I was thinking

I was thinking.

That's my best answer to the inquiry of what have I done all day.

I love to see oats in cookies

My body is still above the grass therefore I blog (apologies to Descartes).

A better twist to that idea would be "I'm retired therefore I think". Relaxed time and thinking mix together well for me. Unlike some other activities I don't sweat while thinking.

Is he thinking about wearing clothes?

Odometer watching

Who brought that up? Would odometer spotting sound better? 

I’m not referring to detection of a tampered odometer. No, I know of people who enjoy watching the numbers roll to one with many zeros. I guess every 10,000 miles provide those watchers a brief thrill. Years ago the mechanical odometers did a slow roll over but I suspect there is not a car on the market with those older types of odometers.

Now I get a good feeling from knowing our vehicle is still running well after 10’s of thousands of miles. The mileage reading is an important indicator for preventive maintenance. I'm not a odometer spotter. My focus is more on the fuel gauge.

Next on this thought train (or train of thought?) is an old song that reminds me of thoughts fluttering through my mind. I enjoy thoughts that float for awhile instead of rushing down a vortex. Sometimes thoughts echo softly in the distance through the canyons of my mind (slight rewrite of song lyric below).

Elusive butterfly on my shirt

Do butterflies remember being caterpillars?

Help I’ve been mulled over

(Notice - This blog is rated M for Mature. Subjects and opinions covering: aches, sore muscles, the world going to hell, my body going to hell, why hell doesn’t exist, fake facebook, our plumbing, the doctor’s office, ear hair, what was left out in the rain, why is it still raining and other things I fail to recall at the moment will randomly appear in postings. Ideas/topics may be disturbing or boring to certain readers.)

Recently I was questioned about my retirement. Being retired I’ve mulled (rolled?) over my answer and flatten it.

old man move

Retirement is very personal. Not like personal as in what happens in your bathroom but personal as in we are all different and find ourselves in different situations. Remember even when you are lost you are still in a situation.

When I first met the questioner-of-my-retirement we were engineering contractors on temporary projects. I had already lost a great permanent job. I mention this because I wanted to remind him that I didn’t plan my retirement. My retirement was more forced than planned. After my best job ever ended I began to question my motivation for staying in the same career. I had expected my best job ever, to last a few more years. (I also question why bathroom plumbing doesn’t last longer) After awhile I started to think more and more about retirement and less about finding any other job. I consider managing investments while starting to live on the withdrawals is at least a part-time job. My planning ahead during my career benefited me with some investments. I pointed out that one changes their thinking when depositing stops and withdrawing starts.

I see most jobs as creating routines. The good ones offer flexibility and a sense of purpose. Retirement offers the flexibility to not have a routine. The odd surprise for me was that a loose routine formed anyway. Routines might just be part of human nature. (fixing bathroom plumbing is not a routine)

Let’s get philosophical. Do these “time on your hands” and “time wasted" concepts really have any merit? Thinking and/or pondering the universe is better “use” of time than fixing bathroom plumbing (unless the water is ankle deep). If your mind/body is active observing the world, mediating, learning, listening to a song, soaking up the sun, playing a game, hiking a trail, or whatever else people often don’t call work, does that mean you are wasting time? I don’t think so. Go ahead “waste” some time mulling that over. (Have you ever read, "He was always quick to fix any plumbing problems" in an obituary?)


Here's mulling background music for you.




I say lighten up, keep wondering and learning. Blog on! 

Oh! This just in - I learned a new word and thought I would try using it here.

My career change to paleontologist sucks! All I've been finding is coprolite.

Your destination is not your destiny

Both words share the same Latin root dēstināre.

I don’t believe in the common concept of destiny. However, I recommend you set destinations during your trip through life. Unplanned exploratory trips can be beneficial too, just don’t get lost too often.

recalculating

Destiny is a romantic concept. You know, that match made in heaven stuff. Well most don’t take that expression so literally.
 
Many people believe they were destined to meet one another. Where does this destiny stuff get recorded? In heaven’s name, the angels need to build a destiny app, if there is any hope for the latest generation to discover their destiny. (BTW searching around I found there is a “Am I A Psychic” app which I’ll never download)

Are we not all destined to better drivers than most of the drivers we encounter?

It’s a roll of the dice.

I’ve noticed that if you are going downhill those dice might just roll out of sight. So if you are over the hill try to find a flat spot to roll your dice. (While looking through wikipedia I came across the "Lazy Argument". Being lazy and argumentative myself I clicked over to read it.) 

Recalculating route

Since I try to include music in my post, I thought Destiny’s Child would be a natural fit for a post on destiny. Beyoncé may have been destined to be in Destiny’s Child since, Mathew Knowles, a record executive was her father. (this video has me wondering if their destiny was to be washed-up on an island)




One more thought - Destiny and free will are opposite sides of the argument so another musical choice could be will.i.am songs.

Climbing

Some words have extra connotations. For example, doesn't "climbing" bring to mind going upward?

Climbing up a career ladder is a common expression. I climbed one until it was missing a few rungs. My fall was unexpected. Now I'm climbing down my retirement ladder.

Stairway to Parking

That above photo was taken about halfway on this stairway to parking. The place is Matthiessen State Park here in Illinois. My wife actually counted the step total, 112. I was too tired to count anything past two, two sore legs.

It's a nice park offering an interesting and beautiful hike. The hike includes more stairs to climb up or down. An even nicer park is nearby Starved Rock State Park. We had lunch over there.

The next photo was taken by a friend at a place where a group of us have gotten together for conversation and beer. One guy in the group owns a motorcycle but didn't drive to the place. I don't know the story of this girl's bike but suspect it might have been part of someone's joke.

We met up there again last night but probably will not meet there again. We wanted separate checks. Had an issue with that at a previous get-together there. One friend talked to the manager when he arrived and was reassured the separate check thing was not a problem. We mentioned it to the waitress from the start. We still had an issue. Also, adding to our dissatisfaction was the Wednesday special price not being reflected on the pasta dishes. I completely understand mistakes. I don't understand failing to correct the mistake.  

Hanging out with the wrong crowd

Thoughtful leftovers:

When we grow older time outs are not punishment but enjoyment.

Unsolved mysteries - the more I learn the less I know.

The sight of her first strands of grey hair was shock. She thought she'd dye.

Don't tell secrets in a cornfield, too many ears.

It’s becoming a habit

(Notice - This blog is rated M for Mature. Annoyances such as, aches, sore muscles, the world going to hell, my body going to hell, why hell doesn’t exist so who cares, the weather, the dentist, ear hair, and other things I can’t seem to remember now but still piss me off, will often appear in postings.)

I like the slower lanes

While we are creatures of habit, we are also creatures that adapt to changes.

But when does an adaption become a new habit?

I didn’t see this coming. I’ve noticed a new habit forming routine - reminiscing and comparisons between the present and past events. Occasionally I ponder the future but not as much as years ago.

I realized many years ago that you can't drive very far just using the rear view mirror. (a post about that) I'm not sure why I seem to focus on the past more and more.

What’s the relevance of my rear view gaze? I don’t know but often I feel irrelevant. Retirement has the unwanted side effect of reduced relevance IMHO.

Slightly off the subject of these slightly off feelings - I believe people seek relevance on FB and Twitter. Maybe I even did with this blog long ago. The social media services are useful for sharing but they plenty of wasteful and sometimes dangerous aspects too. Any and all tools can be misused.

Blogging became a relevant hobby for me.

Our village hired a troll as a guard

I’m finishing up reading, “The Order of Time” by Carlo Rovelli (Italian theoretical physicist). I don’t know if a category philosophical physics exists but I categorize it as that. Now you might know or sorta recall that this Einstein guy revolutionized physics with his spacetime concept. This book explains how time in the spacetime of relativity changes and also how time doesn’t even exist at the fundamental quantum level.

I’ve mused about time in other previous posts. (notice if I had written “future” instead of “previous” the prior sentence would be considered nonsense - why is that?) Carlo elaborates on the idea that many physical interactions are time reversible. This time thing emerges because of heat and entropy. (here’s one of my related posts - take your time it’s about time)

Recently, a local PBS station was playing the show, “A Cat’s Attic Yusuf Cat Stevens”. It was part of a fundraising drive so it played a few times. Yusuf performs his great song book and also tells a few personal stories. He explained that his son got him to take up guitar again.

Lord, my body has been a good friend
But I won’t need it when I reach the end
Miles from nowhere,
Guess I’ll take my time
Oh yeah, to reach there

Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam)

 

It’s NOT now or never. For me, it’s more like now or in about 5 minutes. I must point out that a quick comment which is most appreciated can easily be done in less than 5 minutes but no rush, take your time not mine.

Long ago I started to think

I have not stopped yet.



I never cared for the expression “too much time on your hands”. How can anyone really have too much time? Some activities allow you to think during the activity. Do you have time to think about my question?

riding tortoises allow time to think

Just reacting without thinking has gone badly too often. Planning certainly doesn’t work all the time either. A great plan includes options if the universe disagrees with your plan. You need time to create a great plan.

I’ve discovered over my career of thinking that being assigned a specific problem/task/challenge typically constraints your thinking. It helps to be focused. Now, I’m finished with my task oriented engineering career so I have more time to think about whatever. Free unstructured time provides the freedom to consider a vast unrelated collection of ideas/questions. There is a side effect of this freedom called confusion.

Social media (yes I’ll admit blogs are part of social media but different than Fakebook) throws an overwhelming amount of topics/concerns/problems in your face to consider. It takes extra effort to take time to think about this stuff popping up on your social media feed.

Never used on a TV game show - CareerBuilder early 2017 survey says: 70% of employers use social media to screen candidates before hiring. (imagine a game show based on CareerBuilder surveys - total fail)

You know that expression of walking around in another person's shoes. It’s not about stealing used footwear but changing your perspective on the life other people experience. Over at the Long Hollow blog I found a link to this clip called “Complainers”. (note I’m not complaining)






I realize my postings don’t always make sense. However, so much in the world fails to make sense. Making cents doesn’t make complete sense. Have you ever compared what a few people earn to what most people earn? Of course there is discrimination in paying people. Even if you disregard discrimination you’ll notice that large sums of money go to people for just their endorsement. The endorsement doesn’t even need to be more than their image on an advertisement.

The concept of being your own brand didn’t exist when I was young. I’ve squinted at my face in the morning mirror and thought my wonderful hair should be worth a thousand or more. That’s my two cents about that.

I’m suspect incomes have always been illogical and seldom based on the effort involved in the work.

While listening to Pandora I heard these lyrics:

It seems like everywhere I go
The more I see, the less I know

That fairly common expression came from this song: (Michael Franti & Spearhead performing Say Hey (I Love You))

 

Some day

Disclaimer: The following thoughts consisting of the following words are many and not all of my own creation. Some come from creative songwriters who have triggered congruent thoughts in my head.

Some day, yeah,
We’ll put it together and we’ll get it undone.
Some day,
When your head is much lighter

your head is much lighter now

Many jobs require set hours. I worked those types of jobs too, but the time-card punching ones fortunately were left for better ones long ago. Often during my career a work crisis/deadline would pressure me to work long hours. Sometimes those extra hours paid off. The downside of crisis managed work is burnout. I left one job because of feeling burned-out. Burning out goes along with heavier thoughts, not a lighter head.

Now my head is much lighter (many parts do seem heavier though). Being retired is a 24 hour, 7 day gig. My mind is going but often my joints resist where it wants to go. My point is my current gig offers plenty of time to ponder. Maybe too much time.



Good lyrics and pondering time mix to create thoughts which I attempt to record/share here on this blog of mine.

You need a pulse to act on an impulse.

While not perfect, a one track mind does have direction.

We’ll put it together once we agree on the direction.

(one more that I have posted before) If your glass is always half empty - get a smaller glass.

In addition to listening to music we now have tweets twittered to the throngs. I’m still holding out of joining the twitter world but Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune shares his favorites. Here’s a two recent ones:

"If I ever owned a funeral home, I would name it 'Remains To Be Seen.'

Back in my day, the only people who said stuff like "back in my day" were old people. I sure am glad that's changed