It’s 6 months and 11 days since I retired. Before retiring, I did what I like to do, and that is draft a retirement plan. I think at the 6-month point it’s reasonable to have a review, and do the usual thing of looking at what has and hasn’t gone well. I think what I’ll do is just work quickly through each. section and look at the high and low points.
Anchor & Morning Activity
It looks like i stopped doing the swing trading thing around mid-April. I was running a tracker against Robbie’s (The Naked Trader) criteria, and only 6 firms kept coming up. There was a danger that I could start random trading, so I decided to stop altogether. I’m not saying I’ll never go back to it, but at the moment, it is totally off my radar, and this activity is very likely to get deleted in the next version of the plan.
Even Facebook isn’t looking to healthy, I’ve had a couple of false starts that have petered out. I’m not by anymeans going to give it up, I just don’t know what to do with it at the moment.
Organising & Systems
It appears I live by systems, I like having them, and I like analysing them. The tools, though, are different. Google Sheets and Obsidian are both available, and I have (am ) using Obsidian, just not very coherently.
I had to go and remind myself what the anti-TikTok project was. It’s my normal stuff. I spend way too much time scrolling through videos that I found fascinating, I say found, as there are some that I am becoming bored with.
I’m not sure what the digital workspace relates to. This?
Evening Wind down
Writing is going very well; I’m doing it every day. (Holding back for the next panel)
Photo editing, some partial success, using Photoshop and Affinity. I’ve done a little bit with it; I need to do a lot more. Reading is OK, but I really do need to do more. I’m also holding back comments on planning vlog & blog. The TikTok plans are in disarray, only because some of them comes to me very quickly,
Creative Work
Part of this is a shocker, the other half an abject failure. On the creative writing front, I submitted a suggestion for a creative writing group in the Gosport u3a. It was accepted, we’ve had the startup session, and it went incredibly well. The first real session is next week, and it does look promising, with a potential 15-18 members.
Vlogging is another of those areas where initially I was very much “what can I vlog”? But now, I think it’s. When can I vlog that? I have two parts of the same vlog on. historical project, listed and ready. I’ve become a compost bin nutcase and am driving Elayne up the wall. Photography is going well, no major successes but some nice scores and a highly commended in a competition.
The one failure is the radio side of things. I was going to sign up to The Bath programme, but I just haven’t got around to it (that sounds like procrastination, and to an extent, it probably is).
Outdoors & Activities
Apart from the fact that about 6 weeks ago, something happened to my knee, everything here has been quite successful.
Walks are mainly around town, with the occasional trip out.
Field Research, I haven’t done an awful lot of. But I do have a project brewing that will change that. Plus, the granddaughter is of an age where she likes to play in the park, so we are outdoors with her.
Cloud watching, we can just do it anytime we are out.
Exploring local areas – I could do a bit more here, very focused on the walks that I know.
The Gosport Shed is good. Some lovely trips out; The Fleet Air Arm Museum, The Greenwich Naval Museum, and the Great Western Railway Museum, all excellent. Then there is the Shed Breakfast, which I thoroughly enjoy.
Council Activities
Are a bit of a damp squib (perhaps a bit unfair there is a good reason why activity is low). I haven’t been to a meeting in quite a while, although I do read through the meeting packs and minutes.
Intellectual Projects (I’m sorry that sounds really pretentious)
Ley line research, apart from the acquisition of a set of dowsing rods and a couple of failed attempts to buy cheap photo equipment that would allow me to position the camera so that I could film myself dowsing, which, because of my tremors, would be ridiculously ineffective, I’ve done nothing with this activity.
u3a – in my view, has been an outstanding success. I’m a member of seven groups, and have done several presentations on various topics, and have three more lined up, and am having so much fun it’s unreal. I’m just really enjoying it, and can’t recommend it enough to people. Two of the three topics on the chart (Local history and Astronomy) are covered under u3a. Earth Mysteries was going to be proposed as a group, but is on hold at the moment.
Slow Media
I’m not too sure what I meant by this now. I suspect it partially involved keeping up with the news, which at the moment is so horrible that I prefer to bury my head in a bucket of sand. I may remove this group.
Goals
Write a book – Well, you should never say never.
Become famous on TikTok & YouTube – well, I think I’ll tone that down a bit, to just have a presence on YouTube at the moment.
Start a newspaper – a nice aspiration, still at that level.
Live as long as I can – I need to get fitter, eat less, and walk more.
Get a PhD – I’d love to, but no chance.
Well I’m quite surprised actually. Well, not really – I did the plan as a bit of fun, and I have barely referred to it since last year, but it is hung there in full view. Where I’ve been successful, I’m really pleased. There are some things to do, and the plan does need tweaking, but overall, I’m pretty pleased with it.
Bills Posts 