Retirement – Fun or No Fun ?

Posted on January 22, 2024 by Just Chuck

Here I am 3 weeks into retirement and still getting used to the idea that every day is a Saturday.  It is Monday and I’m at Mom’s in Mississippi because when you don’t have to go to work, why not take a 500 mile trip to spend a week with your Mom?  So we loaded up the truck and came over last Friday.

This morning I slept until 9:30 AM because last night we went to the coast, Gulfport Mississippi, to a casino.  It is an hour drive to the coast and I gave the slot machines the $200 I brought with me.  We left the casino around 12:30ish and got home around 1:30 in the morning.  I’m retired but I don’t have to go to work.  Usually on a Sunday night I would have my work anxiety kick in.  You know the one where you realize the weekend is over and you start thinking about all the tasks you need to complete during the coming work week and all the “special people” you will have to deal with.  You know the ones.  No work anxiety last night.  Anxiety now revolves around what to do with my retirement time.  If you are not doing something or planning to do something you get that feeling of wasting time.  I need to relax and enjoy.

So, I sit here in my Mom’s TV watching room asking myself, what ARE you going to do today?  Let’s run down the list of things I can do here at Mom’s in Mississippi.

  1. Go to T-Bones record store and buy some albums – COMPLETED, bought a few albums
  2. Go to the casino on the coast and lose money – COMPLETED, lost $200 in the slots
  3. Walk around the track up at the elementary school for exercise – One day COMPLETED
  4. Visit Ollie’s discount store and buy inexpensive books and junk – COMPLETED, bought some books
  5. Visit Books–a-Million and buy book or magazine – Still to do
  6. Visit Zoo – too cold and raining
  7. Go see a movie – possible but we stopped going to movies because we can’t sit through an hour TV show without having to go pee, much less a two hour movie
  8. Practice guitar – I did bring it and I have played it
  9. Learn the harmonica – I brought my kit but have not done anything with this
  10. Greater a blog posting – working on it
  11. Create a YouTube posting for channel – Not started and stressing about that, need to post today
  12. Watch TV – been doing that, too much.
  13. Read a book or magazine.  Doing that a lot.
  14. Play City of Heroes.  An old game I played 20 years ago that has made a comeback.

Maybe I should get a couple of dice and roll and pick one of the numbers above.  That sounds like a good idea.  <dice roll>. A Five.  Looks like I will be going to Books-a Million today.  In addition #11 is a high priority to keep the YouTube channel rolling.  You haven’t visited my YouTube channel?  Get on over to Retirement Ain’t Easy right now.

Posted in Life in General, retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Retirement Ain’t Easy – YouTube Video on SSA

Posted on January 17, 2024 by Just Chuck

Go check out my YouTube channel – Retirement Ain’t Easy – and my latest video of my Field Trip to the Social Security office.

Posted in Life in General, retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

SSA – Your Friend or a Government Bureaucracy?

Posted on January 15, 2024 by Just Chuck

I’m retired.  Retirement means a lot of things, but for many of us in the United States it means Social Security benefits. (payments)  Under normal circumstances you can’t collect social security benefits until you reach the age of at least 62 years old.  I’m 62.

The moment I started planning for retirement (about 3 years ago) I started looking into the Social Security Administration (SSA) and what it means to me.  Here is a list of things I have learned as of this posting.

  1. The SSA web site is a pretty good site for checking and planning for your future benefits.  It can provide data based on various ages of retirement and show in graph form the difference between getting money at 62 versus 63, 65, 67, etc.  It’s a really good tool.  I checked on my numbers every July.
  2. The SSA web site has EVERY job that you have ever had (assuming you used your Social Security Number SSN) and lists the salary for that job.  It even had my FIRST job from 1978 when I worked as a bus boy at Luther’s BBQ restaurant in Killeen Texas.
  3. SSA benefits are ALWAYS paid on a Wednesday.  That payday is dependent on your birthday.  What day of the month were you born?  For me, I was born on the 10th and so I fall into the 2nd Wednesday of the month.  Click on this link to see when your payout would be.  Knowing my payout date helped me with my budget.  It’s a big change from getting paid every other Friday when I was employed.
  4. When you decide when to start your SSA benefits you should start the application process at least 2 months before you want your desired first payment date.  It’s a 3 step process that involves a review by a SSA employee and providing proof of who you are and citizenship.
  5. When you submit your application for benefits you can no longer check your payment amount or job salaries.  All that information is shut down.  Like a curtain is closed.  You can’t see any of that information.  It’s like your account is frozen.
  6. For your proof of who you are and citizenship, you can mail your ORIGINAL birth certificate to the SSA office (not recommended) or take it in person to a local office and get them to copy it.  I took my documents, including my passport into the local office.  I didn’t trust the mail to get my original (only original I have) to the SSA and then have them return it to me.
  7. My local SSA office was really nice.  A lot like the DMV but better.  It was pretty organized working on a ticket method with many windows populated with nice SSA people.  I was in and out within 49 minutes.

That is my knowledge thus far.  I am on Step 2, “application under review”.  So I am waiting and hoping my first payment gets set up for February 14 (2nd Wednesday of the month).  Otherwise I will have to wait until the 2nd Wednesday in March.  Fingers crossed.

Posted in Life in General, retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

2024 New Years Resolutions

Posted on January 8, 2024 by Just Chuck

Now that I am retired from the daily soul crushing commute and job, I hope completing my

New Years Resolutions in 2024 will come easier.  So here are my 5 New Years Resolutions that I plan on …. Resolving?

Resolution #1 CREATE – Write, record and distribute my own song(s) or write my Memoir

I really need to complete this.  It is a carryover from 2023.  I have accepted a challenge in January from a music club I am a part of.  The challenge is to come up with chords, melody, lyrics (which I have done many times) during the month of January.  Although I have many song ideas, I’ve yet to record the song fully and release for distribution.  So I hope to complete this in 2024.  I have started a mini memoir of a time when I ran a recording studio.  I need to finish that.

Resolution #2 Continue to lose weight, another 25 lbs

I did pretty good with this one in 2023. I lost at least 50 lbs. I want to get down to my high school weight and lose some more fatty pouches.  That means another 25 lbs. I just need to stay on track with the low carb, low sugar diet and count my calories.  It was a challenge during the 2023 holidays but I have pretty much maintained a weight, now it’s time to finish the race and then stay at my desired weight.

Resolution #3 One YouTube video per week

I’ve launched a YouTube channel based on my retirement, it’s called Retirement Ain’t Easy.  I’ve posted one video about my last day at work last Monday.  I plan on recording and uploading one video per week AT LEAST to capture what my retirement life is about.  These videos will include me doing my hobbies of music, photography, model making etc.  Something to keep me busy and away from the damn TV.

Resolution #4 Start a side hustle – photography, music, recording, eBay store

By side hustle I mean something to bring in some spending money.  Being on social security, I am limited to around $1800 per month of income or the Social Security Administration will take away money.  Until I turn my full retirement age of 67, I am limited to the amount of income from a job.  So a side hustle such as a photography business needs to be part time and low money making.  I am not sure about selling my personal belongings on eBay though.  That may not qualify.  I have a lot of action figures and other stuff I can sell to make some vacation money.

Resolution #5 Blog once per week

Although I tripped up in November and December with my weekly blog posting in 2023, I plan on continuing to maintain this blog and possibly dovetail it with the YouTube channel… I hope.  We shall see.  I will continue with the Vinyl of the Month posts.  I will continue to post once per week and will try to do that on Monday each week.  So this Resolution posting is post #3 of the new year.

There you have it.  My 2024 New Year’s Resolutions.  I will do a quarterly review and grade myself on how I do.  Stay Tuned.

Posted in blogging, Life in General, Music, photography, retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

2023 Year End Wrap Up

Posted on January 4, 2024 by Just Chuck

It’s time for a 2023 Resolution Wrap up. Time to review what nonsense I came up with in January to try and fulfill, improve and better my life.  

So here we go.

Resolution #1 – I’m going to journal this year

PASSED.  I continue to journal, if not every day, at least every other day. I have not gone more than 2 days without journaling.  Journaling has become a habit.  Put a check mark by this resolution as completed.

Resolution #2 – I need to slow down and don’t give a f%ck

FAILED.  My personality is all about worry and anxiety, whether it’s work or personal.  The last month of the year, as retirement got closer to being a realization, I started to not give a shit at work.  My mood began to mellow, EXCEPT for the drive to and from work.  Those still put me in a sour mood.  So this resolution was a failure.  Perhaps now that I am retired things will change.  I no longer have to make that drive and deal with some very stupid people at work.

Resolution #3 – I gotta lose weight

PASSED.  Put a check mark by this one.  Me and the wife have cut out as much carbs and sugar as we can and I have been staying within a calorie count that insures a 1-2 lbs loss each week.  We cut out potatoes, rice, beans and anything high in carbs.  We eat meat, cheese, eggs and we’ve found low/zero carb bread.  Thanks to Hero Bread this diet has not been an issue.  We still eat burgers with buns, and brats with buns, and BLT sandwiches with bread.  And Hero makes tortillas so we still have Taco Tuesday or we have steak quesadillas.  Good stuff.  And we found a perfect use of the tortillas – we make thin crust pizza that is really good and has very little carbs and sugar.  So thanks to Hero Bread for giving us the opportunity for a normal diet.  I am down 50 lbs.  I’ve kinda hit a plateau at the moment with Thanksgiving and  Christmas and New Year’s black-eyed pea dinner, but now that those are passed, it’s time to focus again.  I have 20 more lbs to lose as a goal.

Resolution #4 – I need to write (complete) a book or comic book

FAILED.  I did not participate in NaNoWriMo as I had planned.  So after the Camp NaNoWriMo in July I did nothing more on any of my novel or memoir.  Sad, I had such momentum there for awhile.

Resolution #5 – I need to create, record, and release a song into the world

FAILED.  I created a demo and I posted on Soundcloud but I haven’t finished the re-recording of the parts to make it more cohesive and releasable to a streaming service.  I do have a couple of songs that I recorded acoustic scratch tracks to capture the structure and feel.  But no fully complete song released to Spotify.

Resolution #6 I’m going to Blog once per week

PARTIAL FAIL.  I was on a roll and looked to be succeeding until November.  My last Monday post was November 13 so I missed the last 6 Monday’s of the year.  For 2024 I plan to pos once a week but I’m not committing to always Monday.  I did complete all 12 Vinyl of the Months for 2023 and I’ve started 2024 off with a Monday posting and a Vinyl of the Month posting.

In summary, I have 2.5 out of 6 Resolutions PASSED.  That’s a 42% grade, that’s a Failing grade here in the U.S.  Not acceptable.  Look for my next posting to announce my 2024 Resolutions. 

Posted in blogging, Life in General, Music, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Holy Sh!t, I’m Unemployed!

Posted on January 2, 2024 by Just Chuck

It’s a bit scary but I am now voluntarily unemployed. That’s slang for retired.  I’m 62 years old and I retired on December 31, 2023 with my last day of work being Friday, December 29, 2023.  

It is a strange feeling.  I keep trying to check my work emails on my phone until I realize I don’t have any of the work apps on my phone anymore.  I keep worrying that this 3-day weekend (New Year’s)  is going by too fast, and then I realize I don’t have to get up and go to work the day after New Years.  I start to worry and then I realize, that problem is no longer my problem.  Someone else is having to deal with it. A great weight of anxiety has dissolved. 

My last day, Friday December 29, was surreal.  I got up, got ready, ate breakfast and drove into work.  It being a Friday before New Year’s, traffic was pretty light.  The drive was quick.  I had my morning coffee, answered a couple of emails, ate my lunch at my desk and waited for the IT manager to come by and confiscate my laptop, badge and office key.  It was strange walking out of the building at 1:15 without my badge and work laptop.  I drove home and spent the afternoon watching YouTube videos and trying to relax.

Tomorrow (day after New Year’s) will be really weird.  I don’t need to get up and get ready.  I don’t need to drive anywhere.  I can be a bum and not shower and just do nothing.  But I’ll probably figure something out.  I’ve already started a YouTube channel.  Go check it out – Retirement Ain’t Easy.  Here is my first video.

This blog will probably see a slant towards what it’s like to be retired and living on your savings, social security, annuity and a pension.  There will be lots of references to my YouTube channel.  It’s something to keep me busy along with making music and photography.  Lots of time and lots to do. 

I hope you will continue to visit here and my YouTube channel to keep track of what I am up to.  Feel free to ask questions about retirement.  I am slowly becoming an expert at buying health insurance, applying for social security, starting annuity payouts and many other tasks to get the income flowing.

Posted in Life in General, retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Vinyl of the Month – Powerhouse by American Tears

Posted on January 1, 2024 by Just Chuck

Back in the day… Way back… My best friend and I were always trying to one up each other with our vinyl purchases. We were always trying to find unknown bands that we had not heard of and present the album to each other hoping to impress 

My high school best friend, Bill, introduced me to a number of bands that I am still a fan of. Genesis and Judas Priest are two that stand out. We were always searching for the next great band.

Many times our searches would take us into “cut-out” bins. If you are unfamiliar with the term, a cutout bin is the bin or box where unsold items are sent for clearance as a last stop before the trash bin. You’ll find cut-out bins in comic book stores and book stores but the term cut-out is usually applied to vinyl album (record) stores because the album cover would get a notch cut out of the album cover to designate it was clearance. It pretty much declared the album was headed for the trash and ruining the album cover made it un-collectible.

Anyways. Powerhouse by American Tears was released in 1977. I believe I bought it during 1978. I don’t recall the store in Killeen Texas but I do recall it was in a cutout bin. I took a chance, a big chance, because the band had a keyboard player, and if you knew me back then, you knew I was not a fan of bands with keyboard players (Uriah Heep for example). I was.a straight ahead guitar guy so my bands were KISS and Aerosmith and Black Sabbath. Out of all the albums in the cutout bin, American Tears‘ Powerhouse looked to be the only rock oriented album. I think I bought it for less than a dollar, brand new with just a notch cut into the cover.

I listened to the album before presenting it to Bill and, surprisingly, I enjoyed the music. The songs were melodic and had catchy choruses. The album is still one of my go to albums to listen to on a Sunday morning. Bill didn’t really find it all that appealing. Bill had moved into bands like Budgie. Oh well. I still have the album and I still periodically put it on the turntable.

The band has put out additional albums with the latest being in 2020, but they never caught on. I’ve thought about many of the other bands Bill and I traded off on. always trying to impress each other. I plan to feature more of those albums in future Vinyl of the Month postings. For this month, reminding me of a fun time with a best friend that is no longer with us, I chose Powerhouse by American Tears for Vinyl of the Month.

Posted in Album of the month | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Vinyl of the Month – Starz by Starz

Posted on December 1, 2023 by Just Chuck

Ever heard of Starz? Probably not.

Starz is a New Jersey born band. I did not know at the time (until I investigated for this posting) but Starz was formed from three members of the band Looking Glass. remember them? Most don’t, but they are the band that record Brandy (You’re of Fine Girl). That song everyone knows. I think it is actually a Trivial Pursuit question.

Starz debut album was released in February 1976. I can’t remember exactly when I bought it but it had to have been later that year after I got ahold of KISS Destroyer. I bought the album because they were on the same label as KISS and I had seen pics of them in CREEM magazine and they looked cool. The album turned out to be right in the same vein of rock that I liked. Straight ahead guitar oriented songs about being a teenager and all the things that come with that.

I have a couple of favorite songs off this album, (She’s Just a) Fallen Angel and Pull the Plug. I can remember there being some issue with the song Pull the Plug as it was about a girl on life support and her boyfriend wanted to pull the plug and let her die in peace. Nothing like a little uproar from the general population to sell records to teenagers.

I listened to this album a lot when I first bought it and I still pull out the vinyl and have a listen. It stills holds up. The band is still kinda around. They have a website and Facebook page. Occasionally you will hear that they played a bar in New Jersey. The second album, Violation, came out and I bought it too. They released two more albums after that before calling it quits in mid 1979. A three year life.

I chose Starz by Starz for Vinyl of the Month because of the memories it invokes of that time when I was in high school and life was simple.

Posted in Album of the month | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Let’s Catch Up

Posted on November 13, 2023 by Just Chuck

I feel like I should catch up on a number recent life happenings.

First off, no one likes it but it’s a necessary evil, a Colonoscopy.  If you are over 50 and have not had one, I strongly suggest you do so very soon.  Do it for your kids or grandkids or, hell, your Mom.  I had my second one last Monday.  My first was at age 52 and since there were no issues at the time, I was put on the 10 year plan, meaning I didn’t need another Colonoscopy for 10 years.  This time, however, there were polyps found and removed.  I have not received the results from the lab yet, but I am now on the 3 year plan.  So in 3 years I’ll be going through the Colonoscopy protocol again and taking the 30 minute nap.  Not so bad.  Yes the preparation sucks but the actual procedure is nothing.

grandson
Mom

Second item to discuss – NaNoWriMo.  I know I had said I was going to participate this November in the National Novel Writing Month but I didn’t.  I moved on to my new hobby, Photography.  Writing has been shuffled to the back burner and photography has moved to front and center.  I’ve invested in studio lighting and my Mom (I love her) bought me a new camera.  A professional grade, a Canon R6 Mk II.  I have been playing around with it and studio lighting in my house (see samples of grandson and Mom) and I am seriously considering starting my own photography business when I retire.  Nothing big, just a side thing.  Senior portraits, engagement photo sessions, simple stuff that doesn’t require stress (no wedding photography).

That brings up item #3, Retirement.  As of today I have 7 weeks and only 28 more working days to go.  Looking forward to it. I have plans to keep busy with photography and music stuff.  Maybe do some side gigs like substitute teaching or maybe the crossing guard at the elementary school in our neighborhood.  

Finally, the last item to note is that my youngest, of three sons, got married the weekend before the Colonoscopy.  So happy for him.  My new daughter-in-law (who we’ve known for years) is a wonderful young woman.  She is a teacher with a marketing degree.  They have a bright future ahead of them.  They have already bought a house and celebrated one year in it.  They both have great jobs and are smart Kids.

I think that brings this blog up to date with all the recent events in my life.

Posted in family, Life in General, photography, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

No Post Today

Posted on November 6, 2023 by Just Chuck

Sorry no witty post today. I have been in colonoscopy protocols for the last day and a half and had the procedure today. Maybe later this week I’ll catch up.

Posted in blogging, Life in General | Tagged , , | Leave a comment