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I'm doing mine a bit different this year but figured I'd get the thread going since we've got just a week left in the year

12/24/2024 4:26:39 PM

I'd give myself a solid B. Got drinking under control for the most part. Nearly at a month cigarette free and less urges to relapse every day. Paid off a lot of debt. Feeling as though I am getting to a point in my life I can try to find some poontang. Need to start exercising, perhaps start running again once my lungs heal enough. Thinking of returning to NC, but hard to not feel like a downgrade from where I am now

12/25/2024 9:36:18 AM

Can't break my streak of doing this shit for five years in a row now.

Career: A-

Work has been mostly okay this year. Pretty much more of the same as I'm still at the same job since 2017, but I got a promotion that begins in January and is a nice pay raise to pretty much do the same job I've been doing for a while now.

Family: B

Grandfather passed away earlier this year at 95, so he was the last grandparent I had. Wife still has one grandmother. I was really close to my grandfather but after the stroke he hadn't really been the same anymore and he didn't seem very happy since then. It was different from when my grandmother died as that was very unexpected and she had been her normal self. Still sucks but I guess I was more prepared for it now so it didn't hit me as hard. Parents continue to struggle with health and mobility issues but mom has gotten a bit better with it and is now up and moving more, but exclusively with a walker. She needs rods in her back to help with her significantly hunched back but she doesn't want to do it as the recovery would take a while.

With my immediate family my oldest took a gap semester as he got overwhelmed this Spring and ended up failing some classes, so he's been working at a local ice cream place this summer and fall and he's done really well with it. Getting out has made him way more sociable and more outgoing. He turned 21 this year but still hasn't really been interested in having a beer or liquor more than a sip or two. My youngest is a senior in high school and also really grown socially. He's been going out with his friends after school sometimes, he started an IG account where his buddies and friends have been encouraging when he posts, and he even asked a girl out recently (she turned him down as unbeknownst to him she is a lesbian). He's always been more outgoing but since the pandemic it was hard to get him to go out and do things with his friends after school since they just play online together all the time, so it's nice to see them doing things offline now too.

Love Life: B-

Mostly the same. Still with my wife of over 22 years now. We still get along great and did get to do an anniversary trip this year with just the two of us, so that was nice.

Social/Friends: A-

My wife and I hang out with our bar friends twice a week. Out 85 year old friend even gave everyone some Christmas socks as a gift, which was pretty awesome. We both really enjoy getting to hang out with them after work, so that is great. Also made time to meet up with a couple of my old high school/college friends earlier this year, which was also great as we hadn't hung out in a while. Also been hanging out more socially with the other admins from my photo group, and wife got to meet them and also thinks they are really awesome people as well.

Health: C-

About the time I was typing this last year I started getting some numbness/tingling in my feet. Assumed it might be a pinched nerve or something as it did not go away for a couple of months. After doctors visits, tests, and a couple of MRI's, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. That really sucked but wasn't super unexpected as mom has had it for almost 35 years so I was at a higher risk. The treatments are way better than they were when she got it though, so I'm taking Kesimpta, which is a B-cell depleter and suppresses your B cells, which are what attack the myelin sheath in your nerves. The tingling/numbness in my feet went away eventually sometime in March I think and since then I've had zero new symptoms. So I just have to give myself a shot in the stomach once a month and then I go on with my life. Hopefully it stays that way for a long time.

Hobbies: A

Hobby is going great. Ended up having some gear die this year but was able to buy some brand new replacement gear. Our groups have expanded and we hang out pretty regularly, so that is awesome. I consider a lot of the people in the group my friends at this point.

Money: B+

No new raises until 2025 when my Director position kicks in, but a side effect of getting diagnosed with MS was that I had an insurance that covered for certain illnesses, so when I was diagnosed I got a nice check in the bank to help cover expenses. Thankfully my Kesimpta (which is like $110k/year) is covered by my insurance and has a copay program so I pay nothing for that. I really haven't had much extra in the way of out of pocket expenses from all of this, so that gave me a nice extra bump in my bank account. My wife got her student loans wiped out this year as well and our car paid off, so we really owe nothing at this point, which is amazing. We did a couple of smaller trips this year and I bought the new camera and lenses, but otherwise we have kept our spending the same. Hopefully things get better next year with my new position.

Overall: C

Still not a great year, especially with my MS diagnosis and losing my grandfather, but there have been some awesome times to balance it out as well. Hopefully 2025 will be better with my new position, but with all the questions about how things will be with our new administration starting next year, I'm not very optimistic.

12/27/2024 8:56:12 AM

GOD DAMN IT

12/27/2024 2:55:21 PM

1/1/2025 7:17:43 PM

Did you use heygen?

1/1/2025 8:46:03 PM

no but I'll try to make next year's update less robotic sounding.

[Edited on January 1, 2025 at 10:21 PM. Reason : or more, depending on how good the robot voices sound by then]

1/1/2025 10:20:58 PM

Career: S

I have relocated somewhere with one tech employer. The era of easy tech money in web and back end development is over. There is no reason to pay people 400K+ to work on database back ends anymore when there are better products off the shelf for almost anything you can think of. All the internal initiatives I've seen over the years ended up burning 9 figures of cash with questionable return on investment. I've had great ennui about work in general.

I was working at Amazon at the start of the year as a manager and have been on the management side since about 2016. I got to see the internal scramble around AI and getting caught with their pants down in the dev tools space as ChatGPT made it apparent any approach that didn't incorporate AI was doomed. "If no one is going to be coding in 5 years, what is the fucking point of this feature" I heard said by more than one AWS exec. "Well you should have thought of that when GPT3 was a thing and this project started 2 years ago". I enrolled in Stanford's AI cert and got to take ML for credit. Got totally brutalized in the ML course. They say it's 20 hours a week, but think I was spending 40. Finished it up this break.

Took a way less stressful remote job while I figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

Family: A+

After struggling to get pregnant starting in 2020 we had first kid in 2021 on our 10th anniversary. We had a second born in 2023. We wanted a 3rd kid, but we got a surprise pregnancy early in the year that is due in two weeks. We found the 2nd kid is not 2x as hard, it's more like 4x as hard. I really hope the third isn't 8x as hard, but am expecting it. Separating them when they start going ape shit is a good tactic. You can deal with 1 kid on 1 parent a lot easier than 2 on 2 because of the multiplier effect.


Social/Friends: D

I used my hobbies as my social outlet since I was 18. I've not ever adapted to normie life. My ability to meet people organically that don't have similar interests as me is basically impossible. Since we moved and have none of the hobbies we used to have (flying/skydiving) and those hobbies are not kid friendly I'm fucking inept socially.

We have play dates with neighbors and that's our only social outlet.

Health: C

I finally got back in the gym and to running in August. Have done a lot of 5Ks and benching my body weight, but I'm still 30 lbs overweight. In 2018 after not drinking for 6 years I was 188 lbs, basically my high school weight, but benching twice as much and could do 13 pullups. Now I can do 4 pullups and am a fat ass despite being relatively strong.

Hobbies: B+

We sold our last airplane in March. My last flight was at the end of 2023, my wife's some time in late 2022.

To get my flying fix I picked up FPV quadcoptering at the start of the year. Have used the skills there dabbling with electronics to build some things with my oldest (like a dropper for his parachute toy) and a toy propeller car out of legos and electronics that probably isn't suitable for a 3 year old. He super enjoys being part of the process even if it's just cutting and taping. I've been 3D printing and improving my modeling skills. Designed a stroller attachment from scratch and some other little things.

Money: A-

After the economic head winds and retardedly moving somewhere without jobs I caused my net worth to dip for 2-3 years. Working at Amazon produced a helpful change of winds, which coupled with some investments like Nvidia and being a hodler I'm back solidly where I was when I left California with way less expenses (airplanes and California housing).


Overall: B

[Edited on January 2, 2025 at 11:24 AM. Reason : a]

1/2/2025 11:23:02 AM

Family is good. Celebrated 18 years of marriage. My son is 16 and doing very well. He's been recognized informally for his talent by his band director - writing music like crazy, composing and scoring symphonies. My daughter is 13 and applying to early college. Her 3rd reconstructive surgery for her cleft palate failed and that was huge set back, but we're handling it.

Career is amazing. I was recognized by the superintendent and my school for the work I put in. Completed a two year teacher leadership program and presented my project on assessing students with expressive language delays. Left the classroom for a district level job and though I miss being in the classroom, I love working with beginning teachers and facilitating IEP meetings.

Can't wait to see what another year brings.]

[Edited on January 2, 2025 at 7:55 PM. Reason : I don't know how old my own children are. Lol.]

1/2/2025 7:53:17 PM

Career: A

Day job has no room for advancement, but it's easy, sometimes kinda fun, and the pay is silly good for what I'm doing (I get paid for the experience and credibility I have and how hard it was to obtain it--not really for my job being demanding in any way.)

Retired from the USMC back in the spring with 21 years of service. 11 of those years were in the Reserves, so I won't get retirement pay until I'm 60, but it's still a good deal.

Making steady progress towards my next career plan (airlines), while also building experience and credibility on my next side gig or 2 more careers down the road (venture capital).

Family: D

Things are rough with my 18-year old daughter, which extra-sucks after we were so close for so long, and after all I've gone through and given up for that. It's something a little more than your stereotypical sullen teenager who has an attitude and doesn't want much to do with her parents. Nobody can figure out what it is. All she'll tell me, her mom, the counselor we were seeing for a while, and a couple of other people, is that I'm "annoying." On the positive-ish side, over the last couple of months I've become a little less worried that we'll end up completely estranged--it's starting to progress (relatively) towards just a really severe case of pissy, angsty teenager who wants little to do with her dad than hatred and volatility where she we might have a crisis strike out of nowhere at any given time. I'm hoping that things get healthy again once she's off to college. I've had prob dozens of people tell me their daughters or sisters were like this as teens, and it resolved after a few years.

Marriage is pretty much done. I think I'm about to go ahead and file for divorce. I tried to be patient and see if we could resolve things. We've been separated for 3 (?) years now--longer than we were really married and together--and that possibility seems more remote than ever. Fortunately I don't really fear for her safety anymore. I was really scared for a while that any day I might get notified that she had killed herself. I think she's OK-ish now, but I don't think we can ever go back to the way things were before.

Love Life: B

New girlfriend. Like, not just the latest girl I'm running around with since being single again, but one I'm serious about and actually see an awesome potential future with. Smart, great career, movie star good looks, has her shit together, is so far totally easygoing and good natured, not stuck-up or hard to deal with, and seems to be equally into me. Only negative is that she's far away, in Miami (I'm in Pensacola)...but I have an airplane, and there are dirt-cheap direct flights with Spirit, and soon I won't be tied to this area anymore. There's not really any reason this isn't an A, except that it's new, only a few months into it.

Social/Friends: B

This has been a struggle for the last 15+ years since all my friends got married and had kids and got boring and withdrawn. It's been even worse for the last 10 since I left active duty and (a) lived far away from every job I've had, and (b) either was way younger or had little in common with the people I worked with.

...but the last year or so, I've gotten into a group of guys via my airplane partner who are all into motorcycles. There are probably a dozen or so of us. Things tend to revolve around street, track, or dirt riding of motorcycles, but we also get together and hang out, get a couple of beers at a brewery, work on the bikes together, etc. Occasionally take the boat out or something, too.

Health: B

Probably in the best shape I've been in for years. Very, very gradually but steadily improving, too...which is a win as the aging doesn't stop (45 now). The thing that makes it not an "A" is that both of my rotator cuffs are trashed. That is painful, and also limits me on what I can do sometimes, or how intensely I can do it. I'm sure they'll both require surgery. I'm trying to hold out a little longer, though.

Hobbies: A

No shortage here. Flying, SCUBA, skiing, boating, sailing, shooting, street bikes, dirt bikes, racecars, etc. Prob about to pick up a racebike. I do it all and have a great time at it. Just need more free time and free dollars, haha.

Might sell the boat once daughter is off to college, though...but then enter into a partnership on a 2nd airplane and just invest the rest.

Money: A

Making plenty of money. More than I need--I live way below my means. Like, a solid middle-class household income's worth below my means. I invest a ton of it; those investments have done well. I could probably retire right now if I really wanted to. I'd just have zero slack in the budget and might have to take a slight lifestyle cut, too. I've thought about going part-time at work, but then what? All my friends have to work. My daughter is about to be gone and doesn't want to hang out with dad at 18 years old, anyway. I'd rather just keep working and growing wealth, and really be able to one day enjoy a lifestyle that I would never have been able to afford just from my normal income.

Overall: B+

Me being me, I'm never quite satisfied and always striving for the next career and financial goal, even though things are great in those regards. Those busted up shoulders suck, but I make do. Really, my life is awesome other than a couple of important interpersonal relationships falling apart. I really don't think I caused either of them. though. In the case of my [estranged] wife, that's a long story--I think I could have done a considerably better job helping and supporting her if I had it all to do over again with the benefit of hindsight and some lessons learned, but I don't think I caused her problems (which turned into our problems). I could have done some things better for sure...but I don't feel guilty like I mistreated her in the least. I don't really blame her, either. I mostly blame stuff she suffered from external to our relationship, much of which was before we ever even met. I have nothing bad to say about her; it was just a disappointing, sad story.

With my daughter, nobody gets it. Everybody is like "dude, I don't know how anyone could do better, and even according to her, there's no real reason." On the other hand, that makes it doubly frustrating and baffling. Hopefully that gets better over the upcoming couple of years once she's out of the house. Hopefully things continue to progress with the girlfriend; she's awesome so far (and I'm not one to need a gf or jump easily into a relationship.

Objectively, things are great. It doesn't always feel that way, though--the strain with my daughter in particular really puts a damper on what otherwise ought to be pretty charmed life.



[Edited on January 8, 2025 at 12:32 AM. Reason : ]

1/8/2025 12:22:58 AM

You have wife poontang AND gf poontang?

1/8/2025 12:31:57 AM

Well, only been with the wife once since we separated, and that was a couple of years ago. We went out on a high note that last time, though! (unlike most of the time for last couple of years we were together--basically the period of time we were actually married )

then there were...I don't know, 4-5 over those last few years that I was never serious about. Some of them were good women, just not the one for me.

This one now...so far she's pretty out of this world.

[Edited on January 8, 2025 at 12:43 AM. Reason : we had a pre-nup and post-separation agreement...all the business was handled, so no rush to divorce]

1/8/2025 12:43:06 AM

^Sorry to hear about your daughter. I hope it works out for you guys soon.

Career: A
Pretty happy just cruising along in my middle management role. Decent pay, good people, great work/life balance (basically don't have to think about work once I leave), small department. HR tells me they have bigger plans for me, but I'm in no hurry to climb that ladder.

Family: A
Everyone (I'm counting all kids, siblings and their kids, parents, in-law family) gets along very well. Everyone's in good spirits and in good enough health to be active in their own ways. I couldn't ask for a better (immediate) family. My wife moved away from a 15-year teaching career to a corporate WFH job (which pays more than her teaching did) and her (and thus, ours) stress levels dropped dead. Both kids excel in school, musical instruments, sports, hobbies, social life, social intelligence, etc. My daughter, 13, shows no signs of becoming the brooding teenager and my son, 11, though pretty forgetful these days, is ever the people-pleaser.

Love Life: A
It's been great considering our different love languages. Mine is touch and hers is acts-of-service. As far as the relationship, it's A+. As for as the bedroom life, it's about a B from my end I wonder how she'd score me.

Social/Friends: A
My social circle is basically my family and my wife's family. If you judge social life by outings with friends, it would be a big, fat F, but I'm happy with that.

Health: D
34% BMI with high cholesterol, what can I say. I do a very short little regimen of 40+ pushups (whatever I can max in one go), 50 crunches, and 30 squats every weekday morning because I was getting tired of feeling like shit after doing yardwork, carwork, etc. I'm at the heaviest I've ever been but able to do the most push-ups, ha!

Hobbies: A
My few hobbies are on cruise control right now. I've got a project car at a standstill until it warms up a bit. I go out and drive with a Charlotte-based car group 3-4 times a year; it's pretty reckless stuff so I'm probably going to tone it down. As a family, we've been travelling and loving it. Since COVID, it's been Japan, Washington (PNW), Utah, NYC twice. Planning on Banff next. Before COVID, our travels were limited to beaches and Disney World.

Money: B
Making $90k which may not be much to some, but my responsibilities:pay ratio is very much in my favor along with a good crew with fun office banter. ETF and 401K doing very well. 5 out 7 day-trading stocks have done terribly The lithium stocks shot way up and came crashing down.

Overall: B
Would love to travel a lot more! Everything else has been awesome.

1/9/2025 1:33:16 PM

I'm still dead after getting hit by a train on my way to Arby's

1/9/2025 7:18:49 PM

^^^
I don't really know anything enough about your perspective to give any specific advice, but I will say that sometimes people are upset in their own head, maybe social, maybe academic, or maybe just an existential crisis. And sometimes when someone is unhappy with themselves, they take it out on someone else to avoid addressing it, perhaps unconsciously so. You can't do that with a stranger, but only someone who'll stick around unconditionally. And a dad is generally stronger than the mother, so it's easy to be more hostile with them cause on the inside they know that you're gonna be okay.

So, I think given time it'll work itself out

[Edited on January 15, 2025 at 6:46 AM. Reason : also why do so many people on here own airplanes]

1/15/2025 6:46:01 AM

Quote :

"Making steady progress towards my next career plan (airlines)"

theDuke866, do you have an airline picked out that you want to fly for? Spirit, Frontier, Southwest, Delta, AA, Alaska Airlines?

1/15/2025 9:18:13 AM

At this stage, I would just say one of the major airlines. AA, UA, Delta. Southwest.

I'd maybe entertain freight, like UPS--part of that would be desirable, but I don't know about the domiciles, and the rumored health effects of flying nights all the time for years on end.

Not sure if anyone else really competes on pay.

[Edited on January 15, 2025 at 7:51 PM. Reason : Alaska/Hawaii have good pay, but I'd have to think hard about the locations ]

1/15/2025 7:49:47 PM

How about the not rumored effects of increased lifetime exposure to radiation?

1/16/2025 6:00:50 AM

I mean that's a factor regardless, not just with flying freight instead of passengers.

I've spent a few thousand hours of my life the air. Of course, some decent amount of it has been not up in the stratosphere where that is more of a consideration.

I'd also only be doing this for, like, 15 years...and I don't see myself chasing a bunch of hours. I'd be cool sitting reserve, I think, or even sometimes giving up trips (I'll be fine without maximing my flight time and pay).

1/16/2025 7:19:01 PM

Career: C
I went to go work on another team and my new manager sucks. I'm sure I got fucked on my review and my promo may never come

Family: A-
Growing mine, still dont see my extended fam enough

Love Life: A
Made it to the first anniversary

Social / Friends: B
Race track friends are a bit closer. Some other friends moved back

Health: B-
Still less active than I'd like and all this family stuff hasn't helped

Money: A-
Made a shitload in stocks. Will retire in the next 18mos

Overall: A
Much less fulfillment at work, but much more things to care about outside work than any year previous in the last decade+ and finally in a position to be able to walk away from work soon. I got my car pretty late in the year, too late to get a setup for racing, but made big progress. I also took the best vacations in a really long time. I got to see the pack win the ACC, beat duke in the elite 8, and play in the final four. retirement so close I can taste it

1/17/2025 2:30:01 PM

2015 was the last time I participated:

Quote :

"Career: A- I started a new job ear the end of last year with a significant pay raise, less hours, and less commute. While I love the company and like the work for the most part, it is monotonous and I miss the random projects that popped up at my last job. I find myself having trouble staying focused on the tasks I'm supposed to be doing, as it is the 40th time that week/month. My wife has gone to a 70% schedule so she can take care of our son easier. The pay cut isn't great, but totally manageable. Family/Love: A Had my first child, James, in. May. He is a super easy baby. Only cries if he really needs something, sleeps through the night, and is very good natured. My wife and I would like to spend some more time together, but I think that is normal as we adjust to having a third person in the family. Social Life/Friends: C it has been few and far between that I hang out with friends. Still don't have a ton of friends in the Charlotte area. I get to see Hiro a few times a year which is nice. I would like to make it to Raleigh more to hang out with my friends. I have made friends with my neighbors, but only a couple I would call close friends. Health: A+ I have lost 39lbs this year. My blood pressure and resting heart rate are down. I'm in the best shape i have been in, in the last 8 years. I'm down 72lbs from my peak. My shoulders have not gone out at all this year. Money: Incomplete (B) my wife and I are both making the most we ever have, and broke the top 10% income bracket. We purchased a new house, after 5.5 years in our first one, and we close in February. Our mortgage is going to slightly over double. We can afford it, but it will be an adjustment. We will not have tons of cash and extra savings like we were used to. Overall I would say it was a solid A year. "

So, for 2024, 9 years later....
Career: A
I was promoted (again) this year, now in charge of Quality for an entire manufacturing division, with 40 plants and multiple departments under my umbrella. Over the last 6 years I went from single site, to 18 sites, to 40. I was able to hire two people two my team over the last two years which has reduced the workload. The leadership likes me and values my input, but the organization as a whole sees quality as an add on, not a primary function. The pay compared to the US average is great, but for the role it is on the low end of the spread. I don't complain too much though, as my job is fairly laid back and I get to work from home when I'm not traveling. The stress is pretty low and I don't have a lot of hard deadlines and people pushing me to get work out. It helps that my boss is the Senior VP who reports to the top of the company.
The wife has 16 years at her company and is still killing it.
About 4 years ago I also started my own super small business. I use it to promote my hobby and get discounts while being able to provide low prices and solid resources to my local hobby groups. 2024 was by best year ever with roughly $30k in sales, though because of my margins and setup, maybe $3k in profit. I spent 6 years with a very part time gig selling guns and accessories at a range. In 2023 I stopped working there, and put the extra time into my business or family.

Family A-
My kid is 9 and still easy going. I feel like he is too attached to screens and pop culture mess even though we limit his screen time. I think its a function of childhood and public education. He's also a giant being the 95 percentile for both height and weight. He's larger than his 12 y/o cousins. He plays flag-football and wants to try baseball because of some of his friends.
All 4 parents are still living and fairly healthy even though they are getting older. My aunt has lung cancer and won't live another year which sucks. My mom is battling skin cancer again, but it apparently is more of an annoyance than a
We have been able to take a number of family trips to Colorado and let him experience the outdoors.
We purchased a plot of land in the mountains in 2018 and have built a "shed" read: Tiny House, that we take weekend trips and vacation to.
We got dogs for the first time in our married life. Two oversized miniature poodles, at about 30lbs each. They are a lot more work than I expected, and I'm not sure they (having dogs) are worth it.
My brother is a raging narcissistic asshole, and people are finally starting to realize it. Its been nice to see the change as people have walked away and stopped enabling him.

Love Life: B-
With my role over all the sites I've been traveling 40-80% for the last 4 years. This puts some strain on the family dynamics when I'm gone for weeks at a time. Wife and Kid have a rhythm while I'm gone, and when I'm home its different. Also as I travel I'm responsible for myself and schedule while she handles herself and kid. When I'm home we both have to switch and remember that the other group needs our time as well. The travel has made bedroom suffer some.

Social/Friends: A+
I've connected with a local group of guys that were either former coworkers or their friends. There are 4-10 guys that all get together for hiking, camping, shooting, etc. Also worked together for Helene disaster relief. The joke is that Autism is the shared trait, as we all have very specific hobbies that we bring with us.
I've started competition shooting more frequently and hanging out with those regulars as well.
There aren't a lot of local neighborhood people that I see or care to associate with. Somehow I ended up in a neighborhood with pretentious assholes, to the point that the HOA board members keep quitting because they are tired of the other neighbors bullshit. Our pool company quit as well because of the disrespect and threats of the adults to the teen-age lifeguards. We might end up moving to a different house, or just build up in our mountain property.
I still get to see Hiro occasionally.

Health: A-
I had lost a lot of weight in the 2015 review, and then put a good bit of it back. I am down some again so its a roller-coaster as gain and lose the weight. At 6', 230 now, so still more to go. My cardio has improved significantly, and I started to track some of my fitness levels. I ran 3 half marathons and completed a 15 mile mountain day hike in the last couple months of '23. In 24 I found I can only bench ~160, due to weakness from two destroyed shoulders. That being said, I can squat over 250 and can dead-lift over 400. I'm hoping to improve those numbers this year.
I did have my back/shoulder go out twice in '24. I'm getting closer to dual shoulder replacements, right behind theDuke866

Hobbies: A
As I mentioned above, I turned my hobby into a business. I sell Night Vision, Thermal, Firearm Accessories, and coordinate training in the firearm space. I've branched out to play with other toys, getting into UHF/VHF and HF radio, Drones, and some homesteading. I've got a lot of really cool toys (business demo units) now that I never imagined having.
I enjoy getting back into the teaching part of this, and using that college degree.
I still do some car stuff, mountain drives, modifications, stereo/sub install, truck/trunk drawer building.
The wife says I have to stick to one hobby as we don't make enough for all of them.

Money: A
The wife and I make almost 2x what we made in 2015. We broke a financial milestone in 2024 that we are happy with. We are hoping that we can retire the wife before 55 (yes, still 15 years).
I turned 40 and got a promotion within a month of each other, so the wife agreed we had enough income that I could buy a second car purely for fun as a b'day present. I bought a used Miata. Having three cars with 330k combined miles and 2017 being the newest is fun. Not having debt beside the house awesome. We carry a couple other loans that could be paid off at any time, but the interest rates don't make sense for us to do that.

Overall: A
I have no real complaints. I wish I made more money for the time and energy I put in at work, but I'm paid more than I have ever made. I wish I didn't travel as much as I do, but I think 2025 will only be about 40% on the road.
Our "shed" in the woods is coming along nicely, and we are enjoying our trips up there.
I have dogs.
I have the best friends and relationships since I left NCSU to join the real world.
My close family relationships are probably the strongest they have been in years. Stopping the part time job really helped with that.

1/23/2025 2:48:57 PM