I am retiring at the end of this semester of teaching. People inevitably have two questions: 1) What will you do after retirement? and 2) Are you counting down the days?
The first question is often asked with a slight negativity infused into it. I am a college professor; how could I possibly consider leaving this noble profession and no longer teach? Well, first, you can hear some of my preliminary thoughts on that in Episode 26 of my podcast, Audio Chimera. And more will follow the end of the semester in other blog posts and a planned podcast episode. Meanwhile, suffice it to say that it is time. I have reached the age that I can retire, and if some crazy world leaders don’t blow things up, I will be spending the time traveling and working on more writing and creative projects. (I am finishing up the short film, Push Button to Cross, the prequel to the award winning Wash Hands, Save Lives? and working on the script for another where a soldier sits in a nuclear bunker and tries to disarm the Doomsday Machine; let’s hope that one’s not as apt and timely as Wash Hands turned out to be during the Covid year!)
As for question #2: at the end of every semester I create a to-do list of all the things I need to do with assignments, grading, etc. I have posted it below as evidence for my answer, which is: Why, no! I have too many things to do before I can even think about a countdown. And when these things are out of the way–I won’t need to countdown because I will have arrived at the zero hour.
MUSOFYR 