My first biology professor had an ‘inadequacy drawer’ full of things to remind him he wasn’t, in fact, the dumbest and laziest person to ever exist. It was mostly Darwin, notably these two bits:
‘But I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything.’
‘I am going to write a little Book for Murray on orchids and today I hate them worse than everything.’
“I am at work on the second vol. of the Cirripedia, of which creatures I am wonderfully tired: I hate a Barnacle as no man ever did before, not even a Sailor in a slow-sailing ship.”
-Charles Darwin on a letter to his cousin
Charles Darwin: unexpected depression hero.
I knew about “I am very poorly and very stupid and hate everybody and everything,” but not the others.
“I hate myself, I hate clover, and I hate bees” is A Mood.
My favorite Darwinism: “I am dying by inches, from not having any body to talk to about insects”. Hits me right at the center of my hyperfixated soul.
I hate a Barnacle as no man ever did before
“The work has been turning out badly for me this morning and I am sick at heart and oh my God how I do hate species & varieties”
Buddy, if I had an rc car with a lil cowboy hat and and some cash roll up with a note asking for some small, specific, random-ass thing in my store, it would give me happy adrenaline shakes for like three hours, minimum.
Fondly remembering the time that a cat owner casually entered their calico Maine Coon in a cat fancier’s competition and the judges lost their minds because the cat was 1) male and 2) able to bear children
Anyway here’s Dawntreader Texas Calboy as a silly lil kitten
Here’s an excerpt from one of the articles about the drama his entry caused among the Cat Fanciers that I thought was very earnest and sweet <3
I was about to say he would technically be an intersex king (not because I dislike the concept of trans cats, just bc intersex rep is sorely needed too) but I did some more reading on this icon and actually found the article OP referenced.
ALT
He’s not your usual male calico kitty as it turns out. That’s already cool and rare, but he’s even cooler and rarer than that!
ALT
ALT
Calboy is a chimera!! Which is really fucking cool of you ask me. The chances of having a male calico this way are slim to none, but the mad lad still exists! What an icon. I would die for Calboy.
Everyone in the tags of this post @ cat show judges
Originally I was looking for an adult picture of Calboy
(He’s so pretty 🥰)
But I also found a source for the article screenshotted above! And folks it’s WILD. It’s an incredibly interesting read if you happen to love hearing about niche hobby drama. It’s also just a fantastically written article!
The parts I find the most interesting are about how conservative the cat fanciers association is. This isn’t even all of the parts that talk about that.
People are so mad about this cat spefically because he has female colors. An animal who couldn’t choose how it was born. This is happening in Texas by the way. Hm. I wonder how they treat trans people over there?
Probably reading too much into it but this video has always filled me with such indescribable longing. Like the climax of a sports movie where everyone else has turned away from our hero facing impossibly long odds except for the one die hard with his fists clenched whispering, “come on you son of a bitch, you can do it.” But “it” in this case is outrunning the toxic nightmare of urban sprawl. I want him to run so fast he breaks free from the things we’ve done to this world. I want him to clear the city limits and find the forests that don’t really exist anymore. To gambol and forage and rest in primeval bliss. I want him to make it.
