Wasting Time

Way back in November, I wrote a blog about my future retirement entitled "Butt Sitting" and what I expected to be doing (or not) in my upcoming months once we officially retired. At the time, I was so wound up with work and obligations, any down time appeared to be a breath of fresh air. Since January, I have gotten very used to time, almost at times, an abundance of time and I sincerely hope I am not frittering away any of it. But it's given me a new perspective on time. (It wasn't that long ago that my friend Pam and I were commiserating with each other that the one thing we longed for was 'more time'!)

In the past two years, I have neglected my little shirt business SOMETHING FISHY just dreadfully. I let my inventory of tropical print shirts get down to something like six. Last year I think I only made five. And this was down from my 'good years' of the sideline business of close to a hundred and twenty a year. (Yeah, I was cranking them out in my 'spare time'!) With more time on my hands, I have returned to the peace and calmness of the sewing machine and have produced ten so far in the last month. I have set up a tiny little sewing nook in the basement, right next to the macaws' cages, and set myself in there for a few hours every few days and voila! SOMETHING FISHY's inventory is growing. I wanted to explore the possibilities of selling on EBay so last night I listed my first shirt. It took me close to two hours to figure out how to do it (properly) and get all my data correct. So, time well spent? We'll see.

And then, of course, I've been trying to blog a lot more than I was while I was working but that takes time too. Sometimes, I worry that I'm not blogging enough. I know there are a few you faithful readers that check on me daily and I regret to say I am only blogging not even every other day. But some days... there's just nuthin' to say, is there? So I feel guilty if I'm not blogging enough, but also guilty if I'm sitting at the computer every night writing and not sitting and socializing with Bill. (Hmmm, cloning might be good....)

Today on the news there was another story about the Virtual Lives websites on the Internet. I know (virtually) nothing about these, save what I hear. But it do sound disturbing! Folks create a character for themselves (like writing a novel) and then interact somehow with other folks who are also re-creating virtual lives for themselves. They end up marrying (so do they have virtual children???!!) or messing around and it sounds like a great deal of gratuitous sex is involved too. They pay each other real money for weddings and sex and whatever else they dish up. Do they have to spend real money for groceries too? And does their gas cost $3.00 or more a gallon? Or don't they worry about those sorts of things? I'm curious, however, not that curious that I want to log in to see what's going on. From the person they interviewed on the tv this morning, it sounds like the real world problem of folding laundry and washing the dinner dishes, in fact, even making dinner, has fallen into the cracks while the person was busy with their virtual life.

Now, I don't know about you, but my own life in both the before and after retirement phase has been busy enough and full enough that I certainly don't need a made-up one. But maybe some folks just have more 'time' than the rest of us!

P.S. The picture I posted is of the emergence of the wildflowers in the desert. Yesterday, we made time and and took a drive into the boonies and found these bluffs liberally sprinkled with golden yellow California poppies. I couldn't resist! Wait until the lupine (bluebonnets) join them in a few weeks. Just gorgeous!