One of the most perplexing questions that people ask me is "Are you retired?" My immediate reaction is to say "yes" because I retired from teaching (my only career where I my hours and duties were set by someone other than me) almost a quarter century ago. But then I realize that "retired," to many people," means "doing nothing," and in that sense I didn't retire when I left teaching. I continued to do Comic Shop News on a weekly basis until the end of 2022. So am I retired now, since we passed CSN on to the intrepid David Witting at that time? Maybe not, since I still have Dr. No's Comics & Games Superstore, and I work in the store five days a week, as well as doing a fair amount of work from home (orders, adjustments, record keeping, etc.), so there's only one day out of the week when I'm not doing something store-related. Even when we go on a trip (like our recent sojourn to Universal Studios), I take the MacBook Air with me and do frequent reorders. And I also write, both fiction and non-fiction. I don't get rich doing it, but I do get paid, so I guess that's working, too. But I'm aware that a lot of people interpret "retired" to mean "no longer doing something I don't want to do," so in that sense I've been retired all along. However, no one wants an answer that complicated, so when they ask, "Are you retired?" I usually just say "sort of." It's easier for all of us.
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