Here Kitty Kitty...

I got this fairly recent issue of TIME magazine. I love TIME, because it gives me concise and yet detailed news about a variety of subjects -- it makes me a well roundedly informed individual. This issue featured not only the gay New Jersey Governor's story (as the cover says, "Gay Governor Scandal: He's Out -- and He's Out"), but also the dangerous situation for big cats. Now, you know how much I love gay people (although I know none personally at the moment), but I love me some kitties. I'm the biggest animal lover, and I'm always tormented by the fact that I am such a hypocrite, as I do eat meat, and I need to come to terms with the fact that I am a meat eater, but I still need to work on supporting/eating meat/animal byproducts that were harvested in a humane manner (i.e. no growing cows in a crowded pen to plump them up). At least I try to keep away from wearing/using/carrying leather. One step at a time, I suppose.

This month's TIME featured the most gorgeous photographs of large members of the cat family -- lions, tigers, but no bears, of course. The photo on the right ---> here is shrunken down, of course, and it's not scanned (goddammit I need a scanner) so the resolution sucks, but in the actual photograph, I almost had to refrain from petting the tiger on the nose. The fur looked so luscious and soft! I think the tiger is one of the most marvelous animals -- cats in general, I suppose are. Tigers, unlike the lions, don't travel in groups. Those who have read (not watched animated films through Disney!) Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book know well of the tiger's charisma. He travels alone, and yet rules the jungle. He is the biggest of the cats, at about 550 lbs, more or less. Can't you just look into this tiger's eyes and get lost forever? It is so fierce and yet so steady, calm and sensitive, introverted and independent. There's always a little girly girl inside of me who wants to run to it and get it in a head lock and make baby talk to it -- "mommy's gonna take you home and feed you and hug you until you're all loved up!!!" Which is basically what I do to my cat, Nabee. Only, she is just a wee kitten of a thing who can't resist my overwhelming hugs.

And who can forget this photo? Of the guy who kept a pet tiger in his apartment secretly, and was found out. How does one keep an animal so large in his apartment? Does he live in a zoo? How do you feed an animal that can grow well over 500 lbs! And probably my biggest concern -- where do you buy this sort of pets? To my knowledge, keeping a ferret (in California) as a pet is illegal, as they can be a transmitter of rabies and other disease. How do you get a tiger? I'd get a tiger if I could. But it would probably eat me out of house and home, and I could only imagine the amount of waste products that this gargantuan creature would excrete. I have enough trouble cleaning up my Nabee's litter box!

But you know, the man, Sipek, and his pet tiger, do look rather cozy cuddled up in bed. It makes me wonder if... all a tiger really is, is an overgrown kitty with an overgrown appetite who just wants to be scratched under its chin. Zoologists say that the tiger is a natural man-eater -- not that they prefer man-meat, but if a man is at the wrong place at a tiger's meal-time, he may just become the happy meal that the tiger was seeking.

So if I had to decide, tiger vs. lion, as the king of the jungle, I'd definitely go with the tiger, despite the fact that I am a Leo. Lions got their whole "pride" thing going -- it's like a little clique. Reminds me of high school or the mafia (odd, yes). Also, the tiger just seems so graceful, and it's fur is so beautifully printed. It is truly a work of art.

Other members of the cat family are also pretty fabulous; the jaguar, shown right, is also pretty amazing, but also bordering extinction. The cheetah, the leopard, and the cougar -- they all seem so marvelous to me. I adore cats. Sure, dogs are intensely loyal and affectionate; I had been a dog owner a few times in my life, and would take up a dog if given the opportunity, but cats are simply art. Just my Nabee, for example. I can spend hours looking in to her gorgeous blue eyes. And she's got the most satin-like brownish creamy coat, with the slinkiest, the most sexiest dark tail -- so expressive of her mood. Truly, truly, remarkable animals.

As a child, I was always pretty much bringing animals home first, and then asking my mom, "can I keep it?" That's how I got my dog when we lived in Korea, and that's how I got my sixth grade teacher to give me her cat (the cat's name was Boris; she kept Natasha, but Boris had to go because she adopted a baby, and two cats were one cat too many, I suppose). It is how I got the hundreds of fish I ended up flushing down the toilet. It is how I got Jjang, the chihuahua I had in my early 20's, and it is also how I got Nabee. I just bring'em home.

If I could devote my life into caring for just three causes -- it would be as follows: one, to serve the massive amounts of people suffering from the AIDS/HIV epidemic; two, to fight for animal rights and the humane treatment of animals; and three, human rights, all over the world, including women, children, gays, lesbians, minorities, whatever. It is my belief that if everyone picked just one cause they feel inspired by and contribute, whether it be time or money, the world would be a much better place. The power of people is truly great.