MTCMH, Chapter II - Rats!

Rat A whiskering
Originally uploaded by gailontheweb.


Rat B's big ol' nose
Originally uploaded by gailontheweb.

Friday and Sunday nights we crashed with Socar at her apartment. Her building manager seems to be far behind on the maintenance, so while I was there over the next few days I endeavoured to repay her hospitality by fixing a few things - namely a very leaky toilet, and some minor computer repair.

I also enjoyed meeting Rat A and Rat B, her whiskery little flatmates. While we were all sweating out the heat wave, I would open their cage door and let them explore my hand in their cautious way; eventually, Rat A got bold enough to walk all the way out onto my lap or hand. If I stood very still for a long time - which, thanks to public schooling, comes easily to me - they would walk into my hand, sniff my fingers, and nibble on them a bit. (They were mostly curious to see whether I would feed them, of course!) On Monday I finally gave them a whole strawberry, which they had a merry time swiping back and forth from one another.

When not creating haunting artwork, or writing in her brilliantly witty journal, Socar indulges in her not-so-secret habit: video games. I watched her proficiency with interest, and she introduced me to a quirky but addictive game, Katamari Damacy. It's an odd mix of obviously 3d-rendered graphics, harmless fun, and rollicking Japanese translations; plus an infectious soundtrack that rolls up an assortment of different musical styles into - well, a big ball. Socar described it, about as well as one can, here.