Keith's Odyssey to Planet Fitness: It's been a year or so

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

It's been a year or so

Time flies when you're having fun! It was not quite a year ago that my contract with Alta Gas finished up. As I recall there were a few hours here and there in April, none in May, and then the contract ended. I suppose I could go dig out my timesheet and see, but I don't want to.

So what's happened in the last year? COVID was still an issue, and we kept a low profile for a while yet. Over the summer we gradually started being more in person social. I started swimming regularly in late August and have made great progress. Linda has been walking every day, even during the coldest days with the howling wind and risk of polar bears.

I did have some recruiters sniffing around to rope me in, but those were easy to say no to. There was one serious job offer, though. In previous times I'd have snapped it up, but I've retired 5 times already. Surely that's enough. Both Linda and my financial advisor are pleased I said no. Detailed retirement income calculations are underway now that we know there will be no further infusions of corporate cash to complicate calculations. This is mainly to determine the most tax efficient sources for that income. I haven't applied for CPP yet, but will probably start that in January, which is kind of a surreal thought. I have shut down the corporation, and the final paperwork is being processed.

Let's see, what else?

Have I finished any of the several novels I'm working? No. Do not hold your breath.

Have I made any progress on the 50 project? Some, getting started again. If you're in Calgary or nearby and are interested, reach out to me and we'll chat.

Have I made any progress on the hands project? No, though some people have expressed an interest.

Have I finished a major house reorganization, a place for everything and everything in its place? No, but there have been selective improvements.

Have we finished the great Grey's Anatomy binge? No. We bailed out near the end of season 15. A story line got too silly for us.

Any other notable binges? The Good Place was fun. Recently working through Brokenwood as discs come available through the library. Linda did Bridgerton and a show on Tiny Houses. Killing Eve was awesome! Foundation was ok. Blow Away, and a cool vacation home show were fun. There was a chocolate show that made us drool. Then again, there's been lots of shows and movies where we get started, and shortly after, get stopped.

Any major photo expeditions? Depends on how you define major. There was a multi-day trip to southern Alberta, but any others have been day trips here and there. I'm signed up for a September Yukon trip.

Any other photo news? Yes! If you haven't seen it, check out my portfolio at Loungecat Productions. Read about it here. Once I get a few really good film images, I'll add another section for them. I've been musing about updates and tweaks to the photoblog, but like so many other things, it hasn't happened yet.

Am I enjoying retirement? HELL YES!!!!

It's nice to be able to (mostly) get out of bed when I want to, rather than some arbitrary time. Some days there's an early rise for a specific purpose, but that's my choice. Most mornings I make coffee, enjoy that first cup will looking over some social media, and have a second with breakfast. Some days I'll head off for a swim. Some days there's a project around the house I'm working on. Or maybe there will be a photo ramble, alone or with buddies. A few times I've had an afternoon nap. The BBQ gets fired up occasionally to cook a Linda marinaded meat. I've been trying to read more, and not just photography books, but it's a work in progress.

I've started to learn to shoot photographs with film, do the DSLR scanning to convert them to digital, and edit them. Part of this in the journey to get away from the nearly technically perfect images produced by a good camera that just about does everything but press the shutter button. By going back to film using a completely mechanical camera, I'm getting better at learning how to read the light so as to dial in the settings on the camera to produce the image I want. There are no batteries to go dead at the wrong time. I'm looking forward to see how flower photos turn out on film. I'm quite sure they will look very different. Stay tuned!

Some reflection shots in the Bow river during a walk last week.