Hanging up the gloves - boring as it may be

I see retirement in my near future ... within the next four months. And I'm thrilled. People ask me, "What're you goin' to do? Won't you be bored?"

I look at 'em like they're crazy. Here's my list:

Write 1000 words a day on the way to publishing the great American novel. I've got ideas for loads of short stories, blog posts, and (really) a couple novels -- one sci-fi, one kids' book. (I wrote 1200 words today. It takes a while, for me at least, I should tell you.)

Take dance lessons. Wife and I love to dance. We are good salsa dancers, if I say so myself. We'd like to get equally good in other styles, especially, in no particular order, swing, hustle, tango, samba, chacha. Wife wants us to become certified instructors. I'm not sure I want to work that hard. I quit one job; I'm not looking for a second one.

Take piano lessons. Of course, it would help to buy a piano first, but never mind. I need to find an instructor that would be willing to circumvent the usual lessons and teach me to play blues and jazz.

Travel to all the places we've missed so far. Wife has not visited many places in US yet. Our US bucket list includes Niagra Falls (wife's pick), Yosemite (in my opinion, everyone needs to see Yosemite at least once before they die ... for what that's worth), Grand Canyon, Hawaii (I want to see an active, real live volcano), maybe Yellowstone, Miami, Key West, Southern CA beaches. I've not been back to the Bay Area for more than 10 years and that's WAY past due (but I'm afraid I'll go back and never want to leave). I suppose Wife should see New York and Washington, DC, but those are at the bottom of my list.

Internationally we have the whole Carribean to explore. (We're going to Cancun in September for 10 days, so we have that process kickstarted.) We want to get back to Italy, especially Rome and Venice and Sorrento. Wife's had her heart set on visiting Australia. We want to return to Thailand. And I'm going to visit Mauritius again before I die. Maybe in the future we'll spend August in our condo outside Moscow to avoid the Houston heat, but NOT this year: Moscow temps in the 90Fs, and no air conditioning anywhere. No thanks!

Get better at golf. I've started this process already. Wife bought me golf lessons, which of course screw you up at first but eventually really help. And with a golf course right outside my back door ... well ... this one's easy.

Pick up (doubles) tennis again. This assumes my knees will hold up. I used to be pretty good ... 35 years ago.

Build a personal website.

And this leaves out all the house chores and normal day to day stuff.

Bored? Yeah, it may be a while before you see that post on this blog.