The Viral Economy

[LordMortis]

I'm pretty certain young people are monolithic and all behave the same. Really, I'm not sure how much nature/nurture goes on. I would have loved job security and probably would have jobbed hopped, been more successful in my career if I had, but the energy and anxiety for changing jobs was a big blocker for me. If all all of the zoomers were sheltered flowers, you'd think they also kids would want pay check security rather than letting dissatisfaction drive them to job hob unless they are trust fund babies or don't care about paying bills. This would be at odds with the inherent transient nature ascribed to them. So....

With regard to job hoppers being ubiquitous across markets, which they seem to be, and those job hoppers being zoomers, I'd think that could ascribed to modern recruiting methodology along with early retirements from "the loyal" (like me and an increasing amount of people I know without children) contributing to the overall low unemployment. People of all ages are disillusioned with "All teens and adults work for 50+% of your waking life until your 75 so you can't contribute any more and then society will do the minimum to take care of you if that wasn't enough to get you through." Of course, like zoomers, that's not nearly everybody, so again...

[LawBeefaroni]

Even in this thread we have variations of "If you want to be a success, you have to put in the hours...", which is complete and total bullshit. If your goal is to excel in a particular field, or to hold a certain position, or to be wealthy, then absolutely. But those are not the only goals that one can strive for. And if we, as a society, consider any goal other than wealth/position to be inferior, then we've got yet another thing that's seriously broken.

It's not complete bullshit. I put in a lot of volunteer hours, none of which give me wealth but find them very rewarding. And since doing so, I applied the same standard to my work and it's been extremely fulfilling, and not just from a salary standpoint. You can help others at work just as you can anywhere else. Sometimes that means putting in extra effort.

Everyone has their own definition of happiness and success. The only complete bullshit is applying one definition to everyone.

Yes, lots of people lose their way and wrongly equate money with success or happiness. It doesn't mean wealth always makes people unhappy or is a measure of not getting "it."

[Blackhawk]

I don't know if I'm just phrasing myself badly, but I have never suggested, at all, that people shouldn't work, or that working hard and dedicating yourself to a job is a problem. I never said that you couldn't achieve your success by dedicating yourself entirely to a job. I said that the attitude that it's the only way to have any worth is the problem.

Even in this thread we have variations of "If you want to be a success, you have to put in the hours...", which is complete and total bullshit. If your goal is to excel in a particular field, or to hold a certain position, or to be wealthy, then absolutely. But those are not the only goals that one can strive for. And if we, as a society, consider any goal other than wealth/position to be inferior, then we've got yet another thing that's seriously broken.

It's not complete bullshit. I put in a lot of volunteer hours, none of which give me wealth but find them very rewarding. And since doing so, I applied the same standard to my work and it's been extremely fulfilling, and not just from a salary standpoint. You can help others at work just as you can anywhere else. Sometimes that means putting in extra effort.

Everyone has their own definition of happiness and success. The only complete bullshit is applying one definition to everyone.

The part I underlined was exactly what I was saying was complete bullshit - the attitude that wealth/position is the only way to have success. I don't know about Chicago, but everywhere I've lived, your value as a human being is judged, most often, on what work you do and how well you've done in that work.

Everyone has their own definition of happiness and success.

I also said,

If your goal is to excel in a particular field, or to hold a certain position, or to be wealthy, then absolutely.

That's one of the things that I think is starting to change - people are defining 'success' differently. It used to mean money and position, and anyone who didn't have that wasn't 'successful.' That's one idea that seems to be dying. Thankfully.

I will always disagree with the position that financial success is the definition successful person. That's only true if financial gain was what that person sought, but people like to treat it as the only metric that matters when it comes to judging a person. People without a high income, a nice house, and a shiny title are not failures if those things were never their goal.

[Kurth]

I don't feel the need to push back against suggestions that wealth shouldn't be the ultimate metric by which success is judged. Not at all.

I do feel the need to push back against suggestions that hard work and commitment, for most, is not a critically important part of success.

[hepcat]

I'm of the belief that one should give 30 to 40 percent effort in all things. Then occasionally go to 80 percent so that folks get impressed.

[YellowKing]

I do feel the need to push back against suggestions that hard work and commitment, for most, is not a critically important part of success.

But again, how is success being defined in that statement?

I know people who have worked as front line help desk people for literally decades. They've never felt the need to move up in the chain, and they're happy where they are. For some, never being promoted in 20 years is the very definition of not being successful, but to them having a steady job that they enjoy is absolute success.

[hepcat]

I would tend to agree with that. If you're happy where you're at, make enough to live and enjoy your life to some degree, what's the harm in just enjoying that? Especially if moving up the ladder exposes you to more stress due to instability or other factors.

[stessier]

Especially if moving up the ladder exposes you to more stress due to instability or other factors.

This. People who make enough but don't have to think about work when they are not at work have a special kind of success.

Also, imo luck plays an outsized role in most people's success - however they define it.

[Blackhawk]

I would tend to agree with that. If you're happy where you're at, make enough to live and enjoy your life to some degree, what's the harm in just enjoying that? Especially if moving up the ladder exposes you to more stress due to instability or other factors.

Absolutely, and that's exactly what I've been arguing. Success is choosing what you want from life and achieving that in a way that doesn't detract from others' lives. If that's working hard to climb the corporate ladder, then doing so is success. If that's working part-time in order to pursue scrap metal sculpting, then that's success, too.

"Are you getting what you want to get from life (and without hurting others?)" To me, that's the question that determines whether you are a 'success.'

What isn't success is working part time when your goal is to own a big house, or dedicating your life to climbing the ladder when it makes you miserable (which likely makes the people around you miserable as well.)

[Smoove_B]

What isn't success is working part time when your goal is to own a big house, or dedicating your life to climbing the ladder when it makes you miserable (which likely makes the people around you miserable as well.)

And to bring this full circle, I think there has been demonstrated resistance to the idea where (once again) CEOs and corporations in general are saying the only way to be successful now is to work in an office for 60+ hours a week. Not only is that not true, but the insistence that work must be done in person and in a cubicle is completely false. There are days when it really feels like people are forgetting what happened in 2020 and 2021 with respect to remote work.

And I suppose that's the point - the faster they can erase that it was ever possible, the less likely it will be that a a generation+ of workers will ever remember being part of it or how much better it was for so many people.

[hepcat]

And my point earlier is just that the overwhelming majority of people who work do so because they don't have a choice and need to support themselves or families. And they rarely are happy with their jobs. That's the reality of this world. Giving them aspirational speeches that sound like you're telling them they're failures because they AREN'T doing what makes them happy is a dick move. And again, this is directed at someone else in my life who used to do this to everyone else around her that was in that boat.

I grew up in a decidedly blue collar family in a decidedly blue collar manufacturing town. People struggled to make a living in that small Ohio town. My father worked 60 hours a week in an asphalt plant to provide for his wife and kids. There was no way he wanted to spend his days shoveling hot coal into the mixer when it was broken, or have half his nose blown off (later reattached, thank god) when someone forgot to the adjust the pressure on a tank.

...I think basically every post I've made in this thread has been heading towards one thing:

"thanks dad".

[Blackhawk]

And I'll admit - as a disabled person, I take the argument personally. By most peoples' definitions, I'm a failure. A loser.

Those people are clueless.

I'd like to take those people and put them in the situation that I landed in by the time I hit adulthood, and see how many of them do better. A few might. Most would not. Some wouldn't choose to survive. I've got limitations that externally prevent me from reaching my ideal 'dreams', but within those limitations? I feel like I've made 95% of the most of what I have to work with.

And here's the thing - if someone has goals that aren't financial/position based, many of them work just as hard, put in just as many hours, and are just as dedicated. It just takes a different form - perhaps study, or practice, or developing expertise, or overcoming obstacles. I have worked my ass off to have things how they are, and to be the person that I am. I broke the cycle that put me here. What my father was will not continue through me. I'm never going to be rich, or well off, or even what most would call 'financially stable', but that's out of my control, and I've achieved quite a bit from within those limitations that I'm proud of.

To say that those people (or I) can't be a 'success' is a slap in the face, and arrogant as hell.

[hepcat]

Well, the person I was referring to in my diatribes eventually found out she couldn't spend her entire life writing a blog about silent movie stars or taking photos of old buildings, and still be able to afford trips to Europe, after her parents cut off the money when she hit her 30s. So she's now working like the majority of us in a field that isn't based on her hobbies. We're good friends again too.

[Max Peck]

A blog? Now, if she had a podcast about silent film stars, then we'd be talking about a viable content-creation career.

[hepcat]

I love her like a sister, but she had some growing up to do.

However, my blog "Lint: The Hidden Killer" is doing gangbusters!

[Max Peck]

This tangent reminds me of all the Twitch streamers I knew back in 2018 who thought that they could make a good living streaming on Twitch as their full-time job. Shockingly, that turned out to be a realistic career choice for exactly zero of them.

[coopasonic]

This tangent reminds me of all the Twitch streamers I knew back in 2018 who thought that they could make a good living streaming on Twitch as their full-time job. Shockingly, that turned out to be a realistic career choice for exactly zero of them.

It turns out it requires hard work and dedication and on top of that a likable persona as well as likable content. Willingness to expose a lot of skin seems to help in some cases, failing that being better at games than 99.9% of gamers helps.

[hepcat]

Willingness to expose a lot of skin seems to help in some cases

Oh, I was willing. God knows I was willing. But I STILL didn't make any damn money.

[GreenGoo]

It turns out it requires hard work and dedication and on top of that a likable persona as well as likable content. Willingness to expose a lot of skin seems to help in some cases, failing that being better at games than 99.9% of gamers helps.

The short period of time where I actually watched twitch streamers had me wondering what would have happened had twitch existed when I was younger.

It took exactly 2 seconds for me to realize all of the above and laugh at the possibility of making a living at streaming games, even as a young man.

I think it's fascinating that people can make a living just having a camera on them all day ("influencers" more than game streamers) but it has got to be a shit life, even if you're (some) incredibly successful at it. And the risk of being "cancelled" and have your viewership dry up has got to be stressful. You go from a God who can do no wrong to a pariah who people seek out to abuse, in the span of 24 hours or less. Just...awful. The whole thing.

[Blackhawk]

This tangent reminds me of all the Twitch streamers I knew back in 2018 who thought that they could make a good living streaming on Twitch as their full-time job. Shockingly, that turned out to be a realistic career choice for exactly zero of them.

It turns out it requires hard work and dedication and on top of that a likable persona as well as likable content. Willingness to expose a lot of skin seems to help in some cases, failing that being better at games than 99.9% of gamers helps.

Not to mention a good voice, great improvisational skills, and a willingness to keep gaming with a smile on your face long after you're sick and tired of gaming. Oh, and being willing to spend insane hours playing the games that people want to watch rather than the ones you enjoy playing.

When people who have an ambition that just isn't realistic (whether that's streaming, acting, or having an actual career in archaeology that doesn't just involve teaching, or my own childhood career goal - being a stuntman), I have no criticism of them making the effort. The successes, however rare, have to come from somewhere, and there's value in knowing that you gave your dreams a shot. They do, however, need to be aware that it's a long shot, set limits in advance ("If I haven't gotten a role in three years, go back to plan B"), and the clarity to know when it's time to walk away.

[GreenGoo]

I just remembered that I literally forget how to speak (not forget *to* speak, forget *how* to speak) when I'm gaming. So that's an extra bit of impossible for me as far as streaming is concerned. Me trying to talk while "try hard"ing, sounds like I'm stroking out. Hilarious.

[Carpet_pissr]

Willingness to expose a lot of skin seems to help in some cases

Oh, I was willing. God knows I was willing. But I STILL didn't make any damn money.

Which skin is important. "Inner thigh" is the money maker. Did you try that?

[gilraen]

No one says that working 60 hours weeks should be the metric of success. But on the flip side, there's a whole generation coming (and failing) in the workforce because they've been coddled to beyond belief, pretty much since birth.
- When whey were in school, the teacher wasn't allowed to reprimand or criticize them.
- If/when they went to college, they were told that their "mental health" is the top priority, they should study something that makes them happy (whether or not it has any earning potential whatsoever), and they should demand accommodations for any real or perceived disability.
- Professor didn't give you a "trigger warning" before discussing something controversial? Demand a safe space, an automatic "A" in the class and bonus points if you can get the professor "cancelled".
- Don't feel like 1 hour is enough to complete an exam (that everyone else is taking in the same hour)? Claim anxiety, ADHD, panic attacks; demand extra time, extra office hours, extra credit, and whatever else "extras" you can get the professor to give you just to make you go away.

Now these same people are showing up in job interviews with the same kind of attitude.
- Demanding extra time for a technical exam that's part of a technical interview because they "cannot perform in a timed setting, it's too stressful".
- Interviewing for a shift position where they are told the position is for a 10am-6pm shift, and they respond that 6pm is too late for them, and they want to be able to leave earlier (real example taken from Reddit...the person seemed pretty outraged that the interviewer ghosted them, gee, I wonder why!)
- Complaining about having to learn any function that doesn't directly correlate with their job description ("I was hired to work on xyz software, how dare you ask me to also create a PowerPoint to present to the leadership what xyz software does...waaah")

[LawBeefaroni]

No one says that working 60 hours weeks should be the metric of success. But on the flip side, there's a whole generation coming (and failing) in the workforce because they've been coddled to beyond belief, pretty much since birth.
- When whey were in school, the teacher wasn't allowed to reprimand or criticize them.
- If/when they went to college, they were told that their "mental health" is the top priority, they should study something that makes them happy (whether or not it has any earning potential whatsoever), and they should demand accommodations for any real or perceived disability.
- Professor didn't give you a "trigger warning" before discussing something controversial? Demand a safe space, an automatic "A" in the class and bonus points if you can get the professor "cancelled".
- Don't feel like 1 hour is enough to complete an exam (that everyone else is taking in the same hour)? Claim anxiety, ADHD, panic attacks; demand extra time, extra office hours, extra credit, and whatever else "extras" you can get the professor to give you just to make you go away.

Now these same people are showing up in job interviews with the same kind of attitude.
- Demanding extra time for a technical exam that's part of a technical interview because they "cannot perform in a timed setting, it's too stressful".
- Interviewing for a shift position where they are told the position is for a 10am-6pm shift, and they respond that 6pm is too late for them, and they want to be able to leave earlier (real example taken from Reddit...the person seemed pretty outraged that the interviewer ghosted them, gee, I wonder why!)
- Complaining about having to learn any function that doesn't directly correlate with their job description ("I was hired to work on xyz software, how dare you ask me to also create a PowerPoint to present to the leadership what xyz software does...waaah")

There's a growing problem with newer doctors not passing or not taking their board certification exams. From what I've been told it's poorer education/preparation in med school. In some cases, also an unwillingness to negatively impact "quality of life" by studying for boards.

Mentioned to a friend and she said that the same thing is happing with certified teachers.

[hepcat]

I wonder if all this is a quantifiable problem, or if it's just a standard "my generation had to walk uphill both ways in a snowstorm to get water" type of thing?

[Smoove_B]

Meanwhile, half of U.S. inflation is due to corporate profits:

A new report claims “resounding evidence” shows that high corporate profits are a main driver of ongoing inflation, and companies continue to keep prices high even as their inflationary costs drop.

The report, compiled by the progressive Groundwork Collaborative thinktank, found corporate profits accounted for about 53% of inflation during last year’s second and third quarters. Profits drove just 11% of price growth in the 40 years prior to the pandemic, according to the report.
US inflation ticked up to 3.4% in December as policymakers mull rate cuts
Read more

Prices for consumers rose by 3.4% over the past year, but input costs for producers increased by just 1%, according to the authors’ calculations, which were based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and National Income and Products Accounts.

“Costs have come down substantially, and while corporations were quick to pass on their increased costs to consumers, they are surprisingly less quick to pass on their savings to consumers,” Liz Pancotti, a Groundwork strategic adviser and paper co-author, said.

The "viral" element:

Since pandemic inflation spiked in 2021, a high-stakes debate has played out about its sources. Many progressive economists pointed to corporate profits – or “greedflation” – and supply chain issues as a driver of high prices, while their more conservative counterparts singled out government stimulus cash and high wages.

The report’s authors scoured corporate earnings calls and found executives bragging to shareholders about keeping prices high and widening profit margins as input costs come down.

The findings come as the Federal Reserve has hiked interest rates to their highest point in 20 years. The report casts serious doubt on the need for further interest rate hikes, and instead calls for stronger policies to rein in “corporate profiteering”.

Prices rose in 2021 as labor costs jumped and supply chain shocks from the pandemic and the Ukraine war snarled shipping traffic and left energy supplies in question. But those issues have in many cases been fully sorted out or are easing, and the labor market has stabilized. Many commodities and services producers’ prices have actually decreased, the report notes.

Up next:

Absent strong government intervention in pricing, the 2025 expiration of the Trump corporate tax cuts presents an opportunity to rein in corporations via the tax code, Pancotti said.

“We’ve decided as a country that we like to have very large, powerful corporations and we are OK with them being very profitable,” she said. “We need to take a really hard look at how our tax code incentivizes corporate profiteering and ask: ‘Do we as a country want to do something about that?’”

[LordMortis]

It is known

Yes, soda prices are absurd. They raised them during the early days of the pandemic and consumers still paid, so now they're going to stay elevated.

You can still get Coke and Pepsi 2 Liters on deep sale for $1 a two liter every few months and the lesser pops go on sale for $1 quite frequently. However, they limit quantities and they never used to do that before. I'm a bit surprised at the sticky nature of pop pricing. I'm seeing the price of snack foods starting to recede a small amount. No where near pre-pandemic inflation but going down just the same. I had assumed it was because of the over prescription of diabetic treatments and weight loss drugs in the last year causing a glut in the supply pipeline. It's been bad for me. I have a hard time turning down ultra cheap snack food, even as I have been calorie counting for shy of a year. So I also a glut of snacks in my house and I continue to buy at a pace well above my permitable consumption level. Now if only Cheez Its would come back to down in sales of under $1.50 a box where shrinkflation didn't decrease the contents by 30%. Cheez Its remain my perfect calorie counting snack.

Also, I can't speak to Coke, specifically, but I've read from several sources that increased input costs forcing inflation has largely been an excuse, not a reality. Return to shareholders has accounted for over 70% of food inflation. I wish I could find sources.

[YellowKing]

I don't buy into that "my generation did it better, and kids these days are wusses that didn't learn to blah blah blah" bullshit. Our parents said the same thing about us, and their parents before that. Garbage. Things change, certainly, and one generation may do things differently than another, but the idea that somehow OUR way was the right way and these young whippersnappers are the ones fucking everything up? No. I don't buy that for a second.

If a generation is growing up not having the life skills to make it in this world, that's OUR fault. Not theirs.

I think the whole conventional wisdom about the newer generations is largely a bunch of mythical nonsense. And I think it's condescending and insulting.

Back to the whole Twitch streamer thing, though. I follow one Twitch streamer who does it for a living (he DJs vinyl records), but damn does he work for his money. He did over 700 consecutive days of streams during the pandemic. And he's on pretty much 7 days a week for at least 8 hours and sometimes longer. Knowing his monthly minimum streams (what he calls his minimum pay the bills), and figuring in tips and everything, I'm still guessing he's only pulling in maybe 30K a year. And that's hustling every single day for every sub you can get. I mean, you've got have a freaking powerhouse work ethic to make that commitment.

[LordMortis]

I don't buy into that "my generation did it better, and kids these days are wusses that didn't learn to blah blah blah" bullshit. Our parents said the same thing about us, and their parents before that. Garbage. Things change, certainly, and one generation may do things differently than another, but the idea that somehow OUR way was the right way and these young whippersnappers are the ones fucking everything up? No. I don't buy that for a second.

If a generation is growing up not having the life skills to make it in this world, that's OUR fault. Not theirs.

I think the whole conventional wisdom about the newer generations is largely a bunch of mythical nonsense. And I think it's condescending and insulting.

Well, yes and no. Generations can get screwed up in this great experiment we call civilization.

https://www.victorpest.com/articles/wha ... ent-utopia

[Madmarcus]

"Are you getting what you want to get from life (and without hurting others?)" To me, that's the question that determines whether you are a 'success.'

That's a great metric but it isn't measurable and quantifiable. Financial success isn't really measurable and quantifiable either but people think it is and there are some things you can look at from the outside that at least correlate with actual success. Monkey brain likes thinking they know where everyone stands in the status hierarchy.

In a weird, joking, thought I wonder if it would matter if you described yourself as retired? As a teacher I saw at least some of the outsiders judging me as being less successful and important. I'm seeing the flip side now that I can say I'm retired. I see the wheels turning as people process that I'm not old enough to retire so I must have been a financial success.

[Victoria Raverna]

I look forward to the future Star Trek has promised me in which we don’t need to work, but we choose to because we enjoy it.

Which always made me wonder, is there a large contingent of people in the Star Trek universe who have never worn anything but sweat pants and have seen every episode of Friends like 7 times?

Maybe when AI and robots are taking over most jobs, we'll have that kind of future. If there are less works available, you can't just kill off the unemployed and keep all the resources for those that can find jobs or own AI/robots that do the works. So some resources still have to be shared to those that don't work to prevent uprising and violence.

[Blackhawk]

In a weird, joking, thought I wonder if it would matter if you described yourself as retired? As a teacher I saw at least some of the outsiders judging me as being less successful and important. I'm seeing the flip side now that I can say I'm retired. I see the wheels turning as people process that I'm not old enough to retire so I must have been a financial success.

One of the first questions people always ask each other is, "What do you do?"

When the kids were younger, I said homemaker rather than disabled. It wasn't untrue. It got me quite a few strange looks (and a few women who said that I was harming my kids by staying home with them instead of working and letting my wife stay home), but the looks I got were far kinder than the looks I'd get when I said, "I'm on disability." You could always see them count my arms, count my legs, look confused for a second, and then assume that I'm lazy and just gaming the system to live on their tax dollars.

[LordMortis]

"Are you getting what you want to get from life (and without hurting others?)" To me, that's the question that determines whether you are a 'success.'

That's a great metric but it isn't measurable and quantifiable. Financial success isn't really measurable and quantifiable either but people think it is and there are some things you can look at from the outside that at least correlate with actual success. Monkey brain likes thinking they know where everyone stands in the status hierarchy.

In a weird, joking, thought I wonder if it would matter if you described yourself as retired? As a teacher I saw at least some of the outsiders judging me as being less successful and important. I'm seeing the flip side now that I can say I'm retired. I see the wheels turning as people process that I'm not old enough to retire so I must have been a financial success.

I go the other way around. People always ask if I'm retired at such a young age and I always respond with retired is a bold word.

[GreenGoo]

also duplicate.

[GreenGoo]

duplicate.

[GreenGoo]

No one says that working 60 hours weeks should be the metric of success.

Um...

I wonder if all this is a quantifiable problem, or if it's just a standard "my generation had to walk uphill both ways in a snowstorm to get water" type of thing?

It's this. It's always this.

I don't buy into that "my generation did it better, and kids these days are wusses that didn't learn to blah blah blah" bullshit. Our parents said the same thing about us, and their parents before that. Garbage. Things change, certainly, and one generation may do things differently than another, but the idea that somehow OUR way was the right way and these young whippersnappers are the ones fucking everything up? No. I don't buy that for a second.

+1.

[LawBeefaroni]

I wonder if all this is a quantifiable problem, or if it's just a standard "my generation had to walk uphill both ways in a snowstorm to get water" type of thing?

I'm sure COVID played a role, especially in teacher certs, but I think it's partially a generational thing. We're also seeing a lot more doctors happy being employed rather than starting their own practice. Is it because all the extras in running a practice these days are soul-crushing rather than rewarding (contracting, billing, compliance, etc)? Maybe. But that's still generational. Not in a "this generation is lazy" sense but "things are different for this generation" sense.

Keep in mind, just as we can call millennials a generational failure for being lazy or selfish entry level workers, we can call Gen X a generational failure for being greedy, low substance CEOs.

[Madmarcus]

One of the first questions people always ask each other is, "What do you do?"

I know that retired isn't technically true in your case but you have reached an age that early retirement is a thing and it seems like a small jump. Some people give you the side eye but the biggest feeling seems to be a little jealousy with comments about how they wish they could do that. The biggest problem I find is that people ask how I spend my time and my answer of cooking, reading, video games, and walking doesn't seem exciting enough of an answer but I'm used to that because it has been my answer all of my life.

[GreenGoo]

Keep in mind, just as we can call millennials a generational failure for being lazy or selfish entry level workers, we can call Gen X a generational failure for being greedy, low substance CEOs.

Wait, we can condemn an entire generation because of a percent of a percent of a percent of them are crappy CEO's?

Excellent.

[GreenGoo]

One of the first questions people always ask each other is, "What do you do?"

I know that retired isn't technically true in your case but you have reached an age that early retirement is a thing and it seems like a small jump. Some people give you the side eye but the biggest feeling seems to be a little jealousy with comments about how they wish they could do that. The biggest problem I find is that people ask how I spend my time and my answer of cooking, reading, video games, and walking doesn't seem exciting enough of an answer but I'm used to that because it has been my answer all of my life.

Expect lots of "retired from what?" follow up questions.