I never read the source material, but I did stop in at our local art house to see the movie when it was released. It was intriguing, but walked out of the theater not honestly knowing if I loved it or hated it. I can, however, say that I enjoy the tv adaption much more. The tv format allows a depth of story and character that you just can't capture in a film's 120 minutes, and they're certainly taking advantage of that by providing a rich, layered story.

Please share your thoughts if you too are watching.

I wanted to discuss some of the clichés that I spot from time to time that just drive me up the wall. Perhaps you have one or two that drive you crazy as well?

Here are just a few that are top of mind.

1) Entering the home through the front door.. Even if a character has a garage, they still park the car in the driveway and enter through their front door. In the movies, rarely does a character pull the car into the garage and come into their house through the garage entry into the kitchen or mudroom, like in reality. Nope, they're all coming through the front door. More dramatic, I guess.

2) Fear of the Interstate Highway system. One of the worst offenses. Any time a character or characters take a long car trip, they insist on driving the whole way via back roads. More opportunities to run into quirky characters, I guess, but not realistic at all. Being in Ohio, if you told me I needed to be in Denver, I'd hop onto I-70 and head west, easy peasy. If I were in a movie, though, in the next scene you'd see me driving down a hilly, one-lane road in Indiana.

3) 6:00 AM looks like mid-day. Where I live, it's dark at six in the morning. Always. Oh, there may some faint light coming up at that point, but in movies, six in the morning always looks like two in the afternoon. Now, if a movie were set in Alaska, I could buy it. But, it's always set in the lower 48. Is it like that in California? That might explain it.

So, those are but a few. I thought of three more while I was writing this, but I want to see if anyone has their own.

I've worked for my organization for over 32 years. The people are fine, but it's work I don't enjoy, and for all intents and purposes, actually dread doing. Its a good paying job, and that is all that kept me doing it day after day for some years now. And, due to changing conditions and an increased workload, it's become almost unbearable.

My wife says she supports my decision, but I can tell that she's worried some. We have cash reserves and will be fine financially for a while without having to dip into long-term savings.

Ideally, I would find something else to do, though, I really have no clue what that might be (so, calling this a "retirement" might be a bit of a misnomer, even though my company will classify me as such because of age/service). I'm not technically savvy nor mechanically inclined, and snagging a new gig is daunting enough without doing so in a Covid world.

As you can see, I have more questions than I have answers. I actually don't know where to begin or how to reinvent myself. All I know is, I want out. I've written my resignation letter and plan to turn it in in the next day or two, and then they'll be no turning back.

Any thoughts from those who've trod this path before?