The Swimmer

I just finished reading The Swimmer by John Cheever. It was published in the New Yorker in 1964 so they posted a link to it to coincide with the summer fiction issue. I saw the 1968 movie within the past year. It was on Turner Movie Classics so I DVR'd it.  It starred Burt Lancaster as Ned, the man who has decided to swim home from a friend's house via the swimming pools between the two points. It was definitely a period piece, a look into the life of an erstwhile successful man - "in the grey flannel suit"- as he encounters the pool owners along the way. I have been watching movies from the 60s and 70s recently out of nostalgia for the period. I was aware of them at the time but fifty years on, they seem foreign. I guess we thought we were very modern back then too.  There's no chance that I will be able to look back on today in fifty years. I am hoping that I can make twenty years.   

May 21

A month since my last post. Still playing music regularly although my jams with the retirees may have ended. I had a bit of a dispute with the drummer who organized it. I have also stopped running because I need to have some tests to make sure that my heart is healthy. I have no symptoms so I am hoping that I will be back to it again soon.  

Mortality

Again, it's been awhile since I posted. I received a notice from Google saying one of my posts from 2012 now has a content warning. I can't figure out why as it was just something related to Breaking Bad. 

I am still enjoying retirement. I am not one of those people who say that I am busier now than when I was working. I am not but I still have a routine that I follow so that I am not sitting around bored. I'm still running, exercising and playing music, all of which I find very rewarding. 

I had a call last week from an old work colleague telling me that a former boss had died of brain cancer. He was quite young, or at least in relation to my age. I was somewhat resentful when he was hired because I was interested in the job he got. Still, he was decent and didn't overmanage me. He even bought tickets for the two of us to see the Pogues in NYC. In the end, he couldn't make it so I took my son. It was an excellent show. 

I now read the obituaries regularly. I find it encouraging when the deceased have died in their 90s as that is still a good twenty years or so from where I am now. Though, twenty years ago doesn't seem that long ago. I was reading them while visiting my old home town and saw an old high school acquaintance died. He was the driver when a good friend of mine died in a car accident. We had been out bar hopping and I think we were pretty drunk. I was tired so they dropped me off at home. Right after that, they crashed the car on a country road. The friend was thrown through the windshield and died. I don't know if it was instantly but I got a call with the upsetting news the next morning. It looked from the obit that the driver never married or had kids as he was described as a "great uncle" and seemed to be very involved with religion. I wonder whether the crash caused him to change his life because he was a bit of a wild man before that. I didn't see any of that crowd again after the funeral. 

Story So Far

Wow, time flies. I didn't realize that it has been three months since I posted here. Thinking as another new year starts, I recall that in the first week in January from 1985 through 2019, I'd be at a resort (Camelback Inn 😄) in a warm location, catching up with good friends and generally having a good time. Oh yeah, and doing work too. 

This year I was at the national meeting of American historians. I strolled through the exhibits, wondering if I'd meet any one from my life in publishing. It was mostly university presses. The big commercial ones have given up on attending, so no one looked familiar. The sessions were interesting though they impressed on me how much I am not an academic. I thought I'd want to teach upon retiring but I just don't feel like I know enough. Sure, it's more than the students but I just wouldn't want to do the prep necessary to teach a course. 

So instead I run and practice piano three times a day. I met my goal of running or walking 316 times in 2022. I ended up doing 322 days and 980 miles. I am getting better on piano and playing in two different bands, which is enjoyable. I love playing and singing.

Happy Birthday...

 John Lennon. Though it is most unfortunate that he is not around to celebrate it. I am not sure if he'd still be making good music. Paul is making stuff that is just okay. If his reputation was based on his post-1980 output or stuff after John was murdered, no one would know him. But I guess you can say that about a lot of the musicians from the 60s.  The Rolling Stones are just an oldies act now. Looking at their set list, there is nothing after the "Some Girls" album. 

Two-thirds of a century old

 It's scary to think about that but nothing I can do except enjoy life for as long as I can. I was reminded today that October 8 would have been John Lennon's 82nd birthday. There will be a memorial at Strawberry Fields in Central Park.  I haven't been to New York City since January 2020 so doubt if I will get there for it. 

Long time , no writing!

Wow, I didn't realize that it had been so long since I had written anything. I am still enjoying my permanent vacation which has been six months so far. I think I have abandoned my old plan to teach history classes as an adjunct at a community college. That was originally my motivation for getting a masters degree in history. I guess I don't want to have to do the preparation that I'd need to do in order to teach a course. There are also times when I think that I don't know enough about specific eras so that I could teach. But then again, I will certainly know a lot more than the students.  I am just enjoying doing things at my own pace so spending the time teaching is less appealing. It is a nice feeling telling recruiters that I have no desire to talk and unsubscribing from LinkedIn updates. I still have work dreams or at least dreams that include people I worked with: them and whether Cristiano Ronaldo is transfering from Manchester United.

Band is going well. In fact we are playing our first gig this coming Friday. Whether we will find any more in the future is questionable as 60s music has a limited audience. Most people who like it are dead or not going out to bars anymore. 

Off to practice piano! Kumbaya, here I come.