Song of the day:
Rest in peace to this gorgeous human. I saw her perform live once, and she was magnificent. Tragic to lose her so young.
It’s hard to believe the month of April is almost over, but here we are with just a few days left before we flip the calendar to May. And when May 1 hits it means I have six and a half more weeks until my last day of work before I retire. My official retirement date is July 1, but my last day in the office is set for June 14. WILD.
A lot of people have been asking me what my plans are - other than moving - after I retire. Am I going to get another job? Travel? Build all the LEGO sets in the world? Well, for those who don’t know, my plan is to focus on my writing. That includes working to be more intentional about posting here, but also focusing on getting a novel I’ve written in good shape so I can query agents with the hopes of getting published. I’m also going to work on a second novel I’ve started writing. And yeah, there will be definitely be some LEGO building. But I hope to never have a “9-5” job again. As I work through the process, I’ll post updates here, so stay tuned.
But until then, I’ve got to get ready to finish up this job and get ready to move. I’ve got the movers hired - and am going to have them pack everything except the Christmas ornaments and Legos, too because y’all, I have a LOT of stuff. I scheduled my cleaners for a deep clean after all the stuff is out, and I plan to be in the new place by mid-July. Then I get to unpack everything. I know you’re jealous. But there won’t be any rush to it. It’s going to take the time it takes, and I’m not going to kill myself trying to get it done. I anticipate that I’m going to sleep and/or rest a lot in the first month or so after I get there, once I give my body permission to just be.
As many of you know, there is a LOT to think about with a move, and even more so when you’re also retiring at the same time. I’ve got to get a new driver’s license, new license plates, a new doctor, a new mechanic, a new nail person, and a new hairstylist. Honestly, the last one is the most stressful at this point. Which is the most first world problem ever. I’ve been extremely spoiled here with my stylist of 20+ years. It’s gonna be a rough transition. I should have just let my hair go all the way gray when the pandemic prevented us from going to salons for six months. It would have been the smart thing to do, but alas, here we are. One day I’ll let it go…but today is not that day.
In work news, one of my best employees is also retiring, and his last day is today. We took him to lunch earlier this week to thank him for all he’s done and celebrate him as he steps into a new adventure as well. I’m sure he and I will have a lot to discuss in a few months.
I’m definitely not going to miss the work when I retire, but there are a ton of people I’ll miss seeing regularly. Thankfully we have an abundance of technology and should be able to stay in touch.
One of those technologies is Zoom, of course, and we’ve been having WAY too much fun lately with the new avatars and immersive backgrounds. If you’re not having this much fun at work, then I’m sad for you.
In other news, Miss Taylor Swift released a new album a week ago - unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about it - and it’s really good. It’s really dark and depressing, but very powerful, and so, so good. You have to take breaks from listening to it in order to avoid being depressed yourself. Not everyone loves it, and that’s perfectly fine and not unexpected. It’s not for everyone. I think mainly it was for her, to get all the things out and move on from them. The first single from the album also had a video premiere, and two of the stars from Dead Poets Society had cameos. Which took me down an entirely different path because Dead Poets Society is one of my all-time favorite movies. If you’ve never seen it, remedy that situation immediately. You won’t regret it.
But it got me thinking about Robin Williams and other favorites of his films…so here are my top ten, in alpha order since it would be impossible to choose.
Aladdin
August Rush
Awakenings
Dead Poets Society
Good Morning, Vietnam
Good Will Hunting
Hook
Mrs. Doubtfire
The Birdcage - okay I lied, this is my favorite
The Fisher King
How about you? Any favorites not on my list? Can you pick a favorite overall? What a gift he was to this earth. Another one gone far too soon.
Well, I guess I’ll wrap things up for today. Hope you have a great weekend! See you next time…
Videos of the day:
A couple of weeks ago PBS aired a ceremony where Elton John and Bernie Taupin were given the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, and of course there was a lot of music. Numerous artists covered their songs, and they were all fantastic. Here are a few of my favorites. If you can find the special on your PBS station I highly recommend watching the whole show. It was excellent.