Where's Waldo...err, Lee the Poet?

I have to admit, this extended absence from my site(s) and journal(s) is decidedly odd, but for some reason it feels needed. I'm in crunch time mode. Unbeknownst to most, I have been freelancing for the better half of this year, or attempting to do so, in order to generate funds to sustain me. The last month and a half, I have been training as a loan officer...okay, let's expand on this: For those who don't know, or may be unclear, the loan officer is the lad or lady who works for commission in the real estate industry, by trying to marry the borrower(-to-be) to the best fitting lender(-to-be). I get all the information- Social security number, date of birth, spousal info, bank statements, etc., and try to find the best way to present you (the borrower) to potential lenders. In some cases, it's an easy task because you have good credit and live well within your financial means. In many instances, it's a headache because many cases aren't like that. Most borrowers believe heir credit is better than it actually is, some have judgments against them they weren't even aware of. I have to slalom my way through all of this and get you the best deal. Here's the catch, though: I (the loan officer, that is) don't get paid until everyone else does. So, I can work a deal for two days or two months, but if something goes south, I'm short, financially speaking, of course.
Here's the beauty of being a loan officer (trainee), though: I've seen the other side, and I know here are ways to get most people out of renting situations into housing situations. Even if you "feel" you aren't ready to do it now, you should talk to (a loan officer) to figure out what your next steps are going to be. For those in a house already, the magic word for you all is "refinance". Do it now, rather than later, because rates are going up and will be for a long time, most likely.
Okay, so other than that, I have been living on a shoe-string budget, and am tired of doing so...which is why I haven't had the time to idly sit down and enter my life events in my journal. I feel I need to be more proactive when it comes o getting things together, so I've been grinding trying to get my income back on track. So, if you haven't seen me where you normally would, it's either because I don't work there, or more likely of the two, because gas is too damn expensive for me to go there.
Seriously, gas has changed the way I do everything. Before I get to whether or not I feel like doing something, I have to first assess whether or not it's cost-effective to do so. In most cases, the answer is invariably "no".
The solo LP is on hiatus/hold, because my producer/homeboy moved to Atlanta already, and has to get situated before we can figure out what the next move is going to be. Hell, burning gas to go to Baltimore to record was...costly. I'm not mad at it, though. It's something I think will be good when it's all said and done.
Also, since I last "logged in", I've met a lot of folks from my father's side of the family (his first cousins, mostly), seen a couple of new movies (saw Pirates with Lynn yesterday), hit up a free cook outs (free food for the starving bachelor), and have been witness and/or party to some pretty big changes within my family as of late.
I wanted to blog on the illpoets.com "All Season" re-release party, but, time is of the essence for real, these days. To put it simply, it was a beautiful thing. My homegirl Nova put it together, which is the first time that I haven't had to oversee every aspect of something related to illpoets.com. That felt wonderful. So, hopefully we'll catch up soon, who knows? I'd like to write more frequently, but life is trying to get a brotha down, and I can't let that happen.
OH!- illpoets.com had over 175,000 hits last month from close to 20,000 visitor's! That's what's up. With all of that, folks need to be buying that good LP, or at least some of the others in the illpoets.com store. Say word.
Peace all.