November was a busy month at work, which inevitably translated as a lazy month when my hobbies are involved, though the latter part had some other reasons. Let’s have a look.

As I mentioned in the previous summary and the dedicated hiking post, I went for a four-day hiking trip to the lowlands at the end of October. Overextending one set of muscles on pretty much flat and hard terrain left me with some lingering pain, which had me cancel any plans to go hiking the first November weekend.

Thus, I used that weekend to finish the book I started reading during the trip, but that was it when it comes to serious reading, apart from random snippets from my favorite books for inspiration and the edited sections of my own working draft in hopes of getting some ideas to fix some minor issues, to which I got two or three ideas I noted down for later.

Given that I had a busy time at work – a common thing in November with a lot of stuff to wrap up later in the year. It often leads to being mentally tired and thus having no energy for creative pursuits. I do hope this will turn around in December, and I’ll use the Christmas break for some writing.

The second weekend, I felt well enough to take part in a club hike at full length, though it was an easy one, so it wasn’t too taxing. Autumn weather proved to still be quite moody, but when the light rain started, I was almost done, so it wasn’t a problem.

I was considering a solo hike the next weekend, but changed my mind – after the previous hike, I felt a bit stiff the day after, and I had a long-term plan on 16th – a concert for which I had the tickets in advance (as a Christmas gift from the last year), so I decided that a hike on Saturday and a concert on Sunday would be too much – I might look like a calm person but I can really go wild when the music takes me (and metal isn’t a genre you only listen to).

The following weekend, I went for another club hike, also relatively gentle. Winter had reminded us of its existence with some light snow showers, but luckily enough, the main snowfall arrived on Sunday and Tuesday, so the hike itself went well. As usual, both hikes will get their dedicated post soon enough.

With the final week, we got stuff wrapped up at work, so I could finally look toward a calmer time in December, though there’s still work left to do. The final (current) weekend of November is spent with Christmas preparations, specifically baking the Christmas sweets, which I do with my mother during the last weekend of November, as that fits her work schedule the best.

In the meantime, I also treated myself to a new PC game on sale and played it a bit, which was a welcome relaxation after busy workdays.

With all of that, I’m heading into December with hopes of calmer days. I still have two vacation days saved, and the holidays line up perfectly this year, which should give me some time to rest and, hopefully, also be creative.

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So, that’s a look back at November. I hope yours went well and that the upcoming festive season will be manageable and without too much chaos. Until next time…