What's Bill doing these days?
Several times during the past month or two, I ran into or received email from people I hadn't seen
or heard from for years. They would usually ask, "What are you doing these days?" I didn't have much
of an answer. Because retirement is so relaxed, I didn't FEEL like I was doing a lot of interesting things. At first I said "nothing much" or "I just do whatever I want" or I relayed one thing I was interested in,
"I took up disc golf." At some point I started to ponder... what AM I doing these days? Taking inventory
is something I did very often in my younger years and I've always enjoyed it. So here is a more
reflective and accurate list of what I am doing............
I have been with Gail for 15 years and we are very happy together.
I remodeled a two-room space with a separate entrance on the front of my house and mom moved
in almost two years ago. I am taking care of her. I cook, clean, do laundry, etc. for her, and we go out
for lunch, shopping and traveling together. She's a good companion and I find elder-care to be an
interesting adventure.
I took up disc golf last year and played almost every day during the Summer. There is a course
very close to my house and I can play 18 holes in an hour. On trips, I find a variety of interesting
courses all over the country.
Speaking of trips, I have made a month-long, cross-country drive each of the last four Summers.
I camped, explored, spent a week at the counter-culture event in the desert called "Burning Man," and
Gail flew to join me in Reno and Lake Tahoe for a week. I like to travel and make other trips when
opportunity allows -- my sister watched mom for a long weekend last year so Gail and I could go to
New York City. My brother took me to the Super Bowl this year and we watched the Steelers win
their sixth. That was good, very good.
My brother and his wife have a nice house and multiple pets in Florida. Mom and I have often gone
to Safety Harbor (near Tampa) and watched their house and pets for a week or two while they were on
vacation. My brother kept mom for a whole month the last two years while I did my cross-country drive
out West.
I also have a condominium in Little River, South Carolina. Mom, her cat and I drive down there and
spend a week three or four or five times a year.
My daughter and grandson live in Vancouver, Washington. I don't get out there as much as I used to
because it's a long trip for mom. But I try to get there a minimum of once each year.
I have never had a pet in my life. Until now. And I've found that animals like me. First, we had a
bird who became a good friend and sat on my shoulder at the computer, took showers with me, and
traveled to South Carolina with me many times. She died a couple of years ago. Then we (mostly Gail)
got a puppy who was so timid that pet adoption places would not take her. She is now almost three
years old and we've nourished her into an almost (but not quite) normal dog. We added a cat when
Gail found it abandoned in a box on our street. The dog and cat are best friends and it does my heart
good to see them together. In addition, at two different times we temporarily fostered dogs until good
homes were found for them.
I go to Happy Hour almost every day and play trivia (a computer game where bars across the
country and Canada compete with each other for pride and self-satisfaction). I have lots of local and
distant friends because of trivia. When I travel, I often meet and play with people whose names I've
seen on the national boards. I have regular trivia friends that I play with in South Carolina and Florida,
and I've been to "trivia bashes" in Wichita, KS and Morgantown, WV.
I still like computers and tinker around with Mac, Windows and Linux. I make occasional hardware
changes, and especially like to keep up with all types of multimedia software. I love to learn new
software simply for the fun of learning it. I spend a lot of time on this journal, too.
Speaking of my journal, I use it to showcase the pictures I take. I used to create paintings, but I'm
not doing that these days. Instead, I do a lot of photography.
I have created web sites for pay on several occasions. But I try to avoid money-making activities.
Working for money seems far less meaningful than the other things I do.
I also create comix on occasion and publish them in my journal. Comix are probably the activity that
I would most like to do more.
I read whenever I can (the dogs have really cut into my morning reading time) -- mostly fiction,
software manuals, and graphic novels.
I own four properties, including the one we live in, and I spend time taking care of those. I
plant flowers in the Spring and consider them my anti-war statement.
I like to cook. Gail became a vegetarian over a year ago, and that gives me the chance to try
vegetarian dishes. At mom's I make the old family recipes like stuffed peppers, round steak, and
pork roasts.
So there you have it................. That's what I'm doing these days.