If I were you, I'd give up on the roller skate idea and buy a comfy bike - a lot less stress on the body, easier to ride, easier to stop, and you're a lot more mobile. Swimming and biking is a good pair.

 

It certainly gets harder, but you can always do it. My philosophy is that you're strongest, wisest, smartest you'll ever be when you die. This means you have to always make yourself better, or you're as good as dead.

 

If you are willing to eat healthy and exercise consistently *for the rest of your life* you can do almost anything. It's harder to learn things when mistakes do more damage/pain, but you can do more than you think if* you make the daily sacrifices. I know several men in their 60's that can ski as good as me or very close to it and I'm 21, been skiing since I was 8 y/o. Their technique is usually much better as well. Swimming will just take some private lessons, as long as you do the above you can great great at it.

 

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.
-Henry Ford

 

tons of old people ski! (not that you're old, lol.) i see them all the time. it isn't difficult to pick up either... i'm not athletic at all but i can ski/snowboard. get an instructor for a day and i guarantee you'll pick it up, no problem.

don't rollerskate, you'll look like a fruit loop. esp. with a helmet, spandex shorts and elbow/knee guards. lol... why don't you try biking? or if you have a dog it's always more fun to run with your dog than running alone.

swimming... i still can't swim. i think some people just don't have the stamina to be good swimmers.

as far as learning to play a musical instrument... i think that some of that has to do with natural ability. i've played the guitar since i was 11, yet i know people who started years after i did and can already outplay me and play songs by ear and that sort of stuff.

or just go race your car... do you know how many people would love to have the means to pick up a hobby like that?

 

( Is Fruit loop PC? )

[QUOTE=C_Unit,Jan 16 2007, 03:25 PM]
don't rollerskate, you'll look like a fruit loop.

 

Racing is fun, but it's not exactly a physical exercise.

Thanks for the responses! I think I'll look into swimming lessons. As for biking and running, I do do those, but just thought to do something a little different, like rollerskating, regardless of looking like a fruit rollup (never heard of that before though )

I'd love to learn musical instruments, but I realize that dream wont come true anytime soon. It'd take years and years and patience to be decent at playing an instrument.

 

all humans should know how to at least tread water. I would persue the swimming thing immediately.

 

a fruit loop, you mean? hahaha... that's cute.

i really wouldn't give up on the guitar idea... it just takes time and patience. it seems intimidating but start by learning to play songs you like. the first song i taught myself to play was a really simple green day song "good riddance (time of your life)"... blink 182 is usually easy to play too. but you probably don't know that stuff since you're old and all.... just figure out how to read tablature (which any retard could do), practice simple chords (go through the alphabet, ABCDEFG... but don't try to go past G, lol), look up the tablature/chords for the songs on the internet, print them out and just dedicate some time to learning to play that one song. when you learn that one, start learning another.

 

The world is divided into two kinds of people, imho. Participants and Spectators. I fall into the former category, my wife the latter. I try EVERYTHING. At 37 I just learned to snowboard last year with a couple friends. We were the three foggies learning among the teenagers. We still had fun with them and the instructors were great. I had surf lessons on my last trip to Hawaii, and plan to learn more each time we return (my wife is from there so we go once a year to visit family)

If it is fun I want to learn, otherwise the good stuff passes you by. My wife does not know how to ride a bike (I bought a tandem hoping that will help her learn) or how to ski. I think of all the great times I have had on a scenic bike trail or the awsome feeling of being at the top of the mountain in Vail and seeing for a hundred miles in all directions before heading out on skis. I can't share those interests with her until she gets over some fears. I'd love to take another ski trip but right now, I would have to leave her behind.

I was asked to take some of my aunts and uncles out into some deeper water snorkeling on my last trip in Maui. Everybody but one guy chickened out for fear of murky water, sharks or whatever. The uncle that braved it out got to see octopus, sea turtles, dolphins, beautiful fish, an eel and some kind of ray. He could not stop talking about how great it was the rest of the trip. The others let fear keep them from a really neat experience.

I learned to air chair at 34, wakeboard at 32. When something new comes out, I wanna do it. Someday I will be too old, but I don't want to look back and say "I wish I had done that." Have no regrets about what you miss in life.

I have, on the other hand, had a recent shoulder surgery that has been hell. The most painful six weeks of my life, and far more painful than the original injury, all because one day there were 12 foot waves in Hawaii, caution flags out, and I thought, "HEY! I think I can body surf that thing!" and it knocked me silly and tore my arm way out of the socket. Costly mistake, but I gave it a shot. I'd probably do it all again.

When I was a kid I was afraid of roller coasters and after much coaxing , I chickened out and watched my brother and sister and dad go ride the thing. I felt like the worlds biggest p*ssy the rest of the day. I decided that would never happen again. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I have learned most of the stuff during adulthood. Still in the plans are certified scuba, (I love to snorkel) and perhaps some skydiving.

Good luck and have fun. Don't let fear keep you from enjoying life to the fullest. Participants have all the fun, spectators just have to live vicariously through us. Some of the most powerful memories you will have, and look back on so fondly in life are places you dared to go where others would not tread, or something you tried that were afraid to do. Whether or not you master it, or just learn a little, conquering fear and aprehension is an awsome thing. I find nothing more rewarding than accomplishing something I did not think I could do. The funny thing is, the more of these things you accomplish, the more you are convinced there is nothing you can't do. (except maybe the body surfing part)


Sorry for the rant.