Maybe I did something wrong, maybe unique to my other settings - only had one flash cookie item listed there to start with ..... tried those settings... then put them back the way they were, didnt take the time to fool with it. Volume level wouldnt stay set on sites and youtube videos played next, next like a playlist,,, couldnt do full screen on some videos, couldnt scroll yahoo video/news page.

I'm bothered by some instances of flashing lights, such as sunlight through trees, or the flickering of a computer monitor. And similar to what Meme Moma describes I sometimes experience migraines that start as he/she describes. Often if I consume enough caffeine quickly enough when the visual symptoms start I can prevent it from becoming a full-blown migraine. Interestingly a co-worker sometimes wears a jacket that has a jagged, black and white, zig-zag pattern, and for me at least her jacket looks like a migraine especially when viewed under fast flickering fluorescent lights. If I look at her jacket for more than a few seconds the pattern seems to start shifting or vibrating or shaking. Another time a different co-worker was next to me with her laptop that had a wildly animating screen saver program. I started watching the fascinating patterns and then >nothing< and then meeting was over. I'm not sure whether I was asleep or in a trance or what, but at least ten minutes was just gone.

In a few weeks my husband and I turn, respectively, 63 and 59 and retirement is a topic of frequent discussion between us. Financially either or both of us could retire tomorrow; the real decision point is when we will leave. Husband is doing IT work that is boring and repetitive, which he despises. I've been passionately dedicated to my job for 20+ years, yet I find myself increasingly tired of the stresses and the work load. And yet.....we both make very good salaries, have great benefits and are in positions that allow us reasonable flexibility and autonomy in our schedules. He has a volunteer commitment in which he has served for decades with great distinction. It provides him with a lot of gratification and the sense of providing value not only due to what he does but because he works extensively with young adults--both of us enjoy mentoring this age cohort and I do it through my job. He takes one day a week to do that, and when he retires he has a standing offer to work as much or as little as he wishes. I struggle with what retirement will mean for me. To 3katz' point, I do know very clearly that at 60 and beyond I will NOT want to continue to work forever. In hopes of finding a future role for myself post-retirement, I accepted a role in a mentoring program this past year that gives underrepresented high school girls guidance about life and education skills. However, it turned out that the work was almost entirely organizing monthly presentations, with no individual interaction. Frankly, the part of my job I hate most is event planning and all the volunteer role brought me was 10 more events to plan, which I had to do around my normal day job! So, no more of that. I responded to another request for volunteers which seems meant as more of a one-to-one commitment....and although I called and emailed several times and spoke to an enthusiastic coordinator nobody has let me know about actually getting involved. At this age/stage what I'm trying to do is disengage enough at work to let go of doing a lot of the things that stress me (event planning!) and consciously enjoy the part of my work I do love which is advising students while I try to figure out what the great unknown of Retirement will be. I do anecdotally seem to see that people who I know who have retired are enjoying life, and I do have a sense that I can correct my course if what I first do doesn't turn out to be enough to keep me busy and engaged in life. We both feel we are in holding patterns, as we each have an elderly parent living locally, our son just got married and we foresee in the next few years responsibilities ramping up. As husband says, we'll probably keep working until 'something happens'. Could be a good something like a grandchild. Could be a not so good something like a health crisis with a parent, or a work situation that gets more stressful. We'll see. I don't foresee me staying more than 2-3 years, husband....who knows? And finally I strongly agree temperament and attitude are incredibly important in aging happily and healthfully. Those elderly parents--my MIL is now in assisted living at 92 YO and basically has always been unhappy, solitary and stubborn to the point of hurting herself. She never had friends or a social circle, counted on 'my boys' to be her entire social world and sank into dementia as once my FIL died 18 years ago she quite literally lived a life of sitting alone in her house every. single. day. Seeing no one, talking to no one except her sons and DILs, and gradually losing complete touch with life. Very sad. My father, OTOH, is 82 and this February lost his wife-who was #3-very suddenly in an accident. His first wife (my mother) died of cancer, wife 2 left him after 20 years and now he is a widower again. And yet, he greets each day with a big smile, he faces the world with enthusiasm and grace and he is the most resilient person I've ever seen. So striking to see the two of them age in their own ways and I sure hope I take my father's path and not my mother in law's!

Amen to that, Elmer! There were certainly a lot of suggestions I found that I needed to weed out what might be useful and what not, but felt I was in over my head. However, desperation can make us try things that maybe we shouldn't. The return of the blurring of every picture in my computer, in addition to the ever-present font blurring, may ironically have been brought on by something I did, trying to fix things. By the way, I didn't get back to answering you before, but my computer is about 4 years old, whereas the tricky monitor may be 7 or 8. I know the monitor's age because when we bought my present PC, my husband (not needing the space I do for music and pictures) got my old one, bought in 2010, but I kept the monitor that had come with it. We got a new, much bigger one for him for his bad vision. I wonder, what is the average life of a hard-worked monitor? Andi: I am so pleased that my troubles ended up helping you solve yours! My husband has twisted eye nerves and glaucoma and his sight has been slowly declining for years; he uses a magnifying glass to read books now. I am so sorry you are suffering from macular degeneration; that is a horrible thing to have to cope with, and I hope you will be able to keep enjoying your computer for a long time to come. Rose: No worry, I can see the screen just fine now, without the distraction of those shadows. In youth, I had better than 20/20 vision. Now it's hard to thread needles and I need glasses to read the running news notices at the bottom of the TV (admittedly, it is the smallest Samsung we could find), as well as to drive and read signs, but not for computer things... Though if you see me at a distance on the street or in a store, don't be surprised if I don't recognize you until we get closer! Having reached 80, I am not complaining, so long as the rheumatism allows me to keep walking. A shout-out to everyone here who is standing up against the indignities and inconveniences of age! It was encouraging to know there are some other elderlies, as a foreign friend once called us, still keeping their joy in life. And to any young whippersnappers, you'd better hope you will be where we are one day, indignities and all, the alternative being.....you know! :-]