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Writer’s block. Is there anything more frightening to the would-be writer, the one struggling to get the proverbial “big break”, than writer’s block? Well, I mean other than getting your hands chopped off and losing your ability to write, getting ALS, or getting Alzheimer’s.

You know, that just totally killed this post. Or maybe I just made it better, by making you grateful you still have your hands, don’t have ALS or Alzheimer’s. So I’ll go on anyway. Here’s what you should do when faced with “writer’s block”.

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This is a total rant. Nothing of value here other than ranting, so if you don’t feel like reading a rant, skip this. (Of course, you can check the post for the awesome salad dressing recipe found within, but don’t bother reading anything else if you don’t want to read a rant.)

I’m getting sick of this. No, really, the whole contradiction thing when it comes to what foods are good for you and which aren’t. From one side, I’m told X foods are bad for you, eat Y foods. From another I hear A foods are bad for you, eat B foods. Problem is that the list each gives me pretty much cancels out the list the other gives. Any way I can survive, you know, without food?

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I belong to more than a few email groups. Usually, these are for subjects I wish to learn on: psychology, health, writing, philosophy, etc. Recently I joined a particular health group because I wanted to find out more about a particular condition, one that isn’t well studied but which is being revealed as being more prominent than people once thought. I did this in order to learn, and to help others. However, the old adage “No good deed goes unpunished” proved true, as it was my helping others that cost me my ability to learn more about it. I’ll explain:

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For those in or near Florida: It was recently announced that Methuselah Foundation (site|blog) Chair and Chief Science Officer Aubrey deGrey will be in Orlando on May 12th. You can see details (and reserve seating) at degreyorlando.com. I plan to be there, but don’t let that dissuade you. Come anyway.

For those who can’t attend: While I have my own set of questions to ask him on subjects mentioned in his book Ending Aging, I’m interested in knowing what you would like to ask him. I’ll take a list of these questions and ask… as many as I can, which may well be zero. If allowed, I’ll even record it and post it on this blog. (Probably won’t be allowed, copyright reasons and all, but I’ll try it anyway.) Posts your questions in the comments sections. I’ll update this post in a couple of weeks with questions I plan to take (if anyone asks any questions). By the way, if you’re a real hard-core anti-aging researcher (and someone with considerably more brains that lil’ ol’ me), you may want to check out his first book, Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging.

For those of you who don’t know who he is and are wondering why I’m so excited or why you should care: Click on these links and read: SENS, Methuselah Mouse Prize, Rejuvenation Research. Also, watch this (Flash) video from his appearance at the TED conference:

Edit: Here’s another video.

Finally, for those of you interested in these topics, here are a few links you’ll want to check out: Think Artificial, Fight Aging, Ouroboros, Aging Research, BetterHumans, Immortality Institute. You can also get a good number of TED videos on these subjects at the ImmInst forums. This is just a sampling from my RSS reader. If you have any links you’d like to add relating to anti-aging and related research, feel free to do so in the comments (within reason).

One of the interesting side-effects of my recent digestive troubles the complete review I had to do of my diet. This has resulted, whether I liked it or not, in a drop in weight from the 276 lbs at which I stared this year to a current weight of 254 lbs.

I’m going up to Tampa this weekend to visit family, and my mom asked me to give her a list of what I can eat. So this post is for you, mom. Read it, enjoy, and remember that so long as the rules listed here are followed, I’m not limited to the foods mentioned herein. For the rest of you, here’s my very real, healthier eating regimen. It did not develop overnight, and every day I’m making improvements based on my research. Feel free to take what you like and discard what you don’t.

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