I misunderstood the point of this ride

I do believe I will be cutting down on my exchange participation in the future. I decided to try a whole bunch of new ones this year, and I have enjoyed the heck out of them, but goodness. This is a lot, and I'm not able to produce as much as I'd like for a given exchange because of a deadline coming up for another, etc. It's been an adventure!

Real life hasn't had any compassion for my self-inflicted busy schedule, of course. As of mid-August, I've transitioned to a new job within my existing office - essentially a career change, moving from purely administrative work to marketing & publicity - and have been teaching myself all its requirements (since it's been vacant for more than a year) while simultaneously training a temp to do the many and varied pieces of my old job. I've also had a huge deadline crunch within the scope of my new position because of the timing of all this, so I've celebrated becoming a salaried/exempt employee with ALL THE (NOT) OVERTIME. And my poor kitty was diagnosed with diabetes. On the bright side, giving insulin shots is much, much easier for me than anticipated; on the less well-lit, we are still trying to find the right dosage and it's painful to watch him struggle.

All this and, you know, an ongoing pandemic, the Texas abortion ban, the general state of the world, and so forth.

I'm so tired. :(

Thank goodness Yuletide season is starting. All these other exchanges I've been doing are fun, and they've been great stretches for me in various directions. But there really is something special about Yuletide. Maybe it's the size, or the traditions, or the timing (the way it has basically taken on a good deal of the childhood love I had for that particular holiday season, replacing other problematic things while giving me similar warm fuzzies).

I've done my nominations and I have some preliminary request and offer ideas. I can't wait to see the final tag set.

Anyway, hi out there, folks. I still miss having my less exchange-based fandom community to interact with on the regular ... although then again, that's also one of the best things about Yuletide. So many friends and old familiar faces participate. Hope to see you "there." <3