As the close confidante of not one, but two crazy cat men, and a citizen of the Annex (a.k.a Cat Haven), I too have slowly developed an appreciation for the most popular pet in the world. I like to think that I have become acquainted with and nicknamed most of the cats on my street, and that they don\’t consider me their enemy (which, of course, means they consider me one of their many human inferiors). If my apartment weren\’t strictly an animal-free zone, I\’d even strongly consider adopting one.

This wasn\’t always the case. I once had an eccentric Russian piano teacher named Svetlana who was also a full-on Crazy Cat Lady™. She was very overweight, wore chintzy costume jewelery, unflattering sweaters, and mismatched nail polish, and completely rearranged the furniture every time I came over for lessons. Every corner of her living room was piled high with figurines, cans of stubby pencils, wooden dolls, and a vast assortment of kitsch. She had a husband who would sometimes grunt at her from the kitchen, and no children of her own.

Around the room were framed pictures of her cranky orange tomcat. She would donate most of her students\’ lesson fees to cat charities and other cat-friendly causes. Midway through lessons, her furry companion would sometimes saunter in and sit beside me on the bench, watching me play with what seemed like genuine interest. My piano teacher would engage in lively conversation with him, asking him how he was doing and what he thought of my performance. \”Mew, mew. Mew,\” he would respond, and Lana would clap her hands like it was the most impeccably elegant review she had ever heard. Then she would wag her finger at me, and I would turn back to her century-old rosewood Heintzman, put my fingers on its crooked, chipped ivory teeth, and play again.

And maybe her cat was wise, because both Lana and I would perform our respective teacher and student roles with renewed energy every time he visited, and I improved exponentially. But while I\’m forever grateful for the perspective-changing and mind-expanding musical education I got from Lana and her unlikely teaching assistant, sometimes the cat would bite me for no reason, and I eventually became quite confused about my relationship with him. My opinion of cats stayed lukewarm only until recently.

Now though, I really, really wish I had a cat. If I ever got one, I\’d want him to be like the one in this video.

And while I\’m on the topic of funny and/or WTF-inducing cat-related media, check out Black Cat, White Cat, a Yugoslav romcom that I can only describe as utterly bizarre, but entertaining.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Pencilprism now has a Facebook page! Love me! Or at least click to like me.