Writing to people, retiring and more IRS fun

so I am finally writing again. I took a couple of weeks off. Dad seems to miss getting letters from his brothers and sister. My sisters and I now correspond by e-mail, except we did send out some Christmas or seasonal cards. Tim made a nice linoleum block print that we sent to people. So I am now retired, mostly official on Jan 1st. I will go tomorrow to clean out the office. I think I will be aware of it in January when school starts up and I do not go in. I will need to find some work but am not sure exactly what. I have had some more conversations with the IRS. In speaking with a lady who is looking into systemic problems it came out that if one files and does not pay it is not frivolous but if you file and do not pay and enclose a letter explaining your religious, moral or ethical reasons behind your not paying then this action is considered frivolous. What a strange world we are in. If I am simply greedy or do not have money to pay that is okay but if I am a thinking person who is acting based on reasoning and take the time to write this reasoning out and send it along with my form which has been filled out correctly then my actions can warrant a penalty. Seems a little backwards to me. So in two weeks time the last US troops will be out of Iraq. It is kind of interesting to me as I reflect on my last 7 and a half years of full time work that it corresponded with the Iraq conflict, that I am now retiring at the same time as the troops finally leave and we can quit adding names to the Iraq Peace Crane Memorial. What a busy time this has been, working, protesting, parents dying and Jenny leaving home. People ask me what I will do and I basically want to spend some time as Dad would say 'thinking about it' before I decide what to take on or to let go of. I like the open door and the open road before me.