The Seinfeld saga is coming to an end

I go home tomorrow. No more playing bingo with the old folks for a while, though I finally won $25 yesterday, which was very exciting. I will also have to adjust to eating dinner later than 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. again, but that should be easy. Finally, I'll have to get back into watching sports rather than the cooking channel, but I like watching both. I will be able to watch more movies at home.

I have enjoyed this visit with my Mom, and she seems to be doing great. She really looks better than she has in a long time. Her eyesight is getting worse though, and that is very frustrating and scary for her. I really feel for her, but there isn't anything to be done about it. Of course I always feel a bit guilty about leaving her, but guilt seems to be a big part of families, at least for me. I just can't seem to get away from that catholic guilt thing.

I am very excited about seeing Mr. Edd and the King again! I miss them both a lot. They should be getting home a few hours after I do. I know it has just been a week, but it seems like forever! I did get my holiday newsletter finished, so I can get them printed out and in the mail by January 2, 2010. Did I say 2010? WOW.

I'm not looking forward to going back to work, but I'm not dreading it either. Well, actually, to some degree I am looking forward to it (maybe the aliens have done some experiments on me after all). This semester will go by fast, and I am determined to talk to my principal about retiring and coming back part-time next year. We'll see . . .

"What's time to a duck?"

I'm in Florida, visiting my mommy for the holidays. It's kind of like being in a Seinfeld episode--one of those where he's in Florida visiting his parents. They always had to go to dinner at 5:00 p.m. Well, tonight we had to leave to go to dinner at 3:45 so she wouldn't be late getting home to go to bingo at 5:30. Of course, the place we went for dinner was only about ten minutes away, and at that time of day not exactly crowded. But, you never know. So, there we were, before 4:00 p.m.; done eating by 4:30 p.m.; and back home by 5:00 p.m. Now she is off to bingo because she sells the bingo cards, and I have strict orders to be there by 6:30 because they start playing at 7:00 p.m.! I'm thinking maybe this retired Floridian way of dealing with time will help me with my New Year's resolution, which is to make more of an effort to not be late. Being late is a habit I picked up after moving to Austin. Actually it doesn't really feel to me like I'm being late in Austin because at least half the people I know are always late. So when I arrive somewhere ten to fifteen minutes after the arranged time, I feel like I'm actually on-time. But, I recently discovered that this little habit is actually very annoying to Mr. Edd, so I have decided to get into the zen of being early. We'll see how that fits in 2010.

Investing

A friend of mine gave me the book, Investing for Dummies, by Eric Tyson. At breakfast a few weeks ago I had mentioned how I did not have a clue how to go about it, so he gave me the book. What a great gift. I'm still reading the first chapter, but I am learning and I am enjoying it. Of course one thing I am learning is that I have absolutely no money to invest, but maybe it will give me incentive to quit spending what I have long enough to save some. I also have to hope I can keep the focus--not something I am particularly adept at doing. But, wouldn't it be cool if I could become competent in using investments to supplement my retirement income? I really don't want to feel like I can't spend any money on "extras" when I am retired. I don't think that would be worth it. And while I have been whittling away at my "wants and needs" the last few years, I am far from being spartan.

Bad hair life

I was talking to my nephew today and asked him if he had any blogs. He said that he has had several in the past, but the problem with blogs is that you have to keep writing in them. I know that is true because my friend Annie already pointed out to me that I was supposed to write EVERY day in mine. But that expectation doesn't take into account the bad hair days, and I have lots of bad hair days. In fact, I don't really think of it in terms of days anymore. I just figure I'm having a bad hair life, which has made me wonder recently, just exactly what did I do in my last life that would have had such a negative affect on my current hair situation? And what life lesson am I supposed to be learning from all this bad hair anyway? I suppose it's probably not really about the hair. It's probably something more like, "don't sweat the small stuff." The problem I have with that is figuring out what IS the small stuff? That seems to vary with my momentary existential view of life. Sometimes everything is small, and at other times nothing is small, while at other times I seem to be able to get a true perspective on big and small. For the most part, however, it seems like the only thing I am certain about is that there is very little about which I am certain. The Rolling Stones--I've always (well since they came on the scene when I was about fourteen) been certain that they are my favorite rock 'n roll group. To me they represent the essence of rock 'n roll, and that is important. Maybe it all goes back to Tom Robbins' discussion of style in Another Roadside Attraction, where Amanda says, "the most important thing in life is style . . . for if man defines himself by doing, then style is doubly definitive because style describes the doing." That quote, that idea, has been pretty constant in my life since I first read it back in 1972. I'm wondering though, if I have put my style on hold, or lost sight of it, or maybe never actually found it, developed it, embraced it? What does it say about me if it just evolves too quickly for me to grasp it?

Need less

So, the first thing I did when I got up this morning was turn on my computer and go to the retirement calculator to estimate my annuity. I hadn't done that in at least a month! What was I thinking? That my pay had suddenly increased overnight? It didn't. Then we had our usual Sunday breakfast with friends and one of them is seriously thinking of retiring this year. OK, so maybe it's not a bad idea. Of course he has lots of money in silver, which keeps going up in value, and he is not as needy as I am. I need to learn not to need so much. I am getting better, but maybe that is what I should concentrate on, rather than my annuity.

King of the Road

To all my wonderful readers out there, sorry I've been absent for a while. First it was driving to Arizona and back, which is much too long a trip in one shot these days, especially at night when it is so dark and the road is mesmerizing. In my youth, in the summer, with the windows down it was truly enchanting driving through New Mexico in the middle of the night. But now that I am older, and it was colder and the windows were up, it felt more like we were running from alien beings. Elvis was the King of the road though. A King on doggie downers, but a King. And he finds Arizona a little strange--wondering just exactly where, without any grass in sight, he's supposed to relieve himself. But in the end, the road came through for him. He's looking forward to his return trip with Mr. Ed at Christmas!

It was a good trip, but when we got back I had to rest up for my big day of dental surgery. I don't remember the actual surgery, or much of that day. My mouth doesn't really hurt, but I can't believe how swollen my jaw is. It's been three days, and I still look like Dudley Do-Right! I'll probably scare everyone at work on Monday.

I know you have said I don't need to tie this in each time, but retirement remains a constant dilemma for me. . .