I'M BEAT, I'M BEAT, I'M LIKE THE HARD OLD STREET

When I retire, I'll help out around the house a lot more, and help cook meals, and help clean. I can learn to do many of the outdoor chores so Dad doesn't have to, but he'll still likely help. I'm a lot more tired than before I had the skin condition that laid me up last summer. I'm really not sure how much longer I can work before retiring. I guess I'll take walks down the drive and out to the highways to get out of the house.

First I'll have to sell all my books and most of my Dvd from the office. It shouldn't take too much to list them on eBay, I usually get a fair price on eBay. I list them in lots by subject matter. The bookcases can be put in the parking lot with FREE on them. The computer I'll sell. The old computer I'll keep. The art can stay on the walls until everything else is emptied out. I'm not really sure when I'll start, but it shouldn't take too long.

When I say that's the last thing we need, it doesn't mean it's a good idea...

Jumping to conclusions is only good if you're really desperate, you might be kind of desperate, but you're not really desperate... When someone says "that's the last thing we need" it doesn't mean we should immediately do said thing, it doesn't mean the bridge is burning, it doesn't mean the last thing makes us last... In fact I'm willing to bet that taking too many chances, especially in social situations, is what got us into this mess in the first place. It's like when 2 kids play king of the hill on a snow bank, first 1 kid get thrown down, then the next kid gets thrown down, and pretty soon there aren't any kids on the snow bank. It's the old 1,2 in 1,2,3 fashion. There are many situations where boldness pays off, but many where it doesn't. That's why I don't have a problem remaining meek when it matters, good manners last whether it's the first thing or the last thing.

And that brings me to the next issue at hand, retirement. Early retirement isn't such a bad thing when everybody and everything is pointing in that direction. I'm not going to fight the whole market. That's like when Doyle Brunson the poker player tried to stop a tonne of sheetrock from shifting and shattered his leg. I don't want another medical catastrophe, I've already spent way too much time in the doctor's office. And I'm just not making enough money to cover the rent on my office, and it doesn't help when people point this out in terrible fashion.

Even if I could prove that retirement would improve my health by a fraction of a percent, would I be able to keep myself busy enough to keep up with the difference. Because right now an unhealthy worker seems to get more credit than a healthy retiree. I know it doesn't make much sense, and the job is getting farther and farther from being good, but these are things I must think about...