In a weird way, I feel like my life is happening backwards. like this could seem like a thirty-year retirement. Except, for not working? I am busy as hell. At 62, maybe I'll have a Chinese baby and publicist.

My parents both had pensions, which let them retire with some level of comfort and with really good health insurance. Both had years of cancer treatments and the costs were almost entirely covered. They didn’t leave a whole lot, but they never feared outliving what they had.

I would love a pension. Was it Reagan or Nixon who signed off on letting employers switch to 401ks? I mean, damn both of them for various reasons, but definitely damn the one who stuck us with the tender mercies of the stock market ruling our future well being.

However, I am a lifelong member of team soft and squishy, so at least I have that going for me.

I was actually coming in here to say that I'm using this report from one of our vendors that refers to expected inventory at the beginning of a period so my chart is full of columns labeled "TOTAL BOP" and that sounds like a much better time than it actually is

Unrelated to everything else, but I just learned that young Gen Z/elder Gen Alpha have redefined "bop" to mean "A name to call a female who gives head to anyone. They call them a bop because when they give head they bop there heads." NO. NO. WHAT.

My parents both had pensions, which let them retire with some level of comfort and with really good health insurance. Both had years of cancer treatments and the costs were almost entirely covered. They didn’t leave a whole lot, but they never feared outliving what they had.

Yep, this. It wouldn't have been enough to pay for assisted living, but it got Dad through 20 years of frugal retirement.

My dad ended up with a pension and a 401k and I am pretty darn glad of that. My parents also have good health insurance through Dad’s retirement arrangement. I don’t think he was much older than I am now when he retired, come to think of it. Huh.

young Gen Z/elder Gen Alpha have redefined "bop" to mean "A name to call a female who gives head to anyone. They call them a bop because when they give head they bop there heads." NO. NO. WHAT.

WHAT NO. DO NOT LIKE.

Knives Out 3

I am on board with this scenario.

Gen Z/elder Gen Alpha have redefined "bop" to mean "A name to call a female who gives head to anyone. They call them a bop because when they give head they bop there heads." NO. NO. WHAT.

What? No. This is wrong. Saying “that song is a bop” is already slang from a generation younger than me, they can’t redefine it like that!?!

I played pickleball. I was better than last time (though still far from good) but it was much nicer weather than last week, and my teammates and the team we played against were pretty cool. So yay that, I was kinda nervous.

I'm collecting pictures of Jacqueline from her family, and her brother Chris sent me a batch.

By the time Jacqueline was in in high school and college, she and her sibs barely saw each other. They each went to different high schools, she was older, she was off to college.

So Chris' own pictures of her jump from xmas '92 (when she was a few years out of college, and after a period of serious depression) to xmas '93, and it's shocking how much she changed in that year.

Admittedly, the '92 picture has her looking bleary on Xmas morning, and nobody looks great in that moment. But she'd put on a lot of weight, and she didn't know what to do with her hair.

And in 1992 she's lost a lot of weight, because she's back in RenFaire and also getting cast in local theater. She's focused, she's found her tribe at Faire, she's getting acting gigs. She got her first bob specifically to be in the play Hayfever, and she looks happy and fab. Really beautiful though she didn't see herself that way yet.

I mostly like my job, so in theory the plan is to work at least until 70. Whether the company, industry, and my eyesight will support that is a whole other question. I'm fairly certain that retiring early would be bad for me even if economically feasible, though if Publishers Clearing House comes calling I might switch my career to travel blogger.

In theory I retired at 70, but still have to help my son and DH a lot. Brendon is 11 years younger than me, so unless he comes up with a way to afford it, he has to stay working.

I have zero desire to continue working. I did my time. Probably 55 years of working since I was a teen. I'll have some level of responsibility forever as a family business, but I am full of don't wanna.

Mom lived to 95 and I remain grateful forever to my step-dad who was able to care for her at home. He absolutely doted on her. She didn't have any big chronic illness that required medical care around the clock, but was too frail to be on her own.

Though we be soft and squishy, we be strong.

Totally down with this plan.

I'm not giving any consideration to this "bop" business, which is just wrong.

In the Bahamas! Not going off ship, but hoping to enjoy the pools and hot tubs and such while a lot of people are off ship. I did start the day with a mimosa, so that feels vacationy.