Blog Note: (Short) Retirement

I reach retirement age tomorrow, and here, FYI, is how that's going to go.

At roughly midnight tonight, I'm going to decide to retire.

Tomorrow, I am going to do absolutely nothing except (maybe) take myself to dinner. No work, no writing, even though I've got five things I'm working on. Nothing from my to-do list that has two extra pages taped to the bottom of the first page. No dishes, no laundry (got 'em both done this morning). Nothing.

I'll practice pool, swan around with the Leica, think some, daydream, look at the weather. Not the weather report, the weather.

Maybe a nap.

Then, after binge-watching seven disturbing aeronautic accident safety videos, or something equally a.) compelling and suspenseful yet b.) irrelevant to me, I am going to gradually come to the realization that I'm bored with retirement. That might happen around eight. I'll talk it over with myself (supervised by Butters), and then, after the appropriate amount of agonizing, around ten o'clock or so we'll reach the decision that I still have loads of vitality and haven't yet exhausted the positive things I have to offer the world, and that therefore I should rejoin the workforce. 

Then I'll wake up on Saturday morning and resume working as normal. When running back John Riggins rejoined the Team Formerly Named the Washington Football Team when it was formerly named something else, he said "I'm broke, I'm bored, and I'm back." Well, me too.

With one slight change you might not even notice: a title change, to Senior Editor. I was a Senior Editor at one of the magazines I worked for; they were parking me there, but in most cases the title means "somebody who's been around forever who we want to keep but who ain't going any further up the ladder." (Copyeditor changes "ain't" to "isn't.") Sounds right. Also, the DSM, the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of the psychiatric profession, at some point in the not-so-distant past redefined middle age as being from 45 to 65. Ergo, when I next rejoin you, meaning when I start my second career on Saturday morning, I am going to be a very, very young old guy. An infant in oldness, you might say. And rarin' to go.

All this will be because, as I always say, wishing fervently it were only the joke it sounds like, "my retirement plan is to keep working."

See you post-retirement,

Mike, TOP's soon-to-be Senior editor

P.S. Is this the longest possible way to say "I'm taking the day off tomorrow because it's my birthday"? If not, give me some time to think about it and I'll add some more. I got words. It's what I do.

Buy Mike a birthday cup o' tea!
Seriously. I need tea.

MikeR: "I approve of your plan. Hey, I just turned 80 yesterday, and driving myself home from an eye specialist this morning, I found my mind wandering to maybe seeing if I could pick up a part time IT contracting gig."

Wolfgang Lonien: "Thanks for making me smile, Mr. Senior Editor.  :-)  Wishing you all the best for your retirement, Mike.  :-) "

Dan Khong: "Hi, Senior Editor (to be), call yourself anything you like, but don't stop writing. Just pretend to retire. Dan K., Singapore."

Mike replies: It's Saturday morning, and I'm back in the workforce now! Working on comments.

JimH: "Happy birthday! My father in law worked on Wall Street for almost 40 years. As he approached 65, he and his secretary both changed their ages in their records to 10 years younger and continued working that much longer. When he retired, he moved near us and started working for our company. He made it nearly another 15 years, stopping only when his sight failed. He passed soon afterwards. We’re trying to beat his record."

Bandbox: "Just what I need—another time waster. I just blew away an hour or so watching airplane crash videos. Thanks a lot, and happy birthday."

Mike replies: I thought that first one was really fascinating. The idea that they get entrapped by the Earth, essentially, lured in like a Venus flytrap traps a fly. The way the technical issues intersect with psychology and perception, the way a succession of small mistakes add up.

When I was young I had a student whose brother—who scored a perfect 1600 on his SATs and was headed to Princeton in the Fall—was invited on a trip to Alaska as a high school graduation present. He died when the small plane he and four or five others were flying in ran into a mountain. His father, whose daughter had never seen cry, cried for weeks. She said he could be sitting at the dinner table holding a normal conversation with the tears streaming down his cheeks. I've always wondered how such a thing could have happened. That video gives me a little more insight, although of course the situation with my student's brother could have been quite different.

Alan Sue: "Congratulations Mike! Monday, 2/28/22, will be my last day working and I will also be retired. I plan on getting up at 5:30am on Tuesday to photograph."

Comments

[Ken Bennett]

There was a guy on campus who retired last summer, big fanfare, lots of plans. Saw him last week back on the job, 20 hours a week. Told me he did everything he wanted to do, and then got bored.

I am going to retire, and early to boot. Photography can be a stressful occupation on one's body, and then there's the long list of things that I want to do where work gets in the way. Some of it is travel and hobbies, but a lot of it is wanting to spend time with my friends while they are still here.

[Alan]

I bet that if you try really hard, you can spin it out until after the weekend.

[Robert Roaldi]

Governments, employers, insurance companies all want us to work like dogs till retirement day, then die the next morning at breakfast. Good that you're outsmarting them.

Happy birthday.

[Dillan]

May I be the first to congratulate you on your retirement! I look forward to your blog again tomorrow!

[Albert Smith]

I've been retired for over a decade. One thing that you'll hear over and over when interacting with worker bees (bank tellers, cashiers, etc...) is the meaningless, "Its Friday! Have a good weekend." I use to mention that everyday is Friday for me, but with the economy in flux it's hard to look at a 30-something person and rub retirement in their face when they might not have the same option in 30 more years.

Stay busy, boredom is real.

[Dave]

Mike,

Enjoy your day (or partial day) off!

Whatever else you do tomorrow, leave the TV off. No sense in watching that bad news that we as U.S. citizens can't do much about.

Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller used to say that you rust out before you wear out.

Personally, I find that middle age is 46 to 66 -- simply to avoid the usual "ends in either five or zero" method of categorizing various social eras, etc.

Congratulations on your big promotion. It's about time! :>)

Playing around with a Leica sounds like a good idea, as does the pool practice.

[Nikhil Ramkarran]

Happy birthday!

[JimF]

Happy birthday Mike. Enjoy retirement for the day and then get back to work. I'm a few months older than you and retired and yes, it can be boring at times. But it's still better than working a regular job.

[Dave Stewart]

Happy Birthday tomorrow, and enjoy your (short) retirement!

[robert e]

Dear Mike,

Happy (Short) Retirement! Wishing you many happy returns of the day!

Warmest regards,
robert e

[Ms. Jen]

Happy Birthday, Mike the Senior Editor!! May you thoroughly enjoy your birthday weekend.

[Dennis Mook]

Sixty-five, huh? I think I can remember back that far. Just wait until you have an age behind your name starting with a seven. That’s a wake-up call. But despite that, I couldn’t be feeling better or more upbeat about life and certainly about photography. Happy Birthday, Mike. I hope this next year is your best ever. Oh! Enjoy your retirement. Lol

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Congratulations on retirement!

I'm spending my retirement working harder on the things I did in my own time when I was working.

[Roger Cavanagh]

Mike,

Happy birthday for tomorrow.

[Mike]

Happy birthday!

[William A Lewis]

Glad I'm a patreon subscriber. Enjoy a nice cuppa on me!

[Bob Johnston]

Happy birthday Mike, and many Happy returns. Enjoy the day.

[Grant]

Happy Birthday and welcome to the senior years. Since I retired, I've been so busy that I often wonder how I had time to work for 30 plus years. I also discovered that at 65 I could get senior's discounts at many places. Sadly, the camera store is not one of those places.

[SteveW]

Happy Birthday Mike!

[Mim]

Hey, Happy Birthday Mike, and congratulations on the "promotion".

[darlene]

Happy Birthday Mike!

I am a year behind you. My teaching job was suppose to be my retirement job. But, after a sudden scary incident that ended with a student in handcuffs, I told the dean it would be my last year. We can never predict how things will go, can we. I would miss reading your thoughtful and entertaining writing if you were to retire for full time pool play. Don't do that just yet!

[Bjorn]

Happy Birthday and Happy Retirement!

....

Welcome Back! We've missed you ;)

[Peter]

Congratulations on the promotion Mike. And also on retirement, even if short lived. Sounds like you have a solid plan, which is more than most people can say, from my observations. As long as you’re willing to write, there will be those of us here willing to read.

[Animesh Ray]

Happy Birthday, Mike!

[Dave Pawson]

:-)

Good. Welcome to the group of 'senior citizens' Mike.

[Stelios]

Well, many happy returns!

[Not THAT Ross Cameron]

Hi Mike,
Happy Birthday!
Welcome to Retirement!!
And congratulations on the promotion!!!

I never thought I’d ever write something like that, so thanks for the novelty.
I hope Butters didn’t have to intervene much in the discussion.

When my father retired, he ended up busier than when he worked - mainly through various clubs, groups and forums that he volunteered at.
Mum asked him not to go shopping with her after a few weeks, as he’d stop and talk to so many people. He taught trades/welding, so knew many of the shop owners around town, and the young people they employed.
Apparently retirement is what you make of it (I’m just entering middle age, according to Dave), so long as you enjoy it.

[Zave Shapiro]

With your years of experience in both photography and blogging you deserve an editor of stature, taste and versatility. As a newly-minted senior I think you also deserve a Senior Editor. The world is unfolding as it should, you now have a senior editor, enjoy your day off and get back soon.

[Thomas Rink]

Happy Birthday Mike! 11 more years to go here until retirement - provided that the Social Democrat Party doesn't postpone retirement age any further :-(

Best, Thomas

[Sixblockseast]

Happy Birthday, Mike!

[Ian Hunter]

Hi Mike
I have retired a couple of times, failed! I'm now 72 and still working (self employed photographer and picture framer)but only four days a week. Boredom leads to depression; we don't need that!
Happy Birthday.
Ian Hunter

[Kirk]

First, I'd like to say that middle age is now from 40-75 years of age.

Second, I tried that retirement thing for nearly a month last year and then realized that I loved working on photos and doing fun video projects so instead of retiring I just fired all the clients that weren't absolutely fun to work with. That seemed to work perfectly. Now, if a project doesn't look fun, exciting and comfortable I just demure. It's so much fun to say "no."

Having planned well for retirement it's easy to cut out the parts of working that suck. The money is no longer the carrot... The carrot is the fun.

Buy the Leica you know you want. Life is unpredictable.

And, Happy Birthday!!!

[Rob Griffin]

Happy Birthday Mike! Enjoy your retirement! I just turned 75. I am now what the folks in the media refer to as elderly. I don't feel elderly though.

Starting this last January I retired one day a week. Yep, only working 4 days a week. I take Wednesdays off. After working five or six days a week for most of my life, I feel mostly retired. I am very lucky. I have a job that I love most of the time; not everyone has that luxury. I feel very blessed. I would imagine most days when you are writing or photographing you feel lucky and blessed too.

When I started working for my employer in 1986, I was hired as the Company Photographer, after my hair turned white they said I could be the Company Historian. Oh, maybe that's my company's version of Senior Editor. Ha! By the way, you, Mike, are a great Senior Editor!

To me, the thoughts expressed in Toby Keith's song, "Don't Let The Old Man In," are good to keep in mind. Short, frequent retirements might be a great option for some of us in helping to keep the old man or woman away or at least at arms length.

[Leonard Salem]

"I got words. It's what I do."
And that of course is what brings so many of us back to TOP on a regular basis. True, many of your postings have a photographic hinge but but they also often open new and interesting doors for us to pass through and explore what's on the other side in your excellent company.

[JoeB]

Happy (one day) retirement. Ah, the euphoria of retirement. Have that second cup of tea or coffee, read the news (or not) and relax without keeping one eye on the clock. Oh, that is something you do already.

Being retired now for nearly 10 years I clearly remember it took a few months to really get "into" the retired life. Goals and aspirations need to be defined- retired or not.

[James]

Happy Birthday Mike.

[Mani Sitaraman]

Happy Birthday, Mike! Long life and good health to you.

[Eric Brody]

Retirement is strange. Everyone seems to do it differently. I don't think there are any absolute answers. Many of my medical colleagues retired, turned in their license and never looked back; others couldn't wait to go out and save the world by volunteering everywhere. Neither approach is intrinsically better than the other.

Just as no one can tell me how to spend my money, no one can tell me how I should retire. Retirement from an intense job is different than from a more relaxed one. Some academic friends seem never to want to retire; their jobs are their life and it's a good life. Some, like some surgical friends suffer from no longer being gods. For some, it's like quitting smoking, it takes a few tries before it actually happens.

Since I retired relatively young, I found myself counseling colleagues who were terrified of having nothing to do, especially those who did not have an all consuming passion like photography. All seemed to to better than they expected.

Best of luck to you in your "retirement," whether it lasts a day or the rest of your life.

[Mike Plews]

I was surprised at the minor identity crisis I experienced when I retired.
Watching my old partner cover a five hour standoff in freezing rain cured me.

[Roger Bradbury]

Happy birthday, Mike!

Here's hoping that your promotion will not turn out to be an example of the Peter Principle... ; )

[Edward Taylor]

Happy Birthday Mike!

I am a bit older than you and still working full time. I'd like to work at my current job part-time, but that option is not available. The only thing that could get me to retire immediately is finding a significant other. If I did, I am sure that I would want to spend all my time with her.

[toto]

Funny, I never connected retirement day with birthday. Maybe because full retirement age is no longer the same as one's 65th birthday these days. Anyway, Happy Birthday!

[Henning]

Happy Birthday, Mike!

You deserve it (the happy part; the birthday part is non-optional and non-refundable).

[Steve Clark]

Having been retired for about twenty one years, I find I don’t have time to be bored. Currently the goal is to live long enough to make the bastards wish they never hired me in the first place! :-)

[Jeff]

Perfect SAT was 1600: 800 math; 800 reading/verbal. We had four such achievers in my high school graduating class of approximately 600, which was highly unusual given the rarity of the score. One of the four had a very choppy career path, never rising to top levels, but he could fix anything broken and discuss any topic. Intellect comes in many forms.

[Thank you Jeff. Fixed now. --Mike]

[Terence Morrissey]

Mike, I am not far behind.

[Mark Sampson]

Happy birthday young man! I'm just a little ahead of you and haven't "retired' yet.

[Arash Moallemi]

Happy birthday mike

[Christopher Deere]

Happy birthday, Mike! May I suggest, however, that you now regard yourself as the resident intern rather than the senior editor? After all, it's your job to do anything that is always needed for everyone else. So, in the spirit of making a fresh start on your senior years, just make yourself a big cup of very strong coffee and hide somewhere truly obscure for a few hours while other people run around trying to get anything done. - In all seriousness: A happy unofficial retirement to you. Don't forget to read a good book every now and then. (Christopher, in Melbourne in Australia.)

[Moose]

OOPS, late to your party. A slightly belated Happy Birthday to you!

Lots of comments about boredom upon retirement. I've been retired for 22 years. Shortly after that event, I couldn't figure out how I'd found time to work. \;~)>

Still retired, still busy and enjoying life.

[Thomas Walsh]

I retired from teaching too early. That lasted about two years and then I was back in the classroom. I soon realized that working with teenagers was definitely more interesting than my wife's "honey do's".

[David Elden]

Never the word retirement (noun: "removal of something from service or use") so I just say I'm enjoying the dessert course of the meal of life. And I am.
Dave.

[Olybacker]

A belated Happy Birthday, Mike. The computer will keep you busy ....