Dream #2 - The afterlife

A postcard from somewhere in Mexico

It began in a kind of nothingness, and then I was in a lovely meadow being greeted by my dad and my dog, Mr. Otto, from my childhood. In a bit, my mom and others joined us. The whole dream was about being oriented to what life after death was like, being taught the ropes about that.

Dream Week

Art from France

Of course I dream. Everyone does, but most of the time I don't recall at all the content of my dreams. If I do remember a bit, I know it was just going over things that I saw heard or did that day in some kind of randomness. Laying down (or not) memories, I'm sure. I also don't put much into trying to interpret dreams. They mostly seem to me to be meaningless neuro-biology at work...not worth spending time with the next day.

This week, however I had TWO very clear and long dreams that had narratives. My friend M says I should share them. So here goes.

Dream #1 ..... the working out of anxieties dream ..... I think

Scene one - the hospital

I was at "the hospital" although it was like no real hospital I have ever been in. It had old fashioned wards and a maze like quality to it. There were people there, but none of them were real people that I could ever recall meeting. But it was the maternity section.

Planning to Be Retired - Part Deux - Where to Live Lists

Should I stay or should I go?

Another Thing you may or may not know exists is lists about good & bad places to live when you are retired. Of course the world is full of lists of all kinds; I guess we love to read them, so why not? I read them all the time. None of them ever prove to be really helpful, I must say, but still I can't help but click on the latest list by someone about something. They are good, clean entertainment.....and food for conversation or blog posts.

Planning to be Retired - Part One, MONEY

This is ON THE LIST

The Planning for Retirement Industry - it's a thing you know, as Sally, the Unbrave Girl would say. There is NO SHORTAGE of advice and other things you may or may not have any interest in. After awhile you just kind of tune it all out and say "Enough already! Leave me alone." But I keep going back to it, just to see if there is something important I have missed.

Let's Try Again

Happy New Year

I am better now. I still have a cough which startles people sometimes, but I feel pretty good. When I tell people I was sick, I get very little sympathy. Instead I get topped. "Oh I was too! I was in bed for 6 days and couldn't move at all...throwing up all over the place, almost had to get admitted to the hospital. etc, etc. etc." It's a bad winter for health around here.

Right now it's difficult to be outside because the annual January bad air is back. We are regularly having red and orange alert days when we are not supposed to drive. Everyone does, of course, because for most people there are no good alternatives. Those who have options, like me being able to commute by UTA, are already doing that no matter what the air alert is.

There is some news

Look what I got this summer. And I intend to make good use of it.

Now that I am back at work again, I'm working really hard this year. I have a bigger assignment that I have ever had at this job. I am handling it. About 3 months ago various supervisors at work were thanking me up one side and down the other for agreeing to rescue them from a situation by agreeing to work as hard as I am working. They're not thanking me any more because I think they have forgotten about the situation that I did rescue them from. They have moved on to new problems and issues.

But before too much longer people will realize that they may have an even bigger problem because I have made a huge decision. I'm going to retire after the end of the school year in 2016. That's like a year and 3/4 now. I only have one more July, August, September and October to work now.

Changed My Mind

Outside Apt 3C. Notice the new, modern decor in the hallway.

Remember how I said I wasn't going to move from my present apartment? Never mind.

Really, I had no intention of moving, but one day, not too long ago, I asked our super super, Adrian, what the newly remodeled lobby was going to look like. The whole lobby has been off limits for some time because it's been torn all to pieces, but it was difficult to see the plan for the end product because for the longest time they focused (as they should) on things like electric wires, roughed in plumbing, new walls, especially load bearing ones. Adrian said it was going to be an open lobby, a big open space with only a bathroom walled off and then a remodel job in old Apt 1B to the northeast AND a newly built studio apartment where the old hair salon used to be, a totally new apartment 1A to the south east.

Love It or List It

I'm ok with big changes like moving when those changes are my own choice. I'm not so ok when the need to make a big change is trust upon me, like it or not. I just found out that one way or another, a big change will be thrust upon me.

My apartment building was bought by a new company this spring. At first nothing happened. Now, I have been informed, big things are changing. The company is renovating the whole place including all the apartments. We are going to have a series of choices. All of them involve paying more money and some of them involve the trouble of moving.