Deeds & Words

So, if you go to the hardware store at 11:00 am on a Monday, you will find it filled with gray-haired people. Some are spry and sprightly, often mud-spattered and tanned, buying grape trellises or tomato cages or something. Some are frail, walking with canes or walkers, searching for lightbulbs or plumbing fixtures, or birdfeeders, or ant bait. Some are munching popcorn and talking to the clerks. They’re not in a big rush. They aren’t frantic. Only one or two of them are on their smart phones (although one may be taking a picture of a holiday display and texting it to her daughter). They may have dogs.

This is what retirement’s like.

On Black Friday, we went “up the hill,” as the locals say, to a town called Arnold. Along the way to our destination I saw a sign for a used bookstore, and on our way back we stopped. Highland Books is s delightful, old-fashioned used bookstore – not antiquarian, just used – stuffed with books (in a highly organized way);genre fiction, poetry, drama and non-fiction. At the counter there was a stack of copies of a new book that was published independently by the writer, who knows the bookstore owner. The book is a mystery set in the gold country. I’m not going to give the name or the author’s name because this post is a screed about finish editing and I am going to savage the book. It seems neither right nor necessary to give the name because this isn’t a review.

There might have been some problems with the book other than the grammar and punctuation mistakes. The main character is what science fiction readers call a “Mary Sue;” the wish-fulfillment character who is beautiful brilliant, witty, compassionate, clever, beloved by all, desired by many. Her only faults are that she cares too deeply; she’s too passionate, etc. A “Mary Sue” has no flaws and no backstory to explain how she acquired perfection. The book had stretches of implausible dialogue and a plot that, by page 28, didn’t really hold water. None of these problems have ever stopped writers from getting into print. Pick up any Dan Brown book as an example.

Let’s talk, instead, about apostrophe abuse (they are used for possessives, or contractions, not plurals); no understanding of when to use a comma; inconsistent capitalization (dude, it’s 2012 in America—you don’t have to capitalize the O in “okay;” really,) and homonym switching. This last one was actually funny. “After I made the payoff to the union, the picketers dropped out of site,” a character says. Really? You mean they fell off your location (site?) Or do you mean they vanished from view (sight?) One of those would have been an amusing mistake. Any one of these would have been amusing, or at the very least, I might have rolled my eyes… but all of them? An error every other page is not funny.

“I suppose I can hold out at my dads cabin,” is not correct, even if you have two dads, and neither is, “The cop’s all know him,” unless there is one cop who owns a gaggle of somethings called an “all.” It is correct to say, “We’ll ask your mother when she gets here,” and not “We’ll ask your Mother when she gets here.”

Some of these mistakes happen because you don’t know basic grammar. That’s that apostrophe thing, and also your complete refusal to ever use a comma. Many of these mistakes, though, probably happened because you were so caught up in your story. That is understandable. This is why writers find somebody to read their book before they send it out.

If you sent your manuscript out to agents and publishing houses before you published it yourself, I promise you, this is what killed it. Not the implausible main character or stilted, expository dialogue. Within three pages, whoever was looking over your manuscript stopped reading, deducing, possibly incorrectly, that you couldn’t write.

But editors cost money! Yes, they can, but you can get this kind of help for free or for very cheap. Here are some ways:

1. Join a writers’ group (note the use of plural possessive). Writers’ groups are not designed to be grammar-checkers or finish-editors, but there is almost always someone in the group who delights in that sort of thing. Play to that strength.
2. Take a writing class at the local community college. You may be a brilliant story-teller who never paid much attention to grammar in school. Teachers will help you with that. You may understand grammar just fine and never gave the book a final read-through. The teacher will help you with that, too.
3. No groups? No community college? Talk to your local librarian or a seventh-grade English teacher. If you can’t afford to pay them, offer to barter something. They may be flattered and intrigued by your offer. (If they help you, it would be nice to include them in the acknowledgments.)
4. Cultivate a “first reader.” It may be a friend, a spouse, one of your children; someone who has a good eye, is a thoughtful reader and can be honest with you.

*

I just couldn’t progress past page 41. Bam! Into the bottom of the tote bag went the book. Out came The Inexplicables, by Cherie Priest. Suddenly, all the words seemed shiny and new… and right!

1. I’m thankful that I got to retire before the world ends on December 21, 2012, because I got a couple of months of free time.
2. I’m thankful that I worked in a place that offered a real pension, (even though I had to contribute a good share of the cost, and for several years of employment those contributions were taxed), so that despite the constant assault of certain political groups, I was able to retire, after 35 1/2 years, in some degree of stability and comfort.
3. I’m thankful that I had a job for 35 1/2 years that was meaningful and made people’s lives better. Not many people get to say that.
4. I’m thankful that I’m relatively healthy, and that even though it’s outrageously expensive, I have health insurance.
5. I’m thankful for the internet. It keeps me in touch with family members as far east as Florida and as far west as Hawaii. It lets me post book reviews, and read interesting blogs like io9, Reading the Leaves, Fiction is So Over-rated, and Brian Fies’s blog.
6. I’m thankful that I live in a county that has 42 beautiful and diverse parks for me to explore.
7. I’m still thankful for chocolate.
8. I’m thankful for Cheeko’s Corner and Elena’s Westwide Cafe, two coffee places that are within walking distance of my house.
9. I’m thankful that I live in a town where, around the corner, a family can sell their eggs on the honor system. They leave out the eggs and a coin box, and people pay for the eggs they take, and they haven’t been ripped off yet.
10. I’m thankful for my friends, who enrich my life every day.
11. I’m thankful for Grimm, and for Doctor Who on BBC America.
12. I’m thankful for Spouse.
13. I’m still thankful for dogs.

One thing the Patient Rights and Affordable Care Act (Health Care Reform) did was expand coverage to Americans. Some of those provisions have already gone into effect. People can stay on their parents’ coverage until age 26; people cannot be turned down for existing medical conditions, and the law makes it harder for insurance companies to find pretexts for ending coverage to a premium payer who develops a medical condition and might cost the company some money.

All of those are good things for people who already had coverage. One of the abiding problems in America, though, is that of people with no coverage.

The simplest solution, everyone knows, would be  a system like Canada has, where the government provides a minimum level of health insurance for everyone. People who want so-called “Cadillac plans” can still pay for them, but everyone gets basic medical. Of course, this well-tested model is not available here, so instead the bill provides a patch-worked model of coverage. I’m using that term descriptively, not pejoratively.

Low Income:

Medicaid already provides medical coverage to low income children and parents, disabled adults and people over 65. Medicaid is a federally funded program that is available in all 50 states. The programs differs from state to state in what is covers.

With the ACA, Medicaid will be expanded to include people whose adjusted annual income* is less that 133% of  federal poverty level (FPL). This will include childless adults.

In case you’re wondering how much that is:

2012 FPL for 1 person  = $11,170

133% of FPL for 1 person = $14,856

2 people = $15,130            133% =$20,123

3 people = $19,090           133% = $25,390

The 2012 FPL is available here.

Working Poor and Working Class:

People who have annual income that is higher than 133% of FPL, up to 400% of FPL, may qualify for premium tax credits ( these credits can be paid in advance).  The government set a specific tax credit amount, which is determined by using what’s called a “silver” coverage plan in their area (a “silver” plan pays at least 70% of covered benefits). The credit amount is the difference between that premium amount and the percentage set below.

Individual with income:

–between 133% and 150% of FPL will not pay more than  3-4% of income for premiums

Betweeen 150-200% of FPL                                   4-6.3% of income for premiums

Between 200-250% of FPL                                    6.3-8.05% of income for premiums

Between 250-300% of FPL                                    8.05-9.5% of income for premiums

300-400% of FPL                                                       9.5% of income for premiums

Confusing? Yes. Here’s an example, courtesy of the Kaiser Family Foundation benefit calculator:

I’m a 40 year old making $17,000/year. No insurance is provided through my employer.

The premiums of the 2nd cheapest “silver” plan in my region would be $5,609 annually. I am required to pay 4% of my income toward premiums, so I’ll pay $690/annually. My tax credit (and I can get it in advance) will be $4,918.

Kaiser Family Foundation has some great fact sheets on Health Care Reform. Check them out.

Employers are required to provide health benefits, and there are tax credits available also to small business to defray this expense. Employers grumble about having to do this, and I predict we definitely  will see some big companies lay people off and reduce people’s hours to work around the law. That won’t be all of them. Smart businesses and employers will figure out pretty quickly that if they band together they have incredible purchasing power in a field that is going to  become more competitive.

But I Don’t Have Coverage!

This is where those “Exchanges” come in. Some states chose to set up their own Health Exchanges, who will provide information about low-income health coverage. Other states have declined to exercise this right and are waiting for the Federal Government to do it for them.

California already has an Exchange Board. They are looking at a toll-free number and online access and will provide data on private insurance, federally subsidized coverage and Medicaid (called Medi-Cal in California). For people who appear to qualify for Medi-Cal, the Health Benefit Exchange will immediately transfer the call or the inquiry to the appropriate California county to process the application. People who are applying for Medi-Cal will be able to look at information about low-cost private insurance at local county human services departments. California’s slogan for this is, “No Wrong Door,” but several counties have modified that slightly to, “All Doors Lead to Coverage.”

Early enrollment for these programs is supposed to be available in California in October, 2013. I won’t be holding my breath, but in many counties there is already an expanded Medicaid program available through the Low Income Health Plan. Call your local human services department to find out more information.

*

This is an intricate and elaborate way to offer coverage to more Americans, and certainly government health care would be simpler and probably more efficient. Still, this is what we have and it has the benefit of allowing people different choices. A patchwork quilt can be just as warm as a polar-fleece lap-throw, after all.

—

 * Often when you read or hear about the FPL percentage for expanded Medicaid, you will hear “138%.” This is an oversimplification. The formula uses an IRS methodology called Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI). Then the ACA gives a 5% discount off the income. If that discounted amount, 95% of the person’s annual adjusted income, is less than 133%, they qualify. It is easier to do than it is to write out, but careless people have morphed that into 138%.

What’s retirement like?

I don’t know yet. It’s been three weeks, so I certainly should, but the first two weeks felt a little like a stay-at-home vacation. Because Spouse had an accident in mid-September and needs chauffeuring to various medical appointments, and my mother in law still needs a ride places now and then, it’s felt like free time broken up with commitments to other people.

Here’s what I do know. I get up about seven. I go for a walk in the park, come home, shower, make coffee and breakfast. Then, unless Spouse has a physical therapy appointment or I’m meeting someone for lunch/coffee, that’s it for the structured portion of my day. That’s both good and bad. It means I have all day to spend on silly projects like painting flower pots black for Halloween. It also means… well, a lot of unstructured time.

I hope that will be changing after Thanksgiving, because I plan to put in some time at the local bookstore, maybe one day a week, learning the business. There are some classes I want to take and some events to go to. Maybe I’ll know next month what it’s really like.

So how’s the money?

I won’t know the real answer to that question until the end of January. I will have my first retirement check the end of December, but that check, to use the technical term we learned at the retirement office, will be “crazy.” Here are the reasons it will be crazy; the Retirement Board pays on the last working day of the month. I retired on October 30 but I didn’t authorize my payments (complete the paperwork) until November 13. That was the soonest the Retirement Board could fit me in. My benefits go back to October 30, though. My retiree health benefits also start November 1. Because I am no longer an active employee, my employer cuts the amount it pays towards my health benefits by more than half, so I will pay $1200/month. Usually, premiums are taken out in advance. My December 30 check will be for two months’ worth of payment and they will deduct 3 months’ worth of premiums ($3,600). I’m hoping there will be enough left over for a hamburger and a coffee drink.

The December 30 thing sounds scary but it does not mean I go completely without money for two full months. I got my final paycheck on 11/7. I had the ability to convert some of my unused vacation hours to cash, so I basically got a check for 160 hours of work instead of 80 – a double check, which makes November a “regular” income month except that more taxes were deducted. There is a final “pay-out” check on 11/21, when the county sends me anything it might still owe me. There shouldn’t be much because I am putting all of my vacation pay into my deferred compensation plan. It turns out I will be eligible for a small check, however, from the time when I worked and paid taxes on my pension deduction (yes, I worked for so long that there was a time when my pension deduction was after taxes.) The “safe harbor” program refunds me some of that money. I was not clear on how much.

Still, December is not the best month in the world to choose to have zero money coming in. My original plan was to retire in April, when I would have had a tax return to count on, but plans change. I’m just saying, if you are planning your retirement and there is going to be a gap in payment, adjust for that.

What about Social Security?

I know I’m old, but I’m not there yet!

What are your plans?

I don’t know that yet either. I wanted to travel, particularly two-or-three day trips, mid-week to take advantage of specials. This is not the time of year to do a lot of traveling, and again, Spouse’s injury takes priority right now.

There is the bookstore. I’m looking forward to that. I have already made one pass through the closet and given two big bags of clothes to Goodwill. And there certainly are projects. I keep looking at the mound of books in the living room (which by now probably needs an archeologist’s help to excavate) and thinking, “I really ought to do something about that… maybe I’ll take a nap.”

One thing I know I’ll be doing, and that is taking some classes on how to use my new Samsung smart phone, because it is smarter than me.

Aren’t you going to get a lot of writing done?

Sure, yeah. Maybe. I don’t know. That certainly was the idea before I retired, anyway. It hasn’t been quite so easy in practice. For me, the best to completely freeze the writing muscles is to say, “Good, plenty of time to write! No excuses now!”

Are you going to go back to the county as Extra Help?

No.

On the heels of the election and John Boehner’s grudging acknowledgement that the Patient Rights and Affordable Healthcare Act (health care reform) is “the law of the land,” Newsmax, purveyor of the highest quality right-wing pseudo-news (they also cure arthritis with spices and collect scrap gold) is trying its best to scare seniors by implying that the ACA will take away their Medicare.

If this were just sore-loser politics along the lines of Fox News (“2016,” anyone?) I would probably just roll my eyes, but this is worse, because Newsmax is aiming their misinformation at seniors, for whom, in most cases, Medicare is their primary (in many cases, only) coverage. This is bad behavior – more so because Newsmax knows that many seniors take the word of people around them, family, neighbors, and so on. Newsmax is counting on those faithful friends to terrify seniors for no purpose — except that it might, in the next election cycle, make a few seniors afraid to vote Democratic.

Many of us have elderly loved one we care about or care for. The ACA is a large and complex bill because it addresses a large and complex subject. Here are a few simple facts, and some resources. I know that we all know people in their mid-sixties who are totally computer-adept, but for aged parents and grandparents, maybe you should be the one to do the reading and start the discussion.

The Donut Hole:

The ACA narrows the “donut hole” that was created when Medicare Part D (Drug) was invented. Many seniors who hit the first spending limit and went into the donut hole in 2010 got a $250 rebate. Beginning in 2014, any senior in the donut hole (Medicare Drug won’t pay for their meds) will be eligible for a 50% discount on their prescription drugs.

Preventive Services:

Many preventive services such as mammograms, immunizations and disease screenings must now be provided at no additional cost to Medicare participants. Medicare participants can also get an annual physical at no cost.

Increased Medicare Drug premiums for higher-income participants:

Some Medicare users who are high-income will have to pay a higher premium for Medicare Drug.

“Medicare Part B Premiums will go to $247/month in 2014!” This is a baseless lie. It was invented during the original passage of the ACA and it has been reincarnated, this time even with a paper-mail or e-mail stationary that looks like it came from Anthem/Blue Cross of Alabama. Antehm/Blue Cross has thoroughly repudiated it. This is a hoax.

Medicare Advantage (Medicare Part C):

Nationally, about 25% of Medicare participants have managed Medicare, called Medicare Advantage. The misinformation about Medicare Advantage from the beginning of the discussion of health care reform has been that it “goes away under Obamacare.” There is certainly no reason to think that. The bill reduces the rates Medicare Advantage programs can charge (they charge about 14% more than Medicare fee-for-service) and requires them to spend 85 cents of every dollar on health care. You raise your eyebrows and say, “Well, what else would they spend it on?” Well, administrative costs, profits, bonuses, and so on.

Programs that meet an evidence-based five-point quality rating system will be awarded bonuses under this system, but programs that do not meet the spending requirement or the health outcomes must provide a corrective action plan to the Department of Health and Human Services, and might be decertified if they don’t improve.

Now, I totally understand that a profit-based organization might chose to end their Medicare Advantage program once they discover they are going to be held accountable for how they use the taxpayers’ money. That is a corporate decision, not a government one. Some, (not all) Advantage programs are non-profit. And frankly, because the programs still make more than fee-for-service, I doubt that very many will shut their doors.

Fraud and Waste:

“Obamacare cuts $716 billion from Medicare!” No, it doesn’t. It does not cut services, and it does not cut payments except as I’ve listed above. The savings come from reducing provider fraud and waste, like the massive multi-state fraud carried out by Columbia/HCA in the early 2000s.

Resources:

If you’re lucky enough to live in California you have a wonderful non-profit organization called Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program (HICAP). HICAP exists completely to assist people, mostly seniors, with questions about Medicare, Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) and private health insurance. They have a toll-free number, 1(800)434-0222, and a website.

AARP has some good information, but be aware that while they talk like an advocacy group, they are a marketing group too, and they are trying to sell long term care insurance and a Medicare Advantage program. Just keep that in mind. (Their site has an annoying number of pop-up ads.) They do, however, have a nice blog called “Ask Ms. Medicare” that provides good information.

The California Health Care Foundation has six short videos that give a very broad overview of the effects of the ACA, but they are worth watching.

The federal Health and Human Services website has thorough information, especially if you follow the links under 23 Key Features of the Law. They have some FAQs, but would not be very helpful for a specific question. For that, my money is on HICAP.

Don’t let the elders in your life lose sleep because the voices of the sore losers are whispering in their ears. I’d recommend starting the discussion, asking them questions about what they know or understand. If they hear it from the next door neighbor, their grocery checker, or that guy in their water exercise class, you will be in the mode of tearing someone down, and that’s not where we want to be. Get your foot in the door first.

Cloud Atlas is a movie with six stories in it. It is two hours and 44 minutes long. About two-thirds of the way in, during a part of the story looks like a 1970s action flick, Halle Berry, standing by a door on a sidewalk, turns towards the street and yells, “Joe!” For a moment, I forgot I was watching Cloud Atlas and thought that I was watching a 70s action flick.

Only one strangely magical moment, among many.

The big names on this film are the Walchowski Brothers (most famous for the Matrix trilogy) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run). Whatever you might have thought about the last two Matrix movies (and I mostly thought, “Huh?”), The Matrix changed how I looked at movies. Cloud Atlas had the same impact.

An ensemble of top-shelf actors plays the leads in every story, repertory style. Here are your leads: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Huge Weaving, Susan Sarandon, Jim Broadbent, Doona Bae, Keith David, David Gyasi, James D’Arcy. With the possible exception of Doona Bae, you would recognize every one of those actors, but you might not recognize them in every role. Bae is a South Korean actor who starred in the largest-grossing South Korean film of all time (according to Wikipedia) the horror film The Host. In Cloud Atlas she plays a clone in a corporatist future, a “fabricant” designed to work in a futuristic fast food joint, who becomes an unlikely folk hero.

The six stories, at first, don’t seem to be related. They spread out across continents, cultures and eras:

1.    In a post-apocalyptic future, Zachary comes to grips with an act of cowardice, and faces down Old Georgie, a mythical devil-figure from his culture, as he helps a foreign woman explore the ruins of the “Old ‘Uns” and evade cannibalistic raiders.
2.   In 1849, in the South Pacific, Adam Ewing, a naïve American lawyer, must cope with an escaped slave stowaway, a drunken sea captain and a strange English doctor.
3.  Robert Frobisher loves only two things in the world; music, and fellow Cambridge student Rufus Sixsmith. It’s the 1930s and Frobisher, who has cynically hired himself out as a music clerk to an aging composer of great renown, struggles to retain authorship of his symphony The Cloud Atlas Sextet, which Vyvyan Ayrs is claiming as his own.
4.  Luisa Rey, a fledgling journalist, struggles to uncover the truth about a nuclear power plant in the early 1970s, as she searches for a report written by Dr Rufus Sixsmith.
5.     In our present, Timothy Cavendish, a vanity publisher in Britain, is tricked into a rest home by his vindictive brother, and must decide whether to escape or accept his fate.
6.   In a corporate, hi-tech future, Sonmi 451 is taken from the Papa Song’s restaurant where she and many other “fabricants” act as servers. She discovers the truth about her world and about herself, and that truth marks her for destruction.

The connections between these characters and these stories is not immediately obvious, and the film leaps about in time, following each tale based more or less on the theme and on the dramatic arc; thus, three stories will rise into a climax at the same time. Often, on a dramatic or suspenseful note, one story will drop out of rotation for a cycle, increasing the tension. (Did she really drown in that car?) Certainly we are made aware that each primary character, even the “fabricant,” has a strange birthmark, but these people are clearly not related by blood. Are they reincarnations? Or is something else going on?

The film is beautiful, and each story has the settings, props, pacing and speech of its time and type. As I said, for a moment there I was truly watching a 70’s action flick, not a meta-fictional meditation on the nature of connection. Sonmi 451’s future is terrifying and beautiful, with fight scenes and chase scenes rivaling The Matrix. In one sequence, Sonmi and her rescuer Hae-Joo Chang walk across a narrow metal bridge he has just thrown across the space between two buildings, fifty stories up. From the window behind them the police begin shooting, and Hae-Joo and Sonmi engage in a martial-arts pas de deus; leaping, spinning and swirling. I’d watch the movie again just to see that sequence.

Sonmi 451 and Adam are the two characters with the most growth. Once she has been freed, Sonmi tells the general who is the leader of the resistance, “I was not genomed to alter reality.” No one who ever led a revolution was, he tells her. Adam is forced to confront the reality of slavery and his part in it, even though that part has been a passive one. For Zachary the struggle is personal. Whether Old Georgie is an actual supernatural creature or a psychological archetype, he represents selfishness, distrust, and isolation, while the woman from the more advanced society, Merowyn, represents, literally, the future. While Timothy Cavendish’s story is mostly comical, he must make a decision to risk love.

So, is something else going on? Yes. Adam Ewing kept a journal of his trip, and that journal was published as The Pacific Journal, a book Frobisher reads to alleviate his boredom in the house of Vyvyan Ayrs. Luisa discovers Frobisher’s letters to Sixsmith, and reads them, and goes so far as to track down an LP of his symphony. Cavendish leafs through an unpublished novel called Half-Lives, a Luisa Rey Mystery, while he is riding the train, and a cleaned-up version of his tale, released as a movie, provides the clones in Sonmi’s world with a catch phrase for freedom and respect. Sonmi’s story will last far longer in history than she can ever imagine.

I think this is movie worth seeing in a theater, on a big screen in the dark, because it is so beautiful. At heart, though, the stories are actually intimate stories about people. While the movie has a happy ending, not everyone’s story does.

It is perfect? Not for me, not quite. While I got a kick out of the men-in-drag aspects of the Timothy Cavendish tale (in the best tradition of Shakespeare and Boy Scout summer camps) it was slightly overdone, and I think the directors would have done better to hire one more actor, rather than make one of their repertoire wear pale makeup and bad blue contact lenses while playing the role of Tilda at the very end. This is a quibble. I also wondered why the Old ‘Uns had put a giant metal artichoke on the top of Muana Kea. I mean yes, it’s explained, but come on, people, it’s an artichoke. Having said that, I came out of the theater dazed. There is a lot to process, a lot of absorb. What’s it about? It’s about whether the statement “The weak are meat and the strong do eat” is the true human ethic. It’s about connection. It’s about the choices we make and their consequences. And it’s about using film in a different way, to tell a complex and interior story with great beauty and action.

My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree,

Toward heaven still,

And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill

Beside it, and there may be two or three

Apples that I didn’t pick upon some bough

But I am done with apple picking now.

Robert Frost

Last night when I got home I found a big box in my chair. It was from the Four-Eyed Frog, and chock full of books!

Here’s what was in there:

• Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, a YA fantasy. This has been getting great reviews.
• Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell
• Vanished and Labyrinth by Kat Richardson. Hurray! Two Greywalker books. If you like urban fantasy, check out this series. If you haven’t read urban fantasy,Greywalker is the first book in the series and I recommend it.
• Wool, by Hugh Howey
• The Time Keeper, by Mitch Albom. I didn’t realize he was the author of Tuesdays in the Park with Morrie. This is a fable about a clock-maker and life. I hope it is worth the price.
• Prince of the Elves, byKazu Kibuishi. This is the fifth graphic novel in the Amulet series. I’ve reviewed the first four on Fantasyliterature.com. It’s aimed at middle schoolers, but well drawn, with likeable characters and a compelling, complex story about good, evil and the uses of power.

Today I gathered up all the documents, clipped them together and put them in a folder. It was a pretty folder I brought from home. It has a peacock on the front and gold curlicues along the sides. It says “Retirement” on the tab. I drove over to the Sonoma County Employees Retirement Association and went in the front door to hand them in. I thought I would just turn them in and get a receipt, but the receptionist told me to wait and someone would be with me to help me.

That someone was Lisa, who conducted the retirement intake interview. I guess I hadn’t really thought there would be one. She took me into a pleasant and impersonal interview room, like the interview rooms at work (a little bit less worn). She looked at my papers.

“Sixty days before your retirement date,” she said, “exactly.” Sixty days before your date is the earliest you can submit an application. Today was that day.

“Is your first day or retirement the beginning of a pay period?” She answered her own question. “Yes, it is. It looks like you have everything you need.”

“Except Spouse’s social security number,” I said.

“Oh, we have that from when you updated your beneficiary information.”

She reviewed my options with me. The unmodified option means I get a full benefit, and if Spouse outlives me, he gets about two-thirds of my benefit as long as he lives. Option 2 means I get the full benefit and he gets zero. I don’t really understand that one. Option 3 means I get about 80% of my full benefit, and he gets the same amount if I kick off before him. Since Spouse has a good retirement plan and will get Social Security, I think he can live with the he-gets-two-thirds option.

She ran briefly through a checklist on green paper. The county offers vision care to active employees but not to retired ones, but SCERA does, so for about $250/year we can get the same coverage. The county does offer a reduced dental plan for retirees.

I have filled out a few forms in my career, so the application was complete.

Lisa ran through what I can expect. I cashed out 80 hours of holiday time (spiking! Spiking!) and she asked me if I plan to cash out the 80 hours of vacation. I said yes, but closer to my termination date.  I have about 400 hours of vacation and by contract I can only add 80 to my annual compensation. The rest gets paid as cash, but I can sign a form and have it go directly into my deferred compensation account.

My sick leave (about 1200 hours) gets converted to service hours. It gives me just about another six months of time.

Once I retire, I come back to a group session where I “sign up” for retirement. My money goes back to the date on this application. It will take me about six weeks from my last day of work to get a check (actually, I won’t get a check until after Christmas). The check will be for two months, but it will also have two months’ worth of medical premiums deducted, so it will be, as Lisa said, “Weird.”

Anyway, I noted down my appointment time in my Blackberry, clipped Lisa’s card into my folder, and said good-bye. I thought I was just fine, but when I got out to my car and sat down, my hands were shaking.