[at-l] Raccoon, AT 2003?

[greyowl@rcn.com (greyowl@rcn.com)]

I finally have to put my $0.02 in.  My daughter is agonizing over what she =
is going to do with her life.  She is 22 and has just graduated from colleg=
e.  She has asked me for imput.  Well I am 57 and I still don't know what I=
 want to do with my life!!  I bought into that american dream thing, but I =
have dropped out it.  I do not need the material things, I find the spiritu=
al things in life moe important.  I work as a chemist, because I enjoy the =
work and the challenge.  I work for the government because I get 13 paid ho=
lidays (mostly as three day weekends) and 5 weeks of paid vacation!!!  On t=
op of it all I work 9 hours a day so I can get every other friday off.  Thi=
s is a lot of time to pursue the activities that I am interested in.  So I =
garden, and hike, and canoe, and ....  You get the idea.  Work is way overr=
ated and it is easy to live on less money than you are making.  So you have=
 to give up a few things, but why pay $150 to go to a Brue concert when I c=
an listen to someelse for free because I am a volunteer?  As I garden I don=
't have to pay outrageous prices for good food.  I try to car pool every wh=
ere I  have to go.

My boss is always asking me to work more hours, but I always tell him no.  =
I don't need the money.  In fact I am in a KMA (Kiss My *ss) situationa as =
I could have retired Sept 3rd of this year.  I really cannot do it as I sti=
ll have a child in school and my 401(k) tanked, but in a few years ????

Seize the day.  Nobody on their death bed said "I am sorry that I hiked....=
, I went to... or I am sorry that I did not work more".  Get your finacial =
affairss in order and hit the trail.

Grey Owl