(Image credit: Getty Images)In doing the hard work of writing this column, I came to frame its evolving concept as: “French Cinema vs the Trailer Park Boys.” The idea popped into my head during a conversation with my wife, Pam, about how much sense it makes to “invest” in certain activities in semi-retirement or retirement.Many readers are presumably rocketing toward or have matured beyond my age of 71, so you may not be familiar with the Trailer Park Boys oeuvre. The 12-season series’ intricate plot follows the fictional adventures of three foul-mouthed, pot-smoking, petty criminals, one of whom is a shopping cart thief and repairman named “Bubbles,” in a Nova Scotia trailer park. I started watching the show in a gloomy phase of my life. It does not require the slightest investment of time or brainpower to appreciate its hilariousness.The same cannot be said for, say, French director Louis Malle’s 1987 film Au Revoir Les Enfants, which I’ve been meaning to watch for years. Sadly, after investing mightily in learning French in college, the Spanish I’d labored to learn in junior high and high school flooded back into my brain, creating a new, blended language even I don’t understand.Subscribe to Kiplinger’s Personal FinanceBe a smarter, better informed investor.
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Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-NewslettersProfit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more – straight to your e-mail.Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice – straight to your e-mail.Is it worth it to plunge back into my study of French just to fully enjoy films such as Malle’s reported masterpiece, even though it’s unlikely that I have enough time left to achieve my youthful ambition of becoming a famous expat writer, sipping Bordeaux and reading Baudelaire at a Parisian café whose saucy proprietress always greets me with the same flirtatious, “Bonjour, Monsieur Bob”?Looking for perspective, I called a friend. When each of Deniene’s children went to college, she told them: “This is your big growth moment, when you can really become the person you want to be.” After they were flourishing as adults, Deniene realized that this could be such a moment for her, too. She began investing significant time learning to play the cello and resumed her study of piano, which she’d shown a gift for as a child.I’ve watched her, fingers flying, head bobbing as she coaxes soulful nuance from Debussy’s “Pour le Piano.” But practicing has got to be as annoying now as it was when it kept her from playing tether ball with her friends, and with less chance that her investment will lead to an offer from the LA Philharmonic, right?“I get a lot just from learning how to play the notes,” Deniene said. “Is it a short staccato or something more drawn out?” Practicing can frustrate, for sure, but the little breakthroughs are hugely satisfying, sometimes sublime.“Not many people c
