Sunday, 28 January 2018
An Open Letter to My Cat: Questions I Have
As you might know by now, I recently got a cat. You can check his background and some tips of what you should and should avoid doing when you get a cat yourself in my last post. So Simba is around five months now, getting more and more comfortable every day and on his way to become an Instagram top model. We're hoping he doesn't start marking his territory for a while but we know he'll start doing very soon (another trip to the vet will be scheduled as soon as that happens).
While we're very happy he's in our lives, we still got a few issues. And by issues I mean we have some questions we'd love if he could answer so this is my open letter to my cat.
"Dear Simba,
Hopefully you look at us as more than the humans who feed you twice a day and occasionally rub your fur. I know we had a rough start and you took a while to warm up to these humans but after two or three weeks you started showing typical cat behaviours towards us. However, there are a few questions we'd like you to answer because those still baffle us.
1- How can you ALWAYS be hungry?
You've turned out to be a HUGE gluton, dear Simba. You're always begging for food and we can't leave the cupboards open for thirty seconds because you come out of nowhere and when we look again, you're searching for (and most times finding) something to eat. We know you've recently gotten the habit, which we're trying to work on, of climbing onto the kitchen counters to eat the food we sometimes leave there. You've even been able to work around the microwave protection I left on top of my breakfast bowl and managed to feast on it! While we're on it, please let your obsession with the trash can go, the food there is not for you.
You also got recently obsessed with your 4kg food bag and even managed to open the wardrobe it was in to get to it! We're running out of places within my reach but out of yours to hide it in!
2 - Why are you very still and suddenly start running around like a mad cat?
You know the situation. You're standing very still, your tail wagging left and right and suddenly you start running somewhere like your life depends on it. We, humans, are suspicious you somehow have access to a paralel world and when you do that it's because your life is being threatened in that other dimension but we'd like to have your input on it.
3 - What do you see in rugs?
You have an obsession with rugs. I don't know what you see in them but you like to stretch and put your claws out and do some weird movements on them we still haven't understood. You do this quite a lot during the morning, when I'm trying to not wake up, so I will give you food. We'd like to, so please do explan why you do this.
4 - What's up with the bites?
Sometimes we're having a petting session and you're enjoying it very much (I can hear you purr!) and after a while you just bite us out of nowhere. It's a light bite, yes, but what's up with that? Why do you do that and how can we make you see it's not okay to bite us, even if they're not meant to harm (at least I don't think so anyway)?
5 - Why do you ignore it when we call you by your name?
You've been Simba for two month now. We've been calling "Let's go, Simba, let's go eat" every time we feed you. We've been saying your name every time we pet you. Yet, you still don't respond when we call Simba. By now, we're almost sure you just don't care what your name is.
If you know the answers to any of these questions, or any other tips in general (like how to make him stop going after his food bag), please don't hesitate in commenting, because these are truly intriguing behaviours. Meanwhile, don't forget that you can follow my Simba's adventures on Instagram!
While we're very happy he's in our lives, we still got a few issues. And by issues I mean we have some questions we'd love if he could answer so this is my open letter to my cat.
"Dear Simba,
Hopefully you look at us as more than the humans who feed you twice a day and occasionally rub your fur. I know we had a rough start and you took a while to warm up to these humans but after two or three weeks you started showing typical cat behaviours towards us. However, there are a few questions we'd like you to answer because those still baffle us.
1- How can you ALWAYS be hungry?
You've turned out to be a HUGE gluton, dear Simba. You're always begging for food and we can't leave the cupboards open for thirty seconds because you come out of nowhere and when we look again, you're searching for (and most times finding) something to eat. We know you've recently gotten the habit, which we're trying to work on, of climbing onto the kitchen counters to eat the food we sometimes leave there. You've even been able to work around the microwave protection I left on top of my breakfast bowl and managed to feast on it! While we're on it, please let your obsession with the trash can go, the food there is not for you.
You also got recently obsessed with your 4kg food bag and even managed to open the wardrobe it was in to get to it! We're running out of places within my reach but out of yours to hide it in!
2 - Why are you very still and suddenly start running around like a mad cat?
You know the situation. You're standing very still, your tail wagging left and right and suddenly you start running somewhere like your life depends on it. We, humans, are suspicious you somehow have access to a paralel world and when you do that it's because your life is being threatened in that other dimension but we'd like to have your input on it.
3 - What do you see in rugs?
You have an obsession with rugs. I don't know what you see in them but you like to stretch and put your claws out and do some weird movements on them we still haven't understood. You do this quite a lot during the morning, when I'm trying to not wake up, so I will give you food. We'd like to, so please do explan why you do this.
4 - What's up with the bites?
Sometimes we're having a petting session and you're enjoying it very much (I can hear you purr!) and after a while you just bite us out of nowhere. It's a light bite, yes, but what's up with that? Why do you do that and how can we make you see it's not okay to bite us, even if they're not meant to harm (at least I don't think so anyway)?
5 - Why do you ignore it when we call you by your name?
You've been Simba for two month now. We've been calling "Let's go, Simba, let's go eat" every time we feed you. We've been saying your name every time we pet you. Yet, you still don't respond when we call Simba. By now, we're almost sure you just don't care what your name is.
With love,
Vera (the human)"
If you know the answers to any of these questions, or any other tips in general (like how to make him stop going after his food bag), please don't hesitate in commenting, because these are truly intriguing behaviours. Meanwhile, don't forget that you can follow my Simba's adventures on Instagram!
Sunday, 21 January 2018
Book Review: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life) by Mark Manson
“Who you are is defined by what you’re willing to struggle for.”
In this self-help guide, a blogger shows us that the key to being happier is to stop trying to be "positive" all the time and instead to become better at handling adversity.
You know those self-help guide books that sell you the idea that lots of positive ideas and optimism thinking are the key to a happy, rich life? If you love those, this book is definitely not for you. "Fuck positivity," Mark Manson says. "Let's be honest; sometimes things are fucked up and we have to live with it." For the past few years, Manson - via his popular blog - has been working on correcting our delusional expectations for ourselves and for the world. Manson doesn’t sugarcoat or equivocate. Instead, he tells it like it is: a dose of raw, refreshing, honest truth that is sorely lacking today. He now brings his hard-fought wisdom with The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, his antidote to the coddling, let’s-all-feel-good mindset that has infected modern society and spoiled a generation, rewarding them with gold medals just for showing up.
Manson makes the argument, backed by both academic research and jokes, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn lemons into lemonade, but on learning to better stomach lemons. As he writes, "Not everybody can be extraordinary - there are winners and losers in society, and some of it is not fair or your fault." Human beings are flawed and limited. Manson adivses us to get to know our limitations and accept them. This, he says, is the real source of empowerment. Once one embraces their fears, faults and uncertainties - once one stops running from and avoiding, and starts confronting painful truths - one can begin to find the courage and confidence one desperately seeks.
"In life, we have a limited amount of fucks to give. So you must choose your fucks wisely." You need to figure out which ones really matter. While money is nice, caring about what you do with your life is better, because true wealth is about experience. This wasn't a breakthrough revelation to me. I have been doing this for quite a while now since material things solely do anything for me and I always ask for experiences/memories for my birthday. Manson brings a much-needed grab-you-by-shoulders moment of real talk, filled with entertaining stories and profane, ruthless humor. I'm not much into self-help books but they say The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is a refreshing slap in the face for all of us so that we can start to lead more contented, ground lives. For me, it wasn't only a slap in the face. It was an ice cold shower after running a marathon in 40ºC weather (which should be illegal in the first place).
So why did I enjoy this book? First of all, let me tell you, it's not a book designed to read in one sitting. I tried that at first since I had a deadline but the best way to read this is definitely in between some fiction or any other gender - unless, of course, self-help books are your favourite book gender. I feel like a chapter a day is a better way to read this because you have to let it sink in and you will miss a lot of good stuff if you just skim through it. I liked Mark's writing. It's easy to read, fun and very entertaining.
This book has good advice for those who, like myself, tend to overthink. It will make you go back to all those situations and think how you could have handled them differently. “The key to a good life is not giving a fuck about more; it’s giving a fuck about less, giving a fuck about only what is true and immediate and important.” and “If you want to change how you see your problems, you have to change what you value and/or how you measure failure/success.”
You can get The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: (A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life) by Mark Manson on Book Depository with free shipping and let me know if it made you see life differently!
“Maturity is what happens when one learns to only give a fuck about what’s truly fuckworthy.”
Sunday, 14 January 2018
FIFA 18: My Boyfriend Tried to Teach Me How To Play
After my last FIFA 18 post I tried to show more interest in this game (even though there's still no Sims crossover which, by the way, I've been thinking about and there will be a post soon with a list of ideas EA could implement) so I asked him to teach me how to play.
It was a sunny sunday and we sat in front of the tv. I was playing with Real Madrid against FC Porto (controlled by the game), the boyfriend chose some settings involving players' positions (and didn't explain me one bit), and I had already suffered two goals when the game decided to glitch and the players started playing by themselves while I was only able to control the goalkeeper - I must say they did play better without me controlling them, but honestly there's no need to rebel against me like that. We quit the game and restarted again. During this first trial I managed to learn how to pass the ball and direct it towards the players so that's something.
So the second game starts. Once again, it was Real Madrid against FC Porto. I must say I'd gotten the hang of the pass skill by now. However I now had a new problem: whenever I lost the ball I wasn't able to get it back because my players seemed to never run as fast as the other team, didn't go where I thought I was telling them to go and somehow mine never ended up where I wanted to. By halftime it was 4 null (one of which was scored by myself so technically I scored one goal, no matter it was in the wrong goal). I must say, however, I had 55% of ball possession and 85% of pass accuracy, which is something. These were the only stats I was better than them but considering they had scored three goals (let's not forget I did score one) they obviously had stats on shots and shot accuracy I didn't. They also had 2 injuries and 3 fouls while I had none so again, that's something!
The boyfriend ended up finishing the second halftime for me and scored twice not suffering any goals but he did something with the formation and the tactics during the game so I'm pretty much convinced that if he'd told me about that instead of making me focus on passes I would have been slightly more succefull in this first attempt. I simply cannot understand how they're able to control the players properly, mine never do as I told them!
In conclusion, while EA doesn't do a Sims crossover (I'll patent that idea one day) I think I'll stick to Sims only because at least my Sims do what I tell them to and they're way easier to control! When the boyfriend has a bit more patience to teach me the FIFA ways of playing (and not only passing) maybe I'll be able to win against the computer!
It was a sunny sunday and we sat in front of the tv. I was playing with Real Madrid against FC Porto (controlled by the game), the boyfriend chose some settings involving players' positions (and didn't explain me one bit), and I had already suffered two goals when the game decided to glitch and the players started playing by themselves while I was only able to control the goalkeeper - I must say they did play better without me controlling them, but honestly there's no need to rebel against me like that. We quit the game and restarted again. During this first trial I managed to learn how to pass the ball and direct it towards the players so that's something.
So the second game starts. Once again, it was Real Madrid against FC Porto. I must say I'd gotten the hang of the pass skill by now. However I now had a new problem: whenever I lost the ball I wasn't able to get it back because my players seemed to never run as fast as the other team, didn't go where I thought I was telling them to go and somehow mine never ended up where I wanted to. By halftime it was 4 null (one of which was scored by myself so technically I scored one goal, no matter it was in the wrong goal). I must say, however, I had 55% of ball possession and 85% of pass accuracy, which is something. These were the only stats I was better than them but considering they had scored three goals (let's not forget I did score one) they obviously had stats on shots and shot accuracy I didn't. They also had 2 injuries and 3 fouls while I had none so again, that's something!
The boyfriend ended up finishing the second halftime for me and scored twice not suffering any goals but he did something with the formation and the tactics during the game so I'm pretty much convinced that if he'd told me about that instead of making me focus on passes I would have been slightly more succefull in this first attempt. I simply cannot understand how they're able to control the players properly, mine never do as I told them!
In conclusion, while EA doesn't do a Sims crossover (I'll patent that idea one day) I think I'll stick to Sims only because at least my Sims do what I tell them to and they're way easier to control! When the boyfriend has a bit more patience to teach me the FIFA ways of playing (and not only passing) maybe I'll be able to win against the computer!
Sunday, 7 January 2018
The Family Is Growing (Or Dos and Don'ts When You Get A Cat)
I have been living with the boyfriend for a while now and we had always agreed that once we moved we'd do this since it was something we'd always been looking forward to: we'd go to an animal shelter and get a cat. So we did that. We visited a couple of places to choose (or get chosed by) a cat and there were a lot of internet searches and cat pictures involved in this process. And we eventually fell in love with a little orange one from Amor ao Gato (Cat Love, in English), a small association which helps street cats in Odivelas finding a home, a city and a municipality in Lisbon Metropolitan Area. We were told he was three months old, had been found in a box in the trash and was still a bit scared. We decided to bring him home with us after looking at his pretty little pink snout. We then entered a discussion, going back and forth throwing names, always somehow movie related. This lasted a few days until we reached a final name for him: Simba.
And thus, an alternative title for this post: Dos and Don'ts When You Get A Cat. It's possible this is only the first part of a series of posts. Noobies as we were, we forgot pretty much everything we'd previously read. So here's a few tricks of things we wished we could have done differently or things we've learned so far, hoping to help some beginner cat owners out there:
1) Before you let your new cat out make sure you have covered all the holes your house has. This includes the space between the stove, the machines, the fridge and SPECIALLY that hole you don't even know you have behind the bidet. Yep, he decided to hide inside that.
2) Let the new cat out of the transporter where his space will be (where the food and sand box are) so he knows where everything is.
3) And close the door of said space so he doesn't bolt to an unknown hole you haven't covered yet.
4) If you ignored all the previous steps and the cat ends up in an unknown hole don't try to make him come out of it because he'll get even more scared. He'll eventually grow hungry and tired of being hidden, he'll know where his food is. When the cat finally comes out, quickly do step 3 and then 1.
5) Keep the door closed and spend time with the new cat so he gets used to you and his new space.
6) Be patient on this part of the process. Don't give up. It's a new situation, most likely stressful to the cat so be patient with him. Let him set his own flow.
7) After the cat is more used to you, you can let him explore the house a little bit more, opening one room at the time. Leave the problematic rooms with potential hiding spots for last (such as the kitchen and the bathrooms).
8) Make sure you ALWAYS have your windows closed. And if you have to open it, make sure the cat is not inside the room and then close the door.
9) Don't buy any noisy toys because after a while you'll get tired of getting up in the middle of the night to put it out of reach. Aluminium foil balls work just fine, honestly.
10) Don't switch the cat's food all of a sudden. If they're used to a certain brand of food, start mixing the new food you want to give him with the old one and go from there so he doesn't get gastro-intestinal problems.
As I previously said, Simba was very scared when he first arrived home but we've seen him get more confident every day to the point he sleeps at my feet, joined us on the sofa and decides to join us at the table when we're having dinner (we weren't too thrilled about this last one). We laugh when he decides he's a dog trapped in a cat's body and starts to meow at us whenver we arrive home so we give him food or when he decides to chase his own tail. We took him to the vet last week, who confirmed his age (he's around 4 months now) and behaved so well, I couldn't believe my eyes. I was expecting him to bolt to a dark corner once I let him out of the transporter but he stayed very still and cooperated very well.
We're still trying to make him respond when we call him. We've been calling him whenever we feed or pet him but still with no success. Do cat experts have any tips for this? Or any tips at all, to be honest, as we're open to every kind of useful tip.
All in all, it's been a great expercience so far and we're very happy we gave him a home. Don't buy a pet, adopt one!
And thus, an alternative title for this post: Dos and Don'ts When You Get A Cat. It's possible this is only the first part of a series of posts. Noobies as we were, we forgot pretty much everything we'd previously read. So here's a few tricks of things we wished we could have done differently or things we've learned so far, hoping to help some beginner cat owners out there:
1) Before you let your new cat out make sure you have covered all the holes your house has. This includes the space between the stove, the machines, the fridge and SPECIALLY that hole you don't even know you have behind the bidet. Yep, he decided to hide inside that.
2) Let the new cat out of the transporter where his space will be (where the food and sand box are) so he knows where everything is.
3) And close the door of said space so he doesn't bolt to an unknown hole you haven't covered yet.
4) If you ignored all the previous steps and the cat ends up in an unknown hole don't try to make him come out of it because he'll get even more scared. He'll eventually grow hungry and tired of being hidden, he'll know where his food is. When the cat finally comes out, quickly do step 3 and then 1.
5) Keep the door closed and spend time with the new cat so he gets used to you and his new space.
6) Be patient on this part of the process. Don't give up. It's a new situation, most likely stressful to the cat so be patient with him. Let him set his own flow.
7) After the cat is more used to you, you can let him explore the house a little bit more, opening one room at the time. Leave the problematic rooms with potential hiding spots for last (such as the kitchen and the bathrooms).
8) Make sure you ALWAYS have your windows closed. And if you have to open it, make sure the cat is not inside the room and then close the door.
9) Don't buy any noisy toys because after a while you'll get tired of getting up in the middle of the night to put it out of reach. Aluminium foil balls work just fine, honestly.
10) Don't switch the cat's food all of a sudden. If they're used to a certain brand of food, start mixing the new food you want to give him with the old one and go from there so he doesn't get gastro-intestinal problems.
As I previously said, Simba was very scared when he first arrived home but we've seen him get more confident every day to the point he sleeps at my feet, joined us on the sofa and decides to join us at the table when we're having dinner (we weren't too thrilled about this last one). We laugh when he decides he's a dog trapped in a cat's body and starts to meow at us whenver we arrive home so we give him food or when he decides to chase his own tail. We took him to the vet last week, who confirmed his age (he's around 4 months now) and behaved so well, I couldn't believe my eyes. I was expecting him to bolt to a dark corner once I let him out of the transporter but he stayed very still and cooperated very well.
We're still trying to make him respond when we call him. We've been calling him whenever we feed or pet him but still with no success. Do cat experts have any tips for this? Or any tips at all, to be honest, as we're open to every kind of useful tip.
All in all, it's been a great expercience so far and we're very happy we gave him a home. Don't buy a pet, adopt one!
You can follow my Simba's adventures on Instagram, I'll be sure to keep it updated.
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