OMG...I am a cat person....

So, when you get snowed in and there's nothing really good to watch on TV and internet activity is slow and boring and you don't really want to read...what do you do? I watched a cat show on Animal Planet. A friggan' cat show. I mean I've seen my share of those AKC dog shows they have on television once in a while. This was full blown cat fancy territory - the grooming, the primping, the temperamental owners, the judging, the whole nine yards. I kept thinkning how silly it all was but I kept watching and realized that by the end I was actually rooting for a favorite.

I should have just gone to bed. Sheesh!

The beat goes on...

Something about January...just after the holidays, all the hubbub dead in the water, back to work...and on and on and on. Just seems to drag, long days, short weekends...

This is the time of year that being in the rat race just gets to me. It's all just more of the same. Even the weather is the same. We have low temps and, last night, more snow. I love the snow, don't get me wrong, but it does lose it's charm right about now.

I've been offered two song projects for collaboration. Both cover versions and I think they should be fun to do. I just haven't sung anything in so long that it will take me a while to get the confidence back. I was listening to the song files last night and sort of humming along. Wasn't pretty. I think the truth is I haven't sung in so long is that I just haven't come across a project that has truly excited me. Doing these collabs are fun, for sure, but I haven't felt that I have done anything in the last while that was worth anything. There are a couple of Wilhemina Murray's Revenge songs out there in cyberland awaiting someone or other to mix and those come close to something of which I can be proud.

Suddenly life got in the way of art and it's all kerfluffled. Everything just sits on the back burner waiting and hoping that one day I'll have the time and inspiration to do it. The way it stands now, and this is only exacerbated by the long ass January days, it will be waiting forever.

The Art of Appearing Interested

I'm not quite sure when this happened but I realized today that over the last several years I have become a master of the art of appearing interested in conversations when the conversation is not all that interesting. People have often told me that I am a great listener. I remember once being with a group of girl friends and taking one of those Cosmo quizzes about what makes someone a good friend. Overwhelmingly, all of my friends said the best thing about me was that I was good listener. Today I had a nearly hour long conversation with someone and when it was over I could not for the life of me remember more than a few details of what was talked about. It's not that I am forgetful. By all appearances I was fully engaged in that conversation - correct body language, appropriate responses and attentive eye contact - but, in fact, I was thinking about a million other things and wasn't really listening at all. The person talking to me left the conversation feeling that it was successful and had been a good talk. I left thinking "what was that all about?"

I don't mean to sound cold and I don't think I am. It's just that sometimes when someone comes to me and talks a blue streak about something or other that they feel is important and I don't get the importance of whatever it is, I tend to mentally check out. I wasn't really aware that I was doing this. I supposed I should feel bad about not being able to actively participate in any conversation but the truth is I don't feel bad about it. I realize that this only happens when the person doing the talking is either not aware or doesn't care that they are blathering on and on without really hearing what it is they are saying themselves.

A college professor once told me that "effective communication is a two way street". I guess in the case of this conversation, my street was under construction and I was forced to take a detour!