Smiling In Hell 2.0 - Life After Retirement and then some: Recent Episodes
Larry Peterson
Take a traipse through some memories of adventures from my past eight years in the non-profit world (yes, that means personally as well as the type of business), a smattering of recollections from adventures past and present and maybe some observations of the world around us and who knows what all.
Yes, it’s been almost twomonths since I’ve allowed the growing umbrella of irrational thought,unbelievable social-political-communal actions, reactions and, even moreimportant, inaction that have led to a number of head-shaking events that grabbedmy lower lip, pulled me painfully over the edge and back to this here keyboard.
Serendipity happens as my spousal best friend and I just finished watching the limited series “Rabbit Hole” starring Keifer Sutherland on Paramount+. Per IMDB, “RabbitHole is aTV series about a private espionage operative who battles over the preservation of democracy in a world of surveillance, misinformation and manipulation.”
Along with preparing for and attending my 50th high school reunion, many of you readers and listeners know that I’ve actually completed writing my first novel and been somewhat actively pursuing, albeit without success, publication. Of course, being a first attempt at a book, I know that it is not perfect. So, before I continued to add to my stack of ‘thank you-no thank you’ letters, I decided to reach out to a few of my more literary friends and ask for some honest and constructive criticism.
It’s been a little tough on old team Peterson the last month or so and we’ve really proven that old adage about life. You know the one … no one gets out alive. Well, it’s sure true.
Aside from my writer’s ego being on life support right now, the girls and I recently lost a couple close members of our family. Along with that, my pending 50th high school reunion has reminded me of the good friends and fellow Northern High classmates that I’ve lost in the past year or so. It’s not the brightest of subjects, but, like the rest of you, it’s not something we can avoid. Like they say, no one gets out alive.
Sharing a little bit about a neat get-away my wife sharing a little bit about a neat get-away my wife and daughter enjoyed on a cruise down the Mexican Riviera over Spring Break. Yep, it’s time for another ‘Adventures in Travel.’ And, this time, it’s our Mexican Sojourn, otherwise known as …” Snorkeled Again!” and daughter enjoyed on a cruise down the Mexican Riviera over Spring Break. Yep, it’s time for another ‘Adventures in Travel.’ And, this time, it’s our Mexican Sojourn, otherwise known as …” Snorkeled Again!”
First seen here in this blogular arena way back April 2020, I RE-present a couple of excerpts from articles called “The Covid Conspiracy,” and “This Too Shall Pass” where I portended several theories regarding the whole Covid sxxt show for which I was all but tarred and feathered by folks who thought I was the love child of Hitler and Judas…if men could actually have babies. Which, of course, they can’t.
So, in thinking about a new topic to drill down on I’ve been hearing more and more about this new place where many people are “Smiling in Hell.” It’s a little burg up north a ways. Y’all might have heard of it. It’s been in all the papers and on all the news shows, well maybe not the lame street media ones. It’s called New York, New York.
While “Smiling in Hell” usually leans towards the humorous in its presentation of ideas, memories, thoughts and opinions, the following takes a more seriouser bent toward those elements in society geared to ‘wind me up.’ Note, then, that this modest epistle, not unlike Freud’s couch, is my effort to bleed, like a medieval physician, those annoying and disturbing vitriols from my psyche in an attempt to lower my blood pressure and allow the writer to start the new year with a light and jaunty leap in his step.
Yeah, yeah, it’s that time of year. That glorious time when we dedicate our precious energy, time, emotion and money to that most time honored and beloved of holiday traditions…the holiday movies. And hanging Christmas lights...
Along with touching on the current employment environment, the author relates an early entry into the world of making money.
How a random vacation in Europe resulted in the naming of our daughter with a moniker that she actually likes!
Smiling in our self-induced hell, recover we did and forayed on to explore and enjoy the Yucatan and Cancun vicinity
You’ve never felt what the true meaning of Smiling in Hell is until you’ve driven through the region known as the Mexican Yucatan in the heat of summer while shoe-horned with three other roasting travelers in the intimacy of a semi-compact car with busted air conditioning while the local highway workers burned off unwanted overgrown foliage from both sides of the road. But that’s where I found myself some years ago ...
Where the writer wipes the sweat off his brow and reflects on the heat and heated topics of the day.
Doing theater again, the author shares some adventures, and mis-adventures, experienced while in the throes of creating a new dramatis personae on stage.
A lighthearted look at things that keep me up at night. Remember...if you are doing something sneaky with the right hand, make sure your audience is watching the left. Or a scantily clad assistant.
Smiling in Hell 2.0 - Chapter 30 "Where Were You When?"
We all have memories of where we were when Earth shattering, provocative or unbelievable events were occurring. While many of us were just kids, the memories of these events are as vivid as if they happened only yesterday. So, let’s revisit some of these historical moments by asking the question… Where Were You When?
Where the author revisits the subject of dreams and their effect on one's subconscious...
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2022/01/03/smiling-in-hell-2-0-life-after-retirement-and-then-some-4/
Where the author peruses the various genres of dreams that pretty much everyone has experienced, presented alphabetically… by height:
“The Actor’s Nightmare,” “The Executive’s Nightmare” and, everybody’s favorite, “The Student’s Nightmare.”
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/11/22/smiling-in-hell-2-0-life-after-retirement-and-then-some-3/
Where the author shares a veritable cesspool full of reasons as to why I think that more people are “Smiling in Hell” now than ever before.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/10/07/smiling-in-hell-2-0-life-after-retirement-and-then-some-2/
It’s starting to feel, if only a little bit, like Fall. And with that feeling, which comes with my favorite season, I always tend to tiptoe through memories of going back to school, especially those holy days at Carolina in Chapel Hill.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/09/30/smiling-in-hell-2-0-life-after-retirement-and-then-some/
Where the author shares a few brushes with life as a ‘professional’ actor (i.e. getting paid!) that gave a glimpse, just a glimpse mind you, of that proverbial golden goose. And, the potential to actually make a living in an occupation with a 99% unemployment rate didn’t totally scare me off.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/09/05/smiling-in-hell-2-0-19/
While the ending summer heat and humidity continues to rear and roar through most cities and towns and we are deluged with ads for ‘Back to School’ sales and reminders that the kids will soon be back in class, my mind and memory can’t help but crawl reluctantly back to the days when I was an inmate in the public school system.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/08/23/smiling-in-hell-2-0-18/
There aren’t many things that REALLY scare me. But there was one night where I really thought, through a total lack of good judgement on my part, I might have just bought the farm, kicked the bucket, cashed in my chips.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/07/31/smiling-in-hell-2-0-17/
So every now and then I surprise myself that I actually get something sort of right. It certainly doesn’t happen when I’m trying to hang a new light fixture on the front porch or install a new garbage disposal.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/07/22/smiling-in-hell-2-0-16/
So it was the week before Father’s Day (or is it Fathers’ Day, Fathers Day or Phahthurs Day…?) and certainly, as a card carrying member of that worthy and honorable brotherhood, I deemed it a worthy topic to spackle in this edition of Smiling in Hell.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/06/18/smiling-in-hell-2-0-15/
At the risk of putting off some of my friends, acquaintances, family members and others whose paths I may have crossed at one time or another, in light of the incredible evolution and revolution of new policies, philosophies and processes occurring in the world, I felt a personal obligation to be faithful to myself and my upbringing by sharing the following.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/05/28/smiling-in-hell-2-0-14/
The following story is true to the best of my somewhat historically misaligned memory. The names haven’t been changed to protect the innocent so if anyone sees themselves in the story, well, that’s what you get for being around when this all went down.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/05/15/smiling-in-hell-2-0-chapter-18/
The following story is true. The names haven’t been changed to protect the innocent so if anyone sees themselves in the story, well, that’s what you get for being around when this all went down.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/04/02/smiling-in-hell-2-0-13/
So I just woke up from a dream where I was visiting my dear departed mother in Heaven. What follows is the capsulated version of what was captured. Enjoy…
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2021/02/01/smiling-in-hell-2-0-12/
The author remembers back to being one week away from the 2020 Presidential election, a very scary night for all, and it is preceded only by a couple of days by the scariest holiday of the year, no, not Valentine’s Day, but that night of goblins, ghouls and cos-play aficionados, Halloween and recalls memories of Halloweens past.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/10/28/smiling-in-hell-2-0-10/
Where the author shares some sweet memories of a sweet, tough, strong and incredibly loving women, his Grams.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/09/04/smiling-in-hell-2-0-9/
Written about six months after I had been an official “RG” (Retired Guy) and made the emotional decision to hang up my collection of khakis, calendars and sweater vests back in January, it had actually been over six months since I mentally clocked out of the work-a-day-world of the employed. So, with that mini-milestone under my belt, I thought I’d do a reflective brain dance to see where I was and how I was doing compared to my detailed (not) plans and intricate strategies (also not) for attacking the land of the retired and share those perceptions here. Whether you like it or not...
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/08/13/smiling-in-hell-2-0-8/
Speaking of ‘Global Warming,’ now I actually have a theory about that and what this here heat is really going to do to this little blue ball called Earth (hmm, does anyone call it Earth OTHER than us locals?). See, even if we inhumane beings amazingly don’t find a creative way to do our own selves in through our particular brand of shortsighted foolish abuse to each other, well there’s sure to be a number of other things that will.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/07/31/smiling-in-hell-2-0-7/
Where the writer shares how the family started and still enjoy an Independence Day tradition of watching “Yankee Doodle Dandy” starring James Cagney and the film version of “1776” starting William Daniels and John Adams and other patriotic vitriolics.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/07/03/smiling-in-hell-2-o-3/
Being the week before FD2020 and, as most of you who have treaded these lines with me thus far know, I am a sucker for sentiment. So, in keeping with that particular artery, I just have to fill a few more staves with thoughts, memories and reflections on my old man and his effect on this particular fodder…me.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/06/20/smiling-in-hell-2-0-6/
Since the thermometer has been creeping up a little, and maybe because I’m retired and on permanent summer vacation from school, I‘ve had a whole swimming pool full of summertime memories falling out of my ears like lobsters. Going all over the place, too. Most of them have been showing up from my past voyages though the “Land of Cleve” smelling of honeysuckle, lilac, chlorine and Coppertone. Ah, just the thing to get me waxing even more sentimental than usual. Here's one from last summer. Hope you enjoy it.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/06/08/smiling-in-hell-2-0-5/
Smiling in Hell 2.0 - Chapter 7: The Winter of My Snow Ball Nightmare
Knowing the unprecedented Covid challenge that we’ve all recently had to deal with, and how we're dealing with the deep heat of summer, I thought I’d share some mini-vignettes of how those early chapters in life were where we first had to learn to “Smile in Hell.” This one will hopefully serve to cool ya'll off a little.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/05/24/smiling-in-hell-2-0-4/
Where the reader wrenches a few dreamy visions from my cranial fog and drop them off here, like a big old mayo-filled tuna casserole, for the listener's enjoyment.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/05/17/smiling-in-hell-2-0-3/
As Father's Day nears and Mother’s Day has passed I find myself thinking of my mom even more. Here's a Blog to Mom that I shared about a year ago. Enjoy.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/05/08/smiling-in-hell-2-0-2/
In sharing my idea in the past for my book/screenplay/comic book/musical called “INJECTION” with a number of folks, there was enough morbid curious-ness about it that I thought, heck, why not share it as a serial (ala Sherlock Holmes in ‘The Strand Magazine’).
Since I was looking to take a different subject tact in this chapter of Smiling in Hell 2.0 anyway, I thought I’d share my first segment (the Prelude) with you here and see what ya’ll think. Remember, I actually started this story in 2014 and picked it up again last October 2019. I probably would have written more of it since then but when the ‘Covid’ deal hit, I thought the ‘experts’ said to wash your hands for at least 20 MINUTES, NOT SECONDS, so I’ve been in the bathroom even more than usual. But, man, are my hands clean!!
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/05/01/smiling-in-hell-2-0/
From "Covid - The Musical" to The Twilight Zone, come along as we review a bunch of perspectives on what we can possibly do with all of the conspiracy and origin stories of everyone's favorite virus. Don't forget, this episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/04/23/smiling-in-hell-2-o-2/
Chapter 2
“The Covid Conspiracy”
DISCLAIMER: Those who know me know that this is just a speculative spoof and wacky idea and no offence is meant to any group, individual, political organization, company, neighborhood, mammal genus, unknown fish species or insect family…except maybe spiders. I really don’t like spiders. L.P.
This episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/04/15/smiling-in-hell-2-o/
For those who have been reading my "SMILING IN HELL" blogs over the past year or so, you probably don't know that I always read them out loud to my wife and daughter for their valued opinion before posting them. My wife always said that they sound better when I read them so when the chance to create a podcast version of the material through Anchor was offered, I thought I'd give it a whirl. So, without further ado, here is the first foray of at least 18 week's worth of episodes into podcastville. I hope you enjoy it and comments (PG rated, please) are welcome.
By the way, this episode is also available as a blog post: https://smilinginhellcom.wordpress.com/2020/04/13/smiling-in-hell-2-o-life-after-retirement-and-then-some/