2019 - A Year In Review & Plans for 2020

[Jimmy Choo]

I'm then going to have a party and throw my wedding ring in Gloucester docks.

I sold mine for scrap and blew the money on some crap or other. Super cathartic. Can recommend!

I was gonna say, at least chop it in and spend the money on a nice meal out or something.

Or a fish and chip supper if your name is Rich

I chose a titanium ring because I liked it which means it's worthless.

[KiwiDave]

Mine was needlessly expensive, like everything else had to be...

This made me giggle Tim - having been there on the day, that really does make so much sense.

Also to those of you having gone through relationship hell, while not dissolving a marriage, I've also been there in the past few years - listening to the barely hidden vitriol really does make me feel better. It's not just me! Feel for you all.

I started 2019 saying I wanted to be healthier by year end. I failed at this.

End of Jan last year I'd just finished a week of epic mountain biking and sent the bike off for a service, I didn't get to ride it again until September. I firstly seriously injured the secroiliac joint in my lower back. Then got a chest infection bad enough I was hospitalised after coughing up blood everywhere. Recovered from that and broke my toe. Then had a cancer scare (fine thankfully!) and then finished off by having the various procedures to cure the massively fucked varicose vein in my leg. All of this kinda put a damper on my getting healthier and a little lighter. I did however finish the year with more epic mountain biking - during the later part of the year I even took a Fridays off for a few weeks to go out biking on my own. Bliss. I also turned 40.

So 2020, I still need to get the health sorted a little more and get my weight down a little. I'd already cut back my drinking a bit and have started the year off cutting it back a bit more. Hopefully the biking will continue and I'm into a preventative phase with my health as opposed to fixing broken things (touch wood). The big things for me this year begin this weekend. After having 20 years without playing, I finally get to see the drum kit I've ordered and start reconnecting with playing music. I'm beyond fucking excited about it.

I'm also planning a trip back to the UK, Europe and the US, where among other things I'll be packing up and shipping the drum kit I learned on as a kid which is with my old man currently. It has huge, huge significance for me and my family and he's given me the green light to bring it over to NZ. Tears will be shed when that happens. I also really need to find a new job, they fucked me over relentlessly last year and can go to hell, just finding the next opportunity is proving tricky given my past history is quite niche. If I'm still working there at the end of 2020, I won't see my next birthday!

All of this will take pretty much every spare dollar I have unless I find a pay rise so I'll be happy at the end of the year being healthy, in a new job and being able to play music again and having seen my old man. The rest of things are going really well at the moment, beautiful home, stable relationship, love where I live - if I can keep all that going, that's a big deal right there.