Twists and Turns – 2020 has been a year of change, pain, and sorrow. It has also been a year of new fresh innovations. 

Since the beginning of 2020 I have been confident that the year was going to be a year of change, of looking forward, of finding more and choosing to follow my passions. It turns out that 2020 had more in store than even I could imagine. 

New Year

New Year’s gave me a chance to set aspirations for the year. Of course, being the person that I am I decided to set goals that I thought were realistic. 

EV-HQ.com had been going well and I thought I could aim for 500 followers on Twitter. My wife and I set our personal goals for the year and looked forward to making 2020 a happier, less stressful, and fun year ahead. 

At the time we had no idea that the year would take a massive turn left and run across the rockiest road we could have imagined. 

COVID 19 was just starting to be talked more about and was spreading like wildfire across China and into other countries, including Australia. 

Family

I remember thinking that life was good, I had a beautiful healthy wife and a handsome, fun loving son who was heading into man hood. 

One of our goals for the year was to make sure our son felt supported and confident that he could talk to us about anything. He was starting a big journey and needed to know we had his back, no matter what. 

EV-HQ.com

As far as EV-HQ, I was starting to get more involved with the community on Twitter. Asking questions, posing ideas, and getting deep into a discussion about all things electric vehicles. 

To say I was and continue to be passionate about the advantages of electric vehicles is an understatement. They are the future and I want the world to be a better place for my son and his future family. If I can play a part in that then all the better. 

Let the rollercoaster begin

So, January was all about preparing for the year, back to school and work and hoping this year could be so much better than the last. 

We had been planning house renovations and they were well underway by the end of January and heading into February with one of our goals starting to take form. 

Over the next few months the renovations turned our house upside down and it was lots of fun watching the transformation. I was so very proud of my beautiful wife and her vision for what was ultimately the most amazing transformation. 

Of course, things don’t seem to happen one after the other they seem to have a cascade effect overlapping while remaining interesting. 

Pizza and Elon

So, one day I was sitting in the pizza shop waiting for the pizza to be ready and as usual I was skimming Twitter. 

Now I have posted a lot of content over the last 2 years since starting the twitter account including around 4000 tweets. Anyway, I had sent a tweet, once again asking Elon Musk why it was so expensive for an Australian Tesla’s while USA Tesla’s, when converted to AUD dollars, seem cheaper. There seemed to be discrepancies. 

Sitting in the pizza shop I started getting lots of Twitter replies and comments. Having never had this happen before I opened Twitter and found that Elon Musk had replied to my tweet, I was shocked, amazed, and excited. (Yes, I remembered to pick up the pizza as well as my jaw).

⁦@elonmusk⁩ this is what the $40000 dollars dual motor costs in Australia……. Surely there has to be some way we can cut this cost. Giga Australia makes sense. ⁦@Tesla⁩ would be the only major car dealer in Australia. Consider this seriously. Aussies need this. ⁦ pic.twitter.com/VpadnkckJ2

— EV-HQ (@EVHQ2) February 10, 2020

Steve Jobs 

Let me put this in context. I have been an Apple fan for many years and have been a massive fan of Steve jobs. He had his faults, but he was a visionary and helped to make the world transition to the digital age. To say I was a fan is well and truly understating it. He was a deep thinker with a view of the world that many would never understand and unfortunately never will.

This is like Steve Jobs responding to me. Elon responded!!!!!

Over the next couple of weeks, the Twitter verse and online publications wrote about the response from Elon and quoted my tweet. It opened my eyes to the fact that I can be a voice for change and help the discussion of electrification. 

Tesla fan in Australia highlights the irony in becoming an actual EV owner

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/02/elon-musk-agrees-tesla-model-3s-australian-price-seems-high/

After this I reached one of my goals a lot faster than I thought I ever would. I hit 500 followers in the April. To say I am humbled by the fact that people want to listen and read my blogs and commentary is nothing short of amazing. I thank everyone who has followed me. 

Craziness

Twists and Turns – 2020, At the beginning of the year I decided I would do something that even now I thought was craziness. I am not a professional writer or have written lots of readable things over the years but here I am. 

EV-HQ had become part of what I did last year. This year I wanted to grow it more, so I gave myself the task of writing a blog a week for the whole of 2020. 

Every week this year since the end of January I have met that promise to myself. Due to this I feel I have helped to bring the discussion of electric vehicles forward slowly within the community in some small way. 

I am very proud of the work I have done this year to achieve this goal and hope that it becomes valuable to those that may find it in time. 

My Wife

My wife has for years battled a hidden darkness (mental illness) that raises its head from time to time and once again those demons decided that they wanted to play. We spent days just being together and sitting on the couch because that is all she is able to do. 

It is hard to see someone you love, lose themselves for a time. Riding the rollercoaster of torment and despair. The only thing you can do is hope, support, and know that one of the tomorrows will bring back that light in her eyes. So my son and I make sure she feels loved, hugged, and safe. 

This time it was a short stint and we saw the signs early, so she is much better now. 

EV community

EV-HQ had taken a lot of work this year and I can tell you that the community has some amazing people to help guide and offer insights and advice about ways to meet the expectations, challenges and fun. 

There are so many, but some honorable mentions include, 

Naush (Tesla in the Gong)

Nash from Tesla in the Gong has offered advice and guidance regarding challenges and questions I had at times of uncertainty. He is a wonderful metor and advocate for the EV community.

Tom (Teslatom)

Tom from Tesla Tom who has been a great source of insights and consistency regarding anything Tesla and Beyond. He too is a wonderful advocate for the Tesla community.

Jason (Techau)

I would also like to thank Jason from Techau who also has been a great source of advice, and insights and information. He has kept me honest when I had source issues and I appreciate the advice. 

There are so many more that I can mention but please know that you have all been amazing with your questions, inputs and information sharing throughout the community. Let’s make 2021 a year that the EV community won’t forget. 

Odd

As June rolled on by, and the year started to drift away, COVID had been going crazy and the world was scrambling to figure out how to stop it in its tracks. July, August and September became a blur.  My wife and I decided we needed to eat better and lose some weight so we decided to go on a diet and relearn healthy eating habits.

It was around this time that I started feeling odd. 

As we rolled into the back of September, I had seen a number of doctors and noticed some strangeness with some of my blood tests. I was referred to a specialist. 

Thanks to the diet my wife and I lost 14 kgs and felt really good. But I still was feeling odd. 

Again

In October I once again was blessed to be responded to by Elon Musk regarding FSD and Phantom braking. I wrote a blog about this and it continues to be a well-read article. Amazing. I obviously hit a nerve. Anyway, it is great to see that I continued to have an impact that helps the EV uptake to occur.

Is the issue of phantom braking fixed in this release? Has been a number of people talking about this recently.

— EV-HQ (@EVHQ2) October 8, 2020

So, I am 45 and back to the weight I was when I married my beautiful wife. I want to be a role model to my son and a great husband to my wife so that we could continue to have a happy healthy life moving forward. 

October

As October came to a close it seemed to be a month of investigations. FSD from Tesla was just about to be released in beta form and my response from Elon had re-inspired me to keep writing weekly blogs. (I Struggled around October with this) 

My work was busy and I was now starting to have symptoms that were more than odd they were hindering my ability to do certain things. 

I kept writing my blogs, loving my wife and son and helping to keep our family happy healthy and safe. This included catching up with friends that I have not seen for a while. 

Andrew the Optometrist

We caught up with friends and had a great time chatting. During the conversation we talked about cars and EV’s especially. I showed my hand and imparted lots of knowledge about the benefits and challenges of owning an electric vehicle, and ultimately hoped that I could balance the discussion and give a different point of view. 

At no time did I think that my friend would purchase an electric vehicle. Yet a month later he called saying he had just purchased a Tesla. Andrew the Optometrist was introduced to the blogs. 

It is truly amazing to me that a single conversation had such an amazing impact. Butterfly effect, I guess. 

I have watched, listened and offered advice to Andrew the Optometrist about his car and have seen with joy his excitement for his upcoming delivery. 

If you had asked me 20 years ago what would bring a smile to my face when I was 45, I would never had said helping a friend make a difference to the world, his family and his fun factor. 

Life challenges

Twists and Turns – 2020. Not long after this, my world tipped on its head. I went and saw a specialist, had more blood tests and an MRI. That odd feeling, the reason I had been seeing the specialist and my GP alike, the fact that I could not walk outside in 30-degree (Celcius) heat without wearing jeans and a jumper was finally identified. 

I have a Pituitary Tumour. 

At the time I was stressed, tired, frustrated, annoyed and just downright spent. It is a strange reality being told news like this. I am a Nurse and have cared for people for over 20 years. I have helped people understand the reality of what they are being told about a loved one and/or themselves. Over my years I have helped to heal people who are unwell whilst showing people, empathy, compassion and dignity. 

I worked in Emergency Departments for 12 years and during this time I was very good at being able to compartmentalize the emotions I had towards upsetting situations as I needed to do my job. 

But, in this I was confronted at being on the other side and trying to understand how I felt. 

Any Nurse will tell you that Nurses don’t do being the patient very well.

Luckily if you were to get a pituitary tumour this is best of the worst-case scenarios. 

The plan on how to manage it is medication first to help reduce the size, monitor for six months with blood test and scans and if all goes well just keep track of it. This is the hopeful path, I hope I don’t have to face the alternatives.

So now I have to deal with the issues related to taking medication long term for the first time in my life. I have always been well and never had any issues so this was a blast of lightning out of nowhere. 

The medication has helped my symptoms and I am slowly starting to feel like I did many years ago. I hope it is also helping to reduce the tumour size. Time will tell. 

End of the year 

So here we are, almost Christmas time and near the beginning of a New Year. As the tumultuousness of 2020 closes. We hope for 2021. 

I believe it will be a year of great need for the world, both physically and emotionally. I know I have an amazing wife and son and extended family and friends who share my love for the world around us and the hope that things will get better. 

EV-HQ will still continue into 2021 and I have plans to grow the site, the blogs and maybe some other surprises as the year goes on. 

So, thanks for reading and being the greatest followers and community around. I look forward to keeping this going into the new year. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy new year. 

Dave