Keeping yourself busy in retirement

[Huggybearman]

3 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Ah... that might be an issue for me... I can not teach English... I can only teach American....

Well, American is still the second best language to teach.......after English, of course! 😀

My wife teaches English through a company called TutorABC based in Taiwan. She started about 7 years ago when we were living in Thailand. She absolutely loves it and it is very well paid by Filipino standards. Locally based, ie Philippines based, language companies seem to pay a lot less though. The problem with the Taiwan based companies is that they now require a BA in teaching. That rule came in about 18 months ago for companies that teach Chinese students, but because she was already accredited fortunately did not apply to her.  

[Huggybearman]

43 minutes ago, stevewool said:

Ken, what is quality like from the pictures you take with the drones, like I said I love my camera and I have the eye now of what could be a good picture, but some of the videos you see from the drones are amazing but is a still picture just as good .

Still photos are surprisingly good. Both my DJI Phantom with the Go-Pro Hero and the DJI Spark with its built in camera shoot in 1080p. The Spark is their entry level drone. The next one up, the Mavic, shoots in 4k. The pictures are brilliant. Plenty of YouTube videos on the DJI Spark and Mavic. One of the cool features of the Spark, and I believe also the Mavic is it can be flown using hand gestures as well as a remote. You can get it to take selfie pics by using hand gestures. When you have finished the photo shoot, just press the 'return to home' button and it returns, and automatically lands, at its start point. I believe there was an issue with the early models when you pressed the return to home button, it buggered off back to China. But I guess they have sorted that one! 😅

Ken

[stevewool]

Just pricing the drones up , for a poor retired person like me it’s out of my league, what do you have to look out for 2nd hand.

[Huggybearman]

44 minutes ago, stevewool said:

Just pricing the drones up , for a poor retired person like me it’s out of my league, what do you have to look out for 2nd hand.

Looking on eBay the Spark can be had for around £300 or less.

Go for the 'Fly More Combo' that comes as a complete package including spare battery and remote and carry case.  

The Phantom has been around for years now so you should be able to pick up a Phantom 2 at a bargain price. I have seen several on eBay sub £200. If you want really good quality stills then the ones that have the Go-Pro camera are very good. Especiallly if fitted with the Zenmuse three axis gimbal. Again, lots of good advice and videos available on YouTube.

They are up to the Phantom 4 model now. 

Ken

Edited November 11, 2019 by Huggybearman

[stevewool]

Well would you believe it, just popped into the local Aldi store and in the+middle isle I spotted these, so I had to buy them for my future products , and they have been reduced to £3.99 even better.

 

[Mike J]

7 hours ago, stevewool said:

Well would you believe it, just popped into the local Aldi store and in the+middle isle I spotted these, so I had to buy them for my future products , and they have been reduced to £3.99 even better.

Acrylic paints are expensive here and not a lot of art stores.  You may want to consider bringing those as well.  Also go to Amazon.com and look for "Fredrix 3495 Canvas Pad".  This is artist canvas, already primed, in pads.  About 10 sheets to the pad and comes in different sizes.  Canvases here are HARD to find and quite expensive.  The pads good quality canvas, inexpensive, and take up almost no room.  If you really like the painting you can then mount/frame the canvas.  Or just store it away once dry.  This is my latest effort on that type of canvas.  "Kokopelli Dance Abstract".  My sister in the US is a big Native art and Kokopelli fan, and I will be sending it to her rolled in a mailing tube.  This piece is 12 x 16 inches.

 

[OnMyWay]

4 minutes ago, Mike J said:

Kokopelli

That dude has a name?  Didn't know that, had to look him up.  Back in the day, they said he was smoking a bong!

Kokopelli is a fertility deity, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player (often with feathers or antenna-like protrusions on his head), who is venerated by some Native American cultures in the Southwestern United States. Like most fertility deities, Kokopelli presides over both childbirth and agriculture.

[Mike J]

5 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

That dude has a name?  Didn't know that, had to look him up.  Back in the day, they said he was smoking a bong

That's the guy, now we are showing our age.  I wonder if that was banana peels in the bong, looking for that "mellow yellow" feeling. 

[bastonjock]

On 11/11/2019 at 1:41 AM, Tukaram (Tim) said:

My dad used to tell me to never retire - it is too boring.  I smiled and told him that he was bored, I would not be.  My counselor in high school said I had a bad attitude when she asked what I wanted to do after graduation, and I replied with 'retire'.  Turns out I was right.  I quit work at 48 and have not missed it a bit!  Work always paid for my life, but was not an important part of my life.  My father (as many of his generation) identified by their jobs.  "I am a salesman" I never had that problem.  I was a cook, later I was a sailor, then I did aircon work forever.  But that was not who I was, it was just how I paid the bills.

I tend to get bored out here, but that is because I live out among the rice fields, 20 km from the city.  Nothing to do, and too damn loud.  I am planing on moving back to city next year.  Much more fun, and quieter.  Retirement was always my career goal, and I love it.

My main hobby is my YouTube channel.  I do miss model building and my train set, but this is a tough place for that.  I built one model, of my old ship, and had to send to China for the model and paints.  One of the  paints came in damaged and I had to wait for a trip to Manila to replace it.  We have one model shop (that I have found) in Iloilo and it is all mechs and various anime'ish things.  Lots of paints, but no military colors, it is all neons.  Not a lot of hobby shops here.  Hobbies require lots of spare time and spare money.  Both of those are in short supply for most people here.

Whats your channel called 

[Old55]

Tim’s YouTube channel is linked below every post he makes. It’s very entertaining showing simplicity of life in rural communities.