I
maybe
I don't think
I don't know about scoring your drone footage montage of you blowing people up to the FRIENDS theme song, Ukrainian Predator of Heights Battalion 59th Assault Brigade
"We could have saved the Earth but we were too damned cheap." Kurt Vonnegut
So when you say, "Get off the counter!" they basically hear, "Tommyyyy, I don't know if this is a good idea!" And, informed by a good decade of everything always turning out fine and the consequences never serious, just mildly funny, they tell you to quit worrying, and they hop into the A/C vent.
...In essence: in the minds of cats, they are Tommy Pickles, Leeroy Jenkinsing their way through life and dragging everyone else along into their drama, and you are their loyal worrywort who just needs to learn to appreciate life, Chuckie Finster.
I would refine this model slightly: every cat believes itself to be the main character of life, and you're not exactly a project or a pity friend, you just need some looking out for. They've taken you under their wing, and really, you're actually quite capable, you just need some encouragement.
Just had a revelation:
Every cat believes itself to be Tommy Pickles, and you're their Chuckie Finster.
What I love about hobbies is that you don’t have to care if you’re good or not. I got ridiculously outplayed at pickleball by an 11 year old today and it was a ton of fun.
School boards are right there. So are library boards. It is not weird to stand up for the rights of kids to grow up safely if you don’t have kids. That’s called compassion, actually.
I suspect this might be the best photo I ever take
I've read that MRI scans allegedly reveal that cats see their humans not as babies or the alpha, but as basically other cats. MRI-based findings like this are dubious science, but it makes sense that our cats see us as big, stupid bipedal cats that aren't very good at being cats and need their help.