What I've been reading

"Under the Eye of the Clock" by Christopher Nolan. This is a memoir written by Nolan, an Irish man with celebral palsy, mostly paralyzed and unable to move with coordination. At age 10, he got on a medication that allowed him to control his tremors and he was able to start typing with a stick attached to his head. His first effort was a volume of James-Joycian like poetry. His second book was this memoir. Recommended.

and

"Iron and Silk" by Mark Salzman. This is a memoir by an American who taught English in China in the 80s. It's quite funny and was a quick read.

My full comments on both books here.

Slave to my cat

J. used to jokingly describe his family unit as being married to me and "slave to one cat" when Mumu was still alive. And it's really true. It's become cliche to say that you don't own a cat -  it owns you. or some variation on that theme. But they do tend to really condition you to do what they want. Even our Boy, sweet as he his, has conditioned us pretty well already.

Case in point, right now, he's sleeping in the computer desk chair that I've been using for years, and I'm sitting in another, slightly less comfortable one that we bought at a rummage sale. He hasn't been wanting to leave me alone while I work and keeps walking all over me and then stealing the chair whenever I stand up to get a snack or go to the bathroom. It just ended up being easier to give it over to him and find a new chair. So far, he's slept almost all day in that chair next to me, and I've gotten a lot more done than I usually do when he's crawling all over me. All along, I thought he wanted attention, but he really just wanted that damn chair.