My first full year of retirement -- well, that was dull. Let me describe it for you.

Here's a short update about the family.

After 4 years of intensive effort Roger was awarded his PhD. It was a strange process. He was informed of his success in March and received a digital version of the document. In April he received the physical document in the mail. In July there was a graduation ceremony, which seemed like an after thought. However, it gave us [including his mom] the chance to meet in Brisbane and celebrate his success. Near the end of the year he won a 7 month contract with the Qld govt, in the Land Revenue Dept. The work is a secret -- they won't tell him anything about it until he's started and as at writing this he's undergoing his mandatory induction program so they STILL won't tell him about it. Does the Land Revenue Dept operate a spy network? Stay tuned and we might find out, but if he does become a spy he can't tell me and I can't tell you. So it's a mystery.
UPDATE: It turns out he wasn't inducted as a spy. He and other new workers are assessing land purchases to see if they're subject to tax (there are various conditions to trigger the tax and then exceptions to waive it). From what he's said to me it sounds like something that's destined to be taken over by AI.

Rex continued working in Boston. During the year he and his GF Claire started cohabiting. In July they spent a few weeks in Europe, mainly in Vienna as Claire has a career in the performing arts. They went on weekend trips to cities in neighboring countries. He had a procedural issue when returning to the US and was denied boarding onto the plane -- he has a valid visa but it wasn't stamped into his passport. This led to a weird process to resolve it. He managed to do that 3 weeks later with an onsite interview at the US Embassy in Sydney. He refers to it as his 3 week odyssey. While it was a difficult time he managed to see his mother in Sydney, his brother in Brisbane & me in Cairns so it wasn't a total loss, except for the stress it caused him and the impact on his bank account.

Kung had a good year in Thailand. I managed to visit for a few weeks in August. Her son finished university (engineering) and found work in the company that operates the Skytrain network in Bangkok. In May she went on a package tour to Yunnan province in China. That surprised me for a few reasons: 1) she said it's the first time she's ever been away by herself -- no parents, no son, no BF, not even her dog; 2) the flight to Kunming is only 2 hours from Bangkok; 3) Yunnan province is next to Tibet so she went to some places (temples / monasteries) with Tibetan-styled architecture. She's the first person I know who's been that close to Tibet. It was only a 5 day trip but the photos looked great & she enjoyed herself.

A few things happened besides watching TV, but not much.

Over the past few years I've mentioned the changes I want in my apt and I made some progress. The kitchen has been done but that's all I managed to do this year. Here's the list:

Item		Status
Wireless indoor security cameras inside the apt		Done in 2022
Replace carpets in the bedrooms with wooden floors		Done in 2023
Quite a bit of painting (walls, etc)		Done in 2023
Minor changes / improvements to the kitchen		Done in 2023
Bigger changes / improvements to the kitchen		Done in 2024
Renovate both bathrooms		Planned but not done; maybe in 2025
Replace air conditioning		New item
Curtains for living room		New item

I hope to get the last things done in 2025 but also worry that if I finish I'll have nothing left to do. My days will be reduced to watching TV & nothing else. I've started planning for the bathrooms and I worry about the cost -- not because the things I have to buy are too expensive, but the labor. The trades, wow, they cost a fortune and while I have some budget I may not have enough. I tell myself it'll only cost more if I delay (I should have done this in 2020) but I haven't pulled the trigger on the bathrooms yet.

Here are before & after photos of changes I've made in the kitchen.

The other thing that happened in 2024 was I bought a new car, a Toyota RAV4. Maybe not exciting for you but in Australia that meant 6 months waiting for delivery. Just a year ago the waiting list was 18-24 months so I guess I shouldn't complain about 6 months. I don't normally name cars but I thought this one should be called Rory. As in "This is my RAV4, his name is Roar, but I call him Rory".