Saturday, April 25, 2009

Had I known that retirement would be enjoyable, I would have retired earlier. No more waking up early, no more meetings, no more "earth-shaking" decisions to be made, no more rushing in airports and living in hotels! I'm free!

After having worked for 40 years of my life, you'd think I would be at a loss as to what to do with all the time that I have now. Not so! Because all the time is MY TIME now and I can do whatever I want to do with it. That is such a liberating feeling.

Of course, I still teach and do consultancies occasionally, but only when I choose to do so. Otherwise, time is spent being quality controller, inventory manager and all-purpose assistant of our youngest daughter (whose on-line wholesale garments business is run from the house), making my origami handicrafts, playing my favorite computer games, communicating with friends, reading, enjoying music, walking around - the possibilities are endless!

After having my last major surgery (multiple bypass) in late 2006, I now look at things in a different light. There is beauty in simple, ordinary things. I have tremendous patience and don't stress easily now. What happened to the hyperactive Teng? She's still there, but the "hyper" has been toned down. You can say, she has mellowed with age. There have been other changes too. Whereas before, exercise was not in my vocabulary, it is now a must, albeit only brisk walking (following my cardiologist's instructions). The downside is that I am not allowed to dance for more than 10 minutes. What a change for the former "Disco Queen"!

Retirement means sitting back, relaxing, enjoying life in general and reminiscing about both the good times and the bad, the "what ifs", past glories and embarassments, far-off relatives and old friends, and chuckling at some of life's ironies. But most of all, doing the things one had postponed to do, when one was busy working, and relishing every minute of the time we spend with our family.

5 comments:

  1. Welcome to the world of blogging! Looking forward to your interesting journals. Blogging is my anti-stress strategy and also to earn extra money online. Always. Rey Ramos

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  2. How do you earn extra money online?

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  3. In general, google does pay anyone who allow google searches on their blogs. If you have noticed Baby's blogs (your college friend), she has google ads embedded on her site. Blogspot has a function (Adsense) for this if you want google search to appear in your blog. In my case, I dont use it because it quite a bit messy looking with "ads" and besides I dont know the mechanics in terms of earning. What I normally do is, I create links and logos to my membership with TRIVAGO - a travel site where I do post travel reviews, photos and help the site building up its database. For every visit thru my blogs, I earn points and converted into cash as being paid thru paypal. You can visit my account thru my website:

    http://reymos.wordpress.com/trivago/

    Just click the icon of trivago and quickly you will be directed to my account. The site is quite tricky but as you go along it is worth doing it. I will send you a separate email how it works and hopefully convince you to join as well. Dont worry, I will assist you on this and besides you have a mentor (from the site itself who is senior member) to guide while doing your tasks - earning points then cash!

    On the other hand, I do write product reviews as well. Well not much but once in a while read, rate and comment reviews posted in ciao(UK) and dooyoo(UK). You can also view these sites from my website.

    http://reymos.wordpress.com/my-consumer-sites/

    Well, Im not really a good writer but thru my blogs and memberships to these sites, I could enhance my communication skills and building-up my confidence that I can write and able to express myself to anonymous readers.

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  4. You know what it is funny because few weeks ago, I visited a blogsite runs by two British ladies who also enjoy reading like you! Then, I posted a comment and have the site featured in my blog (dedicated to my passion in reading as well). In my featured journal about the site, I mentioned about you and now I already updated it and linked your website to my site and maybe you could create another blog for your books' reviews. This is my books' blog:

    http://mgakuwentongbuhayatnobela.blogspot.com/

    Again, thank you for introducing me to Mary Higgins Clark - one of my favourite female American authors which also the reason why I love pocket books until now!

    Another thing, when I was at your place during my short visit in Feb 2007, we also discussed "Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown which was featured in a newspaper! This month, another film based on Brown's novel, Angels and Demons will be released. Much interesting than the last novel and might read it again!

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  5. Thanks for the tips, Rey. I'll do it perhaps by next week, because I am still preparing my course materials for Monday and Tuesday next week. I have to teach the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) to a group of Afghans, Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis at AIT. I am just a novice in blogging and I could learn a lot from you. Again, thanks!

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