyone to appear to be almost any age they choose, with the help of unpronounceable chemicals, poisonous injections, and plastic surgery. I have my doubts that everyone else my age has gone to one or all of these lengths to look younger. Certainly there are those that appear older than they are, but you wouldn't dare tell them this. In fact, pair any two humans of the same age, and some will conclude that one appears older than the other. When a person tells you their age, whether they appear older or younger than that is first, a matter of subjective opinion, and second, completely incidental. Rather than blurting a backhanded, "You look great for your age!" or replying with a quiet I-feel-kinda-bad-for-you-then "Oh," how about we just accept that age looks different on everyone?
I want to add that this is a lesson for me, not a sermon. I've certainly been guilty of trying to gauge how old people are. I've also failed miserably at this, which is why you won't hear me barking at the fair's "Guess Your Age" booth.

Um, Part 2

Okay. Normally I own up to my mistakes, cut my losses, move on. However, sometimes I underestimate my workload and think, "I can still do this!" As is the case when, two months ago, I decided to try to play "catch up" with my blog posts. This actually made things worse, because I haven't wanted to post just one story a week; if I couldn't post multiple articles to cover the backlog I didn't want to post at all. Considering I'm still about a month behind, I think it's time I faced up to the fact that I just do not have the time to do these posts. The time I had is long gone. This is a personal disappointment, because it meant a lot to me, as the aspiring writer I've always wanted to be, to make time to write creatively at least once a week. I'll just be moving forward now, and do my best to go back to weekly updates. And if an extra post or two happens, w00t!

Fad Diet Pioneer 9/15/10

I am overweight. This is just a fact, not a complaint. I eat healthily, and I exercise almost daily, yet overweight I remain. Sometimes I remember to record my meals and count my calories, sometimes (ahem, usually) not.
A friend of mine is underweight. This is her own observation, not anyone else's. She eats healthily, but has a stressful schedule and some medical issues, and so remains underweight.
We trade our woeful "can't lose weight/can't gain weight" stories often. Our efforts toward our goals are earnest.
"I think stress just makes it worse," she says, and a light bulb appears over my head.
"So," I say, "we won't stress over it. We'll start a 'No-Stress Diet.'" We gave ourselves a month. I tried not to weigh myself, so I wouldn't think too much about whether the "diet" was working - which was the whole point, not thinking about it. I gave in about 3 weeks in.
"I couldn't resist anymore," I confessed, "and my weight is the same." My friend's weight was also about the same.
While I'll need to delete my manuscript of the - I was sure - best-selling fad diet book of all time (it's ok, I'll make my bajillions of dollars elsewhere), I took comfort in the fact that if I simply trust myself to make the right food choices (however grudgingly), and to keep exercising, I will be fine. I won't balloon to a triple-digit BMI as I secretly feared. My pants will still button. When I am ready, I will count calories again so that I can be sure I am consuming fewer than I currently eat, but even then, I don't have to stress over it to make it work.
Before I delete that manuscript, though, do you suppose anyone would be in the market for a book on how to maintain one's weight? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?