Life Round 2: Let’s Go

Been a minute. How are you doing? Sitting down?? Excellent – time I served up some tea as we go into Life Round 2!

Since Last Time

There has been a lot since the beginning of 2025. Promises broken, promises made, and generally a kick-butt time (my own included 😅).

Very sadly, I cannot talk about a lot of it; doing so would come at a cost to others and I.

What I can mention is how I have been improving my strength after the hells of 2024. I am fast, growing a heck-of-a-social crew at the local run club. There is time to spend on lazy mornings in the water and chill evenings with cats and friends. A video game gets played now and then, a movie watched. I get to meet people and look ahead with sparkling eyes to the future. I am… relaxed? Now that I have moved onto this next life round: retirement (?).

Next Round

I am in a very fortunate position, with health of body and bank doing just fine. Despite a yearning for responsibility, I go without the obligation to others in my immediate life, nor profession. My passport is fresh and my interests many.

So what happens now? A few things:

October: Might I go to Antarctica? Heck, I worked on the process today! I already have a contingent alternate spot assigned. However, the greatest barriers to entry are legion: I still might not physically qualify, any number of the myriad background checks may decline (hello to the analyst reading this!), the funds for the National Science Foundation (NSF) may disappear this year (already cut by a third 😬), the US Feds may still be locked down (writing this during the first day of budget closure), and as this is an alternate seat, there may be enough people cleared for the Antarctic mission until February! So I keep my eyes on other horizons too:

Mexico / Cenam / Souam: Mexico, Central America, South America. Will be warm this winter. Never been, many countries on my retirement bucket list. 2, 3, 4 weeks? Taking recommendations! Much how Europe has been suggested:

Italy / Germany: A long-time friend could not stop talking about how amazing Italy was for them (you know who you are). Europe is very high on my list of world travel – better yet are the people there I would =adore= to see again. Need a little bit of coordination, as the EU would be a much grander jump than I might be prepared for this winter season!

Mardi Gras: Why not treat myself for my February birthday at a major celebration?? Now I just need to drag some folks along to the party…

AI Education: AI has been the biggest hot-and-humid topic for awhile now. I used it nearly every day the last year as a software guy. I make a point to use it daily for brainstorming and editing (no, I haven’t decided to have it write the blog yet). However, I ought know more about the fundamentals: terminology, agents, making and maintaining AI, legalities, etc. What better way to start than have different LLMs make a curriculum for me?

Quantum Mechanics Education: If not AI, let’s go to the root of things (so far): Quantum Mechanics. I have a few philosophical hot-takes, much like everyone from Aristotle to Einstein, but would feel better being able to pursue the math and laws that have been identified that define * waves hands at everything *.

Creation: Get back to making games and writing stories. Can I do it? That seems so daunting in the face of how fast the creative fields are being undermined. Still drawn to it, though! Maybe I could get a readership…

Business: I stink as a business guy. Perhaps it is time in Round 2 to shore that up. Some initial thoughts are monetizing the creative things I do, build cheaper drones out of common parts, and low-/no-interest loans to eliminate debt.

Volunteering: People are so full of possibility. The world is such a rich place of experience. To keep those experiences available is worth fighting for. Whether it be something like Big Brother, coaching, the Peace Corps and adjacent orgs, or offering my talents and resources to causes worth the sacrifice, it would be a passive Evil to hold back what I can continue to contribute to the world at large. (I just might take a break here first!)

Regardless of any of the above, I must keep my place on the beach in Los Angeles. This is too sweet a spot to give up, even if I am paying double rent. The truth is that I probably will not come back to LA once I move unless there is someone to come back to. So while I live in the fantasy-land that is South Bay, the goal is to not take for advantage this paradise ~

Let’s Go!

Writing a blog post again feels like riding a bike out of a mud pit – I know how to do it, but there is a bit of fog getting these words down. Maybe I need to add “more blogging” to rinse the gears out! Or at least keep me accountable with goal setting…

I tread now along a path completely novel to me: I don’t need to work, yet I like finding work to do. Yet, what about my leisure? There has been so much, so much, sacrificed for securing the fruits of my labor, yet now it is here, I am a cat that does not quite know what to do with the mouse.

What I can say is that I am free. Free to choose what I do. Free to choose where I do it. Free to associate with who I want there. Free to spend my time as I want. Free to figure out how to live this next round of life.

So a cheer for you, a cheer for me, “You got this! Boss! Let’s go!”

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I came back to the site because really do like the accountability offered by writing posts. Assigning myself public goals is a bit… restrictive; such reminds me of giving someone else my leash. Writing has felt a bit cathartic – now let’s see how much I can stick with it in the weeks, months, years, and decades to come 🙂 Cheers ~