Waiting For Rain

"I miss your old writing," someone commented a while back.

And thus, reality came a-knocking. Again.

I stopped counting how many times.

For weeks I haven't been writing as much as editing. Manuscripts. Lots of them.

I went through some of my old stuff. I couldn't recognise the author. He seems sharp, articulate, and, well ... happier. He also seems to have more time to dream, scheme and pontificate on things that excite him, even if his arguments aren't well thought out.

It has been a while.

And it might be like this for a while or two longer.

I'm looking for real estate. As it is with potential first-time property owners, I'm getting the jitters.

Landed property, especially within the narrow locus of my current neighbourhood, is out of the question. The condo unit I have my eye on looks okay, and rather well situated. Except that it's kind of aged, and is a leasehold unit.

The elders advised caution. As they should. I'm taking this recommendation on the advice of an agent under the supervision of Melody's former colleague, who she says cares a lot about his reputation and therefore does not hawk lemons.

With that comes other worries and fears. Lawyer fees, money transfers, property assessment rates, more taxes, what to do when the lease period draws near and I can't, for some reason, let the unit go...

This, on top of the need to ubah gaya hidup over rising costs of living, water-rationing, the coming introduction of the goods and services tax, as well as worries at work, it's no wonder the ink on the old pen isn't flowing like it used to.

And my health hasn't been fine. For the past several days my blood pressure (top end) hopped past the 135 mark. I haven't been sleeping well. The same lymph nodes are still swollen after about two years.

No more book reviews. No more food reviews. No more opinion pieces. The blog, a pseudo-chronicle of my journey through the world of books and publishing, is as parched as my inkwell.

Yes, I am, like parts of the country, going through a dry spell. The country's will get better, because in this part of the world, the rain has to fall sometime - which it did last weekend.

Me? I'm still waiting.

Hopefully, not for too long.