Quietly Making Noise

I know, I know, I know ... I’ve been gone from here for quite some time, but that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about blogging. If it makes you feel any better, I’ve composed hundreds of posts / funny quips in my head ; I’ve written down tens of ideas/first sentences of posts ; I’ve written at least a dozen half-composed posts ; and I actually have a few I’ve written but not posted. Ok, ok, none of that helps you. But trust me, I have plenty of self-imposed guilt and remorse.

In my mind, I have grand plans of leading an organised life in which I : blog frequently ; organise and post all my pictures ; am caught up at work ; am caught up in emails ; send birthday cards before your birthday, instead of mailing it a few days after ; have time during the week to go the gym ; have time/energy during the week to actually cook instead of heating prepared meals or just having crackers & cheese or cereal for dinner ; have time to do jigsaw puzzles (which implies having the time to file/sort/toss all the papers covering my dining table which prevents me from doing any puzzles) ; you get the idea ....

I kind of feel like life is snowballing forward and I have no time to catch up with it, or that I’m trapped inside the snowball and I can’t grab hold of a branch to slow it down. And then what makes me feel even worse is that there are people (most of you) who are way busier than I am, with way more commitments (spouses, houses, children, families, volunteering, etc) and who are way more productive and organised than I am. What is your secret?

In my defense, there are two big reasons for my lack of posting : (1) internet (2) travel.

#1 Internet : Since April, my internet has been loopy at home. I’d say it works about 25% of the time, and not reliably when it is working. I know, I know. I need to call to have it fixed (well, have a co-worker call as my French is not good enough to deal with someone in a call center). So having little to no internet makes it a bit difficult to post a blog, and much more difficult to post pictures.

#2 Travel : I’ve been travelling a lot, so much so that in April through July this year I was away 3 out of 4 weekends every month. I had great fun on all these trips, but that meant my time in Paris during the week was super hectic trying to cram in all personal chores into Mon-Thurs after work. Sorry, but laundry took precedence over blogging.

To recap a year of travel, and much of what I hope to blog about ......

August 2009 @ Belfast

September 2009 @ London : Saturday day trip to tour Houses of Parliament
September 2009 @ Boston / Maine / Cincinnati for 1.5 weeks / 2 weekends

October 2009 @ Mont Saint Michel
October 2009 @ Bordeaux
October 2009 @ London for NFL game (Patriots v/s Tampa)

November 2009 @ Friends visit for 4 days
November 2009 @ London for 2 days work

December 2009 @ Cincinnati for 11 days / 2 weekends

January 2010 @ Marrakech for 4-day weekend

February 2010 @ London for 3 days work
February 2010 @ Rome – supposed to go for a weekend, but that’s another post

March 2010 @ London for 3 days work
March 2010 @ Friends of friends visiting for a week

April 2010 @ Easter : bells at church Saturday & 2 Sundays
April 2010 @ Cincinnati for 8 days / 1 weekend

May 2010 @ Netherlands
May 2010 @ Marseille
May 2010 @ Houston : work for a week
May 2010 @ Cincinnati : 1 week / 2 weekends

June 2010 @ Normandy
June 2010 @ Reims
June 2010 @ Florence

July 2010 @ Canada : 2 weeks / 3 weekends
July 2010 @ Friends visiting for 4 days
July 2010 @ Vienna

And now, August 2010, I’m finally in Paris and I have no trips planned until October for NFL UK (Denver & SF) and November to Jordan.

(Yes, I do know where I was every day of the year – if you had to complete taxes for 3 countries, you too would be able to verify your whereabouts whenever asked. Taxes ... now there’s a whole new post ...)