Guidelines

Tuesday

I was having a chat with a friend today who mentioned the word "retirement".

Frankly, I think that as a culture we've got this whole thing wrong.  The thought of forcing people to work to a certain age that they may or may not live to see before giving them time to experience life just doesn't compute for me.  I watched my dad slowly fade away and die at the relatively young age of 64 after having put off all his "retirement" plans until after he was done working.  Well, those days never came.

I far more prefer a plan where the activities that would fill a retirement are interspersed with work/career throughout the year.  To me - that seems like balance....not some system built where you finally get your life back near the end - if at all.

It's that kind of thinking that makes it so that I've got what I perceive to be a fairly well-rounded life, but that makes me questionable "employee" material.  Over the course of 2013 I plan to go to Europe for AT LEAST 2 weeks.  I need to fly out to Phoenix and pick-up my stuff out there and drive it back east.  I envision at least one if not two long weekend visits to Disney.  I've got a number of speaking engagements.  We're getting the boat ready for the water.  I'm looking forward to the next several months for several reasons, not least of which is the weather.

Back in the day I had board meetings for various organizations, I had other obligations, and it all needed to balance itself.  No balance - that means changes.  I've left more than one job that couldn't support the balance.

Things where I am now have been working fine.  But I'm a big believer that you need to appreciate with things are "fine" because eventually they'll become "not-so-fine".

I've mentioned it here before - that my transition "ruined" me because finally I'm at a point where just because things are typically done a certain way is simply a guideline as far as I'm concerned.

It's Tuesday.  I set my alarm for 3:15am and was on the road by 4.  It was warm out, and the big, bright full moon was like a spotlight of blue light shining down.  One of the things I miss from time to time is listening to Smooth Jazz....back when I lived in Phoenix there was a wonderful Smooth Jazz station but it has moved on to other things.  Where there's a will there's a way - and I've got lots of will.

I hook my the iHeartRadio app in my iPhone into my Aux jack and listen to a smooth jazz station from Orlando.  You'd think that I'd want to listen to something louder to keep me awake on those kinds of drives, but smooth jazz is just what the doctor ordered.

It's kinda interested to be speeding along the highway somewhere near the border of North and South Carolina and be listening to traffic updates from Orlando.  If anything....it makes me glad I don't live too near Orlando because I generally have clear sailing (as long as the weather is ok) and things there seem to get FUBAR fairly quickly, fairly often.

I've got two 9-5, all-day planning sessions with out-of-town vendors so I need to be here - feeling pretty good so far. 

Speaking of FUBAR, the full-moon seems to be wreaking havoc on people's lives.  Thankfully, I haven't experienced anything too bad (so far as I know) but I've got several friends dealing with some serious stuff.  I'm sending out as much positive energy as I can, but I've got a feeling I may need some of it back before too too long.


Wednesday night

I'm back in Charleston.  A nasty storm is making its way across the country and I sort of raced it here tonight.  On the way it struck me how sick I am of driving.  I am SO over it right now.  And I can  complain about it now but that won't change anything.   I'm just burned out a bit right now, I guess.  Maybe it's belated full-moon stuff....