At this point I’m not really noticing anything different. I would have
been off today, anyway. And on Tuesday—the actual first day that I don’t have
to go into the office—it will probably just feel like a vacation.
And December itself was always going to be a relatively work-free month.
My part-time schedule, coupled with judicious use of my remaining annual leave,
meant I wasn’t going to be in the office for the final half of the month,
anyway. (I feel strangely cheated by this; it’s hard to truly enjoy doing
nothing unless you are, in some way, avoiding actual work.) The upshot is, my work
week wouldn’t have settled back into a normal routine until after New Year’s
Day, so I expect sometime in the middle of January, I’ll sit up, blink my eyes
a few times and say out loud, “I really don’t have to go to work any more!”
Granted, this exalted status is sorta dependant on me making some money
from my writing, and while that may seem like a tall order, I’m already pulling
down a six-figure monthly income from my books, so I don’t think I have a lot
to worry about. That is, unless you take into account that those six figures
include the digits after the decimal point. And the decimal point itself. And
the pound sign. (They are figures, after all.)
But we’ll leave that for another day; for now, I am simply amazed. I
began work on 24 August 1973 at the Skyline Corporation just outside of
Valatie, New York, making mobile homes, and ended up on 29 November 2012 at
ROCC Computers LTD in West Sussex, UK, doing project management. And in
between, I collected these:
That is every pay-check I have ever received in my entire working life.
Now, I do expect to add to this pile at some point in the future, and I
hope to continue earning royalties, but for now, my actual career has come to
an end and I’m looking forward to the next phase of my life: the one where I am
either a productive and profitable writer, or a lay about in an ill-fitting
track suit lounging around all day, drinking beer and watching daytime television.
I guess time will tell. (Now where did I put that old track suit?)
That looks like many years of lounging and drinking to achieve a figure like that!
ReplyDeleteThen I'd better get started on it right quick ;)
DeleteMichael, you look way too young to be retired! Congratulations and stay in touch.
ReplyDeleteThanks! And I will.
DeleteWhen I retired, I had to keep reminding myself that I had "the time". I didn't have to get stressed about upcoming events and I no longer had to schedule around my work week. My schedule was all my own!
ReplyDeleteI'm not there yet; soon.
DeleteWow, congratulations again, Mike! You kept all of your paychecks?!
ReplyDeleteEvery. Single. One. Yes, I am that sad ;)
DeleteWho keeps that many pay checks? Well, apart from you that is. (And ships them over the ocean.)
ReplyDeleteYou mean EVERYONE doesn't save their pay checks ;)
DeleteSoon you will wonder how on earth you ever managed to fit work into your busy schedule.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's only day 6 now, and I'm already wondering that ;)
DeleteI remember you also saved one mile of kite string (fishing line?) after breaking the mile-high-kite-fly record. Am I right? (I also worked at Skyline, saved nothing... lifetime achievement.
ReplyDeleteYes, I did save that fishing line. If you worked at Skyline, then those checks at the very bottom of the pile should look familiar.
Delete