OK, it's been nine months since I retired. Long enough to have a baby (not that THAT's going to happen, and anyway a full-term pregnancy is 40 weeks, so that would make it ten months if you want to get technical). Things are not going exactly as planned. Well, to be honest, there never really was a plan. Just the end of the pandemic and the end of driving in Boston traffic. That's pretty much all that I had worked out last July. I thought that would be enough. HA!
I have always been interested in acting, and "using my creativity". I was the first kid in the first grade to shoot a hand up when the teacher wanted something read out loud. That was my favorite thing. It still is. I'm soon (FINALLY) launching my website to work as a professional voice over talent, doing commercials for television or radio, being the voice in the elevator, or that really annoying "Your call is important to us. Please hold for the next available representative" person. I've done all the professional training and I'm actually pretty good at it. There is a fairly cool looking website (professionally done) and people to hold my hand as I embark on this great adventure. But I find myself making a million and twelve excuses to avoid facing how to use the computer to edit, how to market, or actually going out for an audition. I am a technophobe.
Most of my excuses are admirable. I am getting much better at keeping in touch with friends. Lunch times are free now that I'm not gainfully employed. My father-in-law is almost 92 and addicted to Scrabble, so we usually play at least a game a week and I beat him mercilessly most of the time. The food around here is getting tastier since there is time for shopping and preparing and cooking.
And then there's my other "hobby". I do community theater. At the moment we're in rehearsal for "Peter and the Starcatcher" in which I play, at various times, a pirate, a mermaid, the ship's cat, one half of the ocean (holding a length of blue fabric to simulate waves...someone else has the other end) and Fighting Prawn, a cranky crustacean with an Italian accent who is a very good cook. Everyone has several roles and we all serve as stage hands, moving pieces of the set here and there. Rehearsals are between three and four evenings a week and go until roughly ten o'clock. The last time I was this tired there was at least a baby to show for it.
In summary, I find myself more stressed out than when I was working or when the kids were living at home. The hours with a cup of tea and a good book haven't materialized. I play "Wordle" every morning, and a couple of rounds of "Words With Friends". Google gives me the Question of the Day and if I miss it I go and ask Alexa, who has the same Question of the Day...which I now get right...plus a bonus question for being so smart. Duo Lingo is the next black hole of time for me, and in the past year I practiced my French so much that I made the top 1% of players IN THE WORLD. At least now I know the words for "computer" and "cell phone" and all that stuff that didn't exist 49 years ago when I got out of college. So not a total waste of time.
But I need encouragement and a swift kick in the posterior, please. Maybe while you're wearing figure skates. The Great Adventure has sort of begun, but someone has to come up behind me on the high diving board on the deep end of the pool which is life, and give me a fast and hard PUSH!!!
I have always been interested in acting, and "using my creativity". I was the first kid in the first grade to shoot a hand up when the teacher wanted something read out loud. That was my favorite thing. It still is. I'm soon (FINALLY) launching my website to work as a professional voice over talent, doing commercials for television or radio, being the voice in the elevator, or that really annoying "Your call is important to us. Please hold for the next available representative" person. I've done all the professional training and I'm actually pretty good at it. There is a fairly cool looking website (professionally done) and people to hold my hand as I embark on this great adventure. But I find myself making a million and twelve excuses to avoid facing how to use the computer to edit, how to market, or actually going out for an audition. I am a technophobe.
Most of my excuses are admirable. I am getting much better at keeping in touch with friends. Lunch times are free now that I'm not gainfully employed. My father-in-law is almost 92 and addicted to Scrabble, so we usually play at least a game a week and I beat him mercilessly most of the time. The food around here is getting tastier since there is time for shopping and preparing and cooking.
And then there's my other "hobby". I do community theater. At the moment we're in rehearsal for "Peter and the Starcatcher" in which I play, at various times, a pirate, a mermaid, the ship's cat, one half of the ocean (holding a length of blue fabric to simulate waves...someone else has the other end) and Fighting Prawn, a cranky crustacean with an Italian accent who is a very good cook. Everyone has several roles and we all serve as stage hands, moving pieces of the set here and there. Rehearsals are between three and four evenings a week and go until roughly ten o'clock. The last time I was this tired there was at least a baby to show for it.
In summary, I find myself more stressed out than when I was working or when the kids were living at home. The hours with a cup of tea and a good book haven't materialized. I play "Wordle" every morning, and a couple of rounds of "Words With Friends". Google gives me the Question of the Day and if I miss it I go and ask Alexa, who has the same Question of the Day...which I now get right...plus a bonus question for being so smart. Duo Lingo is the next black hole of time for me, and in the past year I practiced my French so much that I made the top 1% of players IN THE WORLD. At least now I know the words for "computer" and "cell phone" and all that stuff that didn't exist 49 years ago when I got out of college. So not a total waste of time.
But I need encouragement and a swift kick in the posterior, please. Maybe while you're wearing figure skates. The Great Adventure has sort of begun, but someone has to come up behind me on the high diving board on the deep end of the pool which is life, and give me a fast and hard PUSH!!!
RSS Feed