Somewhat worse than an Alarm Clock

Awakened from a deep sleep by two things; one, my wife, accidentally dropping something heavy on the west side of the bed, and two, the young feline who had fallen asleep on my chest, aroused by the aforementioned dropping-of-something-heavy, doing the Flintstep* on my chest, and if you've never met a young feline, or a feline of ANY kind, you should know that they have six ends, and five of them are pointy.

There was a little blood, and some yelling. Oh, and did I mention laughing? Yes, there was laughing as well.

There's something about pain that is inherently funny; much of the allure (if you could call it that) of the Three Stooges or even Laurel and Hardy is from the pratfall, the bucket to the head, the slap, the poke in the eye....etc. The secret success of America's Funniest Home Videos comes from the almost mind-numbing amounts of kicks to the groin that people have recorded for future reference; which makes me wonder why people always have a camera around when somebody is taking a kick to the crotch.

I believe it was Charlie Chaplin that talked about the use of pain in comedy; he stated that there had to be some kind of distance between the act and the observation of the act: that a man taking a bucket to the head and falling down a manhole during rush hour is funny; but if we approach to closely, and see that very real pain on the face of the victim, it ceases to be funny, our empathy kicks in, and we feel the pain, and well.....'taint funny, McGee.

So, there I am, stomping my foot on the bed to distribute the pain, holding those places where the cat has cut huge gouges into my skin, wondering if I'll be able to salvage the shirt; wondering how a cat could cut the skin under the shirt without actually cutting the shirt, and my wife is laughing.

I have no real point.

Except that it was kinda funny.

And before I drifted off to sleep, I was kinda laughing, as well.

*Flintstep: The movement of Fred Flintstone's feet as he "starts" his car, or begins his panicked running. Usually accompanied by a "buddabuhbuddabuh" sound effect. Basically, running in place, like real people do when they step on a patch of ice.