I think I can put a spreadsheet to rest for now

 

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been working on a spreadsheet (with formulas) which will allow one to compute the approximate real per-person cost of a cruise.  My problem with creating the spreadsheet is that I've never had to build something this complex before in Excel.  My thought processes towards computing values are akin to programmers who use procedural programming languages, where one could use "IF Statements"  (IF test, true condition statements, false condition statements) to do the work, where in spreadsheets, it is often easier to put key tests into separate cells.  So, when I find commonality between cruise line calculations, I reorganize the spreadsheet to simplify processing and make it easier to manage.

This work has been a tedious process, and is still subject to revision.  It has kept me busy to the extent where I've decided not to go outside when the weather looked nice, and instead focused on the work that needed to be done to complete basic work to fix known bugs, so that it can be used by others.

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Why do something like this?

In retirement, people still need challenges to keep their brains alert.  Current day politics strain my sense of well being, as I react poorly to falsehoods in the news.  The Orange Snowflake and his cronies do not care about objective truth.  They change the lies they tell and do not back down from their lies.  So, listening to the news becomes a soul suck for me, as well as something that can make me get angry.  As a result, I have to find ways to distract me from paying too much attention to the lunacy going on in the world, and focus on something which depends on objective truths and falsehoods.

My next step with my cruise blog still depends on objective truths - going back to the online classes on video production, and starting to record VLog entries to post on YouTube.  I do not intend to post anything with Marian's image for now.  It will be hard enough for me to post things as Mario, as I do not yet have a screen presence or screen personality.  But that will come with practice and experience.

In the end, I will maintain my sanity by doing things which allow me to maintain a healthy balance in life.  The outside world is going nuts, and I need to maintain a healthy mental balance to maneuver in today's insanity.  One has to see truth, and stay off the radar of the lunatics in charge of the asylum, while making plans to get as far away as possible before everything burns down around us. 

I did plenty of nothing, and nothing's plenty for me.

 

Lethargy - It's something that plagues me early in the day, and keeps me from having the energy to do things until it is too late to do them.  In short, my body wants to live a life out of sync with the rest of the world, and it gets frustrating at times.

Today, I was thinking of doing laundry when I got up in the morning, and then go into the city to see the God of Carnage off-Broadway revival.  Instead, I didn't start doing anything until 2 pm, and didn't do laundry until 6 pm.  There was no way that I'd make it in time for the play, so I resumed work for another website I am developing.

The website I'm working on is travel related, and part of what I plan to do will be blog related.  Yet, I have yet to figure out how I want the site to look when I'm done with things, and I have yet to figure out how I want to handle video links on the site. And I'm glad that I was able to get back to work on the blog, as I'd like to have everything related to the project up and running by the end of the year, with content ready for people to view and enjoy.

Since I left the bank 9 years ago, I have done a decent amount of travel on a budget.  There are stories I have to tell and wisdom I have to share.  And this new site will be my medium to do so.  Hopefully, when it is ready, I'll be able to share things here as well....

Ambivalence

I've talked about my ambivalence in regard to leaving my job.  RQS had to face a similar problem before she retired, and then dealt with it more quickly than I have so far.

One of the most salient points RQS made is that I need to be stimulated at work.  This job is putting me to sleep.  The big question is what I will do when I leave the work force for good.  I want to travel, but that takes money.  Until I figure out how to make travel pay my bills, I can only travel so much.  Yet, I can see myself producing a Vlog on surface transit (land and sea), documenting trips that are well worth taking.  There is a lot of competition in this area, and I have my doubts that I'd have enough interesting things to say to publish on a regular schedule.

Ideally, I'd know enough about LGBT travel to document my travels in female presentation.  Of course, there will be a lot of places that I will not be able to travel as Marian.  So I'd have to do my research beforehand, so that others could benefit from my work.

So much to think about....