Ok you guys, I’ve got nothing. But also, I don’t want to leave my beloved blog empty for too long. Therefore, I shall entertain you with the mesmerising gif of a happy kitty:

(nb: original link here)

I’m sure I will post more pictures of Roefes, since I’m tending to his needs until the end of October, but a mid-term overview of his best facial expressions so far seems only reasonable. The first one is a bit fuzzy, but does capture the general attitude he has:

He also does a great job ignoring me:

I mean, I really got into his face here, but it had no effect whatsoever. From a distance the effect was roughly the same:

This facial expression calls for a zoom, it’s just that good. Ammirite?

O yes, I’m very right.

But don’t be deceived here. When he’s not ignoring me, ironically, he’s trying to get my attention. He does this by meowing and nagging at the top of his lungs. Remember?

Not inspired enough right now to write a nice closing sentence since I’m hungry, so please enjoy these pictures I made of the beautiful Amsterdam morning sky.

Kakapo are an endangered bird native to New Zealand. There are under 130 of them left, and well and truly deserve to be as heavily protected as they are. The reason that they are awesome is because they are sluggish, trusting and adorable. They are also known as owl parrots, which is of course an honorary term. I would love to be known as an owl human!

Anyway, there is one kakapo that was hand-reared due to medical issues when he was young, and now thinks he’s human. His name is Sirocco, and he was featured on the great BBC 2 series ‘Last Chance to See’ with the incomparable Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine. Sirocco took a more than healthy interest in said zoologist, and as a result, I almost ruptured an artery laughing:

The fun well and truly starts at 1:04, but I do recommend watching the whole video. If you’re busy, well, here is an animated gif of Sirocco’s ecstatic face. Never forget:

One of my colleagues has a Siamese cat. This is great, great news of course, because they have that regal yet condescending character that I love so much. My dear colleague was kind enough to send me some snaps of said cat, Moef. Even though I’ve never met her, she manages to mock me from afar.

“Okay Moef, I’m going to take your picture for my cat-crazy colleague.”

“Seriously human, you must be joking. Miss Moef does not pose for just anyone.”

Do you see that look? That is a crash course in mocking if I’ve ever seen one. The joke is on Moef though, because I revel in being mocked. So there!

This is me today:

Well, I’m a Miss, but still it’s fairly accurate.

Today I had a lovely day at work, getting stuff done and then having a drink with colleagues afterwards. But when it was time for me to go home and enjoy my weekend, I could not find my bike keys anywhere. Truly puzzled, I looked everywhere for them, but I could not for the life of me figure out what the hell I had done with them. You see, it takes about five steps to get from the place where I locked my bike to my desk. Where oh where could they be? I complained to my colleagues about losing the keys, asked others if they had seen them and approached complete strangers with the question if they had found some keys. But nothing turned up, so I decided to just walk home and deal with it later.

When I came home, a small mountain of stuff caught my eye, presents for my mom. You see, my mom has left for Fiji for four months, but since her birthday is in October, I decided to send a package with gifts one of these days so it will get there in time. It’s always difficult to find a good box to send stuff in, so when I found a perfect one at work, I decided to take it home today, so I could send the presents along tomorrow. (By the way, she doesn’t read this blog too often, so no surprise spoilers (I hope)).

But, I am extremely forgetful at times, so what I decided to do this morning was to PUT MY BIKE KEYS IN THE BOX. You see, it was a perfect plan. I mean, if I forget the box, I will immediately figure out I have forgotten it when I get to my bike and can’t find my keys. Perfect! If you don’t have the brain of a fairly intelligent goldfish that is. Remind me not to hatch any other perfect plans any time soon…

Recently I went to a lovely, cosy festival on the Dutch West Frisian Island of Vlieland called Into the Great Wide Open. Great atmosphere, great food, great group of friends and really great music. To my surprise, I even saw a cat that did not mind to get some cuddles and love from a smelly festival-goer. That would be me. Smelly. How did I accomplish this? Well…

Sneaking up:

Being spotted:

Purposely ignored:

Grudgingly acknowledged after petting:

Back for more cuddles:

In short: the usual approach to cat behaviour in five easy steps!

People will really do anything for their cats. Today, I found two great but quite random examples.

- A blog devoted to cat ladders. Called Cat-Ladder. Go figure. Can anyone say: “Amaaaazing!”?

- A guide to cat massage, via the wonderful Everything is Terrible. Favourite part: “Remember, you can’t fool drool!”.

I think it should be: “You can’t fake drool”,  but I’ll incorporate it into my vocabulary anyway.

Do you sometimes get the feeling your cat thinks you’re totally full of it? That they just do not take you seriously? If your answer is: “All the time”, you are correct. The look in their eyes just screams: “You might think your species is the highest form of intelligence on earth, but you’ve still managed to put on two different socks today. I however, do absolutely nothing but sleep and eat and play, and you cater to my every need, so who’s the dumb-ass now?” All right, maybe I am reading too much into this, but anyway, Bernard really does have a wide range of expressions to make his feelings known to me:

Pity:

Superiority:

The “you don’t say”

And finally, the “just give up already”:

I guess….well….I’ll just clean out the litter box and then fetch your dinner Ber…

I have often professed my love for animated GIFs on this blog, and recently I got to thinking about just why I find them so adorable and amazing. The thing is that they are short and sweet and have no sound, so the focus is purely on the visuals. Often, you do know the sound that goes with the visuals, or it’s just a classic case of awesomeness, encapsulated in grainy imagery.

Case in point:

Also GIFs can help you make yourself loved on internet fora, or even prove certain points. Bottom line is, lumping together a series of pictures to create something funny and / or creative seems deceptively simple. But as always, the simplest ideas or technologies feed creativity IMHO.

Par example, a GIF that was made after the Bush shoe throwing incident:

More where that came from here.

Anyway, this frazzled and somewhat random analysis of why GIFs kick ass is all in honour of my latest creation. Curious?

It’s Billie! Seen first long ago in 2007, one might even say too long ago. Sorry kitteh. Even though this GIF really made me laugh, there are still two elements that need extra attention in that series of amazingness:

What’s your favourite GIF?

Our roving reporter, who now has her own category, has recently been sassed in the most intense and birdlike manner. She had to share it of course, to pass on this birditude. If you ever get crap from someone, either visualise the picture you are about to see, or just e-mail it to them.  It just screams: “What you talkin’ ’bout fool?” and “I don’t take crap from anyone, especially you!”, but then in a lovely, bird-sassy manner. It’s almost impossible to be insulted by this adorable ball of fluff, feathers and feistyness.

Almost…

Seriously.