Life Calculator
I am not a morbid person, and I have no plans to kick the bucket in the near future. In fact, I always tell people I can't die while I'm in the middle of writing a story, and since I generally have several stories on the go at any time and more percolating in my brain, I don't see how I can hang it up for a very long time.
So it was quite helpful when a friend emailed a link to a website called Life Expectancy Calculator. Here's the link. http://www.sonnyradio.com/realage3.swf. The site has a quiz that takes your present age and by asking questions about health, lifestyle, habits, family background, etc., it works out what your actual age is, as well as how long you might be expected to live. The neat thing is that it shows how your age is affected by the answer to each question. Being happily married really adds years onto your life, as does not doing a lot of driving. Drinking alcohol and eating refined foods -- not so much.
I answered as honestly as I could, fully expecting that I should already be dead by the time I finished the quiz, but to my surprise, my actual age is younger than what it says on my birth certificate (a lady doesn't tell), and apparently I'm going to live to be 83.9 years old.
This is very helpful information, because it allows me to set up a writing schedule. If I want to finish all stories before I die I should probably give myself at least 6 months of undivided writing time before noon of March 18, 2034.
And then I'm good to go -- in a manner of speaking -- unless I get another really good idea. Maybe, if I went to the gym one more time a week, I could squeeze out a little extra time ...