I thought this day would never come.

My dad has officially announced his retirement. He turned 65 last year and celebrated his 25th anniversary at the Bank. Several months later, I was told that the Bank had been sold and that he would stay long enough to settle in the new owners and make sure his employees and customers were ok, and then he'd be retiring. I know my dad, and I know he's a complete workaholic, so I really never thought the day would come when he'd actually set a retirement date. However, he has finally announced that April 30 will be his last day. I can't believe it. As morbid as this sounds, I always thought (and so did my mom) that he would probably die at his desk - that he would never leave the Bank.

Don't get me wrong...I'm absolutely ecstatic that he's finally giving up work. However, I'm not sure how long it will last. He's good at what he does, and he is well-known for it. He has apparently already been asked if he will train employees at another bank. I know the new owners of his Bank have asked him numerous times to reconsider and to stay, but he's said no. I'm sure he could get some consultant work with very little effort, so I'm not entirely convinced that he's giving up work for good. As long as he doesn't go back to a full-time gig anywhere and get as heavily involved and invested as he was in the Bank, then I think he'll be ok. In fact, I think doing some consulting and keeping active will be good for him and keep him going. However, I also hope he leaves himself time for some hobbies, some relaxation, and some travel. Apparently he has already mentioned getting a passport to my mom, so I'm hoping he'll get on with it so that they can both come visit this year. My mom hasn't been here for over two years, mostly because of her back and leg pain (which thankfully the surgery has fixed), and my dad has never been here, so it would be very nice to have them both here.

I've tried talking my mom into getting a Nintendo Wii, because I think my parents would really enjoy it. There are fishing games that I'm sure my dad would LOVE. Hopefully if they do visit, we can get them to have a go on our Wii, and I bet they'll enjoy it. I think my dad will probably start being more interested in a lot of things my mom and I have tried to get him into in the past now that he's going to be retiring. I thought he'd really enjoy having an iPod; he loved playing with my iPod last time we visited them. He'd probably enjoy reading more and possibly playing around on the computer more; he does so much of that at work, he doesn't really want to spend much time doing that sort of thing at home. My mom thinks he should join a gym, and I just doubled over with laughter at the mention of that. I just can't picture my dad on a treadmill or rowing machine. First off, with his horrid smoking habit, I think he'd end up in a coughing fit the first time he tried to use one of those machines, and second, I think he'd need to take a smoke break every 5 minutes. I just can't see him being interested in it, but hey, you never know. My mom works out three times a week at Curves and does yoga twice a week, and who would have ever expected that?

Anyway, in other news, I met with my personal tutor today and had a chat about the mandatory course we've had to take this semester. It's been an absolute shambles - completely unacceptable. I know my fellow students have complained verbally, and apparently they have also submitted a written complaint on behalf of the rest of the students, which is fine with me. However, I told my tutor that I am going to be writing my own formal complaint, and I will be requesting (demanding?) compensation for loss of earnings and travel expenses for the time and money I've wasted on this class this semester. I also said that although we only have two classes left, I want to leave the class and retake it next year. I don't see any reason to attempt to write the essay; none of the essay questions are very clear, specific or interesting, but more than that, I really feel that to make an educated attempt at writing any of them, I should have had the mandatory History & Theory course last semester. The part-time students were told we could wait until next year to take it, but I have found that I really needed it to do a couple of the courses I wanted to do this semester, including this mandatory course. However, I was told I didn't need it to do the mandatory course this semester; I've found that this hasn't necessarily been the case. I've felt a bit behind the rest of the class at times, and most of the essay topics would certainly benefit from the History & Theory course. Yes, I could read a couple of History & Theory books, but I really need the experience of the class discussions and instruction to feel confident. Anyway, both my personal tutor and the department administrator agreed that it was a sensible idea to take the class next year, and the administrator even offered to email the tutor for me. So, hopefully I will hear back in the next few days that it's not a problem for me to do that. No one seems to think it should be an issue, but who knows what the course tutor will have to say. I'll feel much better once I've heard that he's not going to try to object to me leaving the class.

Other than my meeting today with my personal tutor (which has made me feel much better), I've made chicken fajitas for dinner, and Miriam and her son came over for dinner and to play on the Wii. It's been a nice evening. (That's Mexican food five nights in a row now, and probably for at least another one or two nights, with leftovers!)