Sunday, March 29, 2020

19 for 2019 denouement

My blogging sputtered and died last summer, and I struggled to get back on the horse. (Or maybe motorcycle? to go with the sputter and die analogy? No, horses can sputter and die too.) Many posts sat in the drafts folder, wishing and hoping to someday be finished and published. There was a summer part 2! Updates on my 19 for 2019 list! A freak case of summer PNEUMONIA! The parents came to visit Delaware! And of course...the amazing DECADE IN REVIEW!

In the end, item #7 on the 19 for 2019 list ("Update Wongstar blog 1x/month") was not to be.  The enormity of it being The End of A Decade was not lost on me, and as bloggers people* everywhere did their Decade Recaps, I felt trapped. 2009 was a big year for me. It was the year I became a certified prosthetist-orthotist, in the same month I qualified for my pro triathlon license. And as Robert Frost proclaims in "The Road Not Taken":

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

2019 would bookend the decade that began with me going down the road less taken: choosing to become a pro triathlete and racing all around the world, eventually running out of money, crashing my bike into a minivan during Ironman Korea in 2011, and going back to being a normal person working a normal (okay, way cooler than normal) job. I have so many mixed emotions tied with the end of my triathlon career (which run the gamut from success to failure, pride but regret). Like my triathlon career crashing and burning, thus so did the 19 in 2019 list, and I couldn't bring myself to write a sparkly Decade in Review, when 2009 seemed so much more exciting than 2019.

BUT!

You know what 2020 has brought?

A) I PAID OFF MY STUDENT LOANS! YESSSSS!!! All 6 figures! And there is nothing, absolutely nothing, that helps you justify cutting your pro triathlon career short than PAYING OFF YOUR STUDENT LOANS! This just happened last month, and it was such a mental shift for me. There is no way it would have happened (any time soon, or even in my lifetime?!) if I kept going down the path of staying a professional triathlete.

Damn right, there was a party.

B) CORONAVIRUS! NOOOOO! Or the official name, COVID-19. Just don't call it the "Chinese Flu", OR I WILL FIGHT YOU. My work hours are getting cut back, which means I have time to actually update my blog once a month (or heck, more often). One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2020 was "write more". (I will not even tell you my other resolutions as they are already irrelevant!) So, apparently I like making lists, and I am considering making a "19 during COVID-19" list, but first I felt it was appropriate to at least wrap up the "19 in 2019" list.

As a refresher, here's the 19 goals or intentions I had for last year:



So, how did I do? DRUM ROLL...

Completed, mostly:
2. Date nights with Kevin 2x/month.
3. Visit Longwood Gardens 6x (every other month). (enough times to make the annual membership worthwhile)
5. Go to the beach 3x.
6. Call and FaceTime family more (1x/week, on weekends!).
10. Learn to hard-boil eggs easier. (got this little gadget for $16 in aqua color)
15. Eat at a new local Asian food establishment 1x/month.
16. Find refrigerator filters and replace every 6 months.
17. Get new roof. (just completed!)

Started out strong, but soon sputtered out:
7. Update Wongstar blog 1x/month.
18. Complete a Marie Kondo decluttering of the entire house. (HAHA! does anyone actually ever finish this?!)

Didn't do at all, but still want to/need to do:
1. Print out physical wedding album.
4. Visit Delaware Museum of Natural History.
9. Learn to use Mom’s fancy rice cooker.
19. Write our wills.
11. Paint remaining interiors (man cave, master bedroom, and ceilings).

Gave myself a reality check and realized I had very little desire to do these:
8. Do each Sufferfest cycling video once.
12. Paint kitchen cabinets.
13. Re-stain patio furniture.
14. Figure out how to refresh faded red Honda Fit paint job. (it's a 2007, and it runs great!)


So, now that I am back on the blogging horse during this pandemic, I am going to up the ante with a weekly update. But you probably won't get a decade in review. OK, fine. Here is all you get for a decade in review:



The above is winning 2009's Korea Jeju Triathlon (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run; essentially Ironman Korea but without the official M-dot), my first pro win about 2 months after qualifying for my pro card.

The below is winning 2019's Bethany Beach First Responders' triathlon (1000-meter swim, 30k/18.5-mile bike, and 7.5k/4.5-mile run), exactly 2 months after I was diagnosed with that freak case of summer pneumonia. (I may blog more about this since respiratory illness is currently a HOT TOPIC!)

Big secret: I may or may not have been the only woman racing the elite/open category in both races. Doesn't matter! Breaking the finish tape is super cool and I'm pretty sure these are the only two times in my life it has actually happened.

*A note about blogging: do bloggers even exist any more other than the professionals that monetize their blogs? I almost let Google fool me into using Adsense because I assumed they already shoved ads in my blog before I realized it was WordPress that did that. This is staying ad-free, bitches! And yes, I realized blogging is an outdated medium but I still find it therapeutic to write out my thoughts, even if my future self is the only person who reads this. I hear it's very trendy to start a podcast now but I'm not that fancy and can't even figure out how to do Instagram stories (nor do I want to). Thanks for reading!