{"id":631,"date":"2023-03-09T04:45:36","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T20:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gen-e-sis.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/06\/sliced-cheese\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T18:01:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T10:01:53","slug":"sliced-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/sliced-cheese\/","title":{"rendered":"When in Doubt, Add Sliced Cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nFeline Therapy<\/span>\n
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Some days, clarity wears a fur coat and purrs. You think you\u2019re falling apart, but you\u2019re just rearranging. Claude listens. Cheese appears. Meaning, optional. Comfort, inevitable.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So I was having this chat with Claude, one of my cats. And I knew I had his attention because his eyes were fixed on mine. He was intrigued. Anyway, I was talking about my situation, you know job and kids and ex-wives and parenting and money and stuff. And about having to have conversations with myself to get an alternative view. (Now you can see that working.) And talking about making a new start and blockages and risks and zero support, only animosity and self-preservation. And wondering how I caused all that to befall me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Claude continues to stare with cat size]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I\u2019m saying how it doesn’t matter, that you just have to have some faith and push through to the thing you are called to do, to the person you are called to be. And that every now and then you have to fake the certainty that it will be ok in the end. And then I\u2019d go off on another tangent about something else that gotten under my skin, completely losing the plot, the thread and a needle in a haystack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now Claude\u2019s look has changed. He wants to respond. He wants to say something reassuring to me. (Not that he really says things. It\u2019s more that I can sometimes read his mind. It\u2019s a knack I have.) So I\u2019m tuning in to him and getting something. It\u2019s not all just white noise. It seems like a chant of some sort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the enunciation is all wrong. It sounds like Tom Waits doing Tiny Tim. And Claude sees I\u2019m stumbling and not getting it, so he alters his approach. Chin further down now. And behold Sean Connery doing Homer Simpson. A little more palatable. And yes, in the end, it was quite clear what he said. He said<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSliced Cheese\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was it. So I had some, and gave him some as well, which he seemed to relish. And I felt better too. Weird! So I\u2019ll know for next time just to have some sliced cheese. Handy that. Must get some more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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