Random observations…

I think Freud missed his target by a few species. All that stuff about stages of anal and fecal and genital fixation in human children––bah! I've never seen a greater fecal fixation than in my new kitten. I had cats when I was a kid but I never realized how fascinated––obsessed?––they are with their own excretions. Cheetoh may be mewling for food and then ear-deep in the bowl, but as soon as I go over to shovel the piss pebbles and sandy little turds out of her litterbox, she drops everything (as it were, since cats, you understand, don't have hands, and therefore…) to sit attentively by the box, watching my every move. It's as if she hid drug money in there and is waiting to see if I'll discover it this time around. Or maybe she's curious to see what I can contribute to the malodorous little sandbox.

Is this normal cat behavior?

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Generally, in Taiwan, if it's open, it's open; if it's not open, it's closed. Shops and restaurants, I mean. Despite having heard Taiwanese people tout themselves on how "green" they are as a nation, it is totally run of the mill to see the doors of a shopping mall or a restaurant wide open to the sun, allowing hordes of cold-air ghosts to gush out. (And don't get me started on how much snoke they produce by burning "ghost money" every few days for lunar events.) Often, restaurants won't even have doors; they'll just have retractable metal security walls that roll up for business hours and roll down for security after hours. As a result, customers will be lined up halfway in and halfway out of the place, as those leaving or those just looking buzz and weave around pillars and the crowd at every angle. As long as the doors are open, the shop is open for business, even if it looks dark or slow from the street. By contrast, in the USA, it is my recollection that every establishment has well maintained doors and that the only way you'll know if it's open or not is if the lights are on and customers are visible. How many times have I (or you) heard this line, "Son, go up and check the hours", to ascertain whether a place is open or not?

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I saw Predators last week and loved it. It really brought back the old rush from the original. I was a big Predator fan, though I never got into the sequels. Plus, hey, the original was AN AHNOLD MOVIE!

I also watched Session 9 last night, having heard rave reviews of it at, of all places, Dr. Feser's blog, and hoo boy was that creepy, even despite the fact I was on and off busy sorting and haging clothes, warding off a curious kitten from the keyboard, and other such bacheloristic diversions. It's currently available for viewing at Youtube (in nine parts, aptly enough) and I highly recommend it. I'm about a third the way through The Ninth Configuration, for which I have seen many very positive reviews from some friends and Internet-acquaintances. It is surreal and gripping, but also plain funny. Sort of like Catch-22 meets My Dinner with Andre. I understand it ultimately deals with some very profound religious matters, such as evil and suffering, and it was written by Peter Blatty, author of The Exorcist, and by all accounts a very devout Catholic. Also highly recommended, and also (again, in nine parts!) available for viewing at Youtube.

Time for coffee.