Updates

First off, after a few weeks of nail-biting and self-doubt, I'd like to declare that we finally have our Indian visas! Woo-hoo!

I haven't managed to write that in here because I'm very bad with time management these days. Haven't even finished writing about the trip in Provence. With one month left before we go, there are a couple of property issues we have to settle before flying off to Whoknowswhere.

To explain, we've been a little worried because the process for Indian visas is a bit strange. The embassy doesn't accept applications, a third party British company takes care of that. They have an online system that I heard has made the process a lot faster compared to a few years ago, when people could wait half a day in queue before the visa officers give them the time of day.

So we did this online thing, filled-in the form electronically, printed everything out nice and orderly-like so when we go to the visa office all we have to do is pay. When you get there you also have to get your picture taken, special Indian Visa style that only they can make, so you can't do it on the cheap by taking a picture of yourself and cropping it at home. So we did that, pasted it on the forms as prescribed, everything neat and orderly-like. And in fifteen minutes from coming in, we were called to the counter and we showed my form first and the woman tells me I can't get the number of months I'm asking for and I can't go back and forth from Nepal to India because I'm a journalist, plus that means I have to sign some special forms saying I can't be writing while I'm in India as a tourist. Whutda?

Well, we reason that I'm not a journalist, I'm a writer, that's different. I'm a writer of the mundane. And she said India does not make a distinction, and those are the rules. The company says all writers are journalists and therefore cannot stay longer than 3 months and have to sign a journalist's waiver. What have you got against writers?! But, ok, it's their country and I'm just asking to be let in. So, to get it over with, we decided to say I'm a housewife. H photocopied the form stuck to the wall, we paid for that too, no free forms here. I filled up the new form, H was again his stressed-out self, and I submitted my hand-written form, H surrendered his internet application. The new guy at the counter asked H why his was computer-generated and mine was not, but we paid for the visa applications anyway and then we went home. But on the way home, doubt was gnawing on H because they might trace my application and find out I wrote "writer" and that mightn't help my case and we might have just thrown away our money if my application is not approved for suspected fraud. Oh lord.

But thank heavens they were happier to let me in than to nitpick. I paid a little extra too, because I have a Philippine passport. They were supposed to call us when our passports are ready for pickup, but they didn't. We found out online. Blessings of the internet age. After a week and 3 days, I got my passport back in time to go to the Philippine Embassy to get something processed. That day was action-packed too.

I wanted the be at the embassy in the afternoon so I made some adobo flakes that take a long time to prepare - but maaaaan, it was good. I don't know why I never thought of making it in the first place. I know it has to do with the dry adobo disaster I served to H's friends who came for dinner two Saturdays ago. My failure inspired me, so to speak.

Anyway, so I'd planned to go to the Musee d'Art Moderne after filing the paper I needed processed at the embassy, because they are on the same Metro line. I scurried around the house thinking of the things I needed: camera, map, guidebook, passport, re-printing the papers that need signing because I realized the bottom was cropped wrong when I printed two nights before (we were watching Breaking Bad so, no attention to detail at all)... plus I had to remember to photocopy the last page of my passport for the embassy requirement, and drop off two letters for H at the mailbox.

Of course, knowing me, I would forget something as important as getting the photocopies done before I get on the Metro. Well, when I got to the embassy it was 15 minutes before closing time and I had to rush out and find a photocopier because, of course, our embassy doesn't have a photocopier. So I get to La Poste, a guy with dreads is there, he keeps pushing the button and nothing comes out. Now I'm worried that the machine is broken. So this happens for about five - eight minutes until he decides to ask for help, and he tells me to go ahead and try. I try it, it works. Turns out, he thought the copies were ten cents, but it was plainly written on the machine that it's 20 cents. Go figure. But I still thank him for letting me go ahead. I get back to the embassy on time, I get it done, POW, it's closing time. I always make it by closing time.

After that, I went for a walk along the Seine at Ave. New York, in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was the long way to Palais de Tokyo, home of the Musee d'Art Moderne, where I took a time out from my suddenly hectic life. After we got back from the trip, I thought we could relax in Paris; but I was running all around, seeing friends, partying, cooking, writing, seeing other friends, doing errands, dancing, seeing to the needs of drunk strangers in our house. You know, Saturday night.

When I got home, H hadn't moved from the couch. He was playing the new Assasin's Creed and finishing the adobo flakes. Smh.

I wanted to write about the museum trip too but I only got 4 hours of sleep last night, working on something computer-y that's also annoying me, because I just found out there's something wrong with my Adobe InDesign. Well, to reset it, even online, I have to have the installation CD apparently, the installation CD that's IN THE PHILIPPINES, dammit! That's why I'm trying to repair it online, stupid Adobe-eating numbskulls! Whooo. Breathe in. Breathe out. So I try to download a trial version on H's PC, it takes 5 hours, by the time it finishes, a day of free trial is gone. Yay. So I have to work fast. I can't sleep. Coffee, coffee, coffee. I know what I'm doing is worth all the headache anyway. I hope I could tell you what it is now. But it's awesome. It's gonna be awesome.

I pray for the end of technical glitches NOW NA!