My cat and I may disagree on many of our favorite passtimes. For instance, puss enjoys eating the Christmas tree, paw-painting with his water on the kitchen floor, jumping up onto the counter and the table, eating the strings that hang from window blinds, and licking every inch of his body (including the naughty bits). I, on the other hand, do not enjoy doing any of these things.

Meanwhile, I read, write, IM with friends, watch TV, and knit. Of these, puss has only shown any interest in knitting, and then only because the stings bear remarkable resemblances to the strings that hang from the window blinds.

But puss and I both agree when it comes to watching DVDs. I watch the screen and lose myself in the lives of people who lead more interesting lives than I do. I laugh, cry, ponder, and quake with the characters. Puss, on the other hand, watches the luminescent numbers on the DVD player count up with each second of play time. He keeps a close eye on those numbers throughout the most if not all of the movie. And not only are the numbers themselves fascinating, ticking up and up in regular rhythm, but at the beginning and end of the movie that mysterious, frightening, and thrilling tray pops in and out as I either insert or retreive the DVD. This is by far the most exciting function of the DVD player, and it causes his ears to prick, his tail to twitch, and his eyes to dialate and push aside all of the yellow irises that normally make them so striking.

So tonight I watch an old Dalgliesh mystery, and puss watches the numbers count up. All is right with the world.