The Best of Intentions...

Last year before retirement, I made plans--for what to do in retirement. I didn't want to die young because I was bored to death!

I decided to do 2 things.

First, I would learn how to create a website which would get me back into computers, something that used to fascinate me in my earlier life. I would couple this with my passion for hiking. The website would catalog all the different hikes in and around Boquete.

It would be a service and maybe make some money in the process.

Second, I would create a small business Internet consulting firm. It would provide transformational or conscious business coaching for those who wanted to have a business purpose beyond profit, into making a difference in the community and the world.

For the first few months I did pursue these plans.

I successfully created a website but never put any hikes in it nor did I get it on the Internet. It was fun learning how to write website code but I was not enamoured with it.

I did start to structure the business consulting firm, spending a few hours a week researching and writing a business plan. But, it got put aside.

Well, the best intentions....

So, what did I do instead?

I started to play music again!

This was quite a surprise. I had played music in the 70's but I was terrible. I was drunk, the crowd was drunk so everyone loved it...but I was terrible. This is not false modesty. I was bad.

Somehow, I got the idea to start over, from the beginning, and learn to play guitar the right way--with discipline, a teacher and practice.

I had no idea that it would be so thrilling. It is a hoot to play music.

But even odder, I love to practice the stuff that is mundane, like learning and repeating scales. I play scales for 15 to 30 minutes a day, and enjoy it. It is like a game, using a metronome, practicing against a known speed so your progress is tangible.

So there is music.

And there is learning Spanish.

This is a big deal and it takes time and energy. I would like to clock all the idiots who think learning a language "is easy once you get there." What a bunch of horse shit!

Learning Spanish is like going back to school. It takes dedication, study, classes and a conscious effort to use it in everyday life.

We are considering ways to accelerate the process by enrolling in an immersion school or attending a local school for 3 to 5 days a week, a couple of hours a day.

This is a huge project, learning a new language. Most gringos give up but we are committed to speaking at least proficiently in Spanish. Fluency is probably beyond are capability at our age.

A big deal!

Then, completely out of left field, comes acting.

Who would have thought...

I can't say if I will continue to pursue this into next year, but right now, it is a time consuming and satisfying activity.

I had no plans for these 3 things.

(Note: I knew we would learn Spanish, but I bought into the "it will be easy once you are there." So, it was never a big plan item at first)

I am happy that I retired to a new, different place.

Where a normal, known, routine life is gone. Where newness and invention are demanded.

It has slapped me awake!

There is no getting out of bed and doing what I used to down here.

Everything, and I mean everything, has to be recreated newly. Your way of being. Your activities. Your friends. Are all new.

This is like getting a spiritual enema with a fire hose.

Quit a ride, don't you think?