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gridloreWell, I've made it through another year. Continuing to defy the medical odds, and actually thriving somewhat. 2019 was a year of continued recovery, pushing myself, and doing things that I thought I would never be able to do.
Let's review, shall we?
Health
This was a good year, health-wise. I had no hospitalizations, no visits to the ER and only one visit to an Urgent Care facility. That was for what I thought was an allergy attack from hell but turned out to be a sinus infection. In fact, it turns out that I'm not really allergic to anything in the environment. This really puzzled my pulmonologist.
My medications have stayed stable, with the only thing changing is adding various vitamins to address some muscle cramp issues. This year also marked my first off of MediCal. Of course, that idiots at County Health couldn't believe that I wanted to drop it after they were the ones who told me that I made too much money. Morons. But paying copays makes me feel better.
I also walked a lot in the last year. In the past year, I have taken 1.6 million steps and traveled 1,188.6 kilometers. I did two 5k walks, and in the new year I've signed up for three. As you can imagine, my job has really helped with those totals. Which brings us to. . .
Work
I've been a Crossing Guard with the Santa Clara Police Department for about 18 months now, and I love it. Despite all my recovery from the stroke, three hours a day is just about all I can work. But the time I spend on my corner gives me a purpose. Having a reason to get out of bed every day is so important to your mental health. I believe I have the best post in the district, as I've got a wide verge with shade trees where I can set up my camp chair. My corner is busy but not overwhelming. And my kids and parents are, for the most part, awesome. I've gotten the rhythm of my post, knowing which cars make the right turn through my crosswalk daily, knowing when families come, and which kids I really need to keep an eye on.
Plus there's the pride in the uniform and being a small part of the larger SCPD family. When I'm on duty I do my best to be the best face of the department that I can. I'm even shaving regularly. I've always enjoyed being part of something bigger, and here I'm doing it daily. I'm not going to lie, the extra money doesn't hurt.
The Arts
kshandra and I got out to see a lot of concerts last year, and even one legendary show that is now a terrible film! We saw Cats here in San Jose and won the lottery to see Hamilton! in SF which was astounding. We also went to several amazing concerts. Avatar at the Fillmore, Judas Priest with Uriah Heep at the Warfield, Bill Kirchen reunited with the surviving Lost Planet Airmen, all in the spring and early summer. Then, after we returned from Burning Man, we saw Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony at the second S&M2 show at the brand-new Chase Center. Then up to Reno to see an amazing Ghost show in a terrible venue. Finally, back to the Warfield to see J-pop/metal mashup band Baby Metal with Avatar opening.
A great year, and we already have tickets to see Tool and Machine Head, as well as going to see Les Miserables.
Baseball
Well, it wasn't a good year for the Giants, and we didn't make that many games. I don't think we made it to any San Jose Giants games at all, which annoys me, as I love the minor leagues. The Big League club is going all-in on rebuilding. We won it all in 2010 with a cast of castoffs and misfits, with a healthy dose of torture mixed in. The big story is the departure of future Hall of Fame Manager Bruce Bochy.
I'm just waiting for pitchers and catchers to report in about six weeks. Go Giants!
Creative Work
I wrote a novel. My first draft of Sideways Solutions, all 53,000 worlds of it, will start getting dissected tomorrow as I take everything I learned writing 50,000 words in November and apply it to make what I have better. I fully understand that what I have now is extremely short of a novel, so I'm going to be adding scenes with different characters, giving them more depth, filling out a major "and then stuff happens" section where I just wanted to get to the end. My goal is the second draft to reach 90,000 words. Then, more polishing and I bite the bullet and look at hiring an editor and shopping for an agent. Self-publishing is my last option. The dream is to sign with Baen.
Burning Man
This was also a great year for me at Burning Man, as this was the year I volunteered and started giving back. I did a shift at Trego Hot Spring for the Earth Guardians. It was a lot of fun and I'll be looking at taking another shift, probably at Double Hot, in the coming year. This year was also astounding as we were able to get as close as you are allowed to get to the Man on Burn Night. This resulted in flash burns and being showered with burning ash, but at least we were having unexploded fireworks fired along the ground in our direction.
Already started getting ready for next year.
So, that's 2019. I know I missed things, but the summation of the year is this: I didn't die, and had fun living.
Let's review, shall we?
Health
This was a good year, health-wise. I had no hospitalizations, no visits to the ER and only one visit to an Urgent Care facility. That was for what I thought was an allergy attack from hell but turned out to be a sinus infection. In fact, it turns out that I'm not really allergic to anything in the environment. This really puzzled my pulmonologist.
My medications have stayed stable, with the only thing changing is adding various vitamins to address some muscle cramp issues. This year also marked my first off of MediCal. Of course, that idiots at County Health couldn't believe that I wanted to drop it after they were the ones who told me that I made too much money. Morons. But paying copays makes me feel better.
I also walked a lot in the last year. In the past year, I have taken 1.6 million steps and traveled 1,188.6 kilometers. I did two 5k walks, and in the new year I've signed up for three. As you can imagine, my job has really helped with those totals. Which brings us to. . .
Work
I've been a Crossing Guard with the Santa Clara Police Department for about 18 months now, and I love it. Despite all my recovery from the stroke, three hours a day is just about all I can work. But the time I spend on my corner gives me a purpose. Having a reason to get out of bed every day is so important to your mental health. I believe I have the best post in the district, as I've got a wide verge with shade trees where I can set up my camp chair. My corner is busy but not overwhelming. And my kids and parents are, for the most part, awesome. I've gotten the rhythm of my post, knowing which cars make the right turn through my crosswalk daily, knowing when families come, and which kids I really need to keep an eye on.
Plus there's the pride in the uniform and being a small part of the larger SCPD family. When I'm on duty I do my best to be the best face of the department that I can. I'm even shaving regularly. I've always enjoyed being part of something bigger, and here I'm doing it daily. I'm not going to lie, the extra money doesn't hurt.
The Arts
kshandra and I got out to see a lot of concerts last year, and even one legendary show that is now a terrible film! We saw Cats here in San Jose and won the lottery to see Hamilton! in SF which was astounding. We also went to several amazing concerts. Avatar at the Fillmore, Judas Priest with Uriah Heep at the Warfield, Bill Kirchen reunited with the surviving Lost Planet Airmen, all in the spring and early summer. Then, after we returned from Burning Man, we saw Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony at the second S&M2 show at the brand-new Chase Center. Then up to Reno to see an amazing Ghost show in a terrible venue. Finally, back to the Warfield to see J-pop/metal mashup band Baby Metal with Avatar opening.A great year, and we already have tickets to see Tool and Machine Head, as well as going to see Les Miserables.
Baseball
Well, it wasn't a good year for the Giants, and we didn't make that many games. I don't think we made it to any San Jose Giants games at all, which annoys me, as I love the minor leagues. The Big League club is going all-in on rebuilding. We won it all in 2010 with a cast of castoffs and misfits, with a healthy dose of torture mixed in. The big story is the departure of future Hall of Fame Manager Bruce Bochy.
I'm just waiting for pitchers and catchers to report in about six weeks. Go Giants!
Creative Work
I wrote a novel. My first draft of Sideways Solutions, all 53,000 worlds of it, will start getting dissected tomorrow as I take everything I learned writing 50,000 words in November and apply it to make what I have better. I fully understand that what I have now is extremely short of a novel, so I'm going to be adding scenes with different characters, giving them more depth, filling out a major "and then stuff happens" section where I just wanted to get to the end. My goal is the second draft to reach 90,000 words. Then, more polishing and I bite the bullet and look at hiring an editor and shopping for an agent. Self-publishing is my last option. The dream is to sign with Baen.
Burning Man
This was also a great year for me at Burning Man, as this was the year I volunteered and started giving back. I did a shift at Trego Hot Spring for the Earth Guardians. It was a lot of fun and I'll be looking at taking another shift, probably at Double Hot, in the coming year. This year was also astounding as we were able to get as close as you are allowed to get to the Man on Burn Night. This resulted in flash burns and being showered with burning ash, but at least we were having unexploded fireworks fired along the ground in our direction.
Already started getting ready for next year.
So, that's 2019. I know I missed things, but the summation of the year is this: I didn't die, and had fun living.
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Date: 1 Jan 2020 04:45 (UTC)no subject
Date: 8 Jan 2020 16:12 (UTC)