I have supposedly been retired for almost 19 years yet I just spent almost 4 hours moving tons of frozen snow. Retirement is a myth, it's something they tell people about to give them something to look forward to only it never happens. I work just as hard today as I did 50 years ago, only now I don't get a pay check and I do it with a body that's falling apart. You don't really retire until they place you in that 6' hole in the ground.
Oh, I'll still polish, but I'm going to do it right. This is where the clock means nothing and stress is what other people have.
For example, I spent four days fixing Chuck's knife straight from the factory. That is the work I want to do, but nobody wants to wait, and certainly no one would ever pay for such work.
Back when Knife Forums was the best blade forum on the 'net, lots of people polished. But they are all gone. If Rob Babcock is still working, it's with Japanese folded steel, primarily chefs' knives.
Funny (but true) story on today's work. I'm one who believes that 'life' tells you when to make changes. About 24 years ago I came home, took off my Christen Dior suit and told my wife I quit. Even if I made a rudimentary mistake, 75 people could be laid off. I decided to hang out my sharpening shingle.
Even than polishing was looked upon as a "dark art." It took a guy who would not settle for minor scratches or crooked bevels. Even Katana Togishis take ten to 14 days to polish a basic sword and they charge at least 4,000 dollars.
But here's the funny part. As I finished the last knife of this set of five, I flipped the knife and found a flaw. I stepped back a stone, buffed it out and re-polished the side. I remember the things we used to say, "You've got about as much chance of becoming a polisher as a fart does in a hurricane."
Then, as I took out the last flaw, I farted. It's time to honor the 1,000 year old constraints of the togishi. It's time for me to do this right.
Retire all you want, just don't disconnect your phone or email. Chef BIL gets all weepy when he talks about his knives. I told him to give me ONE, and I'd put the smile back on his face. Once he drops it by, I'm gonna need some advice on the best way to make it sing.
As a technical editor, I often describe my work as: "you have to CARE where the comma goes... and no one else on the planet will or does!"
And MAN! Do I ever miss editing! It's that 'mastery' thing: I-forget-who points out that you don't pick a field to become a 'master' in -- you work in a field you like well enough, for long enough, and you attain mastery over the work... (None of this"follow your bliss" crap in work path! You come to love your work through your dedication to doing it well and right... No half-assing the job!)
I got to run the editorial eye through an eBook last week (Vox Day's amazing, funny, scathing, dismaying "Jordanetics: A Journey Into the Mind of Humanity's Greatest Thinker" -- came up with four pages of 'editing pick-ups' which he/they fix before doing the print version... If any of y'all are Jordan Peterson fans -- I recommend it VERY highly. I used to be a serious fan of his: had downloaded nearly 100 of his vids and was working my through them; bought his "self-authoring class"; read his "12 Rules for Life"; LOVED what he appeared to be doing for hundreds of lost young men.... (that was MY main hook; these poor lost boys to whom Jordie SEEMED to be giving a path to manhood!)
Vox Day got (mostly unwillingly) dragged into looking at Peterson's stuff -- on his blog, many people including me were desperately defending Jordie against Vox Day's incredulity about the bafflegarble that makes up Jordie's lectures and book. (I had already begun to look askance at SOME of what he was writing and saying: like, he claimed his program of self-authoring raised the success of 'immigrants': i,e, male, non-Dutch (duh.), moslem, partly-non-Dutch speakers, enrolled in a high-end BUSINESS school, ABOVE that of native Dutch women in the aschool.... Yeah THAT was SO not happening!!)
I'm exactly the other way--and I do not understand it.
I have my daily coffee a stone's throw from the local gang bangers. Yet, once I'm in "my chair" which the manager has saved for me, and I am sipping cold coffee, I relax like I've had a hypo.
But put five frivolous things on my to-do list or find me in hypochondria attack, and I fall apart.
At the end of this month, my life changes. I'm going to sleep late and hit the gym when I wake up, not at 3:00AM like now.
I might carry one less magazine to show the world how I've mellowed.
Heck, I might find a skilled apprentice to sharpen my knives so I don't have to do that, either.
But I'm going to flip the world a royal bird, turn my back, relax, and wait for my Guardian Angel. And my cell-phone will be charged in the kitchen and no longer next to my bed...
Ahhh, first day of retirement. The temperature here dropped to 12 degrees. I went back to bed to see if the day would get warmer.
And our "hit or miss heater" actually went on...
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