Even with my mouth, i struggle to be able to graphically describe what a cluster 2020 was, but
nonetheless, here's my annual wrap-up of events as we put 2020 in hindsight where it belongs.
The year started out rough, because they'd found a hole in my heart, and my rhythm was all over the
map already. I did pick up a cool watch early in the year that's actually made out of 1973 Porsche
parts, which is also my birth year. Especially because of the heart problems, I made a real
effort to swim every morning and lift at lunch to keep my heart as healthy as I could until we
figured out what to do with it. I got a reminder of how complicated girls are compared to guys when
I populated my spare bathroom for Breanne. There was some false hope in January as I registered for
a March Texas Mile that was never going to happen, and my bike wouldn't have been ready anyway. I did
get some fun drives in the hill country in both the 911 and the Cadillaxe. In late January, I had
my first cardioversion to try to reset the rhythm that lasted about a week. In early February after
almost two years, my bike arrived at the local BMW dealer but wasn't so much as starting or running.
Fortunately, I still had a chopper and an Aprilia that I could enjoy I didn't realize it at the
time, but when I took Baron out for a bite, that would be our last time in a restaurant all year.
The night before my surgery in late February, I had a steak and bourbon and that would be my
only drink all year as well. The next day, I came out of surgery to prove my continued immortality
after a hole closure procedure and ablation. All I'd be doing is walking for a while,
but that was better than nothing. This is about the time Corona hit, and I had to start
making decisions on what was worse; to skip appointments or to risk Covid. In early March,
I made my last trip to a grocery store and started getting everything delivered at home. Later at my
follow-up appointment, I was told that the hole in my heart had actually been a third of an inch,
which is pretty good size for a fist-size organ. I was getting to the final stages of my movie
production and starting to record the voice over. Picked up and modified a new decoration
more appropriate for my garage. About this time, Breanne also herniated a disc at the gym,
and it is true what happened in class didn't stay in class, because she took the injury
home with her. After months of misery for her, we finally got her stem cell treatments. I tried
to continue surviving the year by avoiding deer on the motorcycle and scorpions in my kitchen. Set up
the suspension on the Aprilia, figured out a way we could actually get Breanne back and forth by
setting up somewhat of a nest in the back of Baron's car for her. The rhythm hadn't
corrected itself yet, so I went in for another cardioversion that didn't even last an hour.
Covid continued to suck joy from my world by canceling both the Rammstein and the Motley Crue
concerts on me. I did get a new race suit, got it wet got it to fit decent, and then sent it out for
some modifications to make it more enjoyable. With everything going on in the world, I figured it
was a good time to assess my ammunition and make sure I had mags full. Now that the hole repair was
healed, it was time for another ablation to get the rhythm in place where it needed to be. It'd
been about four months since I'd had an actual haircut, so I put my non-existent hair cutting
skills to work and rectified the situation. After five months of fighting with my bike
back and forth with a shop up north, the local dealer just sent my bike back home because they
couldn't do anything more with it. Found an actual competent shop up in Dallas and sent him the bike,
and he had it running in several hours. With the pandemic going on and my ample extra time,
I recorded "Pandemic Patience" and posted that video. By far the biggest accomplishment of the
year is I released the movie that I'd been working on about my cross country motorcycle record
both on dvd and bluray and shortly later on Amazon. There was threats of a meat shortage,
so I figured I'd better update my archery kit just in case I had to go pluck a deer from suburbia for
dead animal. Even though the bike was back home and running, it couldn't make it two miles from
home without something happening. First I had it back apart to replace the starter clutch, then
the battery died and left me stranded. Valentine 1 released a new gen 2 radar detector everybody was
excited about, so I bought one for the Aprilia, and I also put some cool new vinyl graphic strips
on that. Also put the German flag matching ones on the BMW. Breanne decided to take a road trip
out west to work on stuff and get some kind of a treatment that basically burned her face off,
so she had to wear the Nacho Libre ice mask for a while. In late August coming home from her place
one day, I hit a drive shaft, which took out two wheels and a bunch of other damage to Baron's car.
Ten days later in the loaner sorority girl car, I killed another deer with that, which makes three
in two years. I did find time to organize my tools was one benefit of being stuck home on Covid.
I also updated the sprockets and the rear rotor on the BMW, but unfortunately at 245 miles,
the engine seized, and i had to send it back up to the competent shop in Dallas. He upgraded the
bike with a 2018 engine and electronics, which eliminated everything the guy up north touched,
so now I had a solid reliable bike that's still turning 197 horse at the rear wheel.
As if I hadn't had enough surgeries already, I had my hernia fixed in mid-October.
At the end of October for Breanne's 40th birthday, we stayed at a place called the birdhouse locally,
and I managed to practice a little photography getting some pictures for her business. I had
the guy in Dallas send back my seized engine, so I could take it apart and see just what a disaster
it was inside. It wasn't pretty. My Halloween costume this year wasn't quite as creative as
the last few years, and I found that I'd worn a lot more hospital bracelets than bar bracelets,
but my bike was back and running and enjoyable which is important. We went for rides locally
to see things like these old churches in San Antonio. I went to Austin and picked up my BST
wheels for the Aprilia. I also upgraded the BMW with things like a polished swing arm,
Ohlins front forks and rear shock, and I sanded the tank down by hand to raw aluminum and polished
it to match the rear swing arm. Not only was I able to start kickboxing again after my hernia
healed, but in December I was actually able to find a way I could safely swim at the gym
with direct access to the pool at 4am when nobody else was in there. I hadn't put on many miles
this year, so I decided to take a road trip for dual purpose. First of all was just to get out
and enjoy the open road. With my body in healing mode from the heart and from the hernia and the
joints that have given me grief over the years, I decided to make an appointment with my buddy to
get stem cells in Daytona Beach. I packed for a Covid safe trip with alcohol wipes, gloves,
masks, paper towels, water, beef jerky, and mixed nuts, hopped in the Cadillac, and hit the road.
Finally making it to Daytona Beach, I spent a day getting not only stem cell infusion but
stem cells in my joints plus a lot of other cool materials to help my healing. I turned around
and headed right back home making the whole round trip from Texas to Florida and back in 53 hours,
including the day of treatments. To end 2020 on a good note, Breanne and I headed down the day
after Christmas to Corpus and got a place on the beach. It was a great few days to try to relax and
unwind after such a hectic year. We had a loaner Cadillac, because mine had a little bit of damage
after the trip, but it's back in the garage now several thousand dollars later. In true 2020 form,
about the day after that came back, my Valentine 1 in the Baron's car broke and had to replace that.
Then the next day, my mp3 player for the pool died on me. 2020 is definitely finishing strong,
but that's fine because right now the Cadillac and the BMW are both home and 100%.
My heart and hernia are healed, I've got stem cells, I'm eating right, I'm exercising,
and I'm sleeping well trying to be as healthy as I can. Everybody has very high hopes for 2021,
and so do I, but I've also learned to never say it can't get worse.
One time on a Friday, I blew up the engine in my white car, on Saturday the next day,
I blew a clutch line on the red car driving to get parts for the Harley, which was broken down,
and so with nothing left, I went to mow lawn and I said, "well at least nothing else can go wrong,"
and the wheel fell off the lawnmower. I ended up in a glass of milk, everclear, instant coffee,
and chocolate protein shake, which I called a Siberian or poverty white Russian. Now we all
hope 2021 gets better. We really do. It's going to be what we make of it. Just remember the saying,
"today is the first day of the rest of your life." Enjoy it, and make it matter.