Friday with Fur Puddle

Fur Puddle is my most recent nickname for my kitten (21 months old). Tonight I had two things to do. First I wanted to finish reading Of Human Bondage. It's one of the best books I've ever read. One of my favorites. Deeply philosophical and yet easily read. Delving deep into the psychology of humans. Reading this book reminds me of Roberta Flack's song Killing Me Softly. What does she say?

I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd,
I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud.
I prayed that he would finish but he just kept right on ...
Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song ...
He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair.

Of Human Bondage talks to me relentlessly about my journey. About the futility of loving the heartless. About the struggle to survive in a society too busy to give a flying fuck. About regret. About insecurity. Off and on today I have plopped myself down unceremoniously in my recliner with a lamp nearby and have pored through the pages... about ninety of them. I was aiming to read 30 per day, but that's when I found out my dear mother had passed me. Previously I had been nearly a hundred pages ahead of her, but then today I read an e~mail indicating she had only 100 left to go... while I still had 130. Later in the day another e~mail revealed she was down to fifty! So it's a mad dash to the finish.

But the other thing I had to do was to watch The Great Debaters directed by and starring Denzel Washington and based on the true story of a Black college debating Harvard in the mid 1930's.

Now for whatever reason, I cannot read a book for a great duration without becoming unbearably restless. Likewise I have a difficult time sitting through an entire movie without interruption. Therefore I alternated between reading the book and watching the film. And here's what kind of makes the whole thing rather amusing. It seems I don't really notice it at first, but while I'm reading I'll suddenly realize that there is a kitten curled up on my lap. Occasionally I will read an extra chapter more than I would otherwise just because she seems so comfy and cozy... Disrupting her repose is not a thing to do lightly. But then when I'm watching the movie guess what happens. I'll get to a good stopping point and reach for the remote control wherewith to push pause when I realize that once more I have a kitten in my lap or, more accurately, on my belly.

Anyway, she's the sweetest though her meowing is far too incessant and irrational. And even though her purring is almost undiscernable. This blog is my tribute to her. The best kitten in the world.