I honestly believe that people should have pets (domestic animals, of course, not captured wild ones). They're quite capable of sincerely giving love and affection, and they experience at least some of the same emotions humans do (fear, jealousy, kindness, anger, longing, embarrassment, curiosity, moodiness, protagonism, gratitude, self-esteem). I think I learn about people as well as cats from watching mine.

When slightly excited, I find the best way to calm down is to lie down on the living-room couch and turn on the TV; immediately, between one and five cats take their positions. The most favored one is on my chest, probably because cats find rhythm and vibration soothing and also because that's the position in which they get the most attention. They sort of take turns; every ten or fifteen minutes one will wedge his way in where another was.

In case you didn't know, we have Chang and Eng, the red-point Siamese twins who behave like live teddy bears, red-and-white muscular Bart who loves individual attention and will wake you up in order to get some, grayish Lisa with a tiny little mewish voice who insists on hiding underneath the stove when people come over, and sleek jet-black Oscar, who is absolutely fascinated by water and especially the toilet flushing. He likes to watch the swirly going down the tank. He also enjoys sitting on the edge of the bathtub while you take a shower. Surprisingly for a cat, he doesn't mind getting damp, though he doesn't like wet. If you were here probably one of them would be sitting on you by now; right now Chang is peacefully seated on the chair next to mine and Oscar is interfering with my typing. He likes to watch me type, too, and I think it's the clicking of the keys that he enjoys most.

Yes, I've come out of the closet; at heart I'm really a catblogger, not a warblogger.