Retirement

“I am retired.” To many who have yet to count years before they can say the same thing, this simple sentence probably evokes different kinds of thoughts –anxiety, worry, or hope, anticipation, or resignation.

Having gone past this threshold for more than six years now, I must say that I am glad that I chose to welcome my retirement from government service with much hope and anticipation. This, in spite of the fact that I seem to have learned rather too late that I have been considering “retirement” from the usual antiquated perspective of reaching a certain age to qualify.    

Early on, had I realize that retirement can be better viewed from the perspective of financial independence, as espoused by Robert Kiyosaki of “Rich Dad Poor Dad” fame, my story will most likely be different.

In any case, upon reaching the mandatory retirement age, I left government after serving for almost four decades. I received the usual benefits from my insurance policy plus accumulated value of my monthly contributions to this and that fund. With these, I may not have to worry about my remaining years as long as I just continue to lead the simple and modest lifestyle that I have always lived. Nothing fancy, just everything within my means, content in just fulfilling my needs and tempering the gratification of my wants.

“Ano na ang gagawin mo pag retire mo?” When I retired I heard this rather usual and expected question, maybe a zillion times. I sometimes deduced that the question was premised on the presumption that I have not been doing anything else other than the usual routine – leave the house in the morning, report to the office, do my job then go back home in the evening. Of course, it could have also meant that I will have to find a way to fill in the eight hours or so that I used to spend in the office with some other things to keep myself busy, maintain my sanity – and continue to earn some income on the side.

It could have also implied that I may need to find some productive ways to continue to make use of the learning and experiences that I have had during the long years of my engagement in public service. At best, I think those who have asked me the inevitable question must have felt some real concern for me and the seemingly uncertain future that lies ahead.

Nothing much has changed, really, after I left the service. I still continue with my usual routines, right after six hours or so in dreamland. I still get up after six in the morning, usually, and start keeping myself occupied. 

A little stretching here and there to tone my muscles and joints has always been a good way to start my day. However, instead of mentally keeping track of the priorities that I have to attend to during the day in the office, I now have to check the fridge for a hearty breakfast that I can prepare. I feel that this activity has a more positive effect on my morning well-being, rather than thinking of the many tasks that I have to do in an office.

These days people usually ask me – “ano na ang pinagkakaabalahan ninyo ngayon?” To which I often reply –“marami akong trabaho, pero puro walang suweldo!”

So I usually act as driver for the wife, I do the dishes, the laundry, cook and prepare meals from breakfast to dinner, do some groceries, clean the house, do some plumbing, carpentry and electrical work sometimes, watch some TV, do some FB, write notes, edit my manuscripts, design my book layouts, meet some people to make up for lost time or to see how I can make useful time with them, check on my watches and clocks, read my reference books, keep up with socio-political-economic events, and drink my cold light beer on the side.

Indeed, so many things to do  every single day! I am fully aware, of course, that like everybody else, I have only 24 hours in a day. I suppose I am not really doing any better or worse than most others, although the digits in my bank account just keep getting less and less as the days go by.

It’s been years since the last time I had a wage job and the wife has suggested that I should be getting myself into some kind of activity that will not only keep me “busy” but will also at least pay for the gasoline that I use up for my daily rounds.

I am quite lucky that I have been able to get back to an old teaching job in a university graduate school, as I have always wanted. Sharing my experiences, my views and perspectives and learning from the dreams and aspirations of today’s generation has always been a source of endless joy for me. Besides, doing all these will surely give me the means to pay for my gasoline bills, at least.

I continue pursuing my romance with clocks and watches, a love affair that my departed father had created in my life. He used to be a professional watch repairer and, as a chip of the old block, I have stepped into his shoes in a jiffy.

Like my old man, I must also have some ink in my veins, having started to put my thoughts into words more than a decade ago. In 2006, I started to print a weekly newsletter with the masthead CACOPHONY, subtitled Making Sense Out Of Discordant Voices. Cacophony is a mishmash of loud discordant and unpleasant sounds and I just tried to make sense out of the discordant voices all around me.

In that year I organized the Competency Assessment and Certification Office in TESDA, and as noticeable, its acronym is CACO. It was therefore not pure coincidence that my weekly newsletter was called Cacophony. In the three years that I was able to sustain its printing, the newsletter earned for me quite a following but it also brought a few kinks in my life. But that is another story altogether. 

Retirement has afforded me some time to be able to put all the weekly issues in order and hopefully I will be able to have three volumes published. Each weekly issue carried five short articles dealing with varied topics including cooking, technology, the bureaucracy, politics and day to day living.

Five topics per week so the fifty two weeks in a year gave me about 260 articles a year. I have therefore accumulated about 780 articles in the three years that I committed myself to printing the weekly newsletter. In fact, I am now putting related articles together under separate covers.

If all goes well, I will soon have more books for publication to add to my self-published book about my 2013 climb to the summit of Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan.

Beyond all these, I have some more books in the line-up – one may deal with my three years assignment in Japan, another may dwell on my almost four decades service in government and the other will chronicle my Facebook posts and experiences since I joined the social media circle in 2008.

Looks like I have a lot more of writing to do! In any case, I have given myself time to accomplish everything that I want to do, every dream that I want to achieve in my life until I turn 75, less than four years away from today. To be more precise, and as of latest count, I still have about 1,358 days to go to accomplish everything that I want to achieve in my life. Still a long way, I suppose. Any day beyond the day that I turn 75 will be a big fat bonus!

A number of my friends had invited me to join them, to work with them, principally to get their technical vocational offerings in the forefront. That was something up my sleeve, having been in the field of technical vocational education and training for more than half of my entire service in government. Unfortunately, the offers required me to go back to an eight to five routine, something which no longer attractive to me. Of course, I will always make time for their concerns, if and when they do need some assistance or guidance.

There is really still so much to look forward to. Take my word for it.