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Looking forward to what you will do after retirement is a bit of a fallacy, because the only thing you canāt do now that you can do then is never have to go back to work.
Mrs. Olsen is right. Having your time to yourself to CHOOSE what you want to do with it is its own goal. And there is no shortage of things to do, so donāt worry about that part.
Jef may not get that, since heās lucky enough to do a comic strip for a living.
Years ago, I asked a co-worker, then approaching 70, why he hadnāt retired. He said āI donāt know what Iād do with my time.ā Yes, he was highly competent and respected, but it saddened me to think that his job was the only thing he felt capable of doing. I retired back in 2000 and havenāt had a dull moment since. And Iām doing what I want to do, not what somebody else* tells me I have to do.
most jobs/careers morph into something else over the years. The job I had in the sixties was nothing like the job I finished with. the enthusiasm I had in my youth was battered by the bureaucracy, micromanaging and disrespect management had for the workers.
I didnāt forget it, Frazz. I just have never admitted it, AND I donāt feel a need to. Calling someone āoldā in a certain disdainful tone is meant to give the caller a sense of superiority, as if being younger makes one somehow superior. Thing is, for many reasons, hordes of ācallersā never get to experience just how great that stage of life can be.
Jef Mallett Blog Posts Frazz Ā· 17 hrs Ā· The first time I realized I was old was when I was reading in Rolling Stone that Pink Floydās Dark Side of the Moon had been out for 10 years, meaning it had been, in fact, 10 years since I first heard, _āā¦ and then one day you find ten years have got behind you ā¦ā+and simply could not fathom being 10 years older than that, than anything, let alone having missed the starting gun, as the lyrics also say. But being blindsided feels like you sure missed something, and I felt old. So old. I was 21.And furious with myself. I would never allow myself to feel that way again. Though I would come close.Even though it came out the same year as Dark Side of the Moon, it would still be a couple years before I heard Jimmy Buffettās āHe Went to Paris,ā where he sings about four or five years slipping away just before he sings about 20 more years slipping away. I was in Key West when I heard it, a place that seemed created to steal away just such massive chunks of time. Itās not like I was there to waste away in Margaritaville; the opposite, in fact. I was on a vacation with a good friend, running and swimming and fishing and diving up a storm, but I heard the song in a really kind of sad off-season titty bar (the kind of titty bar that would play āHe Went to Parisā) and the whole gestalt rattled the shit out of me, like thatās exactly where decades go to vanish and there I was. I couldnāt wait to get home and get busy with, I donāt know, doing stuff. Any stuff. And I did. I raced bikes some more, I met Patty and married her, I segued to triathlon and eventually serious, borderline narcissistic triathlon and somehow stayed married, I tried this comic strip thing and am still doing that, wrote a book, I met great people, I traveled great places, I got kind of fit, I did some events I never thought Iād be able to do or in some cases even want to, and 20 years still slipped away.
Bilan almost 5 years ago
It should be the number days until Caulfield leaves her class. But with this being a comic, thatās not going to happen.
Concretionist almost 5 years ago
The really great thing about aging is that eventually you get to where you can throw your own surprise party.
mddshubby2005 almost 5 years ago
If youāre that burned out, Mrs. Olsen, just quit. āBeing doneā isnāt a goal ā itās escapism.
djlactin almost 5 years ago
Letās not tell Mrs O that this strip loops forever through the same yearā¦ (hee hee)
Brian G Premium Member almost 5 years ago
Looking forward to what you will do after retirement is a bit of a fallacy, because the only thing you canāt do now that you can do then is never have to go back to work.
whahoppened almost 5 years ago
Caulfield, you just go on believing that!
jpayne4040 almost 5 years ago
LOL! I hope Frazz is wrong for once, but Iām thinking heās right.
e.groves almost 5 years ago
Being retired and not having to go to work in foul weather is a blessing.
cissycox almost 5 years ago
Ignatz Premium Member almost 5 years ago
Mrs. Olsen is right. Having your time to yourself to CHOOSE what you want to do with it is its own goal. And there is no shortage of things to do, so donāt worry about that part.
Jef may not get that, since heās lucky enough to do a comic strip for a living.
redstart almost 5 years ago
I had a whole bunch of things I planned to do when I retired, and I havenāt found the time to do them yet . . . 20 years and counting .
Richard S Russell Premium Member almost 5 years ago
Years ago, I asked a co-worker, then approaching 70, why he hadnāt retired. He said āI donāt know what Iād do with my time.ā Yes, he was highly competent and respected, but it saddened me to think that his job was the only thing he felt capable of doing. I retired back in 2000 and havenāt had a dull moment since. And Iām doing what I want to do, not what somebody else* tells me I have to do.
*well, except for my wife, of course
micromos almost 5 years ago
The answer is . . What ever I want!
flying spaghetti monster almost 5 years ago
most jobs/careers morph into something else over the years. The job I had in the sixties was nothing like the job I finished with. the enthusiasm I had in my youth was battered by the bureaucracy, micromanaging and disrespect management had for the workers.
sandpiper almost 5 years ago
I didnāt forget it, Frazz. I just have never admitted it, AND I donāt feel a need to. Calling someone āoldā in a certain disdainful tone is meant to give the caller a sense of superiority, as if being younger makes one somehow superior. Thing is, for many reasons, hordes of ācallersā never get to experience just how great that stage of life can be.
Happy, happy, happy!!! Premium Member almost 5 years ago
Iām there. Iām tired. I wanna stop.
GaryCarr almost 5 years ago
Thereās nothing wrong with just being done, I donāt need a goal to live.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] almost 5 years ago
Jef Mallett Blog Posts Frazz Ā· 17 hrs Ā· The first time I realized I was old was when I was reading in Rolling Stone that Pink Floydās Dark Side of the Moon had been out for 10 years, meaning it had been, in fact, 10 years since I first heard, _āā¦ and then one day you find ten years have got behind you ā¦ā+and simply could not fathom being 10 years older than that, than anything, let alone having missed the starting gun, as the lyrics also say. But being blindsided feels like you sure missed something, and I felt old. So old. I was 21.And furious with myself. I would never allow myself to feel that way again. Though I would come close.Even though it came out the same year as Dark Side of the Moon, it would still be a couple years before I heard Jimmy Buffettās āHe Went to Paris,ā where he sings about four or five years slipping away just before he sings about 20 more years slipping away. I was in Key West when I heard it, a place that seemed created to steal away just such massive chunks of time. Itās not like I was there to waste away in Margaritaville; the opposite, in fact. I was on a vacation with a good friend, running and swimming and fishing and diving up a storm, but I heard the song in a really kind of sad off-season titty bar (the kind of titty bar that would play āHe Went to Parisā) and the whole gestalt rattled the shit out of me, like thatās exactly where decades go to vanish and there I was. I couldnāt wait to get home and get busy with, I donāt know, doing stuff. Any stuff. And I did. I raced bikes some more, I met Patty and married her, I segued to triathlon and eventually serious, borderline narcissistic triathlon and somehow stayed married, I tried this comic strip thing and am still doing that, wrote a book, I met great people, I traveled great places, I got kind of fit, I did some events I never thought Iād be able to do or in some cases even want to, and 20 years still slipped away.