We have gotten 16+ inches of rain since last Saturday--now it's sunny and humid. I used the "Gee, I need to build an ark" joke until I got sick of it. Ormond Beach got so much water that residents were advised not to flush their toilets. Bleeech! Not visiting OB for a while.
Trying to find indoor activities in an outdoor area has been difficult, but not impossible. I spent hours this week writing lists of what I should do--read, write, think deep thoughts. The rest of the time I procrastinated. I am the champ at that. I used to make up songs about procrastination, and I elected myself Miss Procrastination of whatever year it happened to be.
Fortunately, there is a Deadliest Catch marathon on the Discovery Channel and my crown as Queen of Put-Off-Until-Tomorrow is safe. Right now I am watching the ocean cowboys of the Northwestern, Cornelia Marie, Time Bandit, and the Maverick race to deliver their loads of King Crab to the processing plants in Alaska. I'm going to cut this Blog a little short--they are about to crown the winning captain in the Most Crab Per Pot Contest!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Retirement, Short Sales, and the Big Stress
Well, it's been August since I last posted--so much for the "I'm going to write every day" goal. A lot has happened since I last blogged--I really retired, and I am planning a move to Georgia from Florida. Can you say "Let's choose two of the biggest stressors in life and voluntarily jump right in"?
After many years of teaching, I finally retired on May 7th. Love it, love it, love it! I can now do everything I always wanted to do, right? Oh, wait--now I have no money, so forget the summer in Europe, the writing workshops, conferences, and retreats. Never thought of that, did I? I suppose it goes right along with the Scarlett O'Hara Complex that I wrote about last year. Ah'll just think about it tomorrah y'all.
Oddly enough, that transitions nicely into my second stressor--moving to Georgia. Everytime I go the the Atlanta area and pass by the Jonesboro exit off of I-75, I think about Scarlett and her charming way of procrastinating. We found a nice starter home in the middle of Barrow County--about 15 miles from Athens. It is out in the country and is in a very peaceful setting, but the journey from here to there has been filled with potholes and roadblocks. The house is a short sale and is subject to approval by both the sellers and the banks. Let me tell you, if you want to get into a house in hurry, don't pursue a short sale. We have been waiting for final approval for over 2 months--every time we think that we are coming down the home stretch, something happens to postpone the closing. AAAAHHHH! It's all good.
Back to retirement. I have seen so many people retire and the die within a few months. Did they retire because of poor health, or did they develop problems because they retired? This is the "Chicken or the Egg" conundrum. Of course, on the day of my retirement, I had to go to the doctor because I thought I was having a heart attack. It was a false alarm, and I am wondering if the way I view retirement caused the symptoms I had. Cool, now I'm retired, but I have become a neurotic hypochondriac.
I am setting goals for myself--I have signed up for an on-line writer's workshop on Freelance Writing, I bought a number of reference books, and I subscribed to Writer's Digest. That ought to do it. Now I just have to actually write. And I am. And I found out something about myself--I think I am going to like retirement.
After many years of teaching, I finally retired on May 7th. Love it, love it, love it! I can now do everything I always wanted to do, right? Oh, wait--now I have no money, so forget the summer in Europe, the writing workshops, conferences, and retreats. Never thought of that, did I? I suppose it goes right along with the Scarlett O'Hara Complex that I wrote about last year. Ah'll just think about it tomorrah y'all.
Oddly enough, that transitions nicely into my second stressor--moving to Georgia. Everytime I go the the Atlanta area and pass by the Jonesboro exit off of I-75, I think about Scarlett and her charming way of procrastinating. We found a nice starter home in the middle of Barrow County--about 15 miles from Athens. It is out in the country and is in a very peaceful setting, but the journey from here to there has been filled with potholes and roadblocks. The house is a short sale and is subject to approval by both the sellers and the banks. Let me tell you, if you want to get into a house in hurry, don't pursue a short sale. We have been waiting for final approval for over 2 months--every time we think that we are coming down the home stretch, something happens to postpone the closing. AAAAHHHH! It's all good.
Back to retirement. I have seen so many people retire and the die within a few months. Did they retire because of poor health, or did they develop problems because they retired? This is the "Chicken or the Egg" conundrum. Of course, on the day of my retirement, I had to go to the doctor because I thought I was having a heart attack. It was a false alarm, and I am wondering if the way I view retirement caused the symptoms I had. Cool, now I'm retired, but I have become a neurotic hypochondriac.
I am setting goals for myself--I have signed up for an on-line writer's workshop on Freelance Writing, I bought a number of reference books, and I subscribed to Writer's Digest. That ought to do it. Now I just have to actually write. And I am. And I found out something about myself--I think I am going to like retirement.
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