Fame and Riches and SEALCAM!

I promised SEALCAM to my loyal readers - and I will deliver - but I think I need to respond to my dear-friend-in-the-computer, Heather and her wish for fame. Heather stated that she would love to be famous, not rich (at least not necessarily), but famous. I can understand the appeal of fame, but no thank you for me, please. I don't mind a mild bit of "notoriety" - such as having a few readers on my blog or having people recognize that I am good in my career and therefore want to hire me (which is ironic, since the one thing I prefer not to discuss on this blog is my career - but that's mostly because I do this to get away from work and it's craziness). I mostly think of that as a form of popularity though - or success (which is what I feel will land you on Oprah, Heather!).

I probably have a different perspective on fame though. In the course of my work, I deal with many varying levels of famous people - famous in the Northern California area, famous as a professional in my career (not me-other people), famous as professionals in their career circle, going to be famous one day, used to be famous, used to be famous and trying to be famous again and even, that most desired of all levels of fame, extremely famous. I've seen more than my share of what fame will do to a person and sadly, most people have a hard time dealing with it. I don't think this is because people are inherently monsters or even just jerks, instead I think it's because we're human. Fame plays upon one's security in who they are - to be famous, you have to do what others wish of you - or you get lucky because what you're doing is what people want at the time. This applies to designers, actors, models, anyone who is selling a part of themselves to the public. When tastes change, those who were famous must either change themselves to keep up with the times or be secure enough to let it go. We all know that popularity is addictive, especially when it brings with it wealth or at least ones way to make a decent living - now it's not addictive only for the way it makes people feel, but also for the fact that it gives one the ability to support themselves. People end up wondering if they could still be famous if only they lost 10 pounds more, if only they discovered the next art movement. In the end, there is so much falseness and fear that people lose touch with what they really believe in, and really do we need any more of that floating around out there?

So Heather, you can have my share of the fame - but know that if you get all uppity and what not, I'll be calling you on it - I think I'd prefer quiet unknown wealth. I don't need any crazy people knocking on my door unless I invited them, besides signing all those autographs makes my hand cramp.

OK, a shift in direction....A couple of weekends ago, me and Sweet Babboo went to Ano Nuevo to see the elephant seals. I read about this a few years ago and have always wanted to go, so we packed up one rainy day and headed out to the beach. This area is one that the seals return to every year to fight, mate and give birth to their young. They leave and the young pups grow and learn to swim here (I had no idea that seals had to LEARN to swim!) and slowly leave, only to return again later in the year. You can hike up and get right up next to the seals - they only ask that you remain about 20 feet away - and there are docents there to answer questions and tell you all kinds of cool stuff. The docents are great too - not annoying at all, you can tell they are there because they love watching the animals and they'll chat with you and point out spots where you can get closer to the animals. One seal was not doing so well and it made me sad, because I am a softy for critters, but there was a volunteer there watching over him and making sure no one harrassed him. They won't intervene there unless there is some extenuating circumstance, instead they let nature take it's course and encourage the herd to get stronger through survival of the fittest, but you could tell that the docent was taking it hard. My favorite part of the story is the one of Seal Island where there was once a lighthouse and caretaker's cottage. The seals would come up on the island and they started taking over, breaking into the house and damaging everything, including the foundations of the lighthouse, eventually the people had to just leave the island and now it belongs to the seals. Seals 1 - humans 0! Every once in a while, I think it's good for humans to see that they can't just take over everything. Hopefully, it teaches us a little respect for Mother Nature.

SB and I got some great shots, but it wasn't too hard because the area is beautiful and the seals are super cute. If they aren't playing and fighting, they are laying around like fat little logs yawning in the sand. I can't wait to go again in winter to see the big guys come in! Oh yes, as promised...SEALCAM! Live at 10:30! When you go to the site, click on the video icon and you can see the beach live during daylight hours - seals and beach without the sealy, beachy smell!