Okay, let me rephrase it in modern American terms:

Do you like your video games to be really easy to win? Or do you like them being frustrating enough that it takes effort, but not so much effort that they're impossible and you're exasperated by them?

Killsy and Byron love to chase those little white moths that appear in the late summer, which are so hard to catch, and yet so satisfying when they do. But show them those tiny black beetles that turn up this time of year, crawling slowly along the floor? They watch them, maybe give them a single desultory swat, then walk away. Byron even sighs in boredom when he does.

Hunters like a challenge--at least when they don't depend on their play for food. No cat that depends on hunting for food plays with a mouse. They'd even eat the beetles. The ones with a full food bowl always waiting at home are the ones that play.

Well, again, I'm not trying to figure out if this cat really will like this toy... she does... but I've seen that pattern in different cats, of will try to start capturing and gnawing the thing a bit, and I wonder if it's mostly frustrating or mostly fun when they're in that pattern...

Zef: That cardboard scratching post is a good idea. I think I'll throw some boxes in my car tomorrow.

Ernst & Negs: Once I get all the pages transferred, I'll fix the links. It's not a crisis until Geocities goes offline forever. I'm hoping a global search & replace might work. I'm still a bit baffled by the fact all the images are there, but thank GOURD for that when it's time to move those Jen White comics!

Kirk: It's all in the cat. I had one of those, and Killsy gnawed the cardboard off when I was at work, and ignored it ever after. She also hated the laser pointer, which Byron loves. Killsy's fave thing was to tackle a thrown toy mouse, while Byron found that boring. Once it stopped moving, so did he. Because she likes to catch, and he likes to chase.

Question for you cat-lovers:
my family's cat Isis loves that "cat dancer", some vaguely-mothish looking small cardboard tubes at the end of a bouncy wire. And of course when she catches it, she goes into gnawing a bit on it, until gently I manage to jiggle it away for another round...

Now I know it's a mistake to assume that A. all cats think alike and B. how cats think + play easily maps onto humans, but... the times when I'm playing with her with this, and not letting her really catch it, is that probably "fun" for a cat, or more "frustrating"? Is the goal settling down to a nice tasty gnaw, or is there probably a "play" dynamic here were the "teasing" is part of game?

I give a thumbs up to the transferred page too. Looks like you'll just need to update the links to the various sections as you move them from Geocities, that's all.

The transferred page seems to worl, but it also seems to go to a lot of actual geocities pages. There may be some labour ahead

Bill-Man:

Put those cardboard boxes to use on a day off, pics of the kids on these would be neat:


 http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/catchaise

 http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/01/...oard-kitty-pad.html

Lily:

So take him to the vet. If he understands "No!" you can curb his behavior. Seriously, "frequently loud and curious" is that much of a deal-breaker? Have your parents never had cats? Or just hate them? (Like my mom, who despises them without ever having spent more than hours around any in 76 years) Then why would the chicas be okay with them?

A canuck girl I IM with says Coraline in 3D 'blew her fucking mind'.

Granted, she was HIGH as a kite when she saw it, so your mileage may vary.

It's a permanent move. :(

Have already been trying to summon up the noive to write Pammy for some time now, actually, and definitely planned to cite my FOBTS (Friend O' Bill the Splut) status when doing so.

Fingers definitely crossed re: the DJ transition. (Unlike with DTV, one converter box isn't all you need, but the rewards will hopefully far exceed the financial outlay and angst there.)

But will they be scratching at the door, or screaming at it? The second I open it, will they rush in, and will I have to shove them back out? Will DJ be just as eager to escape and slip by me during the night?

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. But it's worth the effort in terms of non-rage at the end of the day.

Edited by author 05-29-2009 10:08 PM
the kids make a movie featuring a Scat battle (the musical style)

Be glad that they didn't search for "scat battle." That's like a food fight after the food has been...umm, never mind.

Aw hell and damn the unspeakable things I'd do to this cat.

I'm set to move back home to take care of the 'rentals in a month, I dunno wot I'm gonna do about MOT

Wait, what? Is this a permanent move for you and the cats, or temporary?

If temp, well, the rents will have to deal. If permanent, wow, no-kill shelter for MOT or a Petfinder adopt-this-guy page are about your only options. Pending further info from you, that's all I got.

Or write Pammy at Way of Cats. Seriously, do it! Use my name as a recommendation if you're shy!

Regarding the new visitors you will soon be having... I remember vividly the time I googled for one of my favorite episodes of Home Movies, where the kids make a movie featuring a Scat battle (the musical style). Don't ever google "scat home movies." Ever. Maybe some of them will just be dunderheads like me and not pervs. :)

I've been wondering if when you explain what "D.J." means to folks IRL, are you using the correct Spanish pronunciation, or the goofy-Anglo-forcing-rhyme-schemes way that Gorgeous George intended? Enquiring minds, etc.

And I haz teh massive kitteh angst; now that I'm set to move back home to take care of the 'rentals in a month, I dunno wot I'm gonna do about MOT, cos I know both my shy Gammas will be no trouble at all--they'll prolly hide for the first month or so--but Skinny Boy, apart from not being fixed & hella needing to see a vet (aside from the probable ear mites, he's got sores on the back of his neck and base of his tail, poor lovey), is frequently loud and curious...but it also breaks my heart at the idea of being yet another Stupid Human who abandons him, too. Any thoughts?