panic

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — March 29th

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Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on any day this past year and link to that post in a comment.

How about it? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Flashback Friday post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

This was originally posted on March 29, 2018 on this blog.

Time to Panic

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“What the hell’s the matter with you?” Clyde asked his daughter. “You’re acting like a maniac.”

“I’m frantic, Dad,” Lilith said. “I can’t find my iPhone.”

“Where did you leave it?” her father asked.

“If I knew that, Dad, I would be able to find it,” Lilith responded. “Duh!”

“When did you last use it?”

“When I was at Betsy’s last night. We were studying for the history test together.”

“Okay,” Clyde said. “Don’t panic.”

Lilith rolled her eyes. “Right, that’s easy for you to say. My whole life is on that phone.”

“Okay, calm down,” Clyde said. “Let me call your number.” He pulled out his own cellphone, an antique flip phone model, and dialed her number. “It’s ringing.”

But the sound of a ringing phone could not be heard anywhere near where they were standing. Lilith became even more frantic.

“Wait, someone answered,” her father said, hearing a boy’s voice. “Hello? Can you tell me how you’re answering my daughter’s phone?” There was a slight pause and then Clyde said, “I see. Okay, thanks. I’ll let her know.”

“So?” Lilith said, impatiently.

“I thought you said you were studying for your history test at Betsy’s place last night,” Clyde said.

Now it was time for Lilith to panic.

Written for today’s one-word prompt, “frantic.”

FOWC with Fandango — Panic

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FOWC

Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “panic.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, ÿplease manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.

SoCS — What’s On Your Plate?

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For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has given us “on your/my plate.”

Back in the day, when I was still working, I had a lot on my plate. Between managing my team of product consultants and software developers, working with installation managers, sales people, senior executives, prospects, clients, and vendors, as well as caring for and providing for my wife and kids, my plate was constantly full. Sometimes overflowing.

And I loved it. I thrived on the pressure of meeting deadlines, fulfilling client expectations, demoing our software solutions to new clients, running meetings and webinars, closing new business, and finding a balance between work and family. It all gave meaning to my life. It defined who I was.

And then I retired. For five decades I had defined myself by my work, by what I did for a living. I woke up one day and that was all gone. Not only did I not have all of those job responsibilities anymore, but my kids were grown up and out on their own.

I felt a sense of panic. Who was I if my identity was my work and I was no longer working? I remember telling my wife that my plate was now empty and I didn’t know what to do with myself.

But the good news is that my plate is still full. I’ve got grandkids who give me tremendous joy. I’ve got my blog, which enables me to interact with fellow bloggers from around the world. And I’ve got a wife who is happy to keep adding things to my “honey do” list.

So, in spite of my early fears that upon retirement my plate — my life — would be empty, the reality is that what’s on my plate today, in retirement, is just fine. I can now define myself by who I am, not what I do.

Now how about you? What’s on your plate?

Of Bears and Bulls

Fandango17 Comments

I just got a notification in my newsfeed that American stocks are officially in a “bear market.” If you haven’t heard the terms “bear market” and “bull market,” they are used as context to what’s happening in the stock market. A bear market is when stock prices fall and a bull market is when prices go up.

More specifically, a bear market describes any stock index or individual stock that drops 20% or more from its recent highs. A bull market, on the other hand, typically rises 20% from recent bear market lows and reaches record benchmark highs.

The fact that stocks are in a bear market is not good news for me. About three-quarters of my retirement nest egg is invested in the stock market via 401(k) accounts and IRAs, which are essentially retirement vehicles.

During your working (income producing) years, you can put aside money, tax-free (i.e., before payroll taxes are withheld) and invest that money into these retirement accounts, most of which is invested in stocks and bonds. And, if the stock and bond markets go up, the value of your retirement nest egg goes up, too. Yay!

But when it’s a bear market, your retirement funds shrink considerably, potentially putting into jeopardy, the comfortable retirement lifestyle you works so hard to achieve.

I just checked my specific accounts and the news is not great. I’m not quite ready to panic, cash out all of my retirement funds, and stuff it all in a mattress. But if this bear market doesn’t go bull soon, I may have to give that some serious consideration.