Was on a creative roll but now am stuck. This is a cover for a mini book and when I'm out of ideas, better to give a project some space before getting back to it.

Yesterday I got a call from someone I knew a looooong time ago. We've not spoken to each other in 15 years and it was a surprise hearing from her.

What do you do about people you knew way back, have lost touch with who've now called to resume some kind of contact ? This past year has been interesting in that I've re-connected with classmates and now this former colleague. One thing I do know : while I'm curious about all that's happened in their lives, I'm not sure I want to invest time re-kindling a friendship, especially (back then) we were not close friends to begin with. Perhaps I've never been sentimental, have not yearned for the *good 'ole days* and have consistently cultivated this attitude of letting go, moving on and setting priorities on who has genuine claim to my time. This might sound cold, but really, when one decides to open the emotional space for a new friendship, you want it to be the real thing ?

So many times I've seen people who on the surface are seemingly good friends, break off after some incident.

A friendship should mean the willingness to make adjustments, to communicate and the acceptance of each other's quirks. If two people cannot even do this, why the heck are they even *friends* in the first place ?

At this stage of my life I've had enough of dramas, superficiality and stuff that has no positive value to my everyday. It's exhausting tip-toeing around someone learning about their personal boundaries and sensitivities.

We've all become adept at separating people into compartments : people we work with, people to lunch with, people to joke with, people we consider our inner circle who we confide in.

This is the present day reality.

You'd think I'd be used to this by now ? About Inspiration taking a long walk away ..... or rather, it running away howling !

Loads of advice on how to get it back but from experience I know there's no forcing it and I just have to take a few days off to dabble, look through my supplies or experiment. This becomes an issue with looming deadlines but thankfully the two new classes for September are done, the one class pending is using a previous project that needs tweaking to fit a budget.

Am I unhappy ? Not unhappy but a teensy bit annoyed like any working-crafter would be. We all know that quality work depends on being inspired to make something that feels *right* in terms of having enough new-ish stuff and a fresh perspective. Right now there's nothing to be done and it leaves me to enjoy the lull which I see as akin to an empty jar that will soon be filled. Oddly, ideas come to me in my sleep, perhaps it's my unconscious mind digging deep to piece together bits of stowed away creative information into a whole.

Hari Raya is tomorrow, a wedding at the Four Season's in the evening, a private class the day after, and then Nura has her Intermediate RAD exams on 1st September.

To all my Muslim friends, Selamat Hari Raya, may Allah heap blessings aplenty on you and your family !