Catch me if you can, Linda and Hibbz’ cat
I just watched Mona Lisa smile… I was there when they were shooting the movie. I was in Boston, at Wellesley College… I happened to be taking a stroll at the college when they were shooting… Surprisingly, I never had the curiosity to watch it…
Anyway to Linda and Hibbz. Linda has nothing to do with Hibbz’ cat… as a matter of fact Linda and Hibbz don’t even know that the other one exists. They are two women from two different worlds that might never cross. The connection between them only exists in my brain and it is in the phrase catch me if you can, which in my life was applied only in two cases…. watching the movie with Linda in one world, and finding Hibbz cat in another!
Linda
The first time I saw the movie catch me if you can, was when it first came out in the movie theatres… 2002, 2003… I don’t remember exactly… I was living in Germany at the time. The only theatre that played English language movies was in Koeln… and since Linda and I had wanted to watch a movie in English for a while, I decided to invite her to spend the night at my apartment in Koeln. She lived in another city.
In Europe, you don’t need to carry cash with you, if you have your train ticket, some credit card and your home keys, you can always get by. Linda and I got to the theatre and realized that neither one of us had enough money to pay. It was one of those rundown theatres that still did not believe in credit cards. As a matter of fact, between the two of us we found nine Euros… we only needed one euro to be able to watch the movie…. we sat there conferring for a while to decide on our next step.
This story has several endings, depends on who is listening….. One possible ending was that we ended up charming the student who was sitting there, bored to his skull, and convinced him to let us in for free. A second possible ending was that we begged the Euro; actually we ended up with 12 Euros (in addition to our nine). I won’t say what happened, either way; we watched the movie and had a real nice evening, since we went out for a drink afterwards.
Hibbz ‘ cat
Hibbz and I went to the humane centre for the animal welfare (Which truly and honestly impressed me… it is a great place). Hibbz cat CK needed some grooming. We decided to leave him overnight and come back the next day to take him home. What we failed to tell workers was that CK can open doors!
Next day, we decided to call before we left, to make sure the cat was ready. But whenever we called they said that everyone is busy with an emergency. Hibbz said jokingly that she was afraid that the emergency was her cat. And as a mother, her instinct did not fail… CK opened the door and escaped. They have been trying to find him ever since. CK was spotted several times, once playing with the dogs, once chatting with the monkey, and once socializing with the donkeys… but he was illusive, as if playing catch me if you can with the hospital staff!
Poor Hibbz was distraught! She decided that she was going to look for him and will not leave till she found him, we rushed to the hospital, and the moment CK heard her voice he came out of his hiding place. He was hiding under the hay in the horses’ stables, which is a weird place, since he could have hidden with the other cats…but no… CK would not accept less than horses…
He stayed glued to Hibbz, and when she wanted to leave he scratched her as if telling her you are not going without me… so we ended up taking him home, still un-groomed!
Animal anecdotes
I was touched with CK’s devotion to Hibbz, and have been toying with the idea of adopting an animal myself… the only problem is that I am only fond of animals from a safe distance… I just don’t understand them…. I don’t believe in domesticating a naturally wild creatures, because I think creatures with souls can’t change their nature….
Four animal facts/stories about a creature being unable to deny its nature: (these stories are provided by a friend. Obviously, I won’t adopt any of these animals… I still found the stories amusing)
1- The monkey and the buzzard in Nat King Cole’s “Staighten Up and Fly Right.” Diana Krall has one also.
2- The story of The Frog and the Scorpion in the film, The Crying Game.
3- Both the female Praying Mantis and Black Widow kill their male shortly after copulation. In fact, the Praying Mantis can eat all or part of him starting before the act is complete… it has been documented by entomologists that if the female bites the head of the male off before ejaculation, she frees him from his social inhibitions (which are stored in the brain), resulting in a more complete release of genetic material into her reproductive system.
4- The Indian baby and the Cobra snake: There is this family in India who own a Cobra snake… it is considered holly for their sect and so they just leave it be… this snake befriended the baby. The family would leave the baby with the snake, boasting to everyone how the holly snake was protecting their child. However, when the baby turned seven, the snake wrapped herself around him and ate him!
God, I can’t stop laughing whenever I remember this ghastly story! As we say shar al baliat ma yud7ik!
This post, reminds me of your style, when you first started. I found it amusing. I am curious to know which ending is more fit to your cinema story. I have a feeling you have done both!
I have been to that place. It is really amazing. I think it looks much nicer than a lot of people’s institutions. Marguerite did a great job in that place.
Haven’t watched Catch Me If You Can yet, although I know it was on a couple of days ago.
I have a question, can you tell me where this Humane Center is? I’ve been looking for it for ages. Is this the one by the airport road or the one in wadi el seer? I really want to go there and maybe volunteer. Help! Damsel in distress!
Hey Tololy… Catch me if you can is a very good movie, I enjoyed it the first time i watched it and i enjoyed the second time… what’s his face acted very well. Although, i don’t particularly like him… Decaprio that is.
Do you know the forest of the king of Bahrain? it is inside it… the moment you go in you will find signs… Tololy… it is brilliant! they would to have volunteers… they have been looking a secretary for a while, but everyone who comes jumps out of their chair when a dog or cat comes near them. if you love animals… go for it
Rose, welcome back… have not seen you ina while. Yeah.. i in an amused mood, when i wrote this post… i just could not stop laughing when i heard the snake boy… it is so disturbing.
Sammar B.
Funny, i has the exact same thought… honestly this place is nicer than most orphanages i have i have been to… ironic, sah?
Hmmm, I wonder what two women in Germany can do to make some fast Euros?
How about adopting some fish? It is easy to keep your distance from them.
I wonder if the male praying mantis knows he is going to die when mating, but decides to willingly sacrifice himself? Or, maybe he is just stupid, sort of like a lot of human males.
lol! Well i am laughing about the human males! I don’t particularly agree… but i keep hearing a lot of them are driven by the desire to “mate”. It is a good question that you are posing here… i would like to understand the psychology of the male mantis… but i suppose none of them survive to tell their male children what happens to them… however do male children wonder why they don’t have fathers?
Ok this discussion is turning into the disturbing corner….
No fish… they are too stupid! maybe a bird though?
As far as I know, after the female praying mantis lays her egg mass, she flies away. So, the baby mantises don’t know either of their parents.
Birds can make good pets, but some birds require a lot of attention. For example, parrots are very intelligent. They love to play and interact with their owner. If they are left alone too much they can go insane. One of my friends had some tiny finches. He had about six all together in a big cage. The birds kept each other company, so they were pretty low maintenance.
Would you like a pet that you can play with, or would you prefer to keep it caged and just watch its behavior?
hmmm… interesting question… I am still not sure…
I mean i would like the bird to be caged, but i would like it to play with me, when i open the cage for it…. the problem with our house is that it is all windows…. if i open the cage it will fly away… and as you know will not be going to freedom, but will be going directly to the mouth of its predator.
Maybe you need a cage for your bird that is big enough for you to also get into it.
I have a thought for you. Do you have a zoo in Amman? Maybe you could volunteer there a few hours a week and learn how to care for some of the animals. This might help you to decide what sort of pet you would enjoy.
oh my God… I don’t think so
I mean beside the fact that i am fully booked most of the time, I honestly don’t think i would like to spend my time volunteering for animals… nothing against animals… seriouly…
Hmmm, I guess you are mostly a people oriented person. I think you would be most comfortable with some low maintenance pets that don’t need a lot of your time. Since you are interested in birds, you might enjoy a pair of “Love Birds”. They are a type of small parrot. You can buy just one, but they are often sold as a mated pair. If you get the pair, they can keep each other company, so you can play with them when you have time and not worry about them getting lonely. This link will tell you all about them:
http://www.africanlovebirdsociety.com/introduction.htm
Check this link for pictures of Love Birds:
http://www.africanlovebirdsociety.myphotoalbum.com/