People with long loose hair who lean back in the elevator to look at the numbers and push their hair into your face.


People with long loose hair who flick it sideways into your face.


People with long loose hair who let it fall over the back of their seat so that it touches you.


People with long loose hair who bend over so that it trails across you desk (or worse, across your food).



Ick!

One of the best pieces of advice my parents ever gave me was to live below my means.

I didn't always do that but for the most part I did.

I consider that policy the main reason I was able to retire early.

I would add now, as far below your means as possible.

Not to make your life miserable but to really consider on what you spend your money.  I do wish that minimalism had come into my life long before it did and I had become less focused on things long before I did.

Someone once told me their definition of "rich" was being able to lose your job and not have to change one single thing about your lifestyle even if you never found work again.

I'm an introvert.

All my working life I was uncomfortable because while I didn't want to be in charge of anyone else I really did not want anyone directly in charge of me.

That's a tough compromise to work out.

I've been retired for six years now and I'm almost always aware of and grateful for the sense, finally, of not having to answer to anyone, of being my own boss.

It's wonderful.

Sometimes I start a novel

and realize that I am too old,

and the author is too young,

and that I don't have the patience to wade through it,

and I don't.



This has nothing to do with years.

Getting your own way can be a dangerous thing.

Even though the person who gave in may accept and forgive now such incidents can keep coming to their mind and can fester over time.

And someday what seems like a very minor thing can connect with a long train of other small things and lead to unexpected consequences that you may never explain or understand.

Sometimes,

I get so tired



of human voices,


droning on

and on.

I really do not approve of the tactic of asking people for a donation for some charity when they are checking out of a store, particularly a grocery store.

It can be very hard to say no.

It is designed to shame people into donating and I think that is reprehensible.


There was a time in my life when funds were really tight.  I had $30 a week to spend on food.  I took a calculator to the store with me and added up each item as I put it in my cart, then if there were things I needed more I would put things back on the shelf and subtract that amount, on like this until I had as much food as I could get for my $30 but no more.

To then be embarrassed at check-out being asked for money that simply was not there is cruel.


I feel the same way about charity drives in the workplace when someone gets self-righteous about it.  I remember hearing the line, "But it's for charity," so often.  It's not up to other people to decide how much money someone has or how they should spend it or what charity they might choose to donate to.   Even if you know someone's salary you don't know what obligations (medical expenses, loans, support for someone else, legal problems) that they might be coping with and how harmful donating even a small amount might be at that particular time.


I'm not saying I don't approve of charities, I do.  But I do believe that donating is a personal choice and should never be a matter of coercion or shaming.