Friday, May 16, 2008

Retiring, not retiring, and other non-related things

I tried to retire a couple of years ago.  It seemed practical since I could collect social security and be home and not worry about things.  It got very boring, very fast.  You can only do so many New York Times Crossword Puzzles with a pen before the challenge is gone.  I found I had lots of time to write, but something was missing.  Interaction with people where I get my ideas for characters was one of the things that was missing.  The characters I write are a combination of many people I've met. 

The cat was getting tired of me waking him up every three minutes.  So he started waking me up throughout the night to tell me when a car drove by or a raccoon climbed a tree in the back yard.  Or even when a mouse ventured out to steal his food.  His method of awakening me was to run at the side of my bed and then violently bounce off the side of it continuously until I woke up.   I finally went out and purchased a baby gate to keep him out of my bedroom.  I hate to sleep with the bedroom door shut. 

I volunteered to be the primary plaintiff in a bunch of class action suits I was eligible for, and that took up some time and gave me interesting research to read.  But then I was really bored and wanting more information.  I relate to that robot who was learning to think and kept demanding more "input".  

Don't you just love the internet and all of the things you can learn?  But sometimes, if you're retired it just gets silly.  I'd watch Jeopardy and if there was something I didn't know I'd write it down, Google it, and then read up on it until I did.  Then people who were playing Trivia with me made me count to ten before I was allowed to answer.  Sometimes they'd look at me for the answer and I'd count to ten just to irritate them.  I am not usually a mean person, so I decided I needed to be busier. 

Then my last boss called me to do some more work, and I jumped at the chance.  I do contract work as a paralegal doing research and document preparation, and I also do work for others organizing their bookkeeping and so forth.    I love doing legal research.  Sometimes I get side-tracked though and take off in directions I didn't mean to go.  In other words, sometimes I learn more than anybody really wants to know about a subject and that can get boring for others.  Sometimes I get very excited about it, and there's no one to tell!  

I've been known to call up the class action lawyers in Chicago and tell them of new research I've discovered.  I'd like to get them to do a Class Action suit against credit card companies for unconscionable contract.  I no longer carry credit cards.  I haven't used any kind of credit (except my house mortgage) since 1997, and I haven't bought a car on credit since the early 80's.   My credit rating is probably the pits but what does it matter if I don't buy anything on credit? 

Enough for now, I've got some work to do.   Love and kisses.  Jana

No comments: