The first day of the rest of my life
The first day of the rest of my life
The big day has come, and I am now officially semi-retired. And, coincidentally, I got a nice present from the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory, which elected me as a Fellow.
The change in my life isn’t dramatic, since I wasn’t teaching last semester, but as I look ahead to 2024, I can see a calendar that is almost completely clear: no courses to prepare, lectures to give and especially no assessment to deal with.
The first big question is where Nancy and I will live. The Sunshine Coast is great, but our current lease will expire soon, and it's hard to find either a decent rental or a place to buy and live in long term. We both love North Queensland, but it's a long way to travel, given that I have to maintain some physical ties to UQ. And we still have our house in Brisbane, which will be hard to move out of. First World problem, I know, but a real one nonetheless.
Next up is what to do with the extra free time. I have a long list of dreams, most of which will probably prove unattainable, but here are some of them
- Write a big book about life, work and socialism in an information society (no longer an economy in the way we have thought of it)
- On a much smaller scale, produce a comic book version of my account of the battle against privatisation, which has occupied most of my working life
- Do some long journeys with Nancy by train, bicycle or hiking
- Learn French well enough to read Balzac, and Python well enough to do some real coding
- Run one last marathon
- Swim 400 metres in 9 minutes, so I can train for the Bronze Medallion and become a volunteer lifesaver
- Improve on stand-up paddle board enough that I can learn to surf, and maybe even kitesurf.
- Get much better at cooking and barbecuing (that shouldn’t be too hard)
While I chase those dreams and maybe fulfil some of them, I'll rely on public commentary and economic theory to keep my mind active (and to keep me on the UQ payroll) and triathlon training to keep me fit and strong.
Best wishes to everyone for the New Year, and that 2024 will turn out better then 2023.