The year in review?

Hope ‘26 is better for all of yall who had tough ones last year.

Dexter Inferno said:
…and my plantar fasciitis has made that even worse. Most days I'm barely able to walk at the end of a shift. Tried almost everything, it's gotten better but I'll probably never be entirely rid of it.
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I had a monster case of plantar fasciitis a few years back. It did eventually get 100% better, so don’t give up hope.

For my part, last year was pretty normal. I upped my guitar game a lot, actually learning stuff when I practiced instead of just noodling on the same ol things. Also I’m drinking much less.

I am retiring at the end of this month, so I’m feeling good about the coming year. :hippie:
 
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dodgechargerfan said:
I’ll forget a lot here, but on the upside I got a positive performance review with a pay bump in the spring and then a promotion with a pay bump in November; I won a few guitars and a special edition pedal; I feel that Mrs DCF and I are closer than ever (not that we weren’t close before) despite the stress of the house renovations.

On the downside, the house renovations put some temporary stress on our relationship and our finances. The relationship recovered. The kitchen was done late last year, but we’re taking the original contractor to court. So, that’s money out until we win. Then the roof leaked. So, a full roof, siding, soffit and fascia, and gutters..and 100k later, the house is in good shape on the outside. Lots to do on the inside still.
I didn’t really make any progress on hobbies and projects. I didn’t really drive the NewYorker except for a spring wake-up run around the block.

Overall, I can’t complain. It wasn’t a great year. It wasn’t disastrous either.
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That kitchen job was a nightmare.hope you get the result you're after. Still love ours.

We're still plugging away at our place. Had to spend £££ recently getting a lot of the external rendering repaired. got someone in to price fixing a small patch that had come away, turned out the entire side if our house that is most exposed was fucked - the render literally wobbled when you pressed it and you could poke through certs parts with your finger! got the render fixed and whole exterior painted alongside the roof.

A lot of houses in our estate have had similar done recently and gone for magnolia or off white and gray or anthracite. Looks pretty dull especially when the weather is crap so we went with pure brilliant white on the render and Spanish terracotta red on the roof, sills and brickwork. The gaffer mentioned it'd be super bright and vibrant especially compared to the neighbours and we might want to choose more muted colours.

Nope, house looks amazing and I'm sure you can see it from the ISS. Was really annoyed about the unexpected expense at the time but it's turned out great.

Bit of snagging for them to hit again when the weather gets nicer but it looks like a brand new house from outside.

Next is Mrs JBJs office which, in a rare glimpse of progress, she's actually picked a desk for it after 2+ years of it being used for laundry and boxes. Another year or so and she might pick some wallpaper or paint and then we'll really be flying!!
 
All in all, I suppose 2025 was a good year. Everyone in the immediate and extended family is healthy. That right there makes it a great year.

Moved to a new house which ended up needing more work than we expected, but not horrible. We downsized considerably - 3600 sq ft with full unfinished basement and full easily accessible attic to 1900 sq ft with small finished basement and only a small attic area over garage. I thought downsizing would be a good thing by forcing us to declutter our possessions more than we already have, but it turns out we've gotten rid of more things than we ever thought possible and we STILL don't have nearly enough storage room. This has turned out to be extremely stressful on both of us.

On the plus side of the move, we now live close to the daughter and her boyfriend. This means lots of time with the almost grandkids which we enjoy very much.

I retired April 1. My wife retired shortly after. I enjoy days filled with a little work and a lot of goofing off, but the lack of a routine is starting to make the wife antsy. Signing up for Medicare and social security was surprisingly easy and snafu free. Health insurance for the wife (not old enough for medicare) has been a bit of a cluster. I think I have it straightened out - we'll see.

We got to take a "do over" cruise. Two years ago we took a MSC cruise and the wife broke her arm on the first day. We had to leave the ship in Cozumel where she had a titanium plate put in to fix the busted arm. MSC was gracious enough to give us a credit allowing us the "do over". Happy to say, no broken bones this time.

I resolved to pick up the guitar once we got settled in the new digs and find some folks to jam with (we live on the outskirts of Indy, so should be lots of old farts looking for weekend jams). Unfortunately, I haven't had a guitar out of the case since we've been here, and I have less desire to play each passing day.

Again, family happy and healthy, so the other stuff is just a minor bother.
 
Gary Blanchard said:
The best part of the year was hearing that the cancer is in remission. My neuropathy is getting worse and I get hand cramps if I play guitar for too long, but I am much better than during the early days of treatment.

I still do a few hours of online counseling a week and teach one class per semester; that keeps my mind sharp. I started painting this year and am starting to develop my style. Carol and I have our 20th anniversary coming up the end of March.

I feel blessed to have this group of people in my life. I love you guys
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Have you posted any of your paintings? Would like to see them.
 
Good year / Bad year.

Got my mom into a fantastic small assisted living facility (only her and one other client currently), she's doing much better than we were able to do with her. She's completely dependant on others, but she always seems comfortable when I see her so that part is great (debatable if she knows who I am anymore).
Got our kitchen re-done. I was lucky to find out I have a cousin that lives a few miles away and does house renovations. He did a great job and my wife is extremely happy. But it was very stressful and took much longer than expected.
Started playing bass again in my band after realizing 99% of bassists suck. But the band is doing great with a new drummer, the original singer and my friend that took over for me on rythym guitar (ajlynnandthewreckage.com).
And I don't obsess over gear anymore! Probably the best part of playing bass.
Going to re-list the house for sale in late May or early June, the market seems to suck currently. Taking care of two houses is not what I had planned, but once it sells, should be able to pay off all our bills and do more home-remodeling.
 
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Let's see...in the last few months of the year I checked in on the forum more often and remembered what a good community it is.

This past year compared to the two before it was a good one. Not the greatest, but a pretty good one. My older son is visiting now, but he's been in Japan a year and a half teaching English and he's signed up for another year and a half and who knows maybe more. He loves both Japan and the teaching and he's lucky to be able to be out of the USA for a while (except for this short visit). My younger son has had a lot going on but seems to be stabilized and getting through college now. Good days, bad days. My wife doesn't seem to show any signs of cancer recurring, but the ongoing medication routine saps her energy. We both teach college writing and literature and the AI paper writing is abysmal, but even more so I suspect that short form social media has destroyed most people's capacity to concentrate on anything longer than a sonnet. Or maybe a haiku.

The world news puts me in a shitty mood, but you have to keep fighting.

On the musician side of things, I've been playing much more regularly with a group that has actual plans to book gigs and play out. I haven't played out since pre-covid and even then it was sparingly. I feel much better about my playing, so that's a positive.
 
Worked alot and apparently spent waaaaaaaaay too much money buying guitars. :embarrassed:

Charvel, Chapman, PRS, Schecter, Suhr, Sully, Suhr… and so far only sold the second Suhr. :helper:

Starting out the new year in New York City, chilling in our midtown hotel with a private terrace.

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