move it like a gypsy

Last night while I was working, I had to be pulled away from the end of a transaction [I had already gotten their phones taken care of, activated, all I had to do then was ring them out] because I was told "they needed help in SLR's".  Okay, because this is coming from Josh, a coworker who knows I know my shit, I realized they're probably getting the "This is a....nice camera....it has a lens with it..." from the workers in the camera department, because they're all idiots.  Josh saw a potential sale, and knew I could close it.  I'll spare the details, but they ended up leaving with printouts of the two cameras they were looking at, to do a little reading, and because the mother wanted to come in tonight without her child and husband, because it would just be easier to have one-on-one time learning about it.  I spent around 40 minutes with them explaining what they needed to buy and what they could buy.  Because I'm not on commission, I could give two shits about if somebody buys anything, just listen to me and don't be a dick and we're squared.  That's exactly what they did.  I got them excited about a camera, excited about finally being the parents that email the other kid's parents photos of them from the soccer/football/baseball game.
I knew they would be developing a sense of pride, not at their child, or themselves, but at something they had and something they could create.
There's something about the feeling you get after you sit back and look at something you created.  Something you made from scratch, something you put your hard work into, something that wasn't easy.  It's a sense of accomplishment unlike any other.  Yeah, you feel accomplished when you get a good grade on a test, or if you win at beer pong, but that is a molehill compared to this mountain.  That is one of the very reasons that I love what I do, and also love taking photos.  Yeah, if you're looking at my Flickr, you'll see a lot of self portraits [there are more, but most are hidden].  It isn't because I'm vain, not in the least.  I take so many photos of myself because I'm always available for me to do a shoot with.  I'm ready, willing, and able.  I look at it as keeping myself in check.  They say that you are your own harshest critic, and I couldn't agree more.  So, if I'm taking/editing photos of myself, I won't let anything slide.  I have an extremely keen eye on the details of everything, and I won't settle with mediocre.  That way, I'm used to not cutting any corners in the editing process.  Yes, I will cut a corner here and there when doing work that I'm not too stoked about, but barely ever.
So there's a reason why I have so many photos of myself on my social sites.
If you could, wound you do the same thing?
Today in the shower, I ended up thinking back on my cat, Mike.
He was my first real pet, and the only one I've ever really had.  Yeah, my family had cats, but they weren't "mine".  Mike was mine.  We spent so much time together throughout the years.
When I got back from my first California stint, Mike was right where he was when I left him, waiting for me.  We continued right where we left off.  He would come and just lay on my lap no matter what I was doing, regardless of the time of day.  Watching a movie, lay on the lap.  Eating cookies, lay on the lap.  Tying your shoes, lay on the lap.  You get the idea?  Mike was also a licker.  I don't think that cat had a single mean bone in his body.  If you ever found the rare chance of playing with him when he would start "scratching" your hands [when you would furiously rub his belly], he would end up taking your hand in his paws, pulling it quickly towards his cat fangs, and...start licking your hand to death.

Mike passed away from kitty cancer a while ago, and it was devastating.  I remember my father calling me after I told him to take Mike to the vet to get checked out.  He just wasn't himself.  Mike was still there, they waited to see if I wanted to say goodbye to Mike.  I couldn't do it.  I didn't want my last memory of Mike to be one like that.  I have plenty of memories of Mikey, and all of them are amazing.

Well, those people from last night didn't show up tonight, I guess it just goes to show excitement is temporary, so get stoked as much as you can.

Weird moral, huh?