Retirement System Finally Completed: Impression of the Mola Mola Tambaqui

• S@ghdprentice Thank you for your insights on retirement.  I will definitely look into “The Great Courses”.  My wife is looking to retire mid-25 and we plan on traveling the US and EU.  

@mitch2 Thanks and I will continue on this sight to learn and possibly help others even though my knowledge is limited.  

@audphile1 Back story on the Pappy Family  Reserve 15 Year Old:   It is now gone.  I promised my 82 year old cousin with a love for bourbon as great as mine we would finish the last 1/3 bottle when I retire.   We were able to get together 2 weeks ago and it’s now gone.   I came upon it 8 years ago when the Wine Spectator whisky edition voted best.  I was in a large local liquor shop with a prominent reputation and saw it on the shelf.   They just got it in.  I bought their 4 bottle case at $65 each.   If you know your bourbon, it became the most sought after of bourbons.   I have been savoring it on special occasions and the last bottle is now gone.   I have already informed my wife I would like a bottle for my 70th BD July 2025 even though its price is astronomical.   The 15 YO is the most complex bourbon from initial pallet to finish I have experienced, excellent nose, dark color, and ultra smooth   A real treat and a lucky find at that time.  I only have the empty bottle in memoriam of many special and enjoyable occasions.

Well glad to hear you are retired. I know quite a few retired folks. Most say it takes five years to make the adjustment. While I always worked more than sixty hours a week I also pursued multiple hobbies… photography, literature, philosophy, hiking, bicycling, so upon retiring I my hobbies instantly expanded to fill all the time.

There is an adjustment period letting go of other people’s interests (work) and reestablishing your own. So for me, intellectual pursuits switched back to philosophy, cognitive and developmental psychology, astronomy, history, and art. I highly recommend “The Great Courses”… they are available on Audible, many free with subscription… with ear pods and you are set to learn and re-establish the connection with interests you had as a child. These are 24 lectures to over 70 per course.. the professors are great orators, simply great speakers, with dense and interesting material. Podcasts and Audible the great books from literature can be incredibly rewarding. I listen a couple hours a day at least… while dog walking and bike riding. I have reread a couple hundred books like Anna Karenina, Catcher in the Rye…. Brave new world. As an adult they are truly works of art… you probably got 10% of it reading as a high school student. I have been rendered speechless repeatedly during or at the conclusion of many of these. But with a lifetime of experience they are simply stunningly profound. Retirement offered unlimited intellectual opportunity.

I now tend to dive deep into current issues, the war in Ukraine and more recently  the Israel - Palestinian conflict. I have listened to 6 - two hour interviews with the world’s leading experts on different facets of it… urban warfare, history of the region, recent history, on the ground reputable journalism. The amazing thing is, the reality, from a deep knowledge perspective looks nothing like the view one would get if one just sees the headlines go by or even reads a couple journals cover to cover daily. It is shocking to see how little you can know about a subject by being working  a casually being a news junky. Now you have the opportunity to really dive into reality. You no longer must work.

Anyway, that’s one way of playing it. Enjoy retirement.

@ghdprentice I have been retired for a year.  Now contemplating some part time consulting to keep the mind active.  Thank you for your posts.  You have been one of my audiophile mentors.  
@roxy54 I sit in the floral, high back, Early American chairs 9 feet from the speakers. The chair angle is made perpendicular during listening.  Poor room, I know, but it’s the best I can do.  Venting into hall and dining room prevents standing waves so it’s not that bad, but far from a treated, dedicated listening room.  

@jsalerno277 

There seems to be a table in the center where the listening chair would be, Where do you sit to listen?

Congratulations for your purchase and your retirement system. Presumably we will be congratulating you on your retirement soon. 

I did something similar a couple years before retirement, with the thought to the additional time I would have. While for me it turned out there was another upgrade in my future. My largest by far upgrade happened a couple years after I retired. But there is no question the my system has brought me great joy. I now have two or three hours a day to enjoy it… and I do very much. 

Even if your system hardware is all set, don't neglect the music threads on this site.  By reading them, I sometimes learn about some really good music that I wasn't aware of.  Enjoy that system, it looks great.

You need a few shots of that Pappy for those speakers to start looking pretty. 
Lol

All jokes aside, congrats on the fantastic retirement system!!!