~SoggyCheez

For the past few days, I've been looking forward to writing another little annual update for myself! I don't feel I can ever find a good place or time to bring up all my life happenings, but I do really like offering a little window for people to gaze into 👀

I want to say overall this has been a great year for me, but those words leave a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. Career-wise, things have only been getting better and despite having less free time due to work, socially I've never been more active. I found myself bouncing over to different states every few weeks or months for birthdays, holiday parties, conventions, and casual get-togethers all the like. But my mental health and my ability to keep out intrusive thoughts has been waning again. That part is really nothing new, but it hurts a bit feeling like I haven't made much progress despite the last year's worth of therapy. Partly I think some of this is due to switching therapists earlier this year, but I think I was able to help correct course a bit with my current one at our last meeting.

Regardless, I'm glad to finally be back home and I think I've really nailed my family's Christmas presents this year! Work ended up keeping me busy for the past month near Stuttgart which gave me some really good chances to collect gifts while eating/drinking my way through a couple Christmas markets 🍾. Above all, my dad's birthday is in a few days and I managed to find a 1:18 scale model in the Mercedes museum gift shop that's really close to his old blue W116 he recently had to get rid of. Real pain in the ass to bring on/off two planes and through three airports intact, but I can't wait to see how he likes it!

Thanks for giving me some of your time and whether or not you're celebrating anything in particular today, I wish you the best and a happy soon to be New Year!

Also I didn't realize just how long it's been since I remembered to upload some of my comms and now I'm about 3 months out of date, so, uh, incoming!