What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?
When I announced my retirement, people asked me what I would do in my free time. “Travel and creative projects!” I would say.
There hasn’t been as much travel as I would have liked because, well, let’s face it, arranging a trip is often like planning the Normandy invasion. So many moving parts, weather concerns, health issues—can I get a travel agent/god?
As for the creative projects, they’re much easier to work on because often it’s just me and a laptop. For example, I had ChatGPT create some song lyrics. Like other AI works, the result is not always the best but often there are some gem-like qualities that need to be brought out by a human artist. Yesterday I completed the lyrics for five songs, and have a sixth to still rework. It’s funny how someone making a random comment (“The lampshades look like cheesecakes” or “Baby, don’t cuss me out, just love me”) can become a prog rock or R&B song after being dropped into the ChatGPT box.
And, as I write this, I’m in “Password Week.” Saturday culminates in shooting a short film I’ve been working on for months: Doomsday: Password. After several title changes and some pre-production work, we had a zoom rehearsal in prep for the actual shoot. Today will be a camera and lighting test in final prep. Like Wash Hands, Save Lives? I’ll be entering this one into a variety of film festivals.
After the shooting (and editing) we‘ll be in rehearsal for StoryZ’ premiere production opening March 1. We plan to come in like a lion with it, and I’ll be telling you all about it as we get closer.
So you see why people keep asking, “I thought you were retired?” But this is what one should do in retirement.
MUSOFYR 