It has been 5 months since I retired. Much has changed and much has remained the same.
The Death of a News Junky
Originally, this was going to be a separate post, but I have decided to include it with this month’s RetireDiary, since I procrastinated in publishing it by itself.
For most of my adult life – hell, for that matter, most of my life, period – I have been a television news junky.
I didn’t go in the other room when my parents watched the news. I was right there with them, which in some cases was not a good thing as I often understood just enough of what I was seeing to be frightened by it or confused by it. The Cuban Missile Crisis scared the shit out of me; I was pretty sure we were all going to die in a nuclear blast. At 12 years old, it took me a day or so to understood the magnitude and horror of Kennedy being shot; my parents were staunch republicans, so wasn’t it good that he was no longer president?
I followed Kennedy’s funeral and, 5 years later, his brother’s. The moon landing, Watergate, 9/11 – I rabidly latched onto every bit of news, good and bad, as much as I could. With a college major in radio, television and film production, coverage of current events was always at the forefront.
In short, I was obsessed with news. Not anymore.
These days, I find myself turning off the news, either moving to another channel or turning the TV off completely. I suppose it is a form of burying my head in the sand. There is nothing good in the news anymore, and even the daily horror that is on the screen and in the Internet rarely holds my interest. I find myself especially averse to news about politics and the presidency. It is so depressing to hear the hypocrisy of politicians and news commentators, that I have chosen to block them out of my life for the most part. Better to watch Bobby Flay barbecue a steak than watch Chris Cuomo barbecue a politician.
So I am done with it.
Other Retirement Observations and News
Last week I was able to enjoy my first post-retirement family vacation in Aptos. It didn’t really feel that much different, except that when I got home on Friday, I had to get out of my mind that I only had a couple of vacation days left before I went back to work. I used to have an “I’m still on vacation” attitude; I had to remind myself that it wasn’t just vacation time anymore. It’s retirement time!
For the first time since retirement, I am finding myself at a loss when it comes to making meals. Everything sounds boring to me, and cooking has become more of a chore than a challenge. I am hoping this will pass, maybe when the weather starts to cool off.
Which brings me to……the weather. It has been so damned hot, here, pretty much 100+ degrees every day for the last 2 or 3 weeks, with no end in sight. I have things I would like to do outside, but if I don’t get them done by about 10 in the morning, it is lost. (Right now it is 10:00 AM and 82 outside; supposed to get to 102 today.)
Anyway, just completed my application to start Social Security payments in October and getting ready to make plans for a vacation sometime in the fall. Other than that, just trudging my way through life.
Retirement is still worth it!
The big problem I have with retirement is that you don’t get any days off.
Hahahaah! Or even know what day it is!