With the year winding down, looking back, how was your 2018? Good, bad, ugly, whatever.
With the year winding down, looking back, how was your 2018? Good, bad, ugly, whatever.
I'll start. My 2018 was, by and large, pretty good.
I finished my first non-replacement engine swap, forced induction install and standalone EFI install in my Miata and made big power in the process (245hp/184tq at the tires) and fell in love with the car all over again.
Then I went and won the Street Prepared/Street Mod/Prepared/Mod composite class for the CNY SCCA region for the the third year straight. And took it to Lime Rock and made my YouTube debut
And most importantly, met this delightful gal, who is intelligent and funny and attractive and everything I could want
Sure, there were a few rough points as well. I struggled with anxiety and depression at the beginning of the year, but got it under control. And, oh, yeah, the time I exploded my Miata's transmission while on vacation 1000 miles from home and had to figure out how to get it back to NY from NC
Work was okay - my commissions were down 25% but last year was a record. Changes at work are stressful.
Kid got PhD, daughter had a good year in sports and music, all healthy this year, drove across the USA, visited a few National Parks. All is good and I’m blessed.
Had its ups and downs. Ended on the worst down possible. Trying to get back on the up, but it is difficult.
Since I don't want to be a downer, I'll just give the professional side of things: Got fired which took me by surprise, but was already interviewing cause I was ready to quit. Accepted a job, then got another interview with another company that was paying way more than either the job I'd accepted or the job I got fired from. Job is going well with too much work to do, and an awesome boss.
Had a good year. Visited my folks up in Maine once in the summer and once in the fall. Visited my sister in Toronto for the first time since she just moved there. Did some diving in the Caribbean. Went to Seattle for the first time and also visited Vancouver and Whistler on the same trip. Got a number of house improvement projects done. For car events, went to the ST Octane Academy in Salt Lake City, a CDC AutoX, a TrackCross, an HPDE, a Track Night in America, and lots of cars and coffee type things. Looks like my crapcan racing career is over, since it's between 2 full seasons now since I've driving in ChampCar. A little conflicted there.
Helluva ride for me.
But blessed, and didn't have lung cancer!
I barely remember 2018. The only significant change was buying a new (to me) 2017 minivan to repalce my 2008 model that was starting to nickle-and-dime me. Otherwise, gained weight, didn't ride as much, didn't autocross as much, and didn't even come close to finishing any of the projects I had started at the beginning of the year. I need to accept the need to pay people to finish some of them.
In all, a rather depressing 2018 when I think about it...
This about sums it up:
The miata ate itself. The Vic ate itself. I missed most of the rally cross season. The wrong cousin died.
Pretty E36 M3 overall, but no worse than any other year I guess.
This year's been great with one defining downside.. my little one still doesn't want to sleep. Going on two years of sleep deprivation and it's done things to my mental health. I'm surviving but feel pretty brittle at times, especially at night when she's crying.
Otherwise, loads of fun with the kids, lots of love, so much more joy than I thought possible shared. There were downturns but overall an amazing year. I have felt somewhat like the fast forward button is stuck down, but I think sleep deprivation tends to do that to me.
To go into a little more detail:
I had a crappy $11/hr retail job. I could not afford my own place so I had to live with my parents. At 37. I had some debt that was piling up. I was starting to lose hope. The job market sucks and the housing market is terrible in my hometown. I hate it here. After living all over the country and doing amazing things while active duty military, moving back home showed me how terrible this place is. I decided that this wasn't how I wanted life to be post military and started sprucing up my LinkedIn account. I wrote a decent resume. I started getting nibbles from headhunters. Then, out of the blue, I got an email from a DoD contractor about a job. It was a perfect match for what I wanted to do. The pay and benefits are outstanding and I'm excited to have a career again. I decided to sell everything and start over. I felt that starting with a clean slate would be for the best. This is my second chance. My redemption.
It's funny because on New Year's Day 2018, I told myself that 2018 was going to be my year. The year that my life started to come together and things would be better. Well, it looks like that is going to come true. My first day at the new job is December 31st, 2018.
I got this fortune from Panda Express in March 2018. I put it up on my bedroom wall for inspiration. I think it worked 
.
6 months dealing with gout and a broken foot, now a month of dealing with a pinched sciatic nerve. My 2018 sucked. I worked a whopping 4 months of the year, didn't get to drive my wagon at all and 2019 is starting with me off work
I can say with certainty that it was a year. I feel like I'm coming out of it slightly better than I went into it although it's honestly hard to tell. I'm certainly feeling better than I did this time last year but living better is debatable. Ahh well, that's life. Time to finish up this program and see if I get accepted into the PR postgraduate program.
Was unemployed for most of the year, daughter almost died from pneumonia, car was stuck at the dealer for over a month, I struggled with insomnia and chronic neck pain, I am poor, my dreams are unrealized and I am difficult to look at. Not the best year, looking forward to 2019.
First half good. Got a promotion and the biggest bonus I've ever seen. Started building one badazz Challenge car with some amazing friends, old and new. Ran my first half-marathon, and crushed it, after not racing (with my feet) for several years.
Second half...bad. Quit my dream job and moved us back home to finally appease SWMBO, leaving behind my career, awesome car barn, and great friends. Now I'm miserable at my new dead-end job, make less money living in a worse area with higher cost of living, lost my ass on the one-two punch of home sale and moving costs, and the resentment is affecting our relationship. I know I should be more grateful, because I'm pretty blessed to be young and healthy, still live comfortably within my means, and get to work on cars (even if it's outside now). But this has been the most depressing and existential year of my life and I don't think it's getting any better with time.
So maybe like, half of the dumpster on fire.
I spent most of it being miserable, picked up a drinking habit, failed at all my goals, but reconnected with some good people and made plenty of good memories in the process. I also left a crappy job and landed what so far feels like a better one.
I'd say the net result was an ok year.
Going to do my best to finish my degree and clear out a fleet of useless junk in 2019.
It’s not over yet, I’m still hoping the giant meteor comes through.
Extremely busy. Like no vacation busy. Like holy crap the year is over already? Like 50+ hour weeks busy. I don't really like extremely busy. I'm ready for my 30 hour weeks and just a steady flow, but that's not going to happen any time soon.
Other than that, it was a pretty decent year.
maschinenbau said:First half good. Got a promotion and the biggest bonus I've ever seen. Started building one badazz Challenge car with some amazing friends, old and new. Ran my first half-marathon, and crushed it, after not racing (with my feet) for several years.
Second half...bad. Quit my dream job and moved us back home to finally appease SWMBO, leaving behind my career, awesome car barn, and great friends. Now I'm miserable at my new dead-end job, make less money living in a worse area with higher cost of living, lost my ass on the one-two punch of home sale and moving costs, and the resentment is affecting our relationship. I know I should be more grateful, because I'm pretty blessed to be young and healthy, still live comfortably within my means, and get to work on cars (even if it's outside now). But this has been the most depressing and existential year of my life and I don't think it's getting any better with time.
So maybe like, half of the dumpster on fire.
Damn buddy. Keep your chin up. Host a 2019 build party and I'll be there!
2018 was good for me.
1. Nailed my new years resolution of 50 pushups every other day and 50 squats on the off days (assuming I keep it up for 3 more days). That's 9,125 pushups and 9,125 squats this year!
2. Got a huge life bonus in feb when my wife decided to go on weight watchers app. I decided to do it with her since we mostly eat together. We have both dropped 30 lbs with very little effort and zero hunger. Amazing.
Things to do better in 2019 are spending less, saving more, and time management so I can dedicate more time to my projects and less time to useless TV/other distractions.
2018, for all intents and purposes, was not a great year for me.
It started out bad, with some nasty weather that wreaked havoc on my house. First, a storm dumped record amounts of rain on us, and my sump pump decided to quit. After getting a new one installed, we were still getting ground flooding in the basement.
Turns out it was less ground flooding and more ruptured water main thanks to the record amounts of rain finally doing in the valve at the street which was installed in 1944, which led to this:
And after we were getting good water pressure again, my water heater decided it was done living and puked all over the basement! Yay!
In the process of removing said water heater by dragging it out of the bulkhead with my truck, the truck blew a brake line, which was the first in a string of time-consuming repairs I had to do every time I went near the stupid thing. Seriously, every time I needed to use it, it broke. Brake lines, wheel bearings, tie rods, a seized alternator, and more. I tried to replace the truck a number of times, but no, 2018 wouldn't let that happen. Most infamous was the time where I had another truck lined up to buy and the guy sold it on me right after I agreed on a price to sell mine. I had to back out of my own sale which made me feel like an idiot.
All of that paled in comparison to what was about to happen.
In July, my wife got sick. She had what seemed to be the stomach bug, but it never got better. And then there was the pain; she was in unbelievable pain and discomfort. After weeks of telling her she should go to the hospital and her telling me she will get better, she took a turn for the worse. I brought her into a local hospital which didn't want to treat her because what was going on was too serious, so they sent her into the city. She had a serious issue with her pancreas, and since she's diabetic, it compounded and complicated things. She was in really bad shape, and for a time, they didn't know if she was going to make it. This understandably rattled me. At one point, I was mentally preparing for how to deal with her death, which I never thought I would be dealing with at 36. That really put things into perspective.
Miraculously, and slowly, she began to pull through. She was in the hospital for about a month, and even after her release, she had to go to appointments and multiple procedures. And then, when we thought she was out of the woods, she ended up back in the hospital for complications due to all of the procedures. Luckily, this time she was in and out in a couple of days.
Today, she's back to work and mostly back to normal, but she missed about half of the year being stuck in a bed either at home or in a hospital. The whole ordeal has changed us both forever. We are stronger than ever before!
Oh, and one final SCREW YOU from 2018:
My day job decided a few weeks ago to tell my team that we are moving from the suburbs into the city. Better yet, we have about a month to prepare for it. My role is sort of a hybrid role; I work in IT and am both the sole tech in the company AND a systems admin. I am the one who sets up new equipment and fixes existing stuff, and when I'm not doing that, I'm doing admin duties on a number of systems. Last year, I was told the role would be split, with me taking just the admin duties (and more of them) and leaving the tech role for a new hire. They still haven't done this, nor have they formally confirmed that I will be taking just those admin duties to the new office. It's not possible for me to be in two places at once! Oh, and my new commute is going to cost me an additional $6,000/year and add hours to my current commute time. Wonderful. Hopefully things change for the better in this respect next year.
So, with all of that negativity, was there actually anything good that happened?
YES! YES! YES!
-I did a complete mod build on a cheap Squier SE Strat, which was my first time changing everything on a guitar. Always wanted to build one, and the right deal came along so I went for it. I have less than $100 total into it and it's one of my favorite guitars in the lineup to play.
-I made some progress on my Trans Am resto. I gutted the interior, cut out the old P/S floor, and have most of it welded in. I also was able to get a new gas tank and sending unit in the car, and was abe to get it running for the first time in a few years. Still having issues with some of the old problems, and I had to keep the wrenching to a minimum once the wife got sick, but I'm happy with the results and looking forward to 2019.
-A Wild Nephew Appeared! I take being an uncle seriously, having corrupted my 21 and 16 year old nephews long ago. Can't wait to do it all over again!
I didn't have much time for writing this year with all the stuff happening, but I was able to do three really cool things with the BangShift guys:
-I was given a press pass to the NHRA New England Nationals! I felt way out of place and over my head, but I managed to have an unbelievable time. And I crossed one thing off the bucket list: I was able to climb the tower at NED and hang out there to take as many pics as I wanted! I've always wanted to do that. (Side note: Nitro fuel HURTS.)
-BangShift trusted me to do not one, but TWO road tests on very cool modern cars. First up was this really nice 2019 Mustang GT Premium Convertible:
-And second... one of my favorite cars ever: a 2019 Dodge Challenger Scat Pack Widebody!
If you squint real hard, you can see the expression of pure joy on my face as I roasted the 305/35/20's off of this thing. 
Writing kept my mind off of the bad things that were surrounding me. I'm lucky and humbled to have the opportunity to do this.
Hopefully I fare better in 2019! Looking forward to having a fully healthy wife and new opportunities around the corner!
In reply to Daylan C :
You sent out a kick-ass GRM NYG2017 Box. Don’t ever forget that!
Before I say anything about my year, I want to start by telling all of you on this forum what a blessing you have been in my life. Hearing about your ups and downs, your challenges and your triumphs, man it makes me feel like part of a really big family. I know y’all are here to help me out, and I hope y’all know I’m here to do what I can for you.
Generally speaking, 2018 was the darkest year of my life, and it was still pretty good. As long as I’m above ground, I keep swinging for the fence. Sometimes I don’t even want to pick up the bat. Sometimes I strike out, sometimes I pop up to short center or ground into a 6-4-3. Occasionally I get hit by a pitch, or thrown out at second when I should have held at first. But one of these days I’m gonna put one out of the park. And I believe my GRM family will deserve some of the credit. So berkeley 2018! What’s up, 2019?! You want some of this?!?
Started well enough. Quit one E36 M3ty job. Started making some money. Had to move from a nice ridiculously cheap apt that was tied to the roomies job which he no longer had. So that stalled things and I kept fighting through working more then was able to move a truly great new apt. just twice the price but worth it. The job has gone downhill due to the boss overstaffing and if I make it to the new year without being fired I'll be able to start driving for lyft either in a new cheap car or renting through them. Just don't get fired 'nuther.... Ah screw it some of my best moves have been getting fired.
Not bad overall, and anytime I thought/felt otherwise I’d just walk down to the beach & remember how lucky I truly am.
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