Retirement is …. (searching for judgement-free term)… different. I was reading a book – actually I’m reading LOTS of books now – and I came across a VERY relevant quote. The (very imho) young detective is talking to an older woman.
YD: How often do you work in the shop?
OW: Two or three days a week. As I said on the phone, it’s something to keep me busy. Retirement’s not easy.
YD: Isn’t it? YD would have thought it was the definition of easy
Some of us do NOT find retirement easy. Or to put it differently I saw this “inspirational” picture and saying on my media stream today: “Every dead body on Mt. Everest was once a highly motivated person, so maybe calm down.” When I was employed I had a lot more problem-solving running through my brain. Constantly. I miss that. No, I do NOT want to go back “to work”. But I do need to figure out how to achieve that same activity some other way. Because – are you listening, Honour? – I’m a little bit bored. In the meantime, I do the best I can. Which means gardening and cleaning the basement and trying to get back to a healthier life-style. This week the weather and my mood were compatible so I went for a walk. 🙂
On my way out the door of my employment, I “cashed in” my thank-you points. These are points that coworkers can award you as a thank you for your assistance. I’ve cashed in a few times, mostly for smaller items that I thought could be useful. This time I wanted to try to get the biggest bang for the buck. It came down to either a small stand-alone freezer or a vlog camera. You know I like taking photos and blogging. I also like entertaining and making lots of food. Practical or Indulgent? I went with the Sony vlog ZV-1F camera. I haven’t the faintest idea what makes it “vlog” as opposed to “camera” but that’s what I’m learning.
Several days ago I figured out how to send a photo on my camera to my phone. That involved a good hour of downloading apps, reading online instructions, figuring out how to turn on and off the camera with fat fingers, learning the difference between the button for taking videos and the one for taking stills. 🙂 Despite having worked in technology for over 40 years I am still technically incompetent in so many ways. 🙂 I confess that icons don’t usually mean much to me – I’m much more text oriented. Add to that the existence of functionality I never dreamed of and you can see why learning to use a new camera is not as simple as pick-it-up-and-shoot.
I went out for a walk, taking both my phone and my camera. I walked down to the park, which is bordered by the river. It was a very lovely walk – 75 minutes in sunshine and comfortable temperatures. I tried taking the same photo with my phone and my camera several times. It seemed to me that my phone has a much better telephoto. Which means I need to figure out what it is that my camera does better since it has all these rave reviews. Videos?
My first comparison shot was of a kite stuck in a tree. *grin* Do you think it was Charlie Brown’s kite??? I thought that the phone zoomed in much closer than the camera. But when I compare the 2 photos (cutting the relevant area and pasting together), it seems to me that the camera takes a much wider bigger image but is zoomed almost the same as the camera. What do you think? They are obviously different. I think the phone has greater detail? clarity? But the camera is not bad.
There is no question that the camera has a much better wide-angle view. Also the battery lasts longer on the camera. Using my phone to take photos is a very rapid drain on the battery. Otoh using the camera means I’m carrying 2 items, not one. *grin* There’s always an up and a down, right? The park has a gazebo near the river. As I approached I saw and heard a group of musicians jamming. It was lovely. I used the camera from a distance and then used the phone to get a better-structured close-up.
Today when I wanted to write this post I had to figure out how to send multiple photos from my camera to my phone, so that they would then be uploaded to iCloud. That actually is another one of those things I plan to “learn” now that I’m retired. How come my laptop doesn’t see my phone photos when I attach the phone to it? It USED to do that. Is it because I switched to backing up my phone to the cloud? I figure that’s one of those things were I can saunter in to the Apple store in the middle of the week and cry “HELP!” 🙂 Anyway, to send the camera pics to the phone meant going online to find the instruction manual (sorry old folk, no more paper manuals). I was a little stumped when I tried to pick the “send all photos with this date” because it kept telling me I hadn’t selected any. It didn’t, however, include HOW to select the photos in the instructions. Ultimately I took a correct guess and here we are. 🙂
I’m glad I have these photos today. It was gray and drizzly yesterday. Raining today. Forecast for rain tomorrow. There were 2 outdoor festivals I planned to attend this weekend. I guess I’ll stare at my photos instead.
Ahuva's Blog 
So just how bored were you while you tried to figure out your new toy?
it’s really not the same thing. i find that more annoying than intriguing. i think because “I” am not solving the problem – someone else is solving it for me – I have to learn it. Learning a new skill is not the same as the problem solving skill. Learning is good, and often interesting, but learning my camera is not the same as taking a course in physics, or learning about life in another country (one of my favorite reasons to read books). But there is only so much reading, cross-word puzzles and solitaire I can do in a day. My sister had a good idea for me – volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. I’d love to learn how to FIX things. 🙂 And that would also solve the “help others” itch. So it’s on my list of “retirement research”. 🙂
That first picture that looks like it’s a house in the country!!!!! Love that!!!
I get so out of sorts with just a week-long staycation or a long weekend, I don’t know HOW I’m going to survive retirement. I mean, it’s one thing if you have money and can travel or do whatever it is you love doing, but that will not be me. I’ll probably have to work until I drop dead just to survive anyway, so boredom will probably not be an issue for me. Hahahahaha.
Everyone kept assuring me that I would find plenty of things to do, that my days would be filled. And that part does seem accurate. But it’s not the physical doing that I miss. It’s the mental problem-solving. I’m sure there are things to do that would address them, but I did not, and still do not, have a plan for addressing that part of what do I do today.
As for the picture that looks country-ish – it’s a fairly dilapidated garage, on an otherwise empty lot, between 2 very well kept houses. 🙂 I like it too.