I'm late here, but when it comes to the curses, unless there's an overriding storyline reason for the people to be cursed without noticing it, I just tell them when they are cursed, and let them handle the mechanics (I'm lazy.)
If there is a reason for them not to know about the curse, and it's one like the one you mentioned there, I would just roll a d20 a bunch of times and write them down while the party discusses something, and keep track of which roll they are on, ticking them away as they burn through them. I admit that despite being lazy I am often scribbling notes and rolling dice in front of them, evne if I'm not doing anything because it's fun to watch them squirm.
For EXP, I tend not to monitor it too closely, I have a mix of metagamers and role players. I let the metagamers tally up the exp and everything for me. Rather than outlining what monsters the party will face and when on a linear progression, I tend to just look at what makes sense to be in the area. Maybe the party can crush whatever is supposed to be there, maybe they can barely take anything... well honestly that's not my problem. If the party can't fight what's there, they need to find a way to get where they are going without fighting, or by getting the help of some people who help even the odds. If they can crush what's there, maybe they can make things a little more interesting for themselves by working as bodyguards to make some money.
I tend to view my job when running things as giving them a world to run around in and stories that happen whether they are there or not so they might pick them up in the middle, not to control what they do.