The Death of a Computer

I thought I would share what exactly happened to my computer. I am writing this on a friend's computer since mine is no longer with the living.

About 10 days ago I began house sitting for a family that I know here. In this house there are two cats. These two cats are the most needy cats the world has ever seen. Whenever I leave the house they cry; whenever I'm taking a shower they cry outside the bathroom and bump into the door to show their displeasure; when I sleep if I don't lock the bedroom door they will open (yes, that's right open) the door and climb in the bed; in the morning I am usually woken up to crying cats who are scratching at my door; when I walk around the house they follow lock step next to me, trying to rub themselves on me the entire time; whenever I'm just lounging they force themselves onto me, even if I'm doing something or have something in my lap. I know cats just like to be rubbed, but these cats act like they're sensory deprived or something. If they're not being touched or paid attention to they are unhappy. Oh, and when I say cry I do mean cry; they wail and moan.

So I'm taking care of these cats. One day about a week ago after I'd just returned from a run, I decided to sit out on the terrace behind the house and talk on Skype. Of course there was a cat sitting right there the entire time. When I was finished I pick up my computer and begin to walk up the stairs going back inside. About 3/4 of the way up the cat decides it's time he wants some rubbing and so he jumps in between my legs. It's night and I couldn't really see that well, I knew he was around me but didn't know exactly where. I brought my foot down and felt resistance before I found the stair. I immeadiately pivoted my foot so as not to step on the cat, but this threw my balance off. (You ever have to take an extra step at the last moment midstep to avoid something? It was like that, kinda.) I go tumbling down the stairs, and the computer goes flying. It lands and smashes to the ground.

The end of the computer. I was quite upset and have not gotten along well with the cats since then. (I'm not too fond of cats anyway.) I was quite bummed that my computer was gone, but moreso I was upset about all the data I'd lost. I hadn't backed anything up for about a month. It's been an interesting week not having a computer to get on whenever I want. I've been able to use other people's computers when I needed to, so that's been okay. Also, my amazing mother found out that I had a warranty I knew nothing about that covered my computer for a year. Thankfully, it is on route to the U.S. via FedEx right now to be taken care of. I will once again have a computer sometime within the next several weeks.

Until then, I will be posting no pictures (since I lost them all) and it will be sporadic. Hope all is well with everyone.

Cats like art too!

So, there’s this park not too far from my home that I’ve been to a few times. It’s not huge but it’s nice to go and sit amongst some trees and enjoy the great weather we’re having right now. I went there a few days back to edit some pictures on my computer for this very blog. While I was sitting there taking it all in, one of the city’s billion cats starts heading ominously towards.

I need to preface this a bit by saying that there is a large homeless kitty population here. This surprised me at first; in fact it’s the direct opposite of India. In India there were dogs roaming about in gang like numbers, and no cats to be seen or heard of. Here the cats are the wandering scoundrels, and the dogs don’t seem to exist at all. I think I may have seen a single dog since arriving nearly a month ago. Cats are everywhere: dumpsters, bushes, trashcans, alleys, dumpsters, streets, various other trash receptacles, and did I mention dumpsters? They can often be heard fighting and getting into general mischief during the night hours when it becomes quiet. They are usually pretty mangy and you would not want to take them home as pets.Anyway, this cat is heading towards me and I can tell already it’s taken a liking to something. The only thing I can think of is the bag of cookies I had with me. Naturally, I throw one to it about 10 ft away hoping to appease it, but no dice. It jumped on my bench and proceeded to get up in my business. This cat would not leave me alone. I felt kinda bad for it since it seemed he just wanted some attention. I’m not joking when I say I got up and moved to the next bench down only to find that the cat trotted over with me; I guess he figured I had found us a better spot. So, I thought I’d take some pictures of him while he was making himself available to me.

The pictures I was editing at the park were of the Art “Place” that I spoke about back in Purposefully Getting Lost. I suppose the cat could have just been interested in my art pictures...

"I'd like to see some art please."

I really don’t know how to describe the place other than it had some weird art of various types. It certainly wasn't a gallery. Whatever, I took pictures, and here they are.
This was the first piece of art I saw. It was interesting. Then I rounded the corner and saw this...

Does this not look like the bad guy from a horror movie?? It scared me. It still does.

Okay, so there were these ceramic grenades laid all over a table. That's art, didn't you know?

This was a room of clay people hanging from the ceiling. Again, creepy.

Close up of the clay people.


The last thing I came across was actually pretty neat. It was a pitch black room save for one light inside a rotating screen of stars and soldiers. I dunno what the artist was getting at, but I liked the room.

This is what the screen looked like.

That's it for today. Thanks to you all who wished me a happy birthday a few days back. I appreciate it. Truly.