How it is November already??

• Tarot of the month (full year, month by month, drawn Dec 2025): The Seven of Swords. I know exactly what this one is about, but it’s not something I want to talk about publicly, so I’ll leave it unnamed. Interestingly, last month’s nostalgia card actually came into full force this month… // This version of The Seven of Swords comes from the Dark Grimoire Tarot (no affiliate link).
• Song(s) of the month: Losing My Religion (REM), Abstract (Psychopomp) (Hozier), Lemon (U2)

General Life Stuff
One of the hardest things about moving to a new place is that you’re exposed to an entirely new set of germs. The further you move, the more relevant that becomes. In other words: I’m sick again for the second time in about a month. Ugh. At least I was able to Zoom into class this week. I’m pretty sure I got this cold from school. My teacher was sick for a few days and had to teach via Zoom, and I’m pretty sure I was exposed right before she started teaching online. Oh well.

Other than illness, though, the month went pretty well. I’ve been hyperfocused on my studies, and the language is coming along faster than expected. I look forward to starting the next level.

Goals
Not much to add here. I finished the A1.2 class at school and am moving to the A2.1 class, so I’m on track to finish where I wanted to at the end of 2026. Mostly, I’m starting to think about goals for next year, trying to make them less rooted in what may or may not happen with my visa. A lot less nebulous than this year’s.

Writing
I finished one short multi-chapter fic and got a bunch done on an event-based fic before I lost steam and then AO3 crashed. But honestly, I didn’t do much with writing this month – my brain has been far more focused on school.

Favorite Photos

Exciting stuff
I visited Munich this month! One day, I will get around to writing about my trips and such, but at this point, I spend 3 hours in class and 3 hours commuting each day, so it hasn’t been a priority.

Another exciting thing: My stuff finally arrived! I’m in the process of unpacking all my boxes and figuring out where everything will go. I have way too much stuff. The problem is that I packed 75% of my things in May/June last year when I believed I would be moving into an apartment after I got back from my two month trip to Europe. But then my ex decided he would prefer me to stay at the house. At the time, I unpacked some things that I needed (for example, cookware) but I mostly kept the boxes sealed. It made sense – I was leaving the country for another month in Oct/Nov, and so would need to re-pack a second time. Shortly after that, I stumbled into some serious depression, followed by emotional blows like losing my cats, and I had neither the energy nor the time to unpack, sort, cull, and repack boxes. In the end, the 23 boxes fit easily into a 5×5 storage shed, so I figured it would be fine. But really, I brought waaaaay too many things. Let’s just hope I don’t have to move a bunch of it back in a year.

A few more exciting bits. First, I posted earlier this month that I’m officially divorced, which I found out on Oct 1st. That is obviously exciting! Not all the details are taken care of yet – there are still assets being sorted – but the bulk is done. Second, while I was in Munich, I got a spontaneous tattoo from a fellow GO fan who is a tattoo artist there. She’d posted a wannado tattoo on the morning that I was traveling to Munich, and I was lamenting that I wouldn’t be able to get it because I really loved it. Only then the group of folks I was traveling with all decided to make a group effort to get me in for the tattoo! Clearly, I will need to post about this still at some point, too. Third, the GO Headquarters finally got the Christmas sweaters up for sale and aaaaaaah!!!!!!!!! (I am WAY too excited for this!) (If I were less sick, I’d put one on and show y’all.) (Instead I’m posting a photo of the above-mentioned tattoo from right after I got it (not healed).)

That’s it – see y’all next month!