Love, Sex, Lifestyle Ruth Ostrow

I’m on holidays!

Ruth Ostrow — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 09:23:17 +0000

Hi all my readers, I’m away for four weeks, and even though my columns are appearing in the paper, I’m not going to be posting them till I get back mid December. Meanwhile you can find them on line at The Australian Cheers Ruth

Ageing brain is a myth

Ruth Ostrow — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:27:25 +0000

WHILE the body is going to decline with age and our joints become worse for wear, the brain is not geared towards ageing, according to American Michael Gelb, world leader in accelerated learning, speaking at the annual Mind and Its Potential conference in Sydney last month. Gelb, who has had his [...]

Deal Breakers in Love

Ruth Ostrow — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 08:52:20 +0000

AN acquaintance recently discovered her long-time partner had gone back to smoking and she left him. For many people, that would seem extreme, given seven good years together. But for her it was part of an unspoken system in relationships that I have dubbed EDB: emotional deal breakers. As with [...]

Sexual amnesia

Ruth Ostrow — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 08:43:32 +0000

When it comes to kinky sex, why do we always think we’ve invented the wheel? AMONG my peers there was much sadness over the recent death of Sylvia Kristel, star of the 1974 erotic film Emmanuelle — a film we grew up with, and which became so popular that it made soft-core erotic cinema [...]

Redundancy epidemic

Ruth Ostrow — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 08:23:07 +0000

IN the wake of the global economic downturn, many people I know are having to learn to cope with becoming redundant in their 40s, 50s or 60s. And it’s not an easy task. Many of my friends are journalists who have taken payouts and left not only their job but their identity at a stage in life when [...]

The Laws of Attraction

Ruth Ostrow — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 11:26:44 +0000

TWO separate incidents within three hours of each other got me thinking about the nature of attraction and repulsion. I was in a cafe, perusing the menu. A particularly nice, young waiter came over and was talking me through my options. But somehow between ‘‘banana bread or omelette’’, an [...]

Smile

Ruth Ostrow — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 07:00:44 +0000

Why are Australians so scared to smile? ABOUT two weeks ago, a woman walking towards me gave me a big grin. I felt immediately self-conscious because I didn’t know what was wrong with me. Were my pants on inside out, was my hair standing up in a strange way? I wondered if maybe I knew her. As I [...]

Couch Potatoes Are In

Ruth Ostrow — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 05:45:36 +0000

I call it CBGO: ‘‘can’t be bothered going out’’ syndrome; and it’s happening to many people I know. When it comes to going out at night in particular, I’ve noticed myself and others around me growing increasingly lazy. For my part, I’m hoping it was just winter. I’m hugely unhappy with the lack [...]

Stay At Home Dads

Ruth Ostrow — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 10:34:02 +0000

Women told SAHDs will cheat on them putting feminism back 20 years. I HAVE taken umbrage at a recent article by writer Vicki Larson, blogging in OMG Chronicles and Huffington Post about stay at home dads. Apparently the new warning bell issued by women for women is that SAHDs are more likely to [...]

The Sandwhich generation and Gen X-austed

Ruth Ostrow — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 00:52:08 +0000

Trapped between kids who never leave home and ageing parents living longer, leaving kids late has its real problems. IT’s a strange phenomenon to observe: people who decided to have children late trapped in a world where three things are happening simultaneously. They are having to take kids [...]

Pet Prozac

Ruth Ostrow — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 11:52:38 +0000

Many pets today are said to be depressed and given Prozac. But none of us fare well in captivity. I WATCHED an interesting show a while ago about a miserable parrot. In an episode of the program Bondi Vet, Chris Brown treated a self-mutilating parrot suffering depression. The bird had fallen in [...]

Hope Springs for Sex

Ruth Ostrow — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 07:00:13 +0000

Despite rumours that everyone is bonking like rabbits, the truth of what goes on behind closed doors in relationships is rather sobering. HOPE Springs, the new movie about a married couple who have lost that lovin’ feeling, has struck a chord not just with baby boomers and those married a long [...]

Getting over the Ex

Ruth Ostrow — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 12:29:23 +0000

It’s a lot cheaper and safer to be nice to your ex says the Huffington Post. I READ a story the other day that made me cringe. A London man, Darrell Plews, 44, was charged after setting fire to his wife’s clothing. On finding out his estranged wife had secretly run away to Gambia to marry her [...]

The Happiness Addiction

Ruth Ostrow — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 11:03:27 +0000

In recent times, we’ve seen so many drug and alcohol binges and deaths among the rich and famous, it’s fair to ask what’s going on. In the wake of the deaths of Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston and billionaire Eva Rausing come the ghostly photos of celebrity Macaulay Culkin — predicted to have only [...]

Plane rage

Ruth Ostrow — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 03:44:21 +0000

We all have it. The rage that comes from having to deal with rude people in confined spaces. Even yoga can be a hotbed. A passenger is facing possible charges after abusing airline staff when the woman in front of him refused to turn off her reading light during an overnight flight, it was [...]