8 posts tagged “cats”
After posting a link to my YouTube account where most of my Fritz videos go, I realized it's been awhile since I actually posted one. Fritz got a kitty tube and tent this week and he's loved diving into them--I realized it was time for me to learn how to use iMovie so I could present the highlights of his play time. Maybe now that I know how to edit video I'll post more of him!
I'm exhausted and have to get up early, so consider this a teaser trailer for an upcoming blog post:
A few weekends back my dad found, buried away behind the couch, this winter hat I'd bought (and lost) years ago. How the hat became lodged behind the couch is a matter of speculation, although I suspect I know who the responsible party was--the story behind it:
This was one of those ridiculous hats, made of very fake leopard print fur and with cat ears on top, giving the wearer the illusion of having, well... a cat-head. It was absurd and I loved it. One day, not too long after my purchasing this ridiculous monstrosity of headwear, I was wearing it when I walked into the den and encountered my beloved cat Donatello. (Full name: Dontatello Ninja Cat. I was very into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at the age of 5, when my cat's not-especially-gender-appropriate name was bestowed upon her.) Imagine my surprise when my own pet, instead of running up to me in greeting, recoiled in fear, arched her back, and inflated her tail to raccoon-like fluffiness. After a pause, I spoke to her, and upon recognizing my voice she calmed and ran up to me as usual (although still a bit wary of my head).
Shortly after this event, my hat disappeared, not to be seen again for several years. Donatello passed away at the worthy old age of 17, and the hat was only remembered when the story was recounted about Donatello's strange reaction to the giant two-legged cat that approached her. Until recently, when as I said the hat was discovered--behind the couch. A completely illogical place for a hat. Donatello's favorite hiding place to escape those scary things--vaccuums, rambunctious dogs, etc.--that plague a cat's daily existence.
COINCIDENCE?! I suspect not. I believe Donatello vowed not to give in to headgear terrorism, and took matters into her own hands. With no front claws to dole out enough damage to destroy the hat, she hid away the weapon of cat-confidence destruction where no amused human could find it. I couldn't help but smile imagining it.
So what was the first thing we did upon finding the hat? Why, test it out on Chloe--who had the exact same fluffed-up, frightened, and cruelly hilarious reaction.
I think Donatello would be amused to know the joke's been passed on to the next generation of household pets.
Through the glory that is StumbleUpon (again I say that if you love wasting passing time on the Internet and you haven't tried it, you must), I discovered a very cool place full of Mark Twain quotes organized by subject. As a loser and future Scary Cat Lady, I of course wanted to see what a genius like Twain would have to say regarding felines. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Mark Twain was so ahead of his time that he actually knew of the existence of lolcats some 120 years before they would sweep the Internet. Don't believe me? I believe I have proof:
"You may say a cat uses good grammar. Well, a cat does -- but you let a cat get excited once; you let a cat get to pulling fur with another cat on a shed, nights, and you'll hear grammar that will give you the lockjaw. Ignorant people think it's the noise which fighting cats make that is so aggravating, but it ain't so; it's the sickening grammar they use." -A Tramp Abroad
So not only was he aware of lolcats well over a century ago, but perhaps he offers some insight into how the language of today's lolcats evolved--can it be that the lolcats of today are descendents of the angrier, less grammatically conscious cats of the 19th century? Would that not suggest that today's lolcats are in fact argumentative and violent themselves? It's a tempting hypothesis, but evidence to the contrary abounds:
Well, temporarily at least.
As my parents spend 1-2 months living in a hotel, I get to keep Chloe, the cat formerly known as Tashi. Of course, this means I feel compelled to spoil her and have all sorts of fun I don't normally get to have in my no-pets apartment. Yesterday my mom and I made a trip to PetSmart, and in addition to getting her some toys we found this crazy cat mat thingie, recommended to us by a lady buying toys for her cat. It contains what is appropriately called "zoom-around-the-room catnip," and has made Chloe a complete drug addict. The cat. Is. Insane.
Now, don't get me wrong. She's pretty crazy a lot of the time. (As a matter of fact, her favorite thing to do in my apartment is hide, wait till I walk past, then zoom past me in the direction I'm going, effectively scaring the shit out of me.) But this has taken her madness to the power of 10. It's craziness!
Enjoy this craptastical quality, soundless video:
It's no secret I desperately want a cat. As you might remember, back in August the universe was sending me cats, even though I feel certain the universe is aware that my apartment does not allow them. The most memorable of these was an adorable little black-and-white kitten who I just so happened to take two pictures of on my cell phone:
So! This past weekend I was forced to get a new phone due to my LG Chocolate's general suckage. (Just after the one year warranty was up, the touch screen starts acting funny--either not working at all or repeatedly pressing buttons that I only pressed once. This is especially annoying if the button is "send" and the phone continually redials after I've hung up.) I also got a micro SD card and adapter in order to save the 150-ish pictures/movies I had on my old phone. I found the two above pictures and wondered about my little kitten--I never saw him again.
Fast forward a week to today, when I pull into my apartment's parking lot and notice near the House of 1,000 Cats that's across the street a small but adult black and white cat. I think, "Man, look at his white paws. And his absurdly large ears. It couldn't be...?" After some persuasion I convince him to come over to me and give him some lovins... And confirm the weird little white-lip marks on both this cat and the pictures of the kitten!
He's still pretty tiny and very playful. Except now he has the sort of nervous-crazy thing happening that the other cats that hang out at House of 1,000 Cats have--always moving and swishing his tail (thus the blurriness of some pictures). It's sooo hard not to take him in, but no! I must resist. At least this time he's not a tiny kitten crying outside my door, I suppose. I'm so glad to see he's okay!!
And now it's time for an excellent band: Travis.
I want to sing, to sing my song
I want to live in a world where I belong
I want to live, I will survive
And I believe that it won't be very long
If we turn, turn, turn, turn turn
We might learn.
Okay, those lyrics do the song no justice. Frankly, I think the band writes some gorgeous melodies. The music is pretty mellow (aside from what I think is their first album, Good Feeling), the band is (according to all-knowing Wikipedia) "Scottish indie-rock," and you should listen to something. The big singles that I know of were "Why Does It Always Rain on Me" and "Sing." I think this "Turn" song was featured on a recent episode of Scrubs. I COULD BE WRONG, AND I'VE WRITTEN TOO MUCH.
The reason I'm listening to music, a strange phenomenon I haven't been doing enough of lately, is that I'm packing for--what else?--a trip to California. Normally, I'm nerdtastically enthusiastic about packing; frankly, it's fun to plan outfits, make lists of things to not forget, and strategically place objects in suitcases so that they fit perfectly (a feat that's never as easy to do when you're repacking your stuff to come home). But tonight... meh. In fact, "meh" seems to mostly describe the past week or so. I'm in some sort of summer funk; I like nothing better than to sleep for 12 hours a day, take care of the requisite 3-5 hours of work four days a week, then spend the remainder of my day on the couch. No bueno, I declare. I usually have to work to keep myself from packing days in advance; tonight, it's been a struggle to bust out the suitcases, 12 hours before my flight leaves.
Hopefully, the trip out to California (and some much needed interaction with other people, including of course the boyfriend) will make this mood lift. I'm looking forward to it, even if I'm too tired/lethargic to realize it.
As for cats. It's been rather freaky, actually, but I'll try and make this story short (I'm pretty sure it interests no one but me). The Saturday before last, I had a Most Adorable Kitten show up at my door. Anyone who knows me knows that what I want more than anything is a kitty, so I found this pretty weird; here's this cute and very affectionate cat. I know I can't have a cat, though, so eventually I went inside and left him outside (where he cried). The next morning, he was still hanging around; I left to sing, and he was still there two hours later when I returned. Eventually he left for good, and I spent the week regretting my lack of balls--why didn't I just take him in?
Exactly one week later, as I walk out to my car, a black cat sees me and runs up to me. A second black cat runs up to me from the other side of the parking lot. A third runs up to me from behind me, a small gray kitten in tow. ...Double-you tee eff, I ask. They hang out for awhile; I go inside. I peek back outside a while later, and they have literally left this kitten on my doormat. I remind myself that I CANNOT HAVE A CAT, and go back inside. The next morning, I'm woken up by a kitten crying; it's the same gray kitten, this time outside my apartment's back window.
I was terribly amused when I stumbled across the following children's book at work, which repeated the lines, "Hundreds of cats; Thousands of cats; Millions and billions and trillions of cats." It felt very like my own story. (Except the cats around me didn't end up eating each other, as in the slightly disturbing book.)
I decided to take a break from reading to make myself some deliciousness (chicken and mashed potatoes!--out of a bag and a box respectively, but who cares, it's still cookin'). While waiting for the oven to preheat, I decided to diddle around on the intarwebz. Something made me think of this nugget from my youth:
Sadly, this book appears to be out of print now, but Amazon seems to have a number of used copies for dirt cheap. I'm gonna have to dig through my mom's books and see if I can find this one.
Aaaand back to my laziness.
