The Fool, Three Years and Counting

http://bilber99.blogspot.com/2014/04/roswell-to-pagosa-springs-memories-and.html

I missed writing April 1 on the actual 3rd anniversary of  my exit from IBM. I did ride motorcycle a bit that day -- over to the health club to work out, then to church to pick up the communion kit, and then to give communion to a shut-in. Much shorter than my 100 mi on the Wing the day I left IBM, and MUCH shorter than my ride from Roswell NM to Taos to Pagosa Springs via scenic 64 and 84 plus a few other nice roads. My ride Wednesday was around town was the Harley -- chilly Wing today, it varies.

The third year brought the purchase of the lake property in IA, the marriage of our eldest son, the completion of the water feature, the purchase of the Harley Ultra, a nice motorcycle trip to Indianola IA to see the balloons, the loss of our nieces husband, and the trip to Ireland and England just over. There were other things -- the Packers loss to Seattle would be nice to forget along with the month of flu / pneumonia from Thanksgiving to New Years.

The winter was the first time I had A FEW feelings of wanting more to do -- that resulted in a little more activity on the book, but I find the self discipline to break away from the routine of writing the blog, working out at the RAC and reading extensively (Churchill was a major push this past year) to be rather easy to fall into. I even watched a BIT more TV for a change -- making it through a season of "Mad Men", and staying almost current with "Better Call Saul"  to give into a bit of peer pressure from friends that like to discuss a bit of TV  -- MAYBE I'll catch up, but the task seems daunting, TV is not very easy for me.

The expected birth of our first grandchild -- a girl, dominates thoughts of this year. Next on the list is the impending construction of our livable shed on the lake property in IA. High hopes for a lot more entertaining around the water feature and hopefully some memorable rides on the motorcycles.

It remains a great blessing to have been able to have a period of "retired time" while still able to be active. I completely bypassed the idea of finding something to work at that I felt was "a calling" in my youth -- I certainly liked computers and to some degree still do, but that old "what is your bliss" question is not an easy one for me. MAYBE it is writing -- the blog entries are certainly "pure fun" without any need to "buckle down" and write. I'm now approaching 3K entries over the decade that I've been writing -- but focusing on a book is so far a good deal harder.

Perhaps this will be the year when the muse strikes harder and real book progress is made -- or perhaps self discipline is the only muse that will ever "strike" and what I need is a "gumption adjustment". I can certainly tell that there is a good deal of the old friend "fear of failure" -- it has often been nice to dream of writing a book that at least some set of people read and appreciate. Far  more likely to to never produce a book, or to produce something that some very small set of people politely read and try to make the best of ...

It is fitting that my personal year cycle now tends to start on April Fools given the point at my exit from IBM. I imagine the Master Planner getting in a wink and a chuckle at that!