It rained “rhinos and elephants” earlier this evening. That was the description a recently found old friend, Khatijah Marianne (Magness) Abdullah used to describe the early evening heavy rain.   More on Marianne in upcoming articles.

Yes, it rained almost like crazy. I welcomed the rain (and I am quite sure others around this region did, too) to cool down the sort of heat wave weather we have been having over the past few weeks. It does not help that we have high humidity as well.

A good thing the rain was only for about an hour. Not a long drawn one.

I am seated at a table outside of Starbucks, Empire Gallery Shopping mall, Subang Jaya (1), where it is a bit warmer. It is too cold for me to be inside the mall, which makes it uncomfortable to get any work done.

The view from where I am seated is quite nice. “The Social”, a fine dining restaurant, is right in front of me. The food is pretty good there.

Jardin Coffee & Tea, is to my left, right in front of me. It is quite quiet here, with the once-in-a-while chatter from voices of people that walk past me. My table is along the general passage way.

I was exploring a few ideas for an article and “by George, I think I’ve got it!” No, it is not “the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain”. That’s the ever-so-popular, “My Fair Lady” – The Musical. I think I have stumbled on an idea for my book. Based on an article I wrote recently, suddenly ideas seemed to be springing out.

It is fiction with some humor and a bit of romance thrown into the story for good measure. I will have to mind-map the ideas out on my storyboard.

It has been a good day. This morning I met a gentleman at the Kenny Hills (2) Cafe, located within the supermarket of the Bangsar Shopping Centre (3). The cafe has a nice setting within the supermarket bakery section. The ambience provides a comfortable experience.

We were at the cafe at 9.00am, so it was off the rush hour beat. The gentleman and I both had a hot americano each, and we ordered some local kuih.

In our meeting, we discussed the idea that either I write the book or we co-author the book based on this gentleman’s work experience. Off the hat; I had some ideas as to the direction we can take for this book. I am looking forward to our next meeting to firm up at least some ideas that could create the right “jigsaw puzzle” pieces for the whole picture.

Now, I have two book projects. Both stories are quite different from each other. It would be a worthy challenge to write two different books concurrently. My initial steps into these book ventures would most importantly have a goal / plan with an estimated time of project completion for each of them – have the end in mind, first.

I am going to be even more busy than I am now. I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

Let me know your thoughts on this: am I biting more than I can chew? I wonder.

NOTES
1. Subang Jaya is a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. According to a BFM 89.9 radio broadcast show, recently (from the date of this show); Selangor generated over 25% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Malaysia’s GDP.
2. Kenny Hills or as it is now known as Bukit Tunku, is located in the lush greens of Kuala Lumpur, a city and Federal Territory of Malaysia. It is where the ultra rich stay.
3. Bangsar Shopping Centre is an upmarket shopping mall, located in the prima area of Bangsar, part of Kuala Lumpur.