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Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

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  • #16
    Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

    Happy birthday.
    You have done well.Most only dream of doing what you have done(alot can't dream it).
    Keith's right.
    terry
    damn did I say that ;)

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    • #17
      Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

      Happy 30th B-Day. I'm always happy when my friend's birthdays are met with hope and happiness. I did not for a long time. At 30, I was amazed I was still breathing after my health issues and my actions when I was younger. I wouldn't wish my life path on my worst enemy.

      Yes, Chad is extremely intelligent. One of the few people I know that will dominate a conversation with me, besides Turk. I get to be quiet around him. I got him to tell me a bit about his life and learned he's lived a lot more than me even at his younger age. I always had respect for him and his talent, but that has increased.

      I certainly hope all of us have a vehicle of some kind in our garage, or driveway that makes us smile by just looking at it. I hope all us can look at our buckets of rust and see the possibilities of what it could be. Real heaven would be having family, friends, and neighbors that could share that vision. If you don't have such a vehicle, find one, now. You don't live forever.

      Thanks again for such a great place to hang and chat about our hobby. Thanks for letting write some of my babblings here as well.

      Good luck, may you have many, many more of these anniversaries.
      BS'er formally known as Rebeldryver

      Resident Instigator

      sigpic

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      • #18
        Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

        Happy birthday Brian, at 30 you're allowed to stop counting if you wish. For sure, you and Chad are doing a great job with the site and full marks to all the other contributors as well.
        Michael from Hampton Roads

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        • #19
          Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

          Happy Birthday Brian,
          I just wrote a big happy birthday wish full of feeling ,went to post it, and had to log back in, post was lost,dammit.
          Birthdays and age gets better with each one,really. Thanks for your dedication to making a place for all of us.
          And its great raising your kids in an automotive household, but its much better when like yours , they also choose that path.
          Again, Happy Birthday

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          • #20
            Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

            Happy birthday Bruab.....You are doing it right with Tom....and Jack will be out there soon enough....You've done really well for yourself with the Boys and Keri.....You helped bring me back into the car world full force and for that I am very grateful.

            Many of the guys on this site have become family and friends.......I am looking forward to its future....

            Oh and here is a picture of you....you would need a Procharger F100 for this melon.. ;D



            HA!!! I win....

            Seth
            200 mph or bust.......

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            • #21
              Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

              Happy Birthday Brian your written word shows more intelligence than a 30 year old for sure. Love to read your stories keep it up.

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              • #22
                Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

                OK, now it's my turn to say something pithy (no, I'm NOT typing with a lisp!).

                I've been 30. Also 31, 32, 33, etc., all the way up to 63 last month. Along the way I nearly died 3 times in 2 days and am alive today due to the efforts of good Docs and plenty of drugs. What I learned out of all this - these ARE the good old days. And I think you're smart enough to know it - one of the reasons I like you. Whatever else you screw up won't matter as long as you love Keri and the boys and I know you have a firm grasp on that reality.

                Those of you who haven't had a chance to hang with Brian - find an excuse and do it. He's fun and knows a lot - for a kid. Now if he just had the Moxie (look it up, young 'uns) to transport his family to a dwelling in a warmer clime. Working on cars in a snow bank - and the attendant character building - is WAY over rated.

                I have to agree that Keith has his charms. He's one of the people I have on my speed dial and I sort of say "Damn, I have Keith Turk (and a couple of others) on speed dial!" One of the most amazing things in my life is the people I have had a personal conversation with - Wayne Jessel, Scooter Brothers, David Freiburger, and others. I think Bruab has some of that "OMG, THAT was XXXX!" in his life, too. Amazing where life can take you. The difference is that this has taken me 63 years and Brian is there in under 30.

                So Happy Birthday. Spoil the kids and Keri and let them spoil you, too.

                Best to you
                Dan

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                • #23
                  Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

                  Thanks for the great words everyone. I'm glad you dug that rather sappy missive.

                  It all means a lot to me and I sincerely appreciate it.

                  Dan, you're right in the fact that if it all goes up in smoke, Kerri and the boys always have my utmost devotion.

                  Seth, that photo reminds me that I need to lose 50lbs. I am going in for cranium reductio surgery shortly. The X-rays showed that my brain would fit into the dome of a squirrel so I'm shrinkin' this mother. :D

                  We've got some great stuff coming down the pipe. Stay tuned kids, this train is just leaving the station.

                  An honest and heartfelt thanks for reading to everyone!

                  Brian
                  That which you manifest is before you.

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                  • #24
                    Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

                    Happy Birthday man. Never be afraid to be honest and speak what you feel. There is so much in the world that is fake that even a little sincerity stands out like neon.

                    The site is awesome, and you guys have every right to be proud of it. After growing up gearhead, and then taking more than a few of the wayward paths that life shows you in your 20's, this site is at the top of my list of daily reads to try to catch up on 15 years of remedial studies. Thank you for all of it.

                    Oh, and if the boy is 3 and asking about blowers and whatnot... feed that. When I was about four or five, my dad starting bringing me home Revell models to build. One of the first was called the "Visible V-8", a clear plastic working model with motorized action. So I built my first engine at age 5, and the fascination continued to build from there.

                    The site rocks. Keep kicking ass and taking names.

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                    • #25
                      Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

                      Pretty much ditto all thats said below for me as well.

                      Brian, it has been a pleasure becoming your friend, and watching you and Chadwick grow this little tree fort that we all hangout in together, into something MUCH larger, and more meaningfull for all of us to share.

                      Congrats on your milestone,,,,,40 is just around the corner my friend ;D
                      Jeremy George in Windsor NY

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                      • #26
                        Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

                        Very well written, Brian. It's got me thinking myself...I turn 27 this year, kicked (formerly) Miss Remy out on her ass and will be leaving the service soon...it definetly requires an evening or two of thought to wrap my head around the "what's next?" question. Keith is a presence, and a very entertaining one at that. Dan is a worthwhile definetion of "friendly", and Chad and Dave...well, for all of the five minutes I got to hang out with them they both are awesome. You've done well for yourself and well for others, and that's all that can be asked of...


                        ...well, that, about 50 lbs lost, and maybe a cantaloupe head instead of the Great Pumpkin dome... ;D
                        Editor-at-Large at...well, here, of course!

                        "Remy-Z, you've outdone yourself again, I thought a Mirada was the icing on the cake of rodding, but this Imperial is the spread of little 99-cent candy letters spelling out "EAT ME" on top of that cake."

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                        • #27
                          Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

                          Well said, Brian!

                          One of the things I recall about the "Big 3-0" was that it finally sunk in how relatively brief our lives are on this "mortal coil." I recall a scene from the old film "City Slickers" in which Billy Crystal laments this very point before a shocked class of elementary school students. I've paraphrased and expanded it to make it fit the typical Bangshifter life cycle:

                          "Value this time in your life kids, because this is the time in your life when you still have your choices, and it goes by so quickly.

                          When you're a teenager you think you can drive old tired hoopties like Bo and Luke Duke, and you do. Every strip of asphalt is a another burnout canvas. You plunge head-long into ridiculously difficult builds that are far in excess of your budget, available tools and skill level. You hack and part out used performance cars like there's no tomorrow. You're up for whatever "build" your buds cook up and you throw in the spare parts and tools to make it happen. You tell yourself that all the hot chicks in school would forget about the jocks and swoon over you if you just had the right car. The mousy girls you do manage to date usually get sick of hearing about cams, headers and E.T.s. You dream of being the next racing/hot rodding superstar. "The future is wide open."

                          Your twenties rip past like the first heat race of the season . . . when everything is possible and the only thing standing between you and universal Bangshifting glory is money. Sleep? Who needs it. Food? Pizza and track dogs! You hate anything but the most minimal of mufflers. Your motto is "if it's too loud, then you're too old!" You wonder why all those fat greybeard street rodders stay "stuck in the '50s" and how they can waste so much money on slow, out-of-style, boring crap. You're jammin' hard on the rev limiter every day. You promise youself you'll "never change."

                          Your thirties . . . you start feeling bogged down trying to break out of the pack . . .struggling to get out of the "B main." Your college pals are now in "middle management." Everything's taking too long. You've begin to realize how many opportunities you missed in your teens and twenties. You're starting to wondering where all the "screamin' deals" on the cars and parts of your youth have gone. You've been burnt a few times, so you're more careful loaning out your tools and giving up so much free labor and advice. You start squinting your eyes at that latest teenage phenom at the top of your favorite racing series and start wondering "what if?" You charge the cloverleafs a little harder with the irrational thought that you'll be "discovered" by Roger Penske. (Everybody knows Penske hangs out at freeway off ramps scouting for middle-aged drivers) You try harder to "cut the perfect light" at every intersection, just to show that oblivous guy sending text messages in the Prius what "reaction time" and "American Muscle" really mean. You start to enjoy a good nights sleep and a quick nap during the Sunday Afternoon races. You scrape together a little extra coin to wrench on a few cars while shouldering a mountain of responsibility. And just like most of the "squares" who don't "get" the whole car thing, you raise your family and you think to yourself, "What happened to my twenties?"

                          Your forties . . . you start to see people your age with real power in racing and industry and wonder how they "cheated" their way to the top. You dream up any number of "comeback" plans and schemes that never seem to work. At the track, you start thinking "Man those "kids" are quick and fast . . . and you look covetously at those awesome rides that mom and dad are JUST giving them. You hear yourself spouting cautionary tales and pretentious "fatherly" advice to your own young Bo and Luke Dukes, wondering why kids just never listen. The print in the hot rod magazines that you read on the can starts getting a little blurry. Your car club/racing jacket gets too tight. You grow a little pot belly and another chin. You need eight hours of sleep to function. The music and the cars start to get too loud. One of your old girlfriends from high school becomes a grandmother.

                          Your fifties . . . you have a minor surgery. You'll call it "a procedure," but it's a surgery. You start trying to "build" or buy back the car you had in high school. You wonder why nobody is building "rods" the way we did it back in the good old days. You pepper bench racing sessions with dusty stories about how "it was back in the day." You think that new cars are "ugly" and that they've totally ruined racing. You wonder why all the kids want that "expensive high tech crap" on their cars. You stop charging every off-ramp and "cutting" every traffic light because you've got "nothing to prove." You spend a lot more time on the can reading "retro" car magazines with a magnifier. You buy a motor home and wander to nostalgia races and NSRA events. Your doctor tells you to give up pizza and track dogs. You can't sleep through the night anymore. You see infomercials for the cruisin' music of your youth and you place an order because none of your original tracks are in the "modern" format. Somebody you knew (and probably couldn't stand) in high school retires. A car like the one you wrecked/trashed/parted out in high school hits six-figures at Barrett-Jackson.

                          Your sixties . . . you have a major surgery, the cars and music are still loud but it doesn't matter because you can't hear 'em anyway. You dream about a nice "350/350" street rod, or a numbers matching vintage Musclecar, or a Bloomington Gold Corvette. You start not carring about who wins the U.S. Nationals or Daytona. You wonder why they've got to charge so much for car event tickets and entry fees. Most of your "square" friends are retiring to some boring golf resort or showing off in their ridiculously expensive foreign luxury cars. One of the horndogs you knew back in school marries a twenty-something and you wonder what they've got to talk about. You need prescriptions to wake up and prescriptions to sleep.

                          Seventies . . . you and "the wife" retire to Las Vegas, you start eating dinner at two, lunch around ten, breakfast the night before. You start on your "last" car build and you just about kill yourself with an engine hoist or a Saws-All. Then you spend most of your time wandering around swap meets and surfing eBay looking for the ultimate in nostalgia automobilia and muttering "how come the kids don't call?"

                          By your eighties, you've had a major stroke. When you finally see your grandkids, they start working you over "Grand Torino-style" for you to "give" them that old rod that "just sits in the garage." You read the obit for your last bench racing/car club "bud." You end up sleeping most of the days away in some nursing home, gumming macaroni and cheese, and babbling about Linda Vaughn, antique cars, and automobile races that happened five decades ago to some clueless minimium-wage nurse's aide who you call mama. Any questions?

                          DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN! KEEP THE DREAM ALIVE! Happy B-Day Brian!

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                          • #28
                            Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

                            Good read Brian and congrats on everything!

                            Your story is very relatable for me. I'll be 29 this year, I have the love of my life that is now 14 weeks pregnant, and I am doing what I love with opening the shop....and it's hard some days, and I'm not getting rich fast, and there are a lot of better/easier ways to make a buck. But I feel fortunate and proud every single day to be finally doing what I said I would do as senior in high school. I occasionally run into some people I graduated with and they ask what I am up to and when I tell them I get this overwhelming common response of shock that I am still playing with cars....like I was ten years ago. I realize the older I get how very few people actually have a "to the core" passion for something.

                            I picked up my first Hot Rod magazine when I was 12-13 years old. At that age I was obsessive about whatever I was currently in to and I studied that thing like it was my job. I told my best friend that some day I was going to own a speed shop and I'm going to have a car in Hot Rod magazine. I'm still working on one of my life goals of getting a car in Hot Rod but I'll get there....and when I do I hope we cross paths.

                            Good for you for following YOUR dream.

                            www.Nightmare-Motorsports.com

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                            • #29
                              Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

                              from what I can see - its good for there to be a Brian and Chad and we're all the better for it. 8)

                              As to you turning 30, I just don't feel like I could be your father but the math says I could, damn :-[
                              a.k.a. - arrowhead from joysey

                              "They're no good for you. all they ever think about are cars" (GTO/Warren Oates) - Two Lane Blacktop

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                              • #30
                                Re: Barnstormin': Mental Notes Just Shy of My 30th Birthday

                                Holy moly Speedzter :o It's longer than Brian's Barnstormin :P I'm saving a copy of that though, it's pretty funny, I can just picture Billy Crystal saying all that in a monotone voice :D
                                Escaped on a technicality.

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