got_quiet

December fucked me up. In a good way, but god damn. I had like a single week home and not a single weekend free due to work travel and holiday chaos.

I had my last business trip of the year and it was a doozy. First was Hong Kong, which I was visiting for the very first time, and then I took a quick trip to Japan to do some work, but only for like 3 days.

It's been a long time since I've been somewhere completely new to me. Hong Kong gave me an opportunity to engage with a place with fresh eyes again, which is something I haven't really gotten to do in over a decade, as my work takes me to the same places over and over again, typically. A few quick observations:

Japan was a super short trip. I tried to get a day in Osaka to see a friend, but fucked up the schedule and had only less than 24 hours. I did get to see my friend but had to jump on the Shinkansen immediately after and get to work, which was exhausting after having just flown in from Hong Kong and spent half a week working. When these trips happen I lose not just a week+ of my time, but I also usually get no weekend. Sometimes I'm out two weekends. This trip I didn't really have a free day outside of work until right before Christmas, at which point I was with family, so actually last weekend was the first time since November that I wasn't traveling or working or both.

Other stuff has been going on. For example Jayvik has grabbed me by the neck and is choking me out atm, but this post is long enough so I'll post a more fannish update later.

Meanwhile, the Snowflake Challenge is starting up again. I am very much not ready. Time needs to slow the fuck down. But Challenge 2 is an old one about my fan origin story, which never really changes, so I'll just link the post I made last year about that.