Retired life is a drag. I have recently retired from school. I say retired because when you think about it I have been going to school for 17 years. Some people retire from the military after that long, and besides that's what it feels like to me. One of the main reasons it is a drag is because of my lack of transportation. I lost my dear, beloved brown couch pimp dad' car about a month ago and it seems like an eternity. Getting rides really sucks. It is definitly putting a strain on my relationships with people and making me a lot less apt to go anywhere. And looking for a new car is not all that much fun either. Since I don't have a large amount of cash, I have to look through used car ads in the paper and online. And to make it more difficult, people who put these ads out are lacking in some sort of intelligence. Or maybe it's just a devious plan to get people to call them. "Runs great, Needs new Transmission" What kind of crap is that! It cannot run great if you can't drive it. Then there is the omission of mileage. I know why this is done. So when you call them and ask them, they can tell you in a really convincing voice they have been practicing all week: "150,000 miles, but they're highway miles". Again, what kind of crap is that! Highway miles my ass!

I will now turn to the enjoyable experiences of my retirement thus far.

*A couple of nights ago, I was sitting at my iMac doing about nothing when I heard a knock at my door. It wasn't the familiar knock of my brother and Matt was already over (watching baseball with my dad, we are so already married). So I went upstairs, expecting one of the neighbor kids to be there asking if he could get his basketball out of my yard. I was pleasantly surprised when I found Jennifer and Tina at my door. They told me they were coming over to steal the new grocery store play ball out of my yard, but decided to see if I wanted to play with them instead. I ran out in joy. My boring evening was saved! So we played a volleyball inspired game which Matt later joined. After moving further out into the yard, Jennifer came up with games like Fierce and Run for your Life. Great fun really.

*Yesterday, I decided to call my old pal Sara. We had been nearly best friends in the latter years of high school then drifted away in our "adult" lives. We have since made real attempt to get close again. And I think it is working. I walked to her house yesterday (niether of us have cars) and we devised a plan for the evening. It involved going to the grocery store and picking up the ingredients for a pesto pizza plus some pre-pizza food and drink and then coming back to Sara's house to make it. We had some good man discussion and some cider while the pizza baked and then Matt and Tom arrived. This was exciting because Matt has been making the attempt to get some alone time and I thought I wouldn't see him for the night and Tom is really cool and can make anything fun. Sara and I informed them that they couldn't have our pizza but they could have some cider and we watched TV for awhile and then went to the Magic Stick in Detroit. This was really great fun because the two ciders I had consumed hit me when we got to the Stick. I am a lightweight, but it does make getting loopy cheaper. We had wondrous flirty fun. I did start to feel bad because every person that ended up on my team lost, even Tom who previously had made every person on his team win. I did, in the end, triumph by twice winning the game by getting the eight ball in on the first shot.

Hopefully, retirement will get better as the summer moves on. Wish me luck.