trying to work...don't bother me OR monochromatic cat blog to distract me from writing

What is it with cats? I drove down to my parents' house in bucolic Northfield, Minnesota to get some time away from the frenetic atmosphere of Uptown and their cat, Jack, will not leave me alone. I'm trying to get this piece for The Esoterics done and this guy is taking up half the piano bench.

I like to spread out a lot when I have staff paper to work with but there's a cat-sized spot on the bench where I'm sitting that I can't put my sheets of manuscript. Here's a photo of him from my phone:
















I should say that Jack showed up after my tenure under the Shank roof and, frankly, we've never really gotten along all that well (he bit the hell out of me a few years back)...but he's calmed down a whole lot in the last few years and, for some reason, he seems to like music.

My old cat, Max, used to do stuff similar to this. He was never a lap cat of any sort unless I was writing at my desk.

Just surfing the net? Nope. On the couch.

Working on correspondence? Sorry. Sleeping in the rafters somewhere.

However, if I was intently engraving music with headphones on and coffee in hand he was in my lap purring. It was the weirdest thing.

Rest in peace, little buddy. Your investment into my creative process will be missed.