ttmc

an old friend came to visit me last night when i was watching the european super cup between liverpool and cska moscow.

timmy-the-manja-cat (henceforth known as "ttmc") actually belongs to a person staying on the 5th floor. but he lets ttmc go out (just like i let my gingin go out) to play with the other resident cats downstairs.

ttmc and i got to know each other under rather bizarre circumstances: i came home one night last year, after yet another depressing and soul-sapping disagreement with my then girlfriend, adeline...so i decided to sit down at the bench below my block to think about things...when suddenly, i saw this handsome cat walking towards me. he was limping a bit, though i didn't know why, and meowing ever-so-pityfully...so i scooped him up and started talking to him. he was very understanding, purring all the while, and even meowed at the right times. the next thing i knew, i was telling him all about my troubled relationship, about problems at work, and about how life sucked...i talked to him for one solid hour, with him sitting in my lap the whole time. then i think he had to pee or something, so he hobbled off onto the grass somewhere...and i went home after that. (later on, i found out from one of the aunties who feeds the stray cats that this handsome feline's name was timmy.)

as time passed by, and as my relationship with adeline slowly deteriorated, i found myself talking to ttmc more and more...in fact, every night when i came back (usually from one of the many drinking sessions that i had to have to drown my sorrows), i'd look for ttmc and sit on the bench to continue our conversations. though the later discussions we had were never as long as that first time, i actually looked forward to coming home to ttmc.

on the day when adeline finally broke up with me, after a few torturous months of i-know-it's-coming-but-i-don't-wanna-admit-it, i came home with a heavy heart...but i contained myself by listening to the radio on my handphone while i was on the taxi home (in order to avoid conversing with the taxi driver). when i reached my block, i saw ttmc at our usual bench, patiently waiting for me to go and talk...and then "the reason" by hoobastank started playing on the radio. suddenly, i could not, and would not control myself already...so i started bawling my head off...and singing at the same time..."i'm not a puuurrrrfect persooon...*sob sob*...there's many things i wish i didn't do...*sob sob*...etc etc"...and ttmc started meowing along with me!!! i didn't know whether i wanted to laugh or cry...

it was a very difficult period for me at that time. but with the help of my friends and ttmc, i came through...a better person i hope..."what doesn't kill you, blah blah blah". but then some new-cat-on-the-block came along...and ttmc didn't come downstairs as often...i was a bit worried, so i even asked ttmc's owner whether timmy was ok...to which he replied in the positive, so...i just assumed that he got a new girlfriend...

anyway, as i was saying...yesterday, while i was watching football on tv, i heard a familiar meow outside my doorstep. that's when i saw my ttmc trying to squeeze his way through my metal gate. "HELLO MY DEAR FRIEND!!! how did you ever find me???" you must understand...i stay on the 23rd floor...and for a cat with a limp to climb 23 flights of stairs...i was convinced that he had something to tell me. so i let him in, and we started talking again...but he refused to let me take a proper picture of him...


ttmc 1


ttmc 2


ttmc 3

apparently ttmc also just broke up. poor guy. the girlfriend didn't think that they had a future together cuz he didn't have enough friskies and whiskas cat food in his stash...and that he dreamt too much. apparently, she's seeing some tomcat who prowls around an army camp now. alas...all hearts were meant to be broken...at least at some time or other...

and so the football match ended and it was time to go to sleep. i didn't want mr-5th-floor-uncle to worry too much about ttmc, so i sent him downstairs in the elevator. i sang "the reason" for ttmc...but i think he was still sulking...or maybe it was just my lousy singing...


ttmc 4

we reached the first level and ttmc was still sad...but he decided to lick his wounds and moved on after that.


ttmc 5

(p.s. - oh yeah...i forgot to mention this...around the time that ttmc came in, djibril cisse scored that lucky equalising goal for liverpool in the dying minutes of the second half. now all you liverpool fans know who to thank for that piece of fortune. )