Getting Older, Getting Wussier

There are many  things about getting older that I don't like--you can guess what they are. Most, of course, have been no real surprise to me--other than the fact that they happened to me (I guess, like many others, I considered myself immune from the lashings of the cat-'o-nine-tails called Life). Slowing down. Recalling details (I used to be good at Trivial Pursuit!). Weird stuff popping up and out on my skin--something I'd not really experienced since adolescence.

But one change that has surprised me is my increasing inability to deal with stress--not in "real life" (oh, have I learned to deal with that!) but on the screen. TV and films. (This is the "wussier" part of the title of this post.)

I used to love tense, exciting stories on the screen. In many ways they were my favorite genre. The only exception? Horror films. Never have really been a fan, despite my long, long, long, long fascination with all things Frankenstein. I haven't ever seen a Friday the 13th. Or chainsaw massacring. Or Halloween. Or anything on any Elm Street. (Oddly, in Oklahoma, back in the 1950s, we lived for a few years on Elm Avenue.)

Anyway, I now have a bit of ... trouble ... dealing with stress and tension on the screen. Best example? The shows that Joyce and I stream, the shows that end our day. We don't watch much TV. Some Daily Show or John Oliver with supper. Nothing in the evening. Not until about an hour before Lights Out. (And don't ask me when that is: The answer will depress you.) (Okay, 8:30.)

Right now we are streaming episodes of The Doctor Blake Mysteries and Unforgotten (thanks, Chris, for the suggestion: a great series that has had serious cardiac consequences for me). Doctor Blake is a little more mellow, so I can "take" more of it in the evening.

But Unforgotten? Awfully tense. Awfully, awfully, awfully tense at times. Sometimes I hit Pause after about five or ten minutes, switch over to some Netflix comedy special. Mike Birbiglia works for me. A calm, amusing storyteller. Or John Mulaney. Good ways to "cool off." To simmer down before the lights go out and the nightmares gather on Elm Street.

There have been other shows that have had this effect on me--Line of Duty comes to mind. A show about cops investigating other, corrupt cops in England. I nearly wore out the Pause button on that one.

BTW: I couldn't remember the title of Line of Duty just now, so I asked Google: "Cops investigate other cops in England?" And Line of Duty was number one! The Old Man's still got it! (He can still remember what Google is for!)

And speaking of horror and stress? How about the vicious political battles right now? Can't hit Pause fast or often enough.