Oops. Best laid plans, etc. Dashing out on errands & now a last-minute babysitting request (for the afternoon). Happy to help but that pushes some things off my list right now. I may be back before midnight, maybe not. I will most certainly be on Twitter. Happy New Year already to Julie & Simon & others I don't know. For those without televisions, there's a live webcast from NYC's Time Square beginning at 6pm EST. Join in!
From the sublime to the ridiculous... I'm far behind in reading a manuscript & holiday prep & everything.
Friday a friend & I went to a garden of lights. I expected to love it; it was more wonderful than I'd hoped. The word magical is so overused; this was a fairytale come to life. It finally felt like the holidays. If you live near something similar, I urge you to go. I wish there were really good larger photographs to show.
Sparkly holiday Paris is my laptop wallpaper of late. Very cheerful in the 7am shadows. You can get the link to the large size on Giulia Geranium. And of course, what would the holidays be without the continuing showdown between inanimate fairy lights & Julie? With some flower garlands tossed onto the pic? I cannot believe it is 10.56pm on the last Sunday before Christmas. Back soon. Cheers!
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit.
Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” ― Ira Glass
Oh, Ira. I love you. (photograph by Stuart Mullenberg)
“There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.”Albert Schweitzer
I have both; also, great good fortune: the cat shares my eclectic taste in music.
Here's an article on Human-Cat Psychology. Also I laughed at this article on The therapeutic value of cats. It's from a scientific journal. If you are inclined to read it, it starts in the lower right-hand corner & continues onto next page. What made me laugh were the comments from a scientist & from one Simon Teakettle the Younger.
I watched this lovely video several times last night. Wicked insomnia. I logged on to Twitter & there it was...I think everyone in the world has seen it but me. I love the East African music, too.
Trying to catch up is not going well but I forge ahead.
(photograph by Leslie)
