A Bit About Me

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Along with my daily duties as founder and head writer of HumorMeOnline.com, in 2003, I took the Grand Prize in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (also known as the "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night" competition). I've also been a contributor to "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and the web's "The Late Show with David Letterman". I also occupy my time writing three blogs, "Blogged Down at the Moment", "Brit Word of the Day" and "Production Numbers"...and my off-time is spent contemplating in an "on again/off again" fashion...my feable attempts at writing any one of a dozen books. I would love to write professionally one day...and by that I mean "actually get a paycheck".

10 April 2012

Day 10: Waiting

Unfortunately, I didn't grab an opportunity when I had it last week. Coming back from Atlanta the traffic came to a complete standstill on I-85 on a rainy Friday nite. One by one the cars had their engines shut off and then an eerie stillness came over the southbound lanes as people turned their headlights off as well. A few people got out of their cars and it was like an episode of "The Twilight Zone"...and something I will probably never be a party to ever again. With my camera in the trunk, not holding a charge, I thought it was futile to get it out and snap some shots, but at least I should have tried as it would have made the perfect photograph to depict "waiting". But, alas, I didn't. After a couple hours, the wrecks a few miles up were cleared and they let us get on our way again.

Naturally, when I later saw the themes here at Ziva's...I could have kicked myself...but since I recently had ingrown toenail surgery...I didn't. I instead looked around for something else which might portray "waiting"...so I waited...until another opportunity would come along.

While you're waiting to read what I came up with...check out these other participants and don't make them wait too long before you do: MikeWJ, Nicky and Mike, Mo, Meleah, John, aka nonamedufus, Bryan, aka Unfinished Person, Malisa, Nora, LaughingMom, Tanya, Elizabeth A., 00dozo, Cheryl, Kristen, Katherine, and Ziva.


Day 10: Waiting


This is our cat, Chupie (short for Chupacabra). Chupie, since he is orange and I hold a disdain for all orange cats, he doesn't get a whole lot of attention here. You see, we have a bunch of cuter cats and they end up "winning" us over based on looks alone...so, yes, the orange cat comes in last...there's always a cat that comes in last and in our house, it's poor Chupie. Because of this, Chupie swells with happiness if we even look at him...and he can purr so loudly, I swear it can be heard from a couple rooms away.

So the other evening as it was getting late, I noticed him just staring forward, not moving a muscle. Usually, if I would have called his name - he would have come running...because any opportunity to be pet is foremost on this cat's list. But he just stayed...eyes fixated in front. I got a little worried that maybe he was hurt in some way...maybe an animal attacked him - or maybe he was hit by a car...or maybe he was just waiting for something to pop out of a little hole which was about one foot directly in front of him.

For at least three hours he sat and waited. Persistence like this, I thought, should not go unnoticed...so I finally grabbed my camera and took about 10 shots of him before the battery died. He, staying true to cat stalker protocol, didn't budge an inch. He might have looked at me a little...but only his eyeballs moved. His head stayed steadfast and unwavering...waiting...waiting.

Me...I gave up after the shots - but he remained for a couple more hours. Whatever was in that hole must have been the stuff that cat dreams are made of...and, the next day...he was at his post again. Now, that is quiet determination.

Whether this is a better shot than the I-85 standstill would have been...eh, I have my doubts; but this one (yes, wait for it) was definitely the more purrfect.


(The hole, if you cannot find it...is the dug up bit straight ahead of his gaze...next to the tiny clump of grass.)


15 comments:

  1. Cat's aren't persistent. They just know how to sleep with their eyes closed.

    Feeling a little like Linda today. Third time lucky in getting my comment posted.

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  2. No...cats are very persistent.

    I don't know what it is - but I only managed to get in maybe FOUR comments today at the other blogger sites. Less than yesterday. I have no clue why. I'm going to try again a little later (do some waiting of my own) and try my son's computer...see if it works better. Maybe mine is just too damned old...who knows.

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  3. Same thing happened to me on 85 trying to get to ATL on day because there was a jumper on one of the overpasses. It can be a real bitch.

    Love the kitty! I can sense his focus.

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  4. What a cutie! Cats are amazing hunters, probably because they can remain so focused for so long. I'd fall asleep.

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  5. Our cat wouldn't be this persistent. He'd grow bored after at least an hour. :)

    As for the commenting, I know if I sign in with openID or with a Google account, and a Blogger site has word verification, it doesn't work as well. Try shutting off the word verification.

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  6. Cute idea! We often see our neighbors orange cat perched just like this under our bird feeder. I think that the cats think they are invisible if they don't move.

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  7. Oh, more cats! There can never be too many cats, or beavers, on the internet. I don't think our lazy cats would have been that persistent, they would have fallen asleep after five minutes. ;)

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  8. In some ways, as I also hate orange and dislike cats, I'm waiting for an orange cat to invade our house so that I can neglect it.

    I'm kidding of course. I actually quite like oranges...

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  9. I'm sick of cats, sick of beavers. The Internet's chock full of both. But it's amazing that any animal, let alone a house cat, would sit crouched beside a hole in the ground for that long. Good eye, Mariann.

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  10. I'm not sure if chipmunks live in little holes like this, but my son told me there was a dead one outside the kitchen door today.

    I guess I'll have to see if he's hanging by the hole or not.

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  11. I really like this photo - I understand the persistence - or should I say, "stubbornness" - of cats. It really fits today's theme.

    (Oh, and I hope this gets posted - having a helluva time with Blogger's veri codes.)

    ;-)

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  12. I have a half orange and white cat and he's awesome, of course! He does the stalking thing indoors, and I'm usually the target.

    Love the photo :)

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  13. Oh yes. Cats are very persistent! And sneaky!

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  14. I hope the poor little guy finally gets some results for his patience.

    (You don't need a photo of that Twilight Zone traffic. You painted it perfectly with your words.)

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  15. LaughingMom - I swear they all think they are invisible, too! What's funny is when they "go invisible" underneath something and their tail is still sticking out. ;)

    Silly kitties! :)

    Cheryl - I think it might have been the chipmunk. :( I don't mind moles and voles and things that are vermin-ish - but the other day it was a frog with its front arm chewed off and today a chipmunk. I mean, honestly, we feed these things a LOT of food - there is no need. Oh well...at least at this rate I'll have a "bird" photo (for the theme) in the next day or two. ;)

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