Wordless Wednesday: Free Your Mind (And Your A$$ Will Follow)

Ok, so I stole the title from a Funkadelic album, and I don't even know whose shoes these are. I took this photo outside of my 5Rhythms class last week, so I know their owner was a sweaty/smiley mess when it was over : )

Re: this next video: Oh! My! Who doesn't want to live on this wacky planet?

Bing on Bing

When Bing was about 2, I had fallen asleep on the couch and woke up to find him standing on top of me, looking me straight in the eyes while he, um, pissed all over my leg. I guess I love him so much that I wasn’t really skeeved by it (not sure if that is the correct usage…I know it’s a phrasal verb but there’s back-and-forth re: who does the skeeving. For example, I’ve seen both “You skeeve me” and “I am skeeved by you.” Hmmm…), but—oops, got sidetracked—I was mad enough to run around the apartment sobbing and chasing his furry, bob-tailed a$$.

I had heard about interspecies telepathic communicators because there was an amazing woman who volunteered at our adoption center, talking to all the dogs and cats who found themselves in the shelter, abandoned or lost or otherwise. Bing had just been to the vet and was pronounced healthy, so I had a hunch there was an emotional component behind his rogue peeing. Why not just ask him?

So yeah, Bingaling’s wake-up call 13ish years ago was exactly that—“a message to you because you aren’t taking care of yourself,” he said. “You’re not sleeping enough.”And I was working so much that I wasn’t giving him what he needed. “Stay home and read a book sometimes, quieting your mind and letting it unfold—I want to be near you,” he demanded. “I get lonely…you have to understand, I need to do things and see things, too.”

What else is going on in his kitty mind? A freakin’ lot, as you’ll see here. Luckily, I took really good notes along the way.

Bing on dancing
- “I can walk over teacups and not disturb them. Because I am so centered, I can dance in the craziest ways.”

Bing on being brushed
- “I have no patience for that.”

Bing on subtle energies
- “I am doing a balancing act in the home. I smoothe out and expand the energy in the apartment. We need to combine our energies so each is balancing the other, so it’s a mutual thing.”

Bing on Mrs. Brown, a sweet floofy Himalayan we tried out as a possible companion for him.
- “She encroached on my territory and gave me an ‘Ugghhh’ feeling. I felt blurry with her around and I couldn’t escape her.”

Bing on some guy I went out with for awhile
- “He wants you to pay attention to him and not do your own life. He wants to control everything, and doesn’t let you be yourself. It’s not serving you.”

Bing on the possibility of adopting Puff, whom he grew to completely adore
- “I’d like to try her out for 3 days. I like the fact that she’s a girl, but I can’t know for sure until I see her. I am fascinated by her energy.”

Bing on Derrick
- “This one is a great companion! We fit in well together, but he really forgets his boundaries sometimes—and I am not good at keeping boundaries.”

Bing on his own appearance
- “Aren’t I beautiful?”

Thanks for reading, everybody. I sure hope he doesn't get mad at me when he finds out, tho!

Music for tuning into your inner Bing

D'uh! Of course George is his favorite Beatle!



You know, Bing's a total bopping elf himself...



This last one's kind of a surprising choice, I know, more like my sentiments about the Bingford. But really, I wanted to point out...MJ's doing relatively simple moves here, but there's something about them that's like dancing over teacups. Focused, perfectly expressed, grounded, not a wasted bit of energy. I think Bing would dig it.

Meezer Monday: Whiny Dancer

I'm not that surprised to see this pair, meezer and Astaire. Swellegant in spats, man's or cat's…every move a right one.

The thing that confounds me is that there's never any wasted energy or diluted intent in the dance of either of these critters. If a cat's gonna give you steer ear (you know, with both of 'em pointing in different directions, puttin' the "U" in bull…), no other part of the body is gonna move. Cats exhibit such an incredible economy of movement… the energy flows fully and completely, no tension where it's not supposed to be. It's the same way with Mr. Astaire, if you look closely. There's no tension or movement in the body other than in the part that's supposed to be moving. If you could see the energy, it'd look like stars shooting out of his fingers and toes. And whiskers and tail, if he had 'em.




In situations where I need to calm myself down or feel more secure, I sometimes imagine Paloma, Puffer, Bing and Derrick doing choreography, often elaborate line dances with other cat-dancers. It really makes me laugh, and the sky's the limit. Technically it's probably impossible for a cat to do a pirouette, but not on my dancefloor! Paloma and Puff do a fly-girl style duet to "Walk This Way," and then Paloma joins Bing in a chorus line during XTC's "The Loving." And hello! Tell me you can't imagine cats doing those really high vocals that fade out at the end of this song: