Retirement
I retired recently.
I worked at a CBS affilitate television station for 5 years, 9 months and days. That is what my college degree was in Radio/TV/Film, with a minor in Criminal Justice. I liked the job, I met a lot of nice people working there, some that I used to see on TV when I was growing up. The bad part was the pay sucked. I started at $4.75 an hour and because I had gotten the job through an employment agency I owed them $900 and I hadn’t even worked my first week yet. For years on-air talent would come to my college and tell of getting a job somewhere out of the Little Rock market because you weren’t not going to get a job in a top 50 market that Little Rock was at that time. I guess I defied the odds. Working in television can be a fullfilling event in ones life, I guess just not in mine. I wanted to work in the news dept going out to shoot video like I had seen countless other people do over the years. For whatever reason the guy in charge of that department said, No. I used to resent that guy for saying that. I was really upset at the time. I was barely making $13,000 and my wife had lost her job. I thought I had a cure for my low money making job, I would drive a truck for a living. Sure!!
It took me awhile but I did get to drive a semi truck for a living. I worked for American Freightways from Aug 1993 to Feb 2001 when we were sold to Federal Express. I worked in the city and over the road. I worked for the company for a little over 30 years, driving 26 of those. I was so mad at that guy all those years ago when I worked in TV. He had squashed my dream or so I thought. He did me a favor. I wouldn’t have the things I have now if I had stayed working in TV, not in the Little Rock market anyway. I saved a lot of money for my retirement working for FedEX Freight (I hope), my house is paid for as well as 3 of my 4 vehicles. I am very frugal with my money, always have been. Now I just need to figure out what to do with all this time I have on my hands. I can learn a new language if I want. I want to go to Italy someday and I would like to be able to at least maybe underatand what people are saying to me. Might try to learn a little more Spanish other than the cuss words that I know now. I am going back to the gym after the first of the year. I need to stay healthy so I can enjoy my retirement and whatever it entails.
