Phew! I have no idea where the last three months whizzed by. I have been a little quiet-ish on the blog. Mainly because my brain has been too preoccupied with everything else that’s been going on in my life.
There has been a change in my dynamic and thought processes over the last three months. I have been much more quiet, introverted, and focused on work and all manner of grown-up things.
Yes, some time was left over for fun, but not a lot.
Travel
I had a short work trip to Noida end of July, where I tagged on a weekend getaway to Udaipur that was simply fun, fun, fun! I blogged about one day we spent here, but I still have so many more photos and stories to tell. No time though!
Work, Family, and Finances
Work and family was the theme for the past three months. And yes, a heavy dose of financial planning as well.
This year is Snubnose’s last year in school. She writes her board exams around March next year, but all the work for college admissions and entrance tests has begun. The last couple of months have mainly involved keeping on top of all the college applications and making sure we submit everything on time.
Snubnose has her nose to the books preparing for her boards, but also the entrance exams, which start from December onwards.
From our side, K and I have been talking finances. We have enough saved for college, but it was a question of which asset to sell, consolidating everything together, deciding if it makes more sense to take an education loan, or manage with what we have, and so on and so on.
Piglet is starting to accept that soon Snubnose could be moving out of the house. In the last update, I mentioned that he wasn’t very happy about her leaving, but now he’s more optimistic. He’s already planning visits to her college and daydreaming about his future goals and college. Seeing her work so hard has also been great for him to emulate. Finally, he’s starting to study and do homework independently without me having to nag him.
All this newfound seriousness in the house has started to impact him. He’s growing up and maturing, and what a pleasure it’s to watch!
Work at the office has also taken off last month. Fall is generally a busy time for us, but this year, it was crazy busy, in a good way. Our team got the option to participate in a couple of experiments – a lot of work but also a lot of recognition and the pleasure of doing something that may radically change the nature and direction of our work (at least for the next few years).
Screen Time
Streaming media has been a bit ok. The breakout hit for me was season 3 of Only Murders in the Building. The second season had been a bit ho-hum for me, so it was wonderful to see how great the third season was – mainly due to the addition of Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep. Their acting was superb. I loved the musical theatre atmosphere, and the songs simply played non-stop in my head. Fantastic stuff! And, of course, the three leads were top-notch, as usual!
Over Halloween, I watched A Haunting in Venice – the new Hercule Poirot movie by Kenneth Branagh. As always, it was over-dramatized and bastardized, and Christie’s subtlety is nowhere to be seen.
But I enjoyed the Venice vibe; there were a couple of jump scares, and it was all over-the-top fun. Of course, if you have read any Christie at all, you’ll easily be able to determine the killer.
The movie combines the stories of The Sittaford Mystery and Halloween Party, although the plot doesn’t follow either book that closely, which is perhaps unfortunate. The Sittaford Mystery has a strong mystery, and it’s almost impossible to guess the killer; I do wish that it had been adapted as is instead of combining the two stories in such an overwrought way.
Last words on A Haunting in Venice – What they did to Ariadne Oliver’s characterization was bizarre. Even though I enjoyed the movie tremendously, I couldn’t swallow Tina Fey as Ariadne Oliver. She felt just too out of place! I would have much preferred my favorite Olivia Colman.
Another show I have been dipping in and out of is Virgin River. I was looking for something sweet and cozy, and this show fits the bill. It’s not a binge-watch type of show, but it’s something nice to watch when I feel lazy and don’t want anything too serious or emotional. Beautiful locations and sweet small-town plots – this fits my vibe right now. I am now midway through season 2. No idea if I’ll actually finish this series, though. There are 5 whole seasons and I am not sure there is enough of a plot to fill that much time!
Books and Blogging
All the books I read in the last couple of months
Books and blogging fell the wayside these past couple of months. I read These Violent Delights – which was a delight. I fell in love with C.J. Tudor reading The Burning Girls and The Chalk Man back to back, and then switched gears to reading Violeta by Isabel Allende (so-so), and The Town by Chuck Hogan (read it because I loved the movie based on it), but the book has been quite a slog.
I realize I like movies based in Boston, but most books I have read such as The Town end up waffling for ages on the city and its streets, and I can’t deal with it. I have the same issue with books based in New York, as well. I just don’t need to know so much about the neighborhoods, the roads, etc. Funnily, I love these descriptions when the city is London or Tokyo. Weird, I know!
At the beginning of this year, I decided to do a GoodReads challenge of reading 35 books in a year. I am still on track to it, but I am no longer that vested in completing the challenge. I would like to finish, but I am also ok if that doesn’t happen. I don’t feel in the mood for short, simple reads just to complete a challenge.
Blogging has also been a trifle slow, but I have posts queued up for the next couple of months, and hopefully, my absence on the blog isn’t as noticeable.
How has your fall/autumn been so far? What have you been watching/reading?
