How was your 2020?
 

I assumed this would be the best place to make this post on. I just want to start mentioning what should be already obvious, it's been one roller coaster of a year. It's been named the worst year. It's been different, but here we are. I'm sure that like in any storm, some rays of sunshine came by. That's what I want this post to be about. The good, the moments where it didn't suck to be behind doors, to not being able to see your family, and so on. So I would like to hear about what interesting things happened to all of you during 2020. Did you get to finish your project car, did it finally turn on? That turbo kit you were saving up for, were you able to buy it? Did you buy a new house? Upgraded to an 86/BRZ? Did you find that 10mm socket? Any story that would remind us that even in the direst of times, joy is still able to exist. I'll start.



On 2020, I became a home owner. Few months after that, I finally decided to pull the trigger and trade my Mazda 3 for a BRZ. Upgraded such car to my liking, while also extending my mechanical knowledge. I also left my back-breaking job working on a shipyard, to an office setting which you could assume allows me to roam around the forums during working hours ;). Most importantly, after 6 long years of BS and nonsense, my time in the Army finally is coming to an end so I can devote myself to my family and much better civilian job.

2020 was a year of patience and learning for me. It's been a year that while unpleasant overall, hasn't been entirely miserable. I'm an incredibly enthusiastic and happy-go-lucky person, Covid didn't affect me much as I'm very well suited to being sheltered.
Just thankful to have anything at all in my life at this point.

Good-
Covid forced my job to be 90% work from home, I love that.
Been saving up for over a year to get a new engine; finally did.
Let go of my childhood Pokemon cards and made a fortune, yay
I lived another year, that's a good thing as well.
Had enough savings from past decade to handle everything that came my way without incurring debt

Bad-
This year was terribly political; people need to calm down.
Wife tried to commit suicide

1. How could you..... Jk. They are truly a great investment for those who kept them from the beginning.



2. I totally agree, this world suffered in both psychological and material ways which were directly affected by political decisions.



3. I'm sorry to hear that, I have also been in your position and I hope things look up for you and your wife on the days to come.

Honestly not bad. Calm, relaxing year, reached an income milestone. I feel very fortunate, having heard and seen some of the stories, sadly with some of them involving my closest friends losing jobs etc

I had quite the collection, it killed me a little inside to part with most of them but it was the right thing to do given the circumstances I was under. I still have 3 base set Charizards I'll keep so I can say I have something left.
Life is what it is. The event happened last March and it's still something we're working at every single day. Working from home is terribly advantageous for me and I'd even say I wouldn't be working where I am if they hadn't let me change physical location- it's non negotiable.

Congratulations on your own progress, becoming a home owner is a serious and amazing! Seriously good work on prioritizing your comfort in your job choice. I spent a lot of time doing physical labor work on concrete and I didn't realize how much pain I was in until several months after switching and it had waned.
Edit: With any work you get done, have a solid stance on anything you have done! Do not be afraid to stand your ground against contractors who do not deliver. Too many people settle, get what you're asking for

It's been an eye opening year both for my career (which solidified pursing teaching) and how I view people. Got into more debt than I care to acknowledge, and then put myself further in it by building a bad ass PC because yolo. I'd say this is the second worst year ever for me, behind 2009. But... it's gonna take a lot to top that year.

Lots of cancelled plans and quarantine pounds. I’ll have to scour through my camera album to see what bright shining moments there were.

Bought the brz, first brand new car I’ve had. Got to get three track days in it.

I took my brother out for our birthdays to see the California Takeover. Straightedge bands from the 90s Strife, Earth Crisis, and Snapcase.

Really wanted to swim here and did it. Grossly underestimated, after I managed to get out of there a team of early twenties came along in wetsuits to deal with the cold.

Been a test of patience.


We are down 70% at work and it is not picking up. I was questioning my job already, but now I am really questioning my position since I spend a lot of time doing nothing and it overlaps with a few others. I am looking to talk with our GM about moving back down into running one of the departments I used to run, it could use the help anyway.

We decided to break up our rental properties this year. I chose to remodel and sell my house. Tennent was given a 90 day in February, it wasn't until July I got the house back. I was expecting that it would be livable and I could move there while working on it, boy was I wrong. Have been behind the 8 ball to get it done to sell. I am at my limit mentally and financially trying to get it finished. Luckily it should sell quickly.

I did become an uncle this year. That has been fun.

Edit: Oh and I only got my car out on track twice this year, and the first time it kicked out the rocker arms and blew up spectacularly.

I have yet to track mine, or do a spirited drive, mostly because the missus is always with me and she's not a fan of driving fast.

Looks like a pretty awesome place. I guess my travel highlight would be any parking lot where a car meet was taking place because I never was able to go to one. Which was like walking into a candy store. Or seeing a live drift event.

I got married on March 7th, less than a week before the world shutdown. We were supposed to have the big wedding in September, but my wife's grandparents had some health issues early in the year, so we had a small wedding with immediate family much sooner to make sure everyone important was there. That turned out to be one heck of a decision as we had to cancel the September wedding.

Since we saved all the money on the wedding, we were able to put a down payment on a house and take advantage of the killer interest rates.

It was definitely an argument for the "Everything happens for a reason" philosophy.

That's the way I always see things, plus I can't get mad at things that are not in my control. I was supposed to get deployed somewhere in Africa, that didn't happen because covid. The Philipines, didnt happen either. Instead, I got activated for state mission which allowed me to get extra money between civilian job and military which was enough to save up for the BRZ, car parts, and house projects. So I was deff not mad.

No gym sucked. Probably lost 10 lbs of muscle, but I am leaner because I eat a lot less when I don't work out. No family sucked. Surprisingly less overtime for the ER, so pay was slightly down by $5k. The ER sucked. The fires sucked. Air quality sucked. Little motorcycling this year sucked. COVID BS sucked. Politics continued to suck, but at least the orange guy is going, so silver lining. E85 station did not get their permit approved, so maybe no E85 still locally, which sucked. Had to cancel our Alaska cruise, so that sucked. No movies sucked. No restaurant sucked. Being on lockdown sucked. Wearing masks sucked.

A few good things. Parents bought a second home for retirement by Clear Lake. They will be selling their old home soon this coming spring. I got into nursing school for fall 2021. My brother and his wife's adoption was finalized. My cousin got married to a virtual audience (the latter part is also sucky). My wife got a raise. Our work had a strike, but also finalized a three year contract that included raises (the former part was sucky). I got some parts installed on the car like my sound system, wing, header and new MPS4Ss, which completed the car for the long foreseeable future (bittersweet). I made a new cat litter box. Sex-crazy meth-heads above us moved out, so no more 3am tyrannical fights followed by 5 hours of sloppy, loud sex.

I feel bad for chuckling a bit but it was slightly funny. At least the way you put it so thanks for that. On that note, no gym did SUCK. I was very relieved when I moved out of my apartment to our house because my upstairs neighbors walked with brick shoes at 2am, overly loud dude near climax, and the eventual getting out of the building because some idiot hotboxed his apartment which triggered several fire alarms. So we had to get out of the complex, stand in the cold, while the firefighters cleared the building. I wish I has an E85 station near me... sigh....

Can't say my 2020 has been good. Too much money lost from repairs, etc.

Did take my car to a drift event in November to attempt to drift (and not well I might add), and currently working on building a new PC + getting some new sim hardware to practice on Assetto Corsa and learn the basics of drifting down.