Take Your Best Shot

It’s very hard sometimes to get the few minutes it takes to piece this blog together. I had a much bigger readership when I was very consistent. That is OK because this is for me and not for anyone else. But hey I am still here right?

First I want to introduce you to the love of my life, Ellie.  She is a 2021 Toyota Tacoma in Army Green.  I have been looking for a truck all summer, they must all be on the cargo ships with everyone’s Christmas presents. I got very lucky with this one. I also got very lucky that they gave me $26,000 for my Suburu when I paid 30K for it in early 2018.  I guess they are really not lying about needing used cars.  Even did man shit and put the bed cover on all by myself. She is getting tinted on Tuesday and she will be good to go. I love her very much.  Between the Challenger and the Tacoma, I probably am in the cars that I will own for the rest of my life.

I guess everyone read about my last trip to Florida. I don’t think I had the opportunity to tell anyone here that we had decided to go back to finish the final house at Halloween horror nights and spend some time with my family. We did just that last weekend. Did I have a nice time? Absolutely. I can tell you about a few things in a minute. Was it probably stupid of both of us? Absolutely. Our bodies were just not ready for that much walking yet. So much that the love handles on my back hurt 🙂

The good news is I’m down 19 pounds from my boating accident and our last trip to Florida in early September. On Friday morning we met my brother-in-law at Hollywood studios Disney and went in for a few hours. We got to ride most of the Star Wars rides, slinky dog, and check the park out. Somehow I remember slinky being freaking awesome., Not so much, not sure why I waited an hour for that, I think it was the fact that it was my dad‘s first roller coaster and I laughed and smiled at him the whole time we did it a few years ago. Some of the shows I would’ve loved to of seen have not opened yet. Rise of the resistance is the newest Star Wars ride and we could not get on it. I could not pay to get on it. Disney is a whole other demon. We made it till about 1 o’clock and then we’re heading back to our hotel to rest, and meet our friends John and Beth at Universal. Then it happened.

When I was at Universal in September after my accident, I cannot fit in the Dr. doom chair, they have a test seat out front. And I was able to make it work this time so I jumped on with Beth and John. That made me feel a little hopeful, so as it was getting dark, there was one thing on the universal bucket was that I have not been able to do yet, ride Hagrid‘s in the dark, at night time. BOOM! I had no problems getting the ride, and handlebars where I needed them. We ended up in the front seat. That could’ve been the closer for me. It was amazing. As we’re flying through the tracks,  the dark arts light show was being shown on Hogwarts and it was just absolutely amazing. I got back on Monday morning for another quick ride. Still hands-down my favorite ride anywhere.

We had dinner at Bubba Gump with John and beth, had a couple of Tennessee teas, and some Mama’s fried chicken. Sitting there in Florida with some gym friends, I realize that November 1 was coming, and I made some promises to myself that I was going to have to keep to end the year in the right way.

Let me finish telling you about my trip first.

Disney is definitely Pooh-friendly. I cannot believe I just said that even in a blog. If you are shaped like Winnie the Pooh like I am, most of the time you will not have any problem with most rides. Now people are complaining on the Internet that the brand new Pandora ride is not fat friendly for a lot of people.

We met my nieces at Animal Kingdom first thing in the morning this past Saturday. And once we got in we went right to Pandora. The avatar ride is amazing. But you are crouched over as it would be on almost a crotch rocket motorcycle. I had no problem fitting where I needed to fit. The biggest problem was my knee wasn’t bending where I needed to go and the attendant came over and pushed the bar that holds your legs in just a little. But the room was there. I just didn’t know where that was supposed to go or I could’ve probably done it. The ride was phenomenal. If I went to animal kingdom to do one ride, that would be it. The other thing I would do is probably see all the shows because they are wonderful. The girls had the play later that night so we left the park at a reasonable time but I also did expedition Everest with them and I loved it. It banged me around a little bit, not a smooth, as I remember. My right leg hurt for a few days. Later at night, I got to have dinner with my sister and spend some time with her alone. It was very nice and needed. If you don’t know where you come from, how do you know where you are going? If anyone knows my road, or where I came from, it’s my little sister. She has had her own crazy-ass journey. She’s been kicked down so many times and she keeps getting up. She is definitely one of my heroes. And I like drinking with her and sending pictures to my mom and dad because they get mad lol, she is still their little baby. And here I am corrupting their 48-year-old baby. Send them a photo of Amber and her drinking so maybe Pop would call and yell at her but he didn’t.

The next day was supposed to be a lazy day, Sunday night we had tickets for Halloween horror nights. We did the stay and scream and really had one objective, get into wicked growth the last house that we did not see when we were there in September. So while we were in line it just started pouring, and it poured and poured, till I was soaked to the core and finally threw in the towel, and by the time we got to the hotel and it stopped pouring. Because that is my luck. I did get three houses done. And there’s a story in there somewhere. I just I’m still angry about it so it’s not coming out today. But of course, it poured on us. We were flat-out wet rats.

The next day was a long airport day but we made it home to the puppies and all is well. Hindsight is 2020, and probably should not have gone back to Florida so quickly when I still can’t get around so fast but the quality time with my family and Hagrids at night – kind of made it worth it, oh and we saw the death eaters that they had running around Hogsmeade as well.

The downtime from the band has been good. I will definitely say that I suck at change. I am ready for it as always, but I suck at it. It stresses me out. I’m not sure if the changes are over or not at this point. I do know that we are not taking any shitty gigs, doing our best in 2022, and pretty much on the same page about most things, that’s always a plus.

We get back at it tomorrow. We have one wedding in November, and then another one on New Year’s Eve and then New Year’s Day. Trying very hard to get back into that wedding groove, and Covid is still making things difficult.

Things do work out, while I didn’t make it to Nashville to see Chris Stapleton last weekend, he ended up getting laryngitis and had to cancel his concert so Ticketmaster is going to refund all the money I spent on the tickets. That’s definitely a good thing. The airfare to go to Nashville was more than I spent going to Florida for an entire weekend. I’ve been thinking about Chris Stapleton a lot lately because I’ve become a big fan since Covid hit. He has a song called Fire Away. It is midtempo and for a while when I was listening to the album I would always skip it. And then one day it kept popping up on my playlists and I focused a lot on it. I’m going to post a video below, I’m just gonna warn you it’s brutal. To me a little over a year ago I was let go from my job, and while I had a plan in place all along it was a dark time for me. Trying to find a job at 49 years old was tough. Trying to make a career change to Something I could be passionate about was tough. But while people make fun of my Weight, made comments about me when I got on stage, talked about me behind my back, waiting for me to fall my face, no matter what I was always screaming from the top of the mountain, for people to take their best shot. Because in the end you never want to tell me that I can’t do something, you never wanna tell me that I am not good enough, you never want to bet against me. You can fire away, you can take your best shot, I am here to stay. I have the best army around me and they will never let me give up on myself, and I will never give up on you.

If you’re feeling it today, just tell the voices to take their best shot. We got this.

So I am still 100 pounds down from my original goal. Which makes me happy because that was what I always set out to do. While it makes me happy, I am still in a weird uncomfortable place, so Monday is November 1. I have a goal of 10 pounds a month, to finish out the year 20 pounds less. This is actually 100% doable if I focus, and stay on course. I need to start getting my fitness back together and be consistent. I also need to dial down my eating a bit. I definitely need to increase my protein intake and build some more muscle. That I can do. But I will do that. I’m going to go into 2022 feeling much better.

Beach bodies are built in the winter correct?

Thank you for reading. Anyone on the struggle bus that needs a little accountability, reach out!  I am not a fan of New Year’s resolutions so if it’s time to make a change don’t wait for the holidays to be over and make the change now.

Franco