By Mark McNease

Time is not so much an arrow as a comet we ride, streaking across the sky.

You can tell from the first sentence I was 62 when I wrote this. Five years later my perspective on the fleeting nature of time hasn’t changed. I’ve long said that “time is a non-renewable resource,” and I still believe that. The older we get, the less of it we have. That’s not maudlin, it’s just true. As yet another friend died recently, it seemed like a good time to revisit the subject. Pun intended.

The good news is that I’m old enough to collect Social Security. The bad news is that I’m old enough to collect Social Security. When I was twenty, I never imagined being forty. It seemed so far away from that youthful ground I stood upon with naive bravado. Then when I hit forty, I thought fifty would be the last milestone to publicly mark, quietly retiring birthday observations with the exception of a few close friends and family. And finally, when I approached the age when referring to oneself as a senior becomes culturally appropriate, I decided I could at minimum look forward to collecting a monthly stipend for my troubles. We should all be paid for getting old, at least those of us lucky enough to live that long.

• One Thing or Another is a column about life, aging, and the absurdities of it all.

  Midlife Waist Land

  By Mark McNease
  Narration provided by Wondervox.

  Since this column was first written we’ve seen a revolution in weight loss with the introduction and rapid spread of GLP-1 drugs. I’ve been using one myself for awhile now and I’ve lost 30 pounds. Will they change America’s obesity epidemic, or be another disappointment when we finally stop using them—if we ever do? Only time and affordability will tell. Stay tuned for the long-term side effects.

  Whether or not you think your 60s still count as midlife (who doesn’t anticipate celebrating their 120th birthday wheezing out a single candle on a grocery store cake, flanked by an anxious home health aide and an impatient funeral director), the fact remains that age and width are proportionate for most of us. Not all of us, of course. There are those among us who insist they’re only as old as they feel, despite sharp disagreement from titanium hips and birth certificates. You know who you are: you swear by kale smoothies, you’ve never met an elliptical you didn’t want to mount, and you start each day by posting life-affirming platitudes on social media.

One of the pleasures of publishing websites is all the new friends I've made over the last 12 years. One of the more recent ones is Mark Goldstein, host of the Where Do Gays Retire? podcast, and founder of the Where Do Gays Retire? Facebook page (with its over 14,000 members!). I had a chance to catch up with Mark on a hot summer day, about his life, his ventures, and his future.

I had the pleasure of chatting with author Laury Egan, whose moist recent book, Jack & I, just released in May. Laury sets some of her books in locations I'm very familiar with here on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Listen in as we talk about her extensive career, her life these days, and her passion for writing novels.

I knew Wendy when we both worked at the same place several years ago in New Hope, PA. I'd often wondered where she went and what she was up to. And now I know! She was generous enough to share her past, present and future with us, and I'm delighted to have her as a guest on the podcast. - Mark/Editor

About Wendy Cole

Knowing who you are, and not BEING who you are: this is the starting point of every Transitional situation. You KNOW who you truly are, in every aspect, but the outside is what matters. That is what people see. Taking that first transitional step is TERRIFYING. It’s the stress: stress of the journey, stress of the mental weight, stress of worrying about the outside world… The physical transition is the easiest part; it’s getting through the mental transition that holds us back.

What goes around comes around ... and it's another great interview with author, columnist, and renaissance man Dave Hughes. We've been friends for nearly a decade, and I've taken a lot of inspiration from Dave's post-corporate-job life (I try not to use the word 'retirement,' since it needs to be retired!). Join me in a chat with Dave about two of his big ventures: RetireFabulously.com, and his more recent headlong dive into fiction with his 'Gay Tales for the New Millennium' series, with its fifth book, Karma Train from Kansas, having just pulled into the station.

I'm delighted to chat with author and fellow Mystery Writers of America (NY) board member Nev March. After a successful business career, Nev picked up her passion where she'd left off: writing superb historical fiction steeped in the sounds, sights and sensations of old Bombay. Join us for a conversation about her books, her writing, and her plans for the future.

It doesn't get any more comfortable than interviewing my friend and longtime collaborator Rick Rose. Rick is the co-host of our weekly Twist Podcast. He's a Dane County (WI) commissioner, man-about-town in Madison, activist, mentor, and so much more. We talk about life in what was once called retirement, but can only be described as our most active and creative years yet! Fasten your headphones for this one.