Remember those bumper stickers that say people would have had grand children first if they'd known how much fun they were? Well, I feel about the same way about retirement.
Forgetting all the downsides of age and it's debilities, my life now is a lark compared to twenty or thirty years ago. Got up at 9:30 am and all I've done is make coffee for both of us and sit here at the computer. I can sound off online and not worry about a boss or, in my case, customer seeing it and getting mad enough to fire me. Anybody who gets mad can have the old one finger salute (you guess which finger)!
There are all kinds of things needing doing around here, and maybe I'll get to one or two. Then again, maybe not. Just depends on what "spirit" moves me.
I know those rethugs really hate what I'm writing. How dare I be one of those awful "takers." If I'm not like them, gambling with other people's money on stock options, etc. and making tons of money off wiping out companies and absconding with the pirated wealth, including workers pension funds and the underpaid labor of millions of serfs so I can vacation anywhere I like at any time, eat caviar and drink champagne to my bloated hearts content, etc., I should just crawl off somewhere and have the decency to die. How dare I think that since I worked my ass off all those years, I deserve a little leisure paid for by the money our taxes set aside for that very purpose, and which those same assholes appropriated to pay for things like their ill-conceived wars of power and aggression.
Now, I gotta go make myself a little breakfast for my "entitled" old ass to survive a few more days, weeks or years. If I were one of those wonderful "job creators" an underpaid household servant would have already done that for me.
That's my sarcasm for the morning!
Showing posts with label retirement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label retirement. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Thursday, September 26, 2013
CLEAN UP TIME
I just cleaned a lot of stuff out of my favorites list on Internet Explorer. I had added so many things that struck me at the time but that I never visited again that the list was getting very unwieldly. So, off to the recycle bin and then delete for good. If I ever need those things again, a google search will probably bring them up again anyway.
Such house cleaning is needed once in awhile, in every aspect of life. I really need a wholesale house cleaning and reorganizing in my shop. Getting to it and staying on it is the problem. The storage room needs it. The office needs it. The patio needs it. Just thinking about it makes me tired. Sitting here doing this is a lot more fun.
Maybe writing about it will inspire me to actually do some of it. We'll just have to see.
In any case, I'm not going to worry about it. I'm at that stage of life where there isn't the same urgency that existed a few years back. We were commenting earlier that it's good to be retired and not have the daily rat race to contend with. We pretty much do just as we please every day, and I think we've earned that right. We had enough years of nose to the grindstone responsibilities to occupations and family. It's time we were cut a little slack. I know. Boehner and the tea party crowd begrudge us, but I don't think I have to state what they can go do to themselves.
That's my rumination for this evening. G'Night all.
Such house cleaning is needed once in awhile, in every aspect of life. I really need a wholesale house cleaning and reorganizing in my shop. Getting to it and staying on it is the problem. The storage room needs it. The office needs it. The patio needs it. Just thinking about it makes me tired. Sitting here doing this is a lot more fun.
Maybe writing about it will inspire me to actually do some of it. We'll just have to see.
In any case, I'm not going to worry about it. I'm at that stage of life where there isn't the same urgency that existed a few years back. We were commenting earlier that it's good to be retired and not have the daily rat race to contend with. We pretty much do just as we please every day, and I think we've earned that right. We had enough years of nose to the grindstone responsibilities to occupations and family. It's time we were cut a little slack. I know. Boehner and the tea party crowd begrudge us, but I don't think I have to state what they can go do to themselves.
That's my rumination for this evening. G'Night all.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
A NEW LEASE ON LIFE
Even at my age of 77, I feel a new enthusiasm for life today.
Why?
I just took a new career step, that's why. It's exhilarating!
I've reflected a lot about the life my father led lately. He lived to be 95. I don't think he rejoiced in that fact, and considering how he spent his latter years, I certainly don't.
Dad was a lifetime rancher until he had to retire in his early seventies and leave those North Dakota prairies behind. When you have worked hard all your life and suddenly find yourself with only hobbies and passtimes to base existence on, it's sort of like that old song says, "Life get's tedjious, don't it?"
For several years, he busied himself with wood crafts, making clocks, music boxes, jewel cases, etc. He was able to sell some, but nobody wanted to pay much for them. A lot he gave away to friends and family members. Overall, it was a net financial loss. I fell heir to his bandsaw that I use to cut up doggie treats to make them last longer.
As the years passed, he and my mother were forced to move in with my sister in California. My sister did her best, but there was really no way to make life interesting for either of her parents. They were condemned to a stark waiting game for the "grim reaper" to release them from day after day of just staring at walls while they steadily lost more and more physical prowess.
Years before that, My Dad commented to me while they still lived in a HUD apartment in Phoenix that they had "just lived too long." I think he was still younger than I am today at that time.
We have a cup which displays a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt. Her advice, as displayed on that cup, was to do something every day that scares you. That approach carries risks, but it certainly serves to keep life interesting.
I just did something that would scare the s++t out of a lot of people my age. I went down to Phoenix yesterday and took a two-and-a-half hour test to qualify for a license to sell life, health and disability insurance. Friday, I'll be attending a training day to prepare me for representing the Aflac insurance company.
Did it scare me? Sure did. I wondered a few times in the last month if I'd ever be able to pass that test, but I aced it ten points over the minimum requirement. Had to study so hard it upset my whole digestive system and sleep, not to mention my normal routine.
Did I wonder if I was being foolish to attempt to start a new career at my age? Yeah, briefly. But, why not?
I still have all my "marbles" -- in my esteemed opinion, at least. I can still drive, think, get around and comprehend facts and situations. So, why limit myself just because of those accumulated years?
At least, I can now have something to get up for in the morning. The admiration my little wife has for me and has expressed vociferously is especially gratifying.
I don't know if I'll make a little or a lot of money. That isn't the main point. The real point is that I can be a vital part of this world and it's economy. I have something to do that will be easier on me and much more feasible than the carpet work I've been doing for forty years now. Time to leave that kind of work to younger, stronger people.
There's a new "spring" in my step, even if it isn't as good as it was in my square dancing days. I can again have the satisfaction of saying I "did it" by accomplishing what I set out to do.
Insurance agents are called "producers." I produced yesterday and intend to keep on doing so.
LIFE IS GOOD!
Why?
I just took a new career step, that's why. It's exhilarating!
I've reflected a lot about the life my father led lately. He lived to be 95. I don't think he rejoiced in that fact, and considering how he spent his latter years, I certainly don't.
Dad was a lifetime rancher until he had to retire in his early seventies and leave those North Dakota prairies behind. When you have worked hard all your life and suddenly find yourself with only hobbies and passtimes to base existence on, it's sort of like that old song says, "Life get's tedjious, don't it?"
For several years, he busied himself with wood crafts, making clocks, music boxes, jewel cases, etc. He was able to sell some, but nobody wanted to pay much for them. A lot he gave away to friends and family members. Overall, it was a net financial loss. I fell heir to his bandsaw that I use to cut up doggie treats to make them last longer.
As the years passed, he and my mother were forced to move in with my sister in California. My sister did her best, but there was really no way to make life interesting for either of her parents. They were condemned to a stark waiting game for the "grim reaper" to release them from day after day of just staring at walls while they steadily lost more and more physical prowess.
Years before that, My Dad commented to me while they still lived in a HUD apartment in Phoenix that they had "just lived too long." I think he was still younger than I am today at that time.
We have a cup which displays a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt. Her advice, as displayed on that cup, was to do something every day that scares you. That approach carries risks, but it certainly serves to keep life interesting.
I just did something that would scare the s++t out of a lot of people my age. I went down to Phoenix yesterday and took a two-and-a-half hour test to qualify for a license to sell life, health and disability insurance. Friday, I'll be attending a training day to prepare me for representing the Aflac insurance company.
Did it scare me? Sure did. I wondered a few times in the last month if I'd ever be able to pass that test, but I aced it ten points over the minimum requirement. Had to study so hard it upset my whole digestive system and sleep, not to mention my normal routine.
Did I wonder if I was being foolish to attempt to start a new career at my age? Yeah, briefly. But, why not?
I still have all my "marbles" -- in my esteemed opinion, at least. I can still drive, think, get around and comprehend facts and situations. So, why limit myself just because of those accumulated years?
At least, I can now have something to get up for in the morning. The admiration my little wife has for me and has expressed vociferously is especially gratifying.
I don't know if I'll make a little or a lot of money. That isn't the main point. The real point is that I can be a vital part of this world and it's economy. I have something to do that will be easier on me and much more feasible than the carpet work I've been doing for forty years now. Time to leave that kind of work to younger, stronger people.
There's a new "spring" in my step, even if it isn't as good as it was in my square dancing days. I can again have the satisfaction of saying I "did it" by accomplishing what I set out to do.
Insurance agents are called "producers." I produced yesterday and intend to keep on doing so.
LIFE IS GOOD!
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