A New Year - Already?

I apologize for my absence and promise to write more regularly. Yes, that's me writing lines on the board a la Bart Simpson.

The end of a year and the beginning of the new one are intimidating. You're expected to evaluate your milestones and make a pious list of promises for the new year. I wasn't ready to end 2009, and I wasn't ready for 2010.

I didn't get to sit with my computer and myself for several weeks, and then I felt I had to start the new year with a bang that just wasn't exploding with the right degree of gloriousness in my head. Yes, it's easy to postpone writing and then miss it intensely like the phone call you didn't make to your darling.

Truth be told, I have been without a wife (ie., no household help, since our housekeeper went on annual leave.) I steeped myself in Christmas -- sang dozens of off-key carols, decorated a beautiful 7-foot tree that brings a smile to my face every time I walk into that room, baked more than 200 chocolate chip cookies with the help of my lovely daughter (and proud to report that most of them have been gorged), hosted visitors, said my goodbyes to friends moving overseas, got a car fixed up (got carried away and threw in a coat of paint). I guess I am ready to start a new year, even if it got here sooner than I expected.

Since I was still laboring through my gripe list about my lovely Bangalore at the end of the year, I shall finish it. So, here goes. And oh, Happy New Year.