30 Days

 

 

 

So I’ve been retired for 30 days or abouts and was waiting for what changes I’d see. One thing that took forever was trying to sleep later. I didn’t need an alarm anymore but I kept waking up between 4 to 5AM anyways. My alarm was set it for that time when working to give me some “me time” before going in. Now that I was free of work, I still kept waking up naturally at 5ish.

Today, I rolled over and saw the dawn light in the window instead of the usual blackness. With a quick look at the radio, it said 6AM. OK, some improvement. Took damn long enough to get it though. To be honest as well, if I get up after 7, I feel I’m wasting the day already.

Guess what else hasn’t happened since I left. I have not had a single episode of muscle cramps. I would get them twice or more a week in both thighs, both calves and my left hand for years now, each year increasing in frequency. Now, not a single occurrence. For too many times I would have dropped to the floor, while the muscles in the backs of both thighs could tighten up at the same time for a good 15 minutes while I was gritting my teeth and swearing, on the floor, the front yard lawn or wherever. Once, it was fun when it happened while driving on 95 and my entire right leg locked up...and I was driving manual transmission car. The cramps have disappeared thank God.

Add to that my hips have not bothered me much and less so as time went by. The big test was that big snowstorm we got. I was out there slinging that stuff around and when I went inside, I had just a slight annoyance in my hip that went away in under 20 minutes.

How about that. If I don’t beat the crap out of my body with a job meant for younger men...I manage to heal up some. (The girl who replaced me, “L,” I’m am glad to hear, is totally killing it at her new job! I’m sure being 19 has a lot to do with it! No leg cramps!). Hopefully other physical benefits will arise I have no idea about yet.

I did realize I need some exercise (instead of living on the couch) but of a different sort which I discovered at my first official visit to the senior center. I was all for getting free physical therapy in some of the various classes they had so I tried the arthritis one, as I am sort of afflicted with now.

Holy shit! Did I find out just how tight and bound up my tendons are and never mind the joints! Some of the move they had the class do..I swear some of my tendons wanted to rip themselves off the bone. No, it’s not Olympic stuff, the exercises are all geared to used up, worn out old farts like me and it still, for me at least, was a bitch to do.

I need to keep at this.

There used to be a Tai Chi class I’d see in the park that’s behind me with about 30 people in it, They’d follow the moves of, and this is stereotypical, the Tai Chi Master Qiang who had longish white hair and a goatee. A few days later, with the help of YouTube, I found a Tai Chi instructor you could follow along with.

Tai Chi looks beautiful, graceful...and above all...EASY! But some of those moves put you into positions that require you tense up 2/3 of the muscles in your body while trying not to fall over since your center of gravity has shifted to areas you never had to compensate for.

I will first do the simple kiddy stretching stuff first before I try Tai Chi again.

****

I worried about boredom but it hasn’t happened. There was a lot of shit around this house I was ignoring and I went on a tear fixing it all. Boxes filled with financial statements, paid bills and other stuff I finally sorted and filed away properly. I created spreadsheets to track my spending as I truly need a good idea of what I’m blowing month to month, so far, it’s within what I thought it would be but I like tight numbers to be sure. I also have been tweaking my ears to music I hadn’t sat down and listened to in a while and some nice surprises arose from that. Sugar Ray’s “Fly” had some moments I was clueless about, like a rasping guitar interlude...which I never knew was there before. It’s nice to focus on that once again as that stereo system I have is my altar to worship at.

****

I have not set foot in Quinn’s bar in months, not that I was worried about that but the thought cropped up I might due to boredom. No, my light-weight status regarding alcohol still stands. I doubt I’ll start a career of spending my retirement hours drunk as shit by 1PM on a Tuesday.

I DO have to watch what I eat though. Before that bastard snow storm, I was whipping up a real, bonafied french classical bechamel sauce to dump on potatoes to bake in the oven, a Gratin Dauphinoise. Each spoonful of that is a terrorist calorie bomb. Oh well, moderation I have to keep front and center to avoid ballooning out worse than I am. Though, I’ll probably gain a few as now I can cook at leisure instead of against a clock.

****

I was curious if I’d be happier in retirement but my mood didn’t go there 24/7. At times I was grateful for the free time and not having to rush and could take all damn day to do something. Another happy moment was that my legs actually felt...good. It’s a wonderful feeling I haven’t felt in years. I could feel the relaxation in them.

What has happened now is that I find I am less disappointed. I have left a lot of that negativity others can bring. I don’t hear lame excuses why you can’t come to work. “You ain’t coming in?” And before I let them finish the excuse I hang up. It got to the point there was no point in knowing why and my courtesy disappeared. Add to that I don’t have to watch them do a shoddy job if they did show up later. I don’t have to step in to fix fuck ups others leave...and fixing those from other departments I had nothing to do with but when something lands in your lap half done and broken, guess who has to repair it?

And this was a huge one for me which ran up my spine since I was sooo OCD about accuracy and safety; being given the wrong information.

“You say it’s for room 269A ? Right?”

“Yeah, 269A….No...I mean 169A….B! It’s B!” And then they hang up fast as I am nearly shouting into the phone...”Don’t You Hang UP yet!”

Click.

“God dammit!” And the kids across the room stop and look at me and wonder why I am shouting.

Already I suspect the request is wrong. I look up the diet for 169B and it’s loaded with restrictions...and what they called down for the patient can never have.

“Sigh...time to play detective again and get the correct info.” I thought to myself. Wrong room? Wrong patient? Wrong everything? Every God Damn day this happens.

This has happened hundreds of times in my time there.

It’s not happening now to me because I am not there.

Without all these people failing me...I am less disappointed now.

****

What I am going to say next will sound mean.

I once opined to my coworkers there, who mainly are from West Warwick, this. I always wondered what happened to those lazy/stupid/idiotic kids I knew in Pawtucket schools who just stubbornly refused to do the work or just enough to graduate. They felt they were smart by doing as little as possible because work was for suckers. While working at that particular facility, I kept having flashbacks to that time when I was in school (I wonder why?).

So I absent mindlessly say this to my West Warwick coworkers.

“Hey, I know where all those lazy kids I knew back then ended up! They all moved to West Warwick and work here!”

Their faces looked like they just sniffed burnt cat fur when I said that.

Whoops! I just insulted their home town.

Oh well. I had to deal with those types of people for too long and I mouthed off. That’s another thing that happens to you when u get older, you don’t care and mouth off more often.

So, in my retirement, I have ran into less lazy moronic fucks...but I won’t be able to escape them altogether. But fewer is definitely better.

We’ll see what else happens now in the coming months.