Tastes Just Like Chicken

[SteveR]

My wife gave me a Retirement clock at the surprise party she threw for me last Saturday. The clock has only the days of the week with a small spot on each day for Noon. I have it hanging in the basement office. Comes in handy when I forget what day it is.

My watch has not been worn since last Friday (my last day of work) and I don't miss it.

DW keeps asking me "how do you feel?"

My response has been "It tastes just like chicken". It seemed like an appropriate response considering how I see this thing called Retirement so far.

I have eaten many exotic foods at one time or another and the first thing my host would say prior to eating these things was "it tastes just like chicken". Frequently, there were very close to the truth. It was a familiar but also a unique flavor.

My retirement tastes like chicken. By that I mean that so far I feel like I am on vacation and not yet "retired". It has all the similar "flavor" of being on vacation..not going to work; sleeping late; piddling around the house; going shopping in the middle of the day; staying up until 1AM without regard for needed to wake up at a certain hour to go to work, etc.

The retired part of retirement is still elusive. I know it will come in time but there is a lot of stress yet to burn off before I feel truly relaxed. While my brain understands there is no more "work" to go my body seems to not yet believe it and stays keyed up.

It has only been three days and I know it will take a while to adjust and I need to be patient. Someone else stated in another thread that it took them 6 weeks or so to feel relaxed and "retired". I have a ways to go.

 

[Dawg52]

Grill a steak tonight and get rid of that chicken taste. Retirement has been good so far for me. Played 27 holes yesterday but they got the darn course closed for 2 days so I'm a little more stressed out than normal. But life is good.

 

[Achiever51]

My watch has not been worn since last Friday (my last day of work) and I don't miss it.

...

The retired part of retirement is still elusive. I know it will come in time but there is a lot of stress yet to burn off before I feel truly relaxed. While my brain understands there is no more "work" to go my body seems to not yet believe it and stays keyed up.

It has only been three days and I know it will take a while to adjust and I need to be patient. Someone else stated in another thread that it took them 6 weeks or so to feel relaxed and "retired". I have a ways to go.

During my w**king career, I collected watches...I have over a dozen and every day I would select the "right" one to wear to the office. Since RE in December, I have not worn a watch even one day, and I didn't even notice until someone pointed it out to me!

For the first month or so after RE, I had some of the craziest dreams I've ever had. Very vivid and always involving some sort of danger or problem that was about to befall. Several times I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep. Then, suddenly, the dreams stopped and I started sleeping soundly -- I took that as part of the stress being eliminated.

Like anything else, retirement is not merely a point in time, it is a process, a journey. Enjoy every minute!

 

[LOL!]

I don't even own a watch. Does that mean I'm retired?

 

[Achiever51]

I don't even own a watch. Does that mean I'm retired?

But it does beg the question of why folks sometimes get a gold watch when they retire...not too terribly useful IMHO!

 

[Khan]

During my w**king career, I collected watches...I have over a dozen and every day I would select the "right" one to wear to the office. Since RE in December, I have not worn a watch even one day, and I didn't even notice until someone pointed it out to me!

For the first month or so after RE, I had some of the craziest dreams I've ever had. Very vivid and always involving some sort of danger or problem that was about to befall. Several times I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep. Then, suddenly, the dreams stopped and I started sleeping soundly -- I took that as part of the stress being eliminated.

I had similar dreams: I would be at work in some sort of crisis situation. After a while, in the dreams I would realize I was retired and didn't need to be at work, and I would wake up, roll over and go back to sleep. They tapered off and there haven't been any for a year or more. Also, no more of those "it's final exam day and you haven't been to class and you can't find the exam room" dreams.

Like anything else, retirement is not merely a point in time, it is a process, a journey. Enjoy every minute!

No truer words.

 

[MasterBlaster]

But it does beg the question of why folks sometimes get a gold watch when they retire...not too terribly useful IMHO!

The gold watch trend was started by the railroads. Back in the 19th century it was important for the railroads to run on time. So a good watch was very important to someone who was employed by the railroad.

So after 30 years a gold watch must have seemed like a fitting and symbolically useful thing for someone just retiring from the railroad.

fast forward to today and the usefulness isn't really there anymore but the tradition lives on. I have suggested that MegaCorp give their retirees a gold powerpoint slide or a gold tube of KY Jelly (whichever depending on the retiree). However my suggestion has, as yet, gone unheaded.

As an aside I understand that watches aren't selling like they used to. With cell-phones and palm pilots there are other ways to tell time. So why wear a watch when you don't really need it. For FIRE'ees the utility of a watch remains low as before.

 

[Moemg]

Took me five months to get past the maybe this is just a vacation feeling and start feeling this is real .Good Luck ! It's not chicken anymore !

 

[Goonie]

But it does beg the question of why folks sometimes get a gold watch when they retire...not too terribly useful IMHO!

It has been a tradition with our municipality for several decades to give retirees a nice watch with their name and years of service engraved on the back. I screwed up their tradition!

I was talking to the commissioner of my department about a week or so before I pulled the plug, and he said that he'd be over to my department that Friday (which he assumed was my last day) to present me with a watch. I told him I really didn't need another watch, since the one I have works just fine, and after I retired I wouldn't even NEED a watch....who cares what time it is?! I suggested that he go to the local butcher shop (which I frequent) and get me a gift certificate equal in value to the gift watch. Also, I said that I wasn't planning on being there that Friday, that I was bailing out a few days early.

As fate would have it, I didn't get the watch....I didn't get the gift certificate for the butcher shop.....heck, I didn't get a pat on the back, a kind good-bye, or even a swift kick in the *ss! I just got to fade into the sunset!!!

In my estimation, that was the absolute best gift they could have given to me!!! It didn't cost anyone a nickel....but to me, it was priceless!!! 8)

 

[TromboneAl]

I still feel like there's something I'm supposed to be doing.

 

[Nords]

DW keeps asking me "how do you feel?"
My response has been "It tastes just like chicken". It seemed like an appropriate response considering how I see this thing called Retirement so far.

I like your analogy. But pretty soon you'll get in the groove... especially once you get over that chronic-fatigue recovery. And it's not as if you don't know how to do this!

I dined with a long-lost cousin last night who, after watching me quietly for about 20 minutes as the family conversation buzzed around us, eventually said "Boy, you're really retired, aren't you." My answer was "Irrevocably."

So why wear a watch when you don't really need it. For FIRE'ees the utility of a watch remains low as before.

About the only thing I use a watch for is a travel alarm. And the only reason I bought a new watch was to get one with a presbyopic display that still isn't big enough to eliminate reading glasses... so it spends most of its time sitting unused on the nightstand.

 

[audreyh1]

Took me five months to get past the maybe this is just a vacation feeling and start feeling this is real .Good Luck ! It's not chicken anymore !

Same here! I think it took me about six months before I really believed that I wasn't on just some kind of extended vacation and that I didn't have to ever go back to work. I still would have the occasional "I'm somehow back at work against my will" dream/nightmare for a couple three years.

Audrey

 

[Eagle43]

One day, you'll run into somebody you knew at the office. You remember, "That's so-and-so from the office." The tired and harried appearance of so-and-so will remind you of why you left. Should you try to talk to him/her, you will realize that you're not on the same wavelength. That individual is in a hurry and speaks of things which are now foreign to you. Upon returning home, you quickly check your investments, just to make sure that you will never have to return. They're up a tad. Good. It is nice.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i once owned my grandfather's vintage omega watch, the last in a series inscribed "waterproof" before they became water resistant. low on funds in my early 20s, i lived with two roommates and during that time the watch was stolen. i have not owned nor worn one since. seems to me i wasn't meant to wear a watch.

for my last 15 years or so of employment, i worked out of the house so i never really had to get to work on time. whenever i'm reading or writing or otherwise working, not involved directly with people at the time, i tend to get very concentrated in my work and relaxed in my manner. so if the phone rings and i answer, no matter what time of the day, the person calling thinks, by my voice, that they woke me up. i get asked that question almost every time i answer the phone "did i wake you?"

so it never mattered much if my boss called at 10 in the morning (in which case he would have woken me up) or at 2 in the afternoon, because either way i sounded to him as if i had just been sleeping. i bet he still wonders to this day how i accomplished all that work.

needless to say i had no problem transitioning into unemployment. it never did taste like chicken, but then, i prefer tofu. but i do get your reference. i hope for you that your retirement will always taste like chicken. retirement should never have an aftertaste, that would be the flavor of the all consuming work that you no longer enjoy.

 

[flipstress]

Congrats on your retirement, SteveR!

Enjoy these beginning chicken days but I wish you a great, big buffet of delicious and varied morsels as your retirement unfolds!

(Savor slowly with no regard to any wristwatch, clock, or other timepiece!)

 

[chinaco]

I can't wait to experience taste like chicken... 4.x years and counting. For now I will have to settle for the chicken... Taking vacation in about a month!

 

[Danny]

I don't even own a watch. Does that mean I'm retired?

I don't wear a watch either, but I do glance at my cell phone if I must know the time...and date!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Me too, but I can forget about it and that puts a dirty little smile on my face.

 

[ESRBob]

Steve,
Welcome to chickenville -- it's good to see your new picture without the giant screw sticking through you, though! Did you do the sketch yourself?

Enjoy your freedom. There may still be some stresses down the road -- principally trying to juggle fun activities and realizing that you once again are overscheduled, but it will be all about 'get to do' things instead of 'have to do' things, so with a little reminder to yourself, you'll realize that it's no big deal

 

[SteveR]

Steve,
Welcome to chickenville -- it's good to see your new picture without the giant screw sticking through you, though! Did you do the sketch yourself?...

I found a rough outline of the guy a couple of years ago and then added some stuff and made some changes to make him "me".

I modified him again for my current post ER avatar. He may change as time goes on to reflect what is going on and how I feel. For now, he is fine. He has been "descrewed" and is now sporting and ER shirt and most importantly...a smile.

 

[Nords]

He may change as time goes on to reflect what is going on and how I feel. For now, he is fine.

Ponytail?

 

[SteveR]

Ponytail?

Not likely.

Shaved head would be more my style and better fit my follically challenged head.


Received my final paycheck today. I have not lived without a paycheck at some frequency since I was 15 (cash payments up to that point). It is going to be wierd not getting that booster in the checking account every two weeks. Now I will transfer cash from various accounts on an as needed basis...a bit more work but the kind I can live with much more than the kind that was required to get the paycheck.