Tetris[k]

Have you ever played Tetris? I never had Nintendo as a kid, but I remember going to my cousin's house one Saturday and playing the gameboy version of Tetris all day, I dreamed about it that night. Can you hear the music? Well anyway most people know how the game goes, you stack the blocks and try to complete a whole line, and then it makes a cool sound a disappears and you get more points. My favorite though is when you get a bunch of lines and it makes that really cool "time warp" sound and you get a bonus. My job is a lot like Tetris.
I am a photographer and lets just say completing a line is like having decent expressions and a nice composition. That's all fine and good and that's pretty easy. But then you want to try and get that bonus, so you have the perfect expression, everyone looking the same direction(very hard with little kids) perfect composition, and you put the last piece in place at just the right moment and just the right spot by clicking the shutter release. As you may know with the bonuses sometimes in Tetris, one wrong move and you're out of control and you lose the game, this is also the case in photography. If I try too hard to get the most wonderful shot , I might mess up the whole thing. For example: little baby decides it has had enough and cries the rest of the time, the 2-year old gets antsy this upsets mom and dad which makes the 2-year old cry, the 4-year old has to go potty, the 11-year old gets the fake smile and you don't get a decent shot the rest of the sitting.
Today was a reasonably good day, I had some really great shoots and some really great pictures. I was conquering little lines right and left, I went in for the bonus with a family of 6 tonight, let's just say after an hour I lost the round and gained $5.34. Oh well.
As stupid as that is, I don't think I should ever stop trying for the bonuses, I am not paid on commission, but even if I was I think everybody deserves a shot at the best. However, sometimes you have to conquer a few lines before you set up for the bonus or you may end up with nothing.
I think this can be true for a lot of things in life, set up for the biggest and the best, but don't forget the small everyday stuff, it's the little lines you conquer that sets you up for the big win. Don't just settle on the little lines either, aim high, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It will all work out in the end. But when it all comes down who is going to have the most points--the one that conquered everyday little lines, the one that only tried the bonus lines or the one that did both? If only life were made of stackable blocks.