[Previously: Our 14-year-old cat Layla died last August (and litigation ensued on the anniversary…), then a month after her death Ozzy randomly started showing up and wouldn’t leave our house.]
That fight was fun to watch. The way dogs and cats play fight is so different. Ziggy definitely using the street skills! It seems maybe Ziggy thought the stakes were a little higher. I have never heard of a trans-continent rescue! Congrats on your new family member!
Wow! Still digesting this remarkable, extraordinary tale. Will get back with a proper comment once my tears are dry. This story- in its entirety- is a Gift impossible to comprehend quite yet so please accept a humble thank you for now. For everything and for telling it so beautifully. I remain profoundly touched by this extraordinary story and believe you have a book here, truthfully. ✨
Remarkable tale. I appreciated the philosophical and self-reflective bits towards the end: a mysterious non-linear chain of events allowing for a confluence to emerge. And how our mind must hinge upon relief and grief, must swing both ways in its perpetual movement. I also relate to your experience in Casablanca. Something somewhat analagous happened to me there (although I was using French). As for play fights I think most moves are innate although mastered and fine-tuned in the street. We have two male street cats who playfight in a similar way to O and Z. There is a good deal of irony, gentleness and deliberate pantomime running through the macho optics. The straight jab is an offensive strike from an upper position and the double reverse jab a disabling chin lock from below. Left and right hooks (curved strikes) are used when both cats squat on hindquarters. Licking devolves into striking and vice versa like a revolving door. Pure platonic love, black humor and healthy male disinhibition.
But I'm worried that since you've started writing with LLMs your writing has started to feel... overengineered
Your broad vocabulary has always been impressive but now it sometimes feels like you're trying to pack too many fancy words and expressions into each sentence
TBC I still like your writing, I just think it might be wise to try shooting from the hip a bit more
Hmm, do you have any specific examples? The vocabulary overwhelmingly tends to be my own insistence and I have a near-clinical aversion to shooting from the hip. Regardless of what you think the cause is, I'm always open to feedback.
The "overengineered" aspect is something I wondered about before so that's why I was curious, but the cause is most likely the result of my general over-obsessing. To the extent you blame LLMs, it's that they encourage me to over-obsess even more. I don't mind giving readers a bit of whiplash here and there, but smoothing over structure in my writing has been something I've taken affirmative steps to remedy.
Yeah I don't think it reads like chatgptese at all
I was also thinking that this came from the extra work that the back-and-forth with LLMs encourages
I my opinion the way you talk (on podcasts etc) is often pretty close to the level of polish that would be required of a written piece, so it shouldn't require that much work to write
That said, I know that the effort/sophistication relationship is far from linear and that this stuff is hard
Shukran for the entertaining read on a 40 minute bus ride. Thanks for illuminating some of the darkness in the magharib that I otherwise would not have witnessed. For each soul you save, may you receive blessings in this life and the hereafter.
That fight was fun to watch. The way dogs and cats play fight is so different. Ziggy definitely using the street skills! It seems maybe Ziggy thought the stakes were a little higher. I have never heard of a trans-continent rescue! Congrats on your new family member!
Incredible story!
Wow! Still digesting this remarkable, extraordinary tale. Will get back with a proper comment once my tears are dry. This story- in its entirety- is a Gift impossible to comprehend quite yet so please accept a humble thank you for now. For everything and for telling it so beautifully. I remain profoundly touched by this extraordinary story and believe you have a book here, truthfully. ✨
Remarkable tale. I appreciated the philosophical and self-reflective bits towards the end: a mysterious non-linear chain of events allowing for a confluence to emerge. And how our mind must hinge upon relief and grief, must swing both ways in its perpetual movement. I also relate to your experience in Casablanca. Something somewhat analagous happened to me there (although I was using French). As for play fights I think most moves are innate although mastered and fine-tuned in the street. We have two male street cats who playfight in a similar way to O and Z. There is a good deal of irony, gentleness and deliberate pantomime running through the macho optics. The straight jab is an offensive strike from an upper position and the double reverse jab a disabling chin lock from below. Left and right hooks (curved strikes) are used when both cats squat on hindquarters. Licking devolves into striking and vice versa like a revolving door. Pure platonic love, black humor and healthy male disinhibition.
Nothing to add, but wow, what a great story!!!! Thanks for saving that little guy. Win-Win for the 4 of you!
Some lovely parts
But I'm worried that since you've started writing with LLMs your writing has started to feel... overengineered
Your broad vocabulary has always been impressive but now it sometimes feels like you're trying to pack too many fancy words and expressions into each sentence
TBC I still like your writing, I just think it might be wise to try shooting from the hip a bit more
Hmm, do you have any specific examples? The vocabulary overwhelmingly tends to be my own insistence and I have a near-clinical aversion to shooting from the hip. Regardless of what you think the cause is, I'm always open to feedback.
I don't have specific example in mind, it's mostly a statistical impression that I get
I know a friend of mine feels the same bit if you've never heard of this before the feeling is probably not that widespread
No I actually have heard feedback before that places the blame on LLMs but curiously almost all of it turns out to be erroneous about the cause (eg https://www.ymeskhout.com/p/beware-the-moral-homophone/comment/120595749). That's why I said I'm open to feedback regardless.
The "overengineered" aspect is something I wondered about before so that's why I was curious, but the cause is most likely the result of my general over-obsessing. To the extent you blame LLMs, it's that they encourage me to over-obsess even more. I don't mind giving readers a bit of whiplash here and there, but smoothing over structure in my writing has been something I've taken affirmative steps to remedy.
Yeah I don't think it reads like chatgptese at all
I was also thinking that this came from the extra work that the back-and-forth with LLMs encourages
I my opinion the way you talk (on podcasts etc) is often pretty close to the level of polish that would be required of a written piece, so it shouldn't require that much work to write
That said, I know that the effort/sophistication relationship is far from linear and that this stuff is hard
Also maybe I'm just nostalgic of the Bailey era
Loved reading all of this so much.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful story of interspecial love and commitment.
Shukran for the entertaining read on a 40 minute bus ride. Thanks for illuminating some of the darkness in the magharib that I otherwise would not have witnessed. For each soul you save, may you receive blessings in this life and the hereafter.
B'saha!
Beautiful story. Made me cry a bit.
Ziggy is such a beautiful cat! What a lucky boy. Thanks for sharing his story.
Serendipitous?