Ambitions Turned Inward (ATI) has turned out to be something much more significant that I thought it would at the beginning of this series. The first post was about wrapping my head around the idea of turning my ever present ambitions inward was all about. The second in the series was about discovering what I might want to do with the rest of my life. … Continue reading Ambitions Turned Inward – Part 4 – On Becoming Social
The expected life span of men born in the U.S. is 76.4 years I knew this day would come, or at least I hoped it would. I am now 76.4 years old, so at least I have lived at as long as expected. I kinda look at it now as I am living on borrowed time and should make the most of each day as … Continue reading Living On Borrowed Time…
This post will be a personal story about ambition, but I kinda think some of you might be dealing with the same issues. Most of my life has been driven by ambition. From an early age, I believed that my life was meant to be lived with a purpose. I wasn’t just put here to suck air for a number of years and then become … Continue reading Lost Ambition…
I spent the first day of this new year trying to figure out how I will live in the next 364 days. I also spent New Year’s Eve looking at what I accomplished in 2022. Before I go any further, I must admit that the whole decade before 2022, I was mostly in the caregiver hermit mode. My wife’s health continued to decline year after … Continue reading Looking Back So I Can Look Forward
I just passed my 76th year on this earth and my age is showing more and more as each day passes. I know my cognition is becoming more difficult for me. Where I used to write a post here on RJsCorner in10-15 minutes it now sometimes takes an hour. I am physically stumbling more now. I have to accept it that these types of things … Continue reading I Worry About Old Men Being In Charge
I have been trying to get some of the folks here in my RetCom (retirement community) to think about putting their life experiences on-line so that others might learn from them, or at least be entertained by them. Some of the stories I have heard are simply amazing. I realize that not everyone has the talents to accomplish such a task of telling their life … Continue reading Sharing Our Life Stories
When I was paying almost $200 per month for my satellite TV service it always bugged me that half of that cost was used to buy the television rights to sporting events of which I watched none. I have been on streaming TV for about 15 months now. I am paying about one-third of what I was. I couldn’t be happier with my a la … Continue reading A La Carte
I came across some statistics lately about the dining industry that I believe explain some about the problems of my RetCom’s (retirement community) dining problems of not being able to build a reliable waitstaff. There were many of them in my source but for this post I will concentrate on just three. If you want to see the whole article click HERE. My RetCom has … Continue reading RetComLife – Info About Waitstaffs
It’s time for another Aspie post here on RJsCorner. This one is about Aspie obsessions. I’m sure I have posted about this before, but I don’t specifically remember it. So, I will give you a brief story about Aspies and obsession. Here is a quote from a reliable source about Aspies and special interests. I recognized this trait in myself from an early age. I … Continue reading I Just Couldn’t Help Myself
I’m sure you, to one degree or another, likely agree with the title of this post. Old people are simply not tech-savvy to any degree. When I suggested to the management here at my RetCom (retirement community) home that we should have an on-line interface for communications with the residents, I was given that line. With nothing to back my suggestion up I let it … Continue reading Myth #37 – Old People Don’t Do On-Line
This is a continuation of yesterday’s post about trying to start up a new activity here in my RetCom (retirement community) that is focused toward us guys. Yesterday I talked about two possibilities: woodworking and model building. Today’s post is about a third path forward and that is Lego. I know many of you are probably saying that Lego is for kids, but since old … Continue reading RetComLife – The Thing About Men: Part 3 – Finally, The Project
I have been in my RetCom home for 14 months now, and am slowly making some friends here. Being deaf and having Aspie traits has made that process difficult as it has for most everything in my last 35 years. Finding my place here has been a struggle. I tried to start up an activity pointed towards hearing loss issues, but that just didn’t pan … Continue reading RetComLife – The Thing About Men: Part 2 -Let’s Build Stuff”
Before I get into the basic idea for this 3-day series about Retirement Community Life, I need to give you a little basic background. “Just the facts” as Joe Friday used to say on the TV show Dragnet. Most RetComs (retirement communities) are usually about 75% women and 25% men, and the majority of the staff of the community are primarily women. So, we men … Continue reading RetComLife – The Thing About Men Part 1: Just The Facts…
During my two major trips, and even in between, I have visited about a dozen different retirement communities across the country. This review will be the last one in that category. Two weeks ago, I finally managed to visit an actual “Active” Retirement Community. The review of this facility, and some final thoughts on the topic will be what this post is all about. To … Continue reading RetComLife – Retirement Community Review… One Final Time
I came across the words above when I was recently watching an early TV episode of “Mad About You” for the 1980s. That brought to mind the often quoted idea that after being married for decades, old couples can practically finish each other’s sentences. That never happened with my wife and me as we were so very different people. Even in our last conversation before … Continue reading If I Tell You Now, We Won’t Have Anything To Talk About When We Are Old
This might seem like a strange title for a post in my retirement community life category, but I kinda think that as a result of 2+ years of COVID, it likely describes the current sit-down dining option in many retirement communities. For all you city folks, I will let Wikipedia describe just what a feedlot is. That is kind of like what happens when retirement … Continue reading RetComLife – Feedlot Dining
Ok, I have been in my RetCom** over a year now, but I had yet to join any regularly scheduled activity. I did try to start up a support group that would help hearing challenged folks here have a better life, but that was a bust. Hundreds of folks here wear hearing aids or have little hearing left, but few are interested in learning new … Continue reading RetCom: Fitting In – Grumpy Old Men
I don’t think there is a chef alive that doesn’t welcome a new recipe. In that vein, I want to share some of my personal favorites with our RetCom chef. I will be doing that over time. I don’t want to flood him with them all at once. So, in the first post on this new subcategory “Making Things Better”, I give you and my … Continue reading RetComLife: Greekish Salad
For this week’s “Every Picture Has A Story”, I give you Starry Night by Vincent Van Gough. The story behind the picture is very emotional for me. I don’t really remember when I first saw the picture above, but it immediately drew me in. It was just something about all the crude swirls. When I read about Van Gough’s life the hook went in deeper. … Continue reading EPS#3 – Starry Night & A Mini Meltdown
Yesterday’s post was about one of the two things I am doing to basically change where I am going with RetComLife. Today’s post is the second shoe I don’t want to be one of those people who simply complains about things, but yes, I do find many things to complain about here on RJsCorner. One of the categories that houses the most complaints is likely … Continue reading RetComLife – The Second Shoe – Making Things Better
I now have over 40 posts in the category of RetComLife (retirement community life), so I have decided to now forego the numbers in the title line. My RetComLife posts up until now, have been about the “dos and don’ts” and possible choices of selecting a place to live in our senior years, or finding the right place for a loved one. After much search, … Continue reading RetComLife – Stories About Fitting In (aka becoming one of the gang)
I have let you know at least a couple of times that one of the things I enjoy the most about my RetCom (retirement community) is the three-quarter-mile walkway that runs along the perimeter of the property. One reason is that it gives me daily cardio-exercise. The other is that it gives me time to think, really think. To go along with my new special … Continue reading The Thing About Walks…
I am a forward thinker, and rarely a status-quo type guy. That often gets me in trouble here at my retirement community. All of my life I have been in the “Mr. Fix-It” mode. I am always looking to how to make things better. In my mind, there is no situation that can’t stand improvement. I think many of us baby boomers grew up with … Continue reading RetComLife – I Am A Forward Thinker…
It’s been a while since I posted in the RetComLife project. Sorry… If there is one lesson I can get you to realize in my RetComLife series it is, if you are an active senior you should probably seek out an “active” retirement community for your first retirement home. During my exploration of retirement communities in the last year, I can tell you that the … Continue reading RetComLife #40 -“Active” Retirement Communities
Now that my “Love of my Life” series is completed, I want to end this week’s posts on a related topic. Almost everyone knows the old saying Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die to get here I read that to say that we are afraid we won’t stack up to the qualifications to pass the pearly gates. Or maybe, … Continue reading Without Death, Living Would Be Unbearable.
Procrastination, overthinking, whatever you want to call it, is what I typically do. I recognize I overthink, in fact, I overthink about overthinking. It’s time to make a decision! I have decided that I will stay where I am and will visit that decision on an annual basis. So, I am calling this place “Home”. It is where I will live now and for the … Continue reading RetComLife # 39 – “The Decision”
I know I don’t need to use a big word here. I could have just said “couch potato”. But, since I am a wordsmith, I am always on the lookout for the most descriptive description. How does “sedentary” fit in with Retirement Community Life? That is what this post is all about. During my recent On-The-Road trip that covered 6,000 miles of the South and … Continue reading RetComLife #38 – Sedentary…
Eliminating possibilities is how decisions are often made. There is seldom a “sure thing” answer to any problem. What we, or at least I, have to do is to start by eliminating things until there is only one choice. That is what I am doing right now. I spent 3+ weeks traveling around much of this country to try to decide where I want to … Continue reading RetComLife #37 – Eliminating Possibilities
Earlier this year I got a small calendar from a small Amish store that I frequent a few times a year. I just love their pickled asparagus and other things. I usually say no when these things are offered, but for some reason I took this one, and I’m glad I did. Monthly they have a picture with a quote below it that seems to … Continue reading Life Is A Great Balancing Act…
It was a year ago today that started the beginning of the end for my wife. She had just suffered her 4th and most severe heart attack that would in 78 days result in her death. Those 78 days were the most stressful of my life! Being an Aspie I had more emotional breakdown during that time than I thought was even possible. For me, … Continue reading RetComLife #36 – A Different Mindset…
I have decided to use the upcoming lifetime roadtrip to move out of my comfort zone and look for alternative areas of the country for my retirement community life. Except for four years in New Jersey, and a few months in Guadalajara Mexico, I have spent my life in Indiana, but I have almost no roots here anymore, so maybe it is time to get … Continue reading RetComLife#35 – Outside My Comfort Zone
I am starting to have my doubts whether I want to make my permanent home here in my present retirement community. That is what this post is all about. First, I am paying a lot of money for things I currently have little use for. My retirement community costs over $40,000/year. That is about average for my area, but it is at least a couple … Continue reading RetComLife # 34 – Starting To Have Some Serious Doubts
This post like many, came to me in my daily morning shower. Over the past many years I have come to realize that I am a “morning” person. Most of my creative juices come during the first five or six hours after awakening each day. Before I got out of my shower, I had already formulated the storyline for this post. I usually try to … Continue reading Until It’s Gone
Here I am sitting at my keyboard again, when I should be having dinner. Let me explain a little more. Some of you know that I have Aspie traits that make social situations uncomfortable. For that reason, I usually go to dinner here in my retirement community during the last fifteen minutes of the meal hour. I go down then because there is usually a … Continue reading RetComLife#33 – I Am Tired Of …
My retirement community consumes hundreds of pounds of paper daily. Each of the 400 or so residents gets a dozen or so pages a day of notices/menus/activities/etc. related to our community life. I think maybe I hit a sore spot by bringing up this fact. Here we are 22 years into the new century, and they seem to be stuck in the 20th Century. Being … Continue reading RetComLife #32 – Joining the 21st Century
It has been about two weeks now that my retirement community took away the cafe dining option and brought back the “sit and wait” as the only way to use my $350 monthly meal allocation. February was the only month in the eight months I have been here that I used even close to all of that monthly allotment. Before that, I seldom used more … Continue reading RetComLife #31 – The Second Day Cafe
RJ's Corner 