When I was 65, 66, still being an engineer, and had not yet set a retirement date, my boss used to say to me, “Q, if there is anyone who should retire it’s you. I know guys* out there who, their job is all they got! You’ve got your music, theater**, you’ve even got fricken martial arts! Go enjoy those things, before you fucking get killed on that bicycle of yours!”

The point being if one’s identity is completely wrapped up in one’s job, it can be hard. At this point I don’t know how I ever had time to have a job.

If people ask what I do, I tell them I’m retired or, if I feel like fucking with them, I tell them I’m a writer. It was my daughter’s idea. She was like, “You write, and you even get actual money for doing it, so you’re a fucking writer, dad!” (She takes after me when it comes to potty mouth.)

*Sorry, that’s just how he expressed himself.

**Actually I don’t have that, but he seemed to think I did. My wife’s the theater person around here.