i am not a cat person….never had a cat as a pet…never wanted a cat…..i was always a dog man ….dogs were always happy to see me, followed me around…dogs responded to commands…..cats always just seemed aloof to me….now, i have a cat…..
on the fourth of july, a hot summer night, little Simone just showed up….my son Bryan and his love Michelle and i were sitting on my porch having a glass of wine and pretty much minding our own business , when along came little homeless Simone (sometimes Lulu) who just jumped into my lap….end of story…..or, should i say, beginning of story…..
now i am dealing with raccoon proof cat doors, dry food vs. wet food, auto feeding machines and worse, yes, AFFECTION…damn!! ….the last thing i need in my life is a cat….i do not have time for a cat….i travel too much to have a cat or any pet….but, now i have a cat….or, rather she has me….she now owns the place….runs the show….wants affection sometimes, and shuns it other times….does what she wants when she wants to do it and my job is just making sure she is happy …and i now trip all over myself to make sure this is so…..hmmmmm….
it is always the unexpected in our lives which seems to govern….all of us work so hard to plan plan plan and then , well, the “plan” becomes whatever “just happened” with perhaps a very slight twinge of the light of original agenda….most of us i think then take whatever circumstances evolved and then turn it into our “plan” as if we had thought of it all along….pure justification or acceptance or , well, what else can we do???
certainly there must be adjustments in our creative spirit as well…if we all did what we started out to do, then i am sure that the results would be a whole lot less exciting then if serendipity rules…..yet, we also know from experience that not having any kind of plan in the beginning usually leads to no action at all…so, strange as it seems, we need a plan or a thought or an idea at the beginning that we know surely with change as we move forward…we should not be surprised that we become surprised with what actually happens , yet this is the ultimate surprise!!
perhaps we all have different proportions of planning vs. serendipity……and , of course, this is all related to being able to FINISH what we start out to do…i think many of us do not finish what we start because a Simone shows up….changes the equation….priorities get scrambled……what we want today, may not be what we want tomorrow….
i do spend a lot of time with young ambitious photographers or photographers who are trying to make a mark….the single biggest difference i see between those who “do it” and those who do not is simply the ability to finish what one starts….
yes, of course, talent is a must…visual acuity, sensitivity, spacial awareness, timing, balance….but, given two equal talents, the one who can actually complete a body of work is the one who will rise….sounds simple, but it is the most complex compound of all things facing any creative person….i see it over and over with photographers i mentor…..i have fought this with myself all along….i suspect a solid 80% of what i start goes unfinished….folks know of the other 20%, but i coulda shoulda woulda done more….blame it on Simone??
what about you?? do you finish most things, or sooner rather than later give it up?? be honest…we are all in this together…
ok, while you take on this question, i have to go feed the cat…..no joke…she is an hour away , and i am going to go feed her instead of taking a picture….woe is me….
“This is all I say. Let’s not once again go into “oh , I get it!” one liners.”
Herve, I am not sure what you mean by that. Are you telling me I have to reply with at least one paragraph. Are you suggesting we should keep debating this point if i don’t agree?
All right. Just one more otherwise, i would have left it at that I think.
Erm well I don’t agree with you yet. America may be in debt but isn’t it still the richest country in the world? It is not nearly bankrupt. It can afford to be in debt (I heard this analysis discussed this way recently), to the extent that it has a great, enormous capacity to generate income. It can service its loans. The government that is. That is why the government has been able to take the country into this massive debt to help ease the duration of the economic downturn. I don’t know anything about california.
But anyway, what I wanted to say was that, if Australia can afford a public health system, then surely the states can. I learnt tonight that when Nixon was in power the country was on the verge of getting a public health system. Nixon had the agreement of all the important others concerned. But then each of them got into a crisis of their own sort and the arrangement came to nought. Apparently it was all but signed sealed and delivered, the bill that is. But hey i am no expert on the American system of doing anything so I may be way off the mark. I just think that if such a thing is possible for a lot of the rest of the world, its got to be possible for America and I don’t buy that line about the current debt. The reason you have got such a system as ours is because of business interests.
Andrea, Ok, I told you why I think US doesn’t fare as well with other developped nations on many public services.
There are plenty of public services, and plenty of health care delivered and reimbursed in the USA. I got treated twice this year, for free, AND without an insurance, which saved me hundreds of dollars (not only that, but in SF, I can file for coverage directly with the city, if I have a low income, monthlies are 50$ maximum, for many less).
One-liner quote: If one wants to fix this mess we are in, we have to get down to the nitty-gritty, as they say, the devil is in the detail. Just to say again “it’s a scandal” or “I don’t buy that!” does not fix anything. If it did, we’d know it by now! :-)
I laughed when I read this, as you’ve discovered what us cat lovers have known for a long time: you do not choose or own cats, they choose and own you.
There are so many comments on this one that I suppose it is pointless for me to add another, but I will. I have finished many projects, including a couple of books, but I have a whole lot more unfinished projects… including a whole series of cats books.
Damn, damn, damn, damn!
If I could but get them into the market, they could make me rich and then I would have the time to finish my other projects, none of which is likely to bring economic profits. But the cats could. And they would not feel exploited.
I should have added that this picture makes me feel all kinds of affection for this cat. A black cat was once born into my hands and when that cat disappeared eight years later, I entered a prolonged state of deep grief; not light grief. I did not begin to break out of it until 10 weeks later, when I rescued another black cat from the euthanasia that awaited him at the pound. Eight and half years later, if I am home, not traveling, that cat is almost always with me.
The above story makes up one of my cat books. I’ve got to get the damn thing done. I have submitted it to one place, where it brought me praises in the rejection letter, but I don’t know where to take it next.