No puns resolved here, Tom determined

“I’ve struck oil,” Tom said, crudely.

“Give me some more macaroni and cheese, and I will tell you,” Tom said craftily

“I forgot what to buy,” Tom said listlessly

“I brought the dessert,” said Tom piously

“That’s the third time my teacher changed my grade,“ Tom remarked

“Parsley, sage rosemary,“ said Tom timelessly

“I nee a home run hitter,“ Tom said ruthlessly

“I need a pencil sharpener,” said Tom bluntly

I only get Newsweek, said Tom timelessly

The prisoner escaped by climbing down a rope,“ said Tom condescendingly

"This will help me catch the baseball," Mike admitted.

"I never said that!" Mike exclaimed.

"I'm dressed as an echidna," Mike pointed out.

"So, I told the stenographer to leave," Mike described.

"It's time to deal with this simple," Mike burst out.

"My girdle' s too tight," Mary snapped

"I've added the fabric softener," Mike affirmed.

"I only eat broccoli, beetroot and brussels sprouts," Mike began.

"They all survived," Mike nodded.

"You shouldn't skip exams," Mike protested.

"It keeps going to voicemail," Mike recalled.

"I can't maintain an erection," said Tom softly.

May I measure your inseam?" the tailor asked fittingly.

"Stop following me to school!" Mary bleated sheepishly.

Here come the ships!” Tom said fleetingly

“My feet hurt,” Tom said flatly.

What a large trout!", he said superficially.

“I'm waiting for Shake It Off to come on the radio", Tom said swiftly.

“My pencil won’t write,” Tom Said pointlessly.

“I've retired from being a mailman!' Tom expostulated.

“I keep walking since my car has no wheels,” Tom said tirelessly

“Do you have any Hugo?" asked Les miserably.

“Why is the rum gone?" asked a dispirited Jack.

Canada and US approaches to Retirement, the same but different

Back in 2012, the Society of Actuaries (SOA) completed a survey that looked at how Canadians and Americans prepared for their retirement. It was an interesting report. Canadian and U.S. respondents were asked to indicate their level of concern about eight post-retirement risks. Ranking these risks by the percentage of respondents saying they were very or somewhat concerned about each, shows strong similarities between retired and pre-retired respondents and between Canadian and U.S. respondents.

Specifically, Canadian retired and pre-retired respondents are most likely to say they are very or somewhat concerned about maintaining a reasonable standard of living for the rest of their lives, followed by:

•    Having enough money to pay for adequate health care

•    Depleting all of their savings

•    Having enough money to pay for long-term care expenses

•    Maintaining the same standard of living for their spouse/partner, if the respondent should die first (among those married or living with a partner)

•    Their financial ability to stay in their current home for the rest of their lives

Canadian respondents are less likely to identify two risks as very or somewhat important:

•    Leaving money to children or other heirs

•    Relying on children or other family members to provide assistance

In the United States, retired and pre-retired respondents are most likely to express high levels of concern about having enough money to pay for adequate health care, but their next four concerns are similar to Canadians:

•    Depleting all of their savings

•    Having enough money to pay for long-term care expenses

•    Maintaining a reasonable standard of living for the rest of their lives

•    Maintaining the same standard of living for their spouse/partner, if the respondent should die first (among those married or living with a partner)

U.S. respondents are less likely to identify three risks as very or somewhat important:

•    Their financial ability to stay in their current home for the rest of their lives

•    Leaving money to children or other heirs

•    Relying on children or other family members to provide assistance

Although the health care and long-term care systems in Canada are very different from those in the U.S., with the Canadian system generally being considered more supportive of those in need, it is somewhat surprising to note that Canadian retirees had more concerns than U.S. retirees.

The Canadian pre-retirees’ higher concern about maintaining a reasonable standard of living after retirement may be due to the lower level of social security benefits in Canada for workers above the average wage. Although the Canadian social security system is financed on a basis that is more sustainable in the long term than U.S. social security, many of the U.S. respondents may not be aware of the significant financial challenges to U.S. social security in the long term.

We here in Canada have many of the same concerns as our American neighbours, with health care being among the top concerns.

Old School A clearinghouse for all things anti-ageism

You may have seen an ad circulating on YouTube and Facebook that suggests that Boomers don’t want young people to vote. This ad is ageist and appalling on so many levels it is hard to take count. First, older adults have children and grandchildren they love and have a stake in their future.

This divisive ad series for Hulu, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat feed into a disturbing narrative too,  unbelievably, disenfranchise older people by removing their right to vote at say, 70. According to an article in Time Magazine, The over-65 generation does not accurately represent our country, because they are overwhelmingly white and actually vote. So, unfortunately, we're going to have to bar them from voting.

In another article in the Canadian Magazine McLeans One proposal (large pdf file) mooted in philosophy circles over the past few decades is to disenfranchise the elderly—that is, eliminate the right to vote at age 70 or some other appropriate upper threshold. The idea is that once citizens reach a certain age, they will be less concerned with our social, political, and economic future than younger generations and much less likely to bear the long-term consequences of political decisions and policies. In that case, their votes ought to be discounted, or eliminated altogether, to ensure that the future is shaped by those who have a real stake in how it turns out. But would disenfranchising older citizens be fair?

This sort of campaign is, sadly, just the most recent example of ageism creeping into every aspect of modern life. Luckily, there’s some help online to combat it. Oldschool.info, the brainchild of anti-ageism activist and author Ashton Applewhite, is a new online clearinghouse of free and carefully vetted resources (like Senior Planet) to educate people about ageism and help dismantle it. The Oldschool.info website says it is a clearinghouse of free and carefully vetted resources to educate people about ageism and help dismantle it. You’ll find blogs, books, articles, videos, speakers, and other tools (workshops, handouts, curricula etc.) that are accessible to the general public. Our goal is to help catalyze a movement to make ageism (discrimination on the basis of age) as unacceptable as any other kind of prejudice. Old School is the brainchild of anti-ageism activist  Ashton Applewhite of This Chair Rocks, and it is an ongoing, interdisciplinary collaboration. If you have an ageism-related resource to contribute to OldSchool not about positive ageing or productive ageing or healthy ageing or conscious ageing or creative ageing, but explicitly focused on ageism please visit the webpage and share it.

Work as play, play as work

Once I found my dream job, I never worked a day after that. Many of you feel the same way but some of you are stuck in jobs that are less than your dream job. 

So, here is something to think about, the trick to blending work and play lies not in what you do, but in how you view what you do.

See work as play and see play as important - super, easy and very important to your mental and emotional health.