Willfully unemployed & loving it

[M. Kaleko]

How DO you do? Hello all.

It's early in Moscow & Berlin, you're probably asleep in America, so Top o' the Morning to you, Schnuckiputzes, as you totter toward your computers and have your first beer.

I'm not gonna mince words. I liked something that Nords wrote, and when I saw that Dory had a sense of humor, I absolutely had to post here at least once.

Then you're put through the 'create a profile & introduce yourself' mill. After two aborted attempts, I just have to get some reward, like inane remarks and a thread-going-nowhere out of this enterprise.

Furthermore, on the Hocenstein board (the asylum, you know) where I've been dwelling some for the last 2 months (?{Lost all sense of time when I lost my mind)}, there's been a downshift in yuck-quotas, plus sometimes I just need to "never even think about Hockrustenberg never, ever again!"

As to my circumstances - sold my biz (have always been unemployable) and rental property six months ago, plan to take at least a few years off doin' nothin' but lolling around, utterly useless and largely irresponsible. 2 cats and 16 plants are with me going nowhere. Those are my guruji's, and I'm such a good disciple, I don't need to learn how to sleep 15 hours a day. So that gives me self-esteem in case I should need some 

Life is easy, and easy is right. Or, as the Chinese say: When the shoe fits, the bunion is forgotten.

See ya in remote viewing, tschüss,
Kaleko

 

[shiny]

Welcome Kaleko! Maybe its because I have a podiatrist appointment tomorrow, but I especially like your Chinese saying! I am also impressed with anyone who can keep 16 plants alive.

Where do you plan to loll around?

 

[Nords]

Welcome to the board, Kaleko, although I can't find "Schnuckiputzes" in my "Joy of Yiddish" dictionary... and just what is a "Hockrustenberg", anyway?

Now that you're ER, is there anything you would've done differently?

 

[M. Kaleko]

 Maybe its because I have a podiatrist appointment tomorrow, but I especially like your Chinese saying!  I am also impressed with anyone who can keep 16 plants alive.

Hi Shiny,
welcome to you too! 

Podiatrist? Ouch... Recommend sandals. Chinese know what they're doing. Well, only re footwear if you ask a Tibetan - if that!

16 plants are all I've left. Minimalist approach. Used to have old gardens with thousands of greenish buddies. After I sold, the new owner had almost all of them cut down & poured cement. Would have broken my heart even just a year ago. But so much improbable stuff happened that I really got this one tattooed on my bones: the universe is forever out of control.  

Where do you plan to loll around? 

Mostly in bed, bath and beyond. Do you have one in your town?

But seriously, in So Calif, Germany, England - my old haunts. Maybe India just one more time. Been a wanderer, candle burning-on-both-ends kinda gal. Tired now and slowing down...

You? 

Kaleko

 

[M. Kaleko]

Ah, the much vaunted, seldom villified Nords. Hi there, Schnuckiputz!!!
(Untranslatable German... maybe "babycakes" but more absurd. How does "shnouplediggel" strike you as a term of endearment?)

... and just what is a "Hockrustenberg", anyway?

An insane zealot with delusions of grandeur on a mission to lead baby boomers to the promised Hocoland. A sordid tale of mistaken identities. Hockrustenberg is just one of this mental patient's alternate personalities. You know the drill 

Now that you're ER, is there anything you would've done differently?

Uuh, you make me feel so important, as if my drivel mattered much. Gee, I'd have to think about that.

For now I'll just pick one crazy little nit: Early Retired? Naa... maybe later when I can't fend off Alzheimer's alone anymore. I call it Willfully Unemployed. And you can call me Missus WU or anything else under the sun.

With profound respect to all who dwell herein,
Missus WU

 

[wabmester]

How does "shnouplediggel" strike you as a term of endearment?

"Nords" is already a term of endearment.   It means something like "my little broccoli florets" in Icelandic, I think.

I like "willfully unemployed" as a replacement for "ER".   There was a thread on that subject a while back.   Ah, here it is:

New Name for Retire

My contribution was "terminally unemployed." 

 

[astromeria]

Speaking of Iceland, did you know that they're nearly self-sufficient in bananas? They grow them in greenhouses heated geothermally.

Good night Missus Wu, wherever you are, and welcome.

 

[bwtucker83]

What was your business that you sold and how long did you have the rental property before selling it?

BT

 

[M. Kaleko]

"Nords" is already a term of endearment.   It means something like "my little broccoli florets" in Icelandic, I think.

I didn't know that. My education continues at break-neck speed. So Nords' international following can refer to him as a little florety shnoupeldiggelly vegetable. Yes, it's growing on me. Thanks wab (what a melodious name you have yourself! Congrats).

New Name for Retiree
My contribution was "terminally unemployed." 

Wish I'd thought of that.

Mr. TU and Mrs. WU Go To The Podiatrist - - how's that for a TV movie of the week? -- Chinese immigrants triumph over footdisease -- I'll call some contacts to the underworld and make my pitch. Oh wait, that'll be work again, the one thing I swore I'd quit for at least a few years, whatever the cost.

See, Willfully Unemployed is more descriptive of my somewhat vulnerable condition as an ex-slave laborer. "Terminally Unemployed" is a state I can only aspire to presently.

And how are YOU doin', wab tu?

Footwear questions, anyone?

Kaleko (she who knows shoes)

 

[M. Kaleko]

What was your business that you sold and how long did you have the rental property before selling it?

BT

Are you from the IRS? No problem, don't be paranoid, BT. Too lazy to come after you these days. Some things I keep shrouded in mystery - even from myself. (Used to write, translate, ghostwrite. Have laptop, will travel kinda biz. Kept rental property for 10 years, sold right after market peaked, but it was a 90 year-old shabby chic shack.)

So I live below my means and pray I won't invest in some crackpot enterprise again, like building a bagpipe factory for women in Bangalore or some such.

The investment dilemma is where I could really use some sage advice. But only from a clairvoyant. And, of course, I don't trust anyone who says they know the future of anything. So there!

Astromeria, Hi, Gute nacht. I'll be back in L.A. soon. And where are you?
How are the little ones? Do you have any? Maybe big ones, huh.

Far away, so near, Kaleko

 

[wabmester]

See, Willfully Unemployed is more descriptive of my somewhat vulnerable condition as an ex-slave laborer. "Terminally Unemployed" is a state I can only aspire to presently.

Ah, "self-unemployed" was my favorite from that thread I referenced.    We could probably come up with an entire ER taxonomy.   (But that would be w*rk.)

And how are YOU doin', wab tu?

Footwear questions, anyone?

I'm doin' well.   Just got back from a walk.   Took 1 kid and 2 dogs.   And all were well behaved.   The simple pleasures....

So tell us about Masche Kaléko.   I had never heard of her before you waltzed in.

 

[M. Kaleko]

So tell us about Masche Kaléko.   I had never heard of her before you waltzed in.

Mascha Kaleko? Where on Google did you get that name??
I'm shocked   

She's an obscure German poet of the "Blaue Blume" (blue flower) group, a loosely connected bunch of misfits ca. 1920s, who hung out in Berlin when not traveling. These guys had mystical leanings but wrote in an unconventional, pared-down style, not florid at all. I think they were the grandma's of the existentialists and lotuseaters in Paris,  dharma bums in America, hippies, and all sorts of free-thinking noodles worldwide.
I named myself after Mascha Kaleko 'cause she never got the recognition she deserved among her peers.

Weird, though...
Kaleko

 

[wabmester]

Weird, though...

I couldn't find much of her writing translated into English, but she does sound pretty interesting.   I really need to study the Weimar period.   Seems like Germany was absolutely dominated by crazy people for a couple decades.   Crazy furniture, films, theater, writing, ... and politics.

We've got a house down the street from us that looks a lot like the house in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. 

 

[astromeria]

Hi, MK--I'm in Sow Ca'lina, sitting on the back porch enjoying the birds and my garden as well as our wireless internet at the moment (I could use some wireless electricity, too). And yes, I got big'uns. Uh, er, I had 'em young, and my kids are 26 and 30 now. The 30-yr-old just got married this past Mother's Day, thoughtful child. Now I be a mother in law--watch out!

 

[M. Kaleko]

   I really need to study the Weimar period.   

No kidding  I never cared much for history as written, or dates and so-called facts. But a Hungarian friend of mine keeps regaling me with little-known details about the old Fatherland and how it produced the "greatest thinkers, scientists (check out quantum mechanics) and artists", for a while and then, from godlike mental heights, tripped over its own hubris and descended into madness, dragging much of the developed world along into hell.

That reminds me... I saw a bumber sticker a while ago:
Arrogance + Ignorance = Catastrophe

One thing I can tell you for sure is that the vast majority of Germans have not an iota of patriotism left in them. That got knocked out of their systems for generations to come. Been there - done that kinda thing. Many Europeans are deeply suspicious of any kind of gung-ho political rhetoric. Understandable - they're still limping around among ruins in a certain way.

Wow, I better shut up now and let someone else do the talkin'  8)

Best to you and thanks for your thoughts.

Kaleko

 

[wabmester]

Arrogance + Ignorance = Catastrophe

Hey, that's similar to my own personal bumper sticker:  Arrogance + Ignorance = High Forum Posting Counts. 

Seriously, I wish the solution to that kind of problem would fit on a bumper sticker too.    I guess we'll just have to wait to see how things play out in the latest incarnation of the game.

My interest in Weimar is more in the "golden age" aspects than the decline. Where did all those smarties come from? They were all born around the turn of the century, and they all emerged around WWI. Something in the water?

 

[M. Kaleko]

Hey, that's similar to my own personal bumper sticker:  Arrogance + Ignorance = High Forum Posting Counts. 

Seriously, I wish the solution to that kind of problem would fit on a bumper sticker too.   

How about: "Cc-ccan't we all g-get along?"
(Rodney King after being beaten by cops).

Yeah, everybody has their own soloutions, that's the problem.
Remember, Die Endlösung - The Final Solution of the Nazis? And  still we cc-can't get along with our own m-m-multiple selves. Cats & the occasional potted plant tend to keep me functional, if not sane.

My interest in Weimar is more in the "golden age" aspects than the decline.    Where did all those smarties come from?   They were all born around the turn of the century, and they all emerged around WWI.    Something in the water?

O Wab, my Hungarian friend would adore you. This decadent old Hussar talks about an explosion of consciousness around that time, just before the known world-order got hit by shockwave after shockwave and crumbled. He thinks that a major shift in human development was about to happen, but the old mindset used the energy and turned it to dark political ends etc. etc. Lots of "behind the scenes skullduggery" that he's read about, but I have never bothered to verify.

Strange subject huh? Love it! 


Meanwhile in South Carolina...Hello Astromeria, and Hi again,

I was thinking of you today, sitting on your porch, lychen-hung trees  in the background, all very neo-Gone With the Wind leisure. Hmm, and cool drinks in chubby glasses on rickety tables, and someone playing the banjo or mandolin off to the side. A black guy, yes... it's Morgan Freeman... perfect.\ You like?

Correct me if I'm wrong. Is it steamin' hot out there? Any crocodiles in the swamp? Let me know.

Best to you all and god night, Schnuckiputzes 

Kaleko

 

[astromeria]

Meanwhile in South Carolina...Hello Astromeria, and Hi again,

I was thinking of you today, sitting on your porch, lychen-hung trees in the background, all very neo-Gone With the Wind leisure. Hmm, and cool drinks in chubby glasses on rickety tables, and someone playing the banjo or mandolin off to the side. A black guy, yes... it's Morgan Freeman... perfect.\ You like?

Correct me if I'm wrong. Is it steamin' hot out there? Any crocodiles in the swamp? Let me know.

Best to you all and god night, Schnuckiputzes

Kaleko

How clairvoyant--we did spend a lot of time on the back porch yesterday, bird-watching, going online, and drinking water rather than mint juleps (hmm, not too antebellum!). It won't get steaming hot here till later in the summer--then it's Summertime, and the living is easy, fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high...But no crocodiles in the US--we have alligators (gators to their friends & acwuaintenances). We have fewer here than further south in Florida, but we got 'em.

It was like Hawaii or San Diego here yesterday (my standards of perfection in weather)...warm sun, cooling breeze, medium humidity...perfect! While we have an old oak dripping with Spanish moss (neither Spanish nor a moss--closest relative is supposedly the pineapple!) and wood floors rather than carpeting, our house is much closer to a white trash bungalow than Massa's big house, although we do have a few columns separating the dinning area from the sitting area & entrance in the great room. And Morgan Freeman is welcome anytime, with or without musical instruments. Just to hear him talk and see the twinkle in his eye...mmm...mmm...mmm!

It is atmospheric this morning--mist rising from the still lake across the street, white blossoms in full flower on the magnolias and beginning to open on the crepe myrtles, petals of spent lilies along the driveway, birds twittering. But for an objective assessment, you'll have to ask "mcclesters," who lives t'other side of Charleston and is joining me for lunch tomorrow..I mean, tomorrah!

g'night, honey chile-

 

[M. Kaleko]

How clairvoyant--we did spend a lot of time on the back porch yesterday, bird-watching, going online, and drinking water rather than mint juleps (hmm, not too antebellum!). It won't get steaming hot here till later in the summer--then it's Summertime, and the living is easy, fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high...But no crocodiles in the US--we have alligators (gators to their friends & acwuaintenances). We have fewer here than further south in Florida, but we got 'em.

GATORS, yeah, not crocs. Only their American cousins... in the lake across your street? That's what I envisioned in the first place  . Shoulda stuck to that. 

And Morgan Freeman is welcome anytime, with or without musical instruments. Just to hear him talk and see the twinkle in his eye...mmm...mmm...mmm!

Ha, you know it, gal. Say, what made you chose the name Astromeria? It evokes a few things in me. And your Avatar shows the Taj Mahal... a building like it might exist on an astral plane. Interesting...

Kaleko

 

[Under FIRE]

... sitting on your porch, lychen-hung trees  in the background, all very neo-Gone With the Wind leisure. Hmm, and cool drinks in chubby glasses on rickety tables, and someone playing the banjo or mandolin off to the side. A black guy, yes... it's Morgan Freeman... perfect.\ You like?

He he he ...... amusing stuff.   

Yet another intriguing personality added to our Board.

Kaleko, grüß dich!  Which part of my great old habitat, LA, will you be languishing in? I have surreal memories of LA during my USC student days in the eighties. 

 

[M. Kaleko]

Kaleko, grüß dich!  Which part of my great old habitat, LA, will you be languishing in? I have surreal memories of LA during my USC student days in the eighties. 

Grüß dich ebenfalls, Under Fire. Subtle Bavarian touch you got there...

So you know LA... and I know a little bit about you from reading a scorcher post yesterday where you described your exit from corporate corpsedom. Wow, that was a bit too vivid for me. Had to lie down and languish for double the usual amount, like not just all day but aaalll through the night, out of sheer empathy and relief that I did get that one right when I opted for the 'I'd rather be penniless in Goa' career path.

Yeah, I'm in the middle of the 'entertainment capital of the woooor...." here. Wafting thru the streets like a ghost, barely visible, striving to be boring among millions and millions of stars or their doubles. Drove west on Santa Monica Boulevard today, radio on, high on some delusional bubbles in the air, off to the mechanic, 'cause some gang banger had pried  the lock of my car, and nothing was bothering me, because I'm free-hee, la, la, laha...   

Just hope I never get used to it.

Kaleko

 

[astromeria]

GATORS, yeah, not crocs. Only their American cousins... in the lake across your street?

Only once in the 3 1/2 years we've been here. Good size, though, at least 6 feet--got someone's dog I heard. The animal control folks moved 'im to an undisclosed location.

Say, what made you chose the name Astromeria? It evokes a few things in me. And your Avatar shows the Taj Mahal... a building like it might exist on an astral plane.

I used the name alstroemeria on another board: alstroemerias are one of my favorite flowers, the first bunch of user names I tried were already taken (things like anhinga and odyssey), and as a word lover--and former technical writer & editor who had to deal with her share of interesting names--I tend to choose odd or hard-to-spell user names & passwords. Last year when the 10th planet was discovered (or did it turn out to be an asteroid?), I thought it should be named astromeria in my honor. That didn't happen :, so I adopted the name myself when I registered here.

We went to India a coupla years ago and took that picture of the Taj. I've been thinking of switching to another picture but haven't gotten 'round to it. Maybe one of the ones of women riding motorscooters with their saris flowing behind them.

 

[M. Kaleko]

Last year when the 10th planet was discovered (or did it turn out to be an asteroid?), I thought it should be named astromeria in my honor. That didn't happen  :, so I adopted the name myself when I registered here.

Women's contributions are still woefully underrated. Changes have to be made.

I henceforth will refer to the 10th planet as Astromeria and urge everyone to ignore science and academia. Shouldn't be too hard, don't you think?

Kaleko - positive thinker