Maybe you need colder beer.

I turned 45 in May, and this summer I have pulled the head for a valve job, replaced the water pump, all hoses, the belt tensioner and belt, motor mounts, O2 sensor, all the vacum hoses, and flushed the cooling system. It hurt the first day, but was OK after that.

Why do I do it?

I live in a small town, and after I finished all this, the voltage regulator went south. When I tried to replace it, the head twisted off the mounting screw.
Since I needed one the next day for a trip, I called a parts place in a larger town on the way to work and asked the price of a rebuilt Bosch alternator for an 88 Mercedes 300E. The parts guy asked if that was for a Ford or a Chevy.

No joke.

I discovered with my BMW that I could adjust the valves faster than I could drive it to a competent mechanic, drop it off, then pick it up.

The service on the 300E this summer was a little different, but it would have been 2 or 3 grand to pay a good independent to do all that plus 4-5 hours travel for drop-off and pickup.

I cannot say I am always happy to be doing it, but I am almost always glad that I did do it.