Hello everyone, welcome back to this side of December, my favorite month of the year. The days are shorter, and nights are dark and cozy; it’s utterly fantastic. December is a contracted month, too, with the Christmas break shortening the work month to only three weeks (lucky for me), which after coming off of the Thanksgiving holiday is quite something to look forward to. It’ll be a quick sprint towards the end, that’s for sure.
The weather finally made a turn towards the seasonal cold and rain during the Thanksgiving break, making the festivities that bit more atmospheric, being locked in our homes with the heat blasting, while outside the wind howls and the rain chills and sleets fiercely. It was wonderful: the traditional Thanksgiving meal just wouldn’t feel right if it were 70 degrees and sunny outside. As always, it’s special and rewarding to catch up with family and friends during this time of the year.
The four-day holiday allowed to time to complete some personal work, too, though at a far more leisurely pace. You can read about what the 10th month of ownership is like for my Porsche 911 GT3, in which I write about how the car has depreciated $20,000 in value since I bought it back in January (no need to cry for me, Argentina).
Another thing I finished is the photo calendars I make every year to give out to my friends during Christmas. It’s difficult to pick the best 13 pictures (12 months plus cover page) I took this year to include into the calendar, as the candidates were many (somewhat humble brag). After selecting the photos, I then reedit them to my current tastes, which has slightly evolved throughout the year. Finally, I then agonize over which picture belongs to which month, keeping in mind the seasons and mood associated with a particular month.
What I am saying is: it’s way more labor intensive than the final product looks.
In December there’s two big projects to do before I sign off for the rest of 2019 (I get on a plane to China on the night of the 27th): the December ownership update for the GT3, and the year-end reflection long-form; both combined is easily over 5,000 words. The aim is to have them finished before we break for Christmas; with the weather staying cold and rainy for the month, that shouldn’t be much of a problem to achieve.
Let’s finish strong, friends.
A clean, bone-stock classic BMW E30 coupe parked on the street. What a lovely thing.