Mea Maxima Culpa! I Forgot to Blog Because …

Oh dear! Well, I’ll just soldier on as though I haven’t been absent for weeks. Should I just blast back onto this blog like an actress hired to replace a beloved soap opera character, while everyone else sits politely by and pretends nothing’s changed?

It’s been busy. I know people use that excuse all the time — especially dilettante bloggers — and surely that flimsy fillip is insufficient to explain the lack of posts.

But just as dogs are known to eat homework, wedding planning eats blog time. Also, I’ve been working on numerous personal, professional and general interest projects. Let me try to elucidate. I owe at least that much!

Problem: Deepak and I currently live in a small-ish rental unit.

Project: For several years, we’ve been looking at other living situations — i.e., larger and more permanent — if only idly.

Excuse for why this has cut into blog posting time:: Recently, we’ve become more active in our search. This has brought with it more home-scouting visits, long talks about future goals and finances (romantic!) and even my signing up to earn my California real estate license. The goal of the third mission is to save money on commissions and to make ourselves more savvy about the marketplace. I fully welcome and appreciate the opportunity, but at the same time … it certainly takes time and energy to read the 3 requisite >500 pp. textbooks and study for 4 exams.

Problem: Deepak and I are still planning our wedding and still hoping to do it this year.

Project: Finding a venue and date and settling on a realistic budget. (Not to mention all the pursuant projects, of course, such as securing invites/florist/DJ/caterer/nitty-gritty details, etc. I have to assume those will feel like a relative cakewalk — pun intended — once we scythe down the onerous universe of infinite venue possibility.)

Excuse for why this has cut into blog posting time: See all of the above. They speak for themselves, no?! Recently, my grandmother made the classically grandmotherish pointed comment: “In my day, people didn’t wait forever to get married. They just got engaged and then sealed the deal.” Fact check: It hasn’t even been 3 months! I know she, and people like her, make comments like these offhand and without meaning any offense, but there are logistics, for goodness’ sake.

Now that things have kicked into high gear, Deepak and I try to devote at least 1 day a week to visiting potential venues. This is mostly reasonable, as we have to coordinate our mutual availabilities. But then again, how much fun is it to use your ONE completely free day a week to drive for hours, haggle with inscrutable managers and then engage in a Pyrrhic battle over pricing on the dates that nobody’s taken yet, when, quelle surprise! those particular overpriced and underdesired days have been left on the shelf for a reason?