If any of you have kept up with the news; or are active in social media, then you’ve heard about the new app for cell phones that will allow you to see what you’ll look like 30 to 40 years from now. It takes a “selfie” (I hate that word!) and will age your features so that you’ll know what you’ll look like when you’re 70 or 80. I guess Millennials get a big kick out of that. I don’t, and I definitely don’t need the app.. I turned 62 this year, so I know where I’ll most likely be 30 to 40 years from now.
So what’s this post all about? It’s not about being maudlin, or morose, or being a “Gloomy Gus”. No, this post is about the things I want to do in Amateur Radio before leaving for that big DX Contest in the Sky.
The good Lord willing, I may actually get to retire somewhere within the next 5-8 years. After that, I’m hoping He will allow me to live long enough to do some of the things that I just don’t have the time and opportunity for right now; work and keeping up the house being the necessary evils that they are. But when I do get some time, here are some Amateur Radio things (in no particular order) that I want to accomplish before I leave this rock that we call Earth.
1) Do an honest-to-goodness SOTA operation
2) Attend FDIM and Hamvention (I’m hoping to do that in 2020 – fingers crossed, we’ll see)
3) Get back on the satellites.
4) Do more POTA activations – particularly ones that require a bit of travel.
5) In general, just get on the air more than I have been able to.
6) Build stuff – oh, how I miss building stuff!
So why is it so hard to do these things now? Most of you probably know. Between work, house chores, doing things for the family, community and church obligations, there really isn’t a lot of time for projects, or self indulgence. The fact that I manage to lock away enough time for events such as FOBB and the Skeeter Hunt amazes me enough, in and of itself. Even those rare times are dicey. It seems whenever I have some event for myself penciled in, something comes out of left field to spoil the best laid plans of mice and men.
And that ‘work” thing ….. it seems that by the time I get home around 6:00 PM everyday, I’m just too tired to even think about doing much of anything with the rest of the day. I remember when I was in my 20s and 30s, how I could come home from work and stay up until 1:00 or 2:00 AM doing things and wake up the next morning and feel ready and raring to go. I got a lot of stuff accomplished when I was younger. Unfortunately, those days are long gone. So I dream the dream of some day, being able to accomplish things that I want to do – again.
72 de Larry W2LJ
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