Life is a game

Living with a woman is the main workaround for many of my weaknesses, and now that my wife is away for a while I have to consider other ways to avoid being left to my own devices.

I invited some students around today for lunch, and was up half last night prepping beef in red wine so that it could rest a while before being reheated, served. But I think the rest of the weekend I'll see what the devices propose.

One ongoing project is breaking the cat. I came in late to it's relationship with Yuki, and am strictly third in the pecking order. Which isn't so bad, as when guests come over, like today, it's clear that other folk don't even merit a listing. I think the cat [A-Tea] is autistic. He can't relate to people in any meaningful fashion unless they've been hardwired into his system by repeated applications of food.

With Yuki gone he's been moping, and I saw my chance to get ahead by feeding him well with three kinds of good food - quality biscuits and cans, plus fish that I boil myself. He liked the food, but so much so that he was nagging all the time for more, getting me up at 5am, then again at 6.

The face that wakes me

I used to teach kids before I quit that line of work because I didn't like it. I always made the mistake of being too nice at the start, and then having to fight to regain my authority. If you ever teach children this is my advice: make like Takeshi Kitano in the following clip in the first class, and then you can slowly release the pressure.



When you start seeing humans as they really are, just part of the animal kingdom, then some of the rules fall into place. Hierarchies are key, and what cooperation there is is like language, a relatively recent addition to the skill set.

I've stopped being too nice to the cat. I close the bedroom door at night so that it can't disturb me. I give it a small treat and then no food other than the old, unappetizing biscuits. First it has to learn that I'm boss cat, and then it'll be rewarded