Thursday,
September 26, 2002
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a pleasant place to read the paper and drink coffee if you are retired
"Few men of action have been
able to make a graceful exit at the appropriate time." |
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write down your perfect day For years, many years, when I would write in a journal to try to sort out myself and my life and my dreams, I would do an exercise. Maybe I invented it. Maybe I read it somewhere. In any case, I would write down a sample day in a 'perfect life.' It would include exercise, pleasant meals, leisurely shopping, writing, working on the computer, getting together with friends. Each time I thought that there were elements of it that I could achieve while still working. I could exercise before work, browse the book store at lunch, write an online journal before work (if I didn't exercise), have evenings with friends (putting work out of my mind). I worked on trying to enjoy these fairly simple things that I recorded in my perfect day exercises. Even if they were squeezed around work and even if work seeped into the edges of the activity. Today was like those exercises, only real.
Today I slept a little longer than usual. Took time doing e-mail and WEB stuff without regard for the clock. Then I went to my club. I did over twenty minutes on the stationery bike and a few more minutes on the rowing machine. I worked out my biceps and calves. Then I went up to court 5 and hit some balls against the wall and practiced some serves. Court 5 is really a court plus a half for practice. No one else in the complex can see it. The water cooler was full and someone had left practice balls lying around that I used. I was pleased with my ability to put a serve in and hit the wall so I went back to the pro shop and signed up for a tennis event tomorrow.
I ran a drug store errand for Forrest. Went home and did some calls and e-mails and other computer stuff after a breakfast of grapefruit juice, banana, two poached eggs with cheese and hot sauce and coffee. Then I showered and dressed. I went to run a couple of errands, not worrying about needing to get back to work. I went to the cell phone place to see about canceling my mom's service. The number on the 'currently serviing' LED was 68. The number I got was 80 something. There was a red phone that was a direct line to 'customer care.' Someone was on it. So I waited until she got off. Number was still 68. I called Forrest on my cell phone, got the info from the bill, picked up the phone and explained what I needed to do. I got transferred to cancellations (along with the info I'd already given, why can't more places do that?) and since we weren't on a contract any more they simply set it up to cancel at the end of the next period. Then I went to REI to get some tennis socks. I looked around at other stuff. Then I went to Sam's for some office supplies and some cheese and crackers.
Home again, I did some e-mail, cleaned up some stuff around the house, made a cheese platter for the evening and went to my friend's house where my other friend was staying. We discussed her book she is working on and different ways of publishing it. Then my other friends got off work (work? how silly!) and we had a dinner of Sushi and cheese and dessert and wine and conversation.
I stayed up a little too late and I drank a little too much and ate a little too much but it was an altogether delightful day. I am retired! For almost a week. And it is great so far.
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179
JUST
TYPING