A Very Merry Christmas!

Hello from the outskirts of London!

I hope you are all well and have had a Merry Christmas - or very enjoyable festive/winter season, if you choose not to celebrate Christmas.

Since Mid-October, the days have been slowly but surely counting down from 100 - right down to the magic day.

Whilst I do love a good Christmas celebration - contrary to common/popular belief, I'm a bit of a "workaholic" (when I'm in the swing of things) and usually only REALLY begin to get festive in the final weeks/days leading up to Christmas.

September On September 12th, my University informed me that I failed my course - opinions aside - I wouldn't be going to University from September onwards, and indeed wouldn't have to "Come Home" for Christmas, as I was already home.

October

Despite this, my first mention of Christmas during 2022 came in mid-to-late October, when I published this blog:

https://www.kabortmotorsport.com/post/random-rambles-and-an-optimistic-october

The very next day, I'd discover that the Winter Nurburgring 24 Hours was coming back for 2022.

Kabort last competed in 2019.

The race itself would be on December 17th - and to qualify - it wouldn't be about "first come first serve" - but instead - would be much more complicated.

To qualify, a driver must:

1) Do 4 Clean Laps of the Nurburgring Nordschliefe

1b) The range of these lap-times must be under 10 minutes

2) The average of these 4 lap-times will be called the "Driver Permit Time"

3) The average (Driver Permit Time) of the Top 3 fastest drivers within a team is called the "Team Permit Time" -

4) The fastest 15 team permit times in each class goes on to race. (qualify)

This weekend ended with the finale of the(summer) iRacing Creventic Endurance Series

November

The following month, my friend and I would go to the "London Comicon Winter" - me arriving on the 17th, and leaving (for the Isle Of Wight) on the 21st November.

The following week would be the first time in 5 Weeks in which I did not take a trip to the mainland.

That weekend (Week 11/Week 12) (On Saturday 26th - Sunday 27th November), I had my final official race of 2022...or well, iRacing's 2022 - (Season 4, 2022).

This would be a difficult weekend at both Imola and Indianapolis Road Course - finishing outside of the Top 20 in both.

Starting the following Week (28th November), I'd make my last trip to the mainland (of the year).

Since a few years now, I've been torturing my mum - and have been asking her to bake my favourite christmas biscuits/treats on every week leading up to Christmas - typically there are four, (four biscuits/treats for four weeks) - but as I recently had cheesecake, I added to the list to have. These are:

1. Cheesecake (store bought being fine) (21st Nov.)

2. Pepparkakor (Swedish "Gingersnap" Shapes) - snack my mum BOSSES) (28 Nov.)
   

3. Flapjack (5th Dec.)

4. Shortbread (12th Dec.)

5. Brownie (19th Dec.)

December

I'd eventually return home at about 1am on the 2nd December. Having not published a blog since November 22nd, I had A LOT of catching up to do.

After returning home from my bi-weekly (every other week) meeting with Universal Credit on 2nd December, I got on with writing up four blogs - 3 blogs describing what I had been up to, and the fourth being a game review (not promoted, just thoroughly enjoyed - and was very impressed)

During my time (not blogging), I decided that (for Christmas) I wanted to upload a blog a day (as almost a "Christmas Countdown" or "Advent Calendar")

On Saturday 3rd December, after publishing four blogs, it was getting quite late and I headed to bed.

The next day, on Sunday 4th December, with two days left of the season - I decided it not feasible (or worth it) to race and simply waited for Week 13 to start the following Tuesday.

Week 13 massively sped up advent/the Christmas countdown - an exciting race every day meant that publishing a blog a day (during Week 13) was a piece of cake - and even managed to upload extras throughout including articles about:

- A Game Review (Slowroads.io)

- About "Blog A Day" (where the inspiration came from)

- The Continuation Of The Story Of My iRating (x2 Parts)

- My iRacing Stats From the Year

- My IRL (Real Life) Week

As Week 13 ended, the chaos continued into the second week of December

Monday (12th Dec.): Final day of Week 13. (Results: 4th --> 2nd | 1st --> 2nd).

Also discovered a league perfect for me.

Tuesday: First league race, later that night practiced for Week 1, Season 1, 2023.

Wednesday: First race in new series (basically Formula 4) (8th --> 2nd)

Thursday: First (manual) driving lesson - went much better than imagined

Friday: Watched Avatar II on Release Day

Sat - Sun (17th Dec.): Winter Nurburgring 24 Hours*

*Ended in a DNF, final unofficial race of the year.

Mostly my fault.

The following week also went in the same direction

Monday (19th): (Returned home in 2021) | Manual Driving Lesson

Tuesday (20th): League Race (went MUCH better) | National Careers Service Call

Wednesday (21st): Winter Solstice & Weekly F4 Race (Finished 5th in 1.6K Split)*

Thursday (22nd): Universal Credit Call (they didn't!)

*In my first two races of racing in F4(ish), I've been the lowest iRating driver on the grid - and thus far managed an impressive result, finishing 3rd at Rudskogen (W1) - from 8th, and 5th (from 8th) at Long Beach (W2).

I can only imagine Week 3 will be harder - as Monza has more room for error - and the faster guys will be able to escape and the Strength Of Field will only be higher!

Christmas Week

On Friday 23rd, my family and I picked my brother Felix up from the train/boat station and drove him home.

I also got around to wrapping my presents for that year.

I also promised myself I wouldn't race on either Christmas or the New Year.

On Saturday 24th, it was a relatively normal day, other than going to a church service - more out of tradition than religion - the service seemed to reflect this as it was (in my own words "organised chaos") and the telling of the story of the nativity in a massively stretched-out fashion.

On Christmas Day (Sunday 25th), I woke up (at about 10/11am or so) - and to my surprise, I got a stocking - only the nights before, I was being told I was too old for

them! (I am, but again, some traditions can't die)

In mine I got a banana (don't like oranges), a single, solitary pound and a Maltesers box

Being 21 now and having had "low-key" Christmas-es for the past few years, I wasn't expecting anything "wallet-watering" - and nor did I need or ask for anything of the sort either - I've got all I need, family, friends, iRacing, my rig and wheel - sure, Virtual Reality would be nice - but my PC wouldn't be able to handle it - and I've heard that whilst it does head-tracking (like being in a real car), to get decent performance, you'd have to crank down the graphics.

Quite honestly, I lose myself in sim during races anyway - and I'm young and have plenty of time to save up and rightfully EARN my way to a better PC and eventually headset - by which time - technology would have moved forward by 10 - 20 years - think back to 2012 - and look what we have now - the same will apply to the future - and the longer I don't have a headset, the more time there is to fix current bugs - and further improve performance (FPS VS Graphics).

Under the tree, I got a jumper, joggers (if I remember correctly) my first - maybe second pair of socks (I'm turning into an old man already!), a Lynx Set (deodorant and Shower Gel), a "Financial Help" book and chocolate.

I'd also get an extra "financial" gift.

Time goes on. I'm not a kid anymore and games don't come on disk anymore - Christmas has gone from being about the presents I got (cost and size) to having a good time at Christmas with the family - and as I've said - I've got everything I've ever wanted (another cat would be cool tho... ha ha).

I don't need a new phone, car or console - iRacing (and indeed my family) has given me everything I wanted.

After lunch (and opening the remainder of the presents), we played a board game - and there was nothing quite like being together as a family, Felix on the Isle Of Wight, huddled around a board game as the cold wind howled outside as we were all wrapped up warm inside.

Sure - it was a stratergy/luck game - and no, I didn't help myself - but it wasn't about the winning - it was about the laughs we had. And I may have lost, but that was entirely on me.

26th - 28th December

So. The past 70 hours. They've been...intense.

I quickly realise that I will have to push back my wednesday race due to a clash - and then further push it back (again) to Friday 30th - not ideal, but I'd never prioritise iRacing over relatives.

Also on the 26th I FINALLY sort my breakdown cover after driving for about 6 months in a 15 year old car without any form of breakdown cover (or solution if I break down - now at least I'll have a recovery or a man come out to me if the worst does happen.

On the 27th I had what can only be described as a "mental breakdown" (just me getting overwhelmed) at the fact that:

28th: Cousins House

28th - 29th: Staying over in hotel - only home late. 30th: Formula 4(ish) Race 31st: Last Day Of The Year & Year In Pictures Finished

Jan 1st: Leaving For Mainland 2nd: Helping In Essex / Seeing other friend?

3rd - 7th: Away In Paris

I was thinking: How the heck am I going to fit/manage everything it was just like - I wanted to be sick/cry, just very much overloaded.

I also had to pack for a total of 6 nights away - with a day break on the 30th - only just managing to do my last race of the year.

28th December

On the 28th, I had a lovely time seeing my cousins - my first time seeing them in over 10 months - there's about 15 of us total (3 families) - so it was a very good reunion to have - and I was asked by ONE relative about my sim-racing activities - and we had a good, in depth discussion about my racing and my family history.

After good food (and also before) we played a couple of games.

Right. It's 11:30pm - I've got a busy day tomorrow - but I'll try and pump out one last blog.

I hope you've had a joyful Christmas/Festive Season.