Cat calendar
JANUARY
Buttons was a bitey boy.
I found him in a shed. My friend and I caught him together. We both ended up bleeding a lot and covered in cat urine.
He was about four weeks old.
He taught me that fostering kittens is messy, tiring, bloody, stinky, stressful, and just as wonderful as I’d always imagined.
Buttons was adopted into a family of experienced and undaunted cat owners.
FEBRUARY
In February 2024, I started fostering the ‘Nature Kittens’: Dawn, Thunder, Cloud, and Midnight.
MARCH
While the entire Nature Kittens litter was still with me, someone I know caught another litter of five stray kittens that would have to be euthanised because no one had any room to take them.
They were barely a month old.
I took them to my house “for a few days” until I could find another rescue that could look after them.
One of the two calico girls (sitting up on the right) hissed and spat so much on that first day that she set off the others. She was so tiny and so fierce… and she sounded like popcorn. So I named her Popcorn, and her sister Caramel (second from the left, with some orange patches). Then I named the boys Violet (“Violent”) Crumble (left), Curly Wurly (top middle) and Sprinkle (bottom), the runt.
Two members of the Snack Pack nearly died from cat flu, but recovered. Little kittens are extremely fragile! Even if they can also rip a full-grown human to shreds when they really don’t want to be picked up.
APRIL
Thunder and Midnight were adopted together. Their new owner built a custom enclosure for them, which they loved immediately.
MAY
Cloud suddenly stopped eating and lost more than half her body weight. The vet suspected she needed major surgery, and would never live a full life. She always was smaller than the others.
It turned out she wanted a different kind of food.
She was adopted by a retiree who had cared for her previous cat for twenty-three years despite the cat’s health being poor for several years. So Cloud now has a devoted personal handmaiden… and that is precisely what she requires.
JUNE
Popcorn was the first member of the Snack Pack to be adopted. She doesn’t hiss or spit any more, but loves to purr and snuggle, and will cheerfully approach any human.
JULY
Sprinkle (left) was the second member of the Snack Pack to be adopted.
In the early days he was extremely concerned that I would neglect to feed him and would scream hysterically when I entered the room. He would sometimes forget where the food was located after I put the bowl down, and would scream some more.
Why is it that the smallest kitten of the litter always has the biggest personality?
AUGUST
Dawn was finally adopted in August… and then she was un-adopted, as her new owners discovered one of them was allergic to cats. Fortunately she quickly found another home, and is now settled in happily.
SEPTEMBER
Violet Crumble looks almost exactly like his brothers, yet still manages to be the prettiest. He was adopted next out of the Snack Pack.
OCTOBER
The last two kittens in the Snack Pack were adopted together.
So Caramel and Curly Wurly will continue to make a cuddle puddle daily for the rest of their lives. They are very lucky, and so are their owners.
NOVEMBER
In Spring, with no fosters left, I helped another rescue organisation by taking on four of their kittens: I named them Squirrel (fluffy tortoiseshell and white), Bunny Rabbit (her sister, a tortoiseshell very much like Dawn), Meeouse (white), and Monkey.
Monkey was so named because he liked to climb upside down across the roof of his enclosure.
I quickly discovered that he also loves jumping into the arms of the nearest upright human. Or onto their back. Or shoulder. He’s not fussy. But he’s shockingly fast.
DECEMBER
I hope all four Animal Kittens will find their forever homes by Christmas.
Edit: I shall add more pic/s of those four, possibly including a group shot or two.
IF Comp 2024: Doctor Who and the Dalek Super-Brain
Doctor Who is excellent so I was always tempted by this one (and somewhat concerned about intellectual property law). Inside the game, it says that it is fan-fiction and does not generate any revenue. But the IF comp DOES give out cash prizes, so doesn’t that count as revenue?
I do think the author is safe simply because they’re too small to bother crushing.
Of course, copyright lawyers and daleks both really, really enjoy disintegrating things. And Doctor Who is on Disney+ now, and Disney is famously fond of bringing the full force of the law down to exterminate even the most tiny and innocent of artists.
Hmm.
Anyway, that’s not really my business.
I very much enjoyed pushing the giant red button to start the game.
This is my third surprisingly visual game in a row! The visuals are basic, but enjoyable. However, the general experience is clunky. It feels like the choices I make are merely scrolling up and down a prescribed conversation.
I died horribly (in a genre-appropriate fashion). The death is totally fine (good, even) but this game required much more problem solving skill than I think I possess.
The ability to click on objects in the image to get more detail is very cool, even if I cordially dislike the entire ‘click such-and-such to get more detailed info’ system. Obviously that’s a matter of taste.
Some of the writing is pretty basic, but some bits are good.
. . .
I think this requires me to sometimes remember things, which due to my various mental issues means I can’t properly play the game. So I’ll stop here, and I won’t rate this game either.
Apologies to the writer.
IF Comp 2024: Quest for the Teacup of Minor Sentimental Value
I forgot to explain last entry that the IF Comp is a big contest for Interactive Fiction stories that runs each year. I enter it often (ever since 2015), and love it. Partly because I usually do reasonably well, and mostly because the community is just SO GOOD. There are loads of people who gladly test games in the lead-up to the contest due date, and even more who help to judge games (and often write great, thorough reviews as well) during the six-week judging period. There’s even a secret section on the forum (which is here) where only authors who have entered that year can post and see posts.
Yes, I have entered this year. You can see and play all the games here.
Whenever I enter, I try to review five games. This one is the second one I’m trying out. Obviously I adore the title! The blurb is great too:
I’m surprised but pleased by the basic visuals and animation. They’re sweet. I don’t think they’re a custom thing; I think Inform or something can do things like that. But I could be wrong. And they’re not something I’ve played before, so they have novelty value for me. If every game had them, they’d be annoying.
I quickly reached the bad ending, which was just fine by me. The game is very merciful and simple, so it’s easy to explore here and there without feeling any pressure.
I laughed out loud at the line, “I keep forgetting there are only two other people in this village.” A perfect joke for the IF Comp, where a significant number of judges are also authors, who scrambled furiously to meet the deadline and probably had to massively cut down their original grand idea along the way.
And laughing even more at, “Sorry I didn’t hear you knock. I was busy alphabetising my potatoes.”
I’ll stop reporting every single line that makes me laugh, because I suspect now there may be a lot of them. (EDIT: There were.)
Pretty sure the maths question is wrong. But maybe I’m missing something.
I reached a REALLY COOL bad ending (and several that were just funny), and eventually reached the good ending.
This is an adorable, funny game that is simple, well executed, and highly enjoyable. Colour me impressed.
IF Comp 2024: Imprimatura
First of all, I’m so glad the blurb immediately explains the title: “Imprimatura (It.): the first layer of paint on a canvas.”
This game is going to produce a picture. Colour me intrigued.
The writing is evocative and beautiful (essential for this story), and the soundtrack and effects are perfect too. It’s very warm and gentle (probably partly because of the choices I made).
Sometimes I got the same painting description twice in a row, which I think is an error. On the other hand, the game explained at the end that even selecting the same paintings in a replay will unlock different memories. So maybe not.
It was fascinating, well-written, and the final result was interesting as well as giving me the option to go back and change things, which I liked. I didn’t like that the emotional choice of the final painting always partly obscured the image, but that’s an artistic choice I think. The layering along the way is incredible.
It’s an extremely replayable game. There are over 100 versions of the final painting and much much more to discover along the way.
I think this might be a perfect game.
Felicity Banks 