"Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise..."

I absolutely cannot let the 25th anniversary of the TV premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation pass without comment. Watching this show with my family is one of my earliest TV-related memories. I grew up watching Captain Picard and his crew travel throughout the universe, bringing their Starfleet idealism with them everywhere they went. I saw Star Trek: First Contact in theaters even though it was rated PG-13 and I wasn't thirteen yet. I was terrified by the Borg. I had nightmares after watching the episode where Data has bad dreams, and the one where Troi has bad dreams about "Eyes... in the dark..." (Apparently, I was easily disturbed by episodes about bad dreams. They didn't give me nightmares but just made it very, very hard to fall asleep.) I idolized Picard, and Riker, and Geordi - especially since I also loved LeVar Burton on Reading Rainbow. I thought Data was awesome - and I loved that he had a pet cat named Spot. I loved Worf's gruffness and loyalty. I even liked Wesley. I was too young to find him irritating. Heh. Troi and Dr. Crusher were great as well, and essential parts of the cast (which I've already mentioned is one of my favorite ensembles). Even now, when I hear the opening monologue and the theme, I feel a rush of nostalgia that's quite powerful.

What are some of the ways this show influenced me? Well, for one thing, my preschool-aged sister and I learned how to say, "What the hell is going on here?" from one Commander William Riker - much to the shock of our parents and the horror of our grandmother. Heh. But more importantly, it continued to foster the love of space, science, and exploration that my parents had already begun in me. I know I wouldn't have been as excited as I was to do a report on Pluto in first grade if I hadn't already started to learn about planets, star systems, and galaxies from TNG and other sources at home.

This past year, after all of the Trek series were added to Netflix's instant watch option, it became tradition that my sister, my dad, and I would all eat lunch at home while watching an episode of either TNG, Voyager, or DS9 (not as much of a fan of the original series, though it's a classic for sure). We didn't get through all of the episodes. I think all of the series are available at the DVD store in town, so I might pick them up at some point while I'm here, but I'll miss watching them with Dad at home.

Cats, kittens, and ailurophiles

I have loved cats my whole life, as far back as I can remember. We had a family pet, an orange tabby named Oscar, when my sister and I were toddlers. Some of my earliest memories revolve around him. We loved him, although he wasn't overly fond of us I'm pretty sure.

When we moved to the house where we spent most of our growing-up years, my parents (who are also fond of cats) decided my sister and I could pick out a kitten each from our preschool teacher's cat's litter. I chose a tuxedo cat, polydactyl (six-toed) male whom I named Sweetfeet. He had little while paws, just like his mother whose name was Sugarfoot. My sister chose a longhaired black female whom she named Blackberry. Blackberry's fur later turned out to be sort of dark gray in places, but the name stuck anyway.

Sweetfeet and Blackberry were our cherished companions from the time we were about 5 years old until we were past 21. They had good, long lives - although when the family moved in their later life, they had a little trouble adjusting. Blackberry's health failed first. Her brother held on for a while longer. I still miss him.

Then our household went quite some time without any pets at all. My sister and I were getting ready to move to Southeast Asia, my brothers were moved out, and my parents' new job duties mean they travel frequently so they didn't think it would be kind to a cat to leave it to the care of housesitters so often. My brother got a kitten at his new apartment. It was fun to play with her when we visited. She's her own delightful brand of kitty crazy.

Once my sister and I were settled in to our own house here in Southeast Asia, getting a cat or two was pretty high up on our to-do list. Thankfully, our housemate and friend was also okay with the idea, especially since cats fulfill the important function of keeping the house free of spiders, bugs, and geckos that are foolish enough to be in range of a pounce. But you don't buy cats here. You go through connections. If a friend or acquaintance has a cat that has kittens, you can get them for free. So my sister and I waited for a while, putting out feelers to friends in the area.

And then one day, during language class, the director of the language school (who is also a friend) came in with one of the custodians, who was holding a little calico kitten. Our language school's ceiling is apparently a popular place for mother cats to have their kittens, and this little one's mother was nowhere to be found. Our director knew we wanted kittens, so he asked if we wanted her, even though she wasn't weaned yet. We couldn't resist. After our director friend went and bought us a kitten-feeding bottle, we took the little sweetie home and named her CJ.

Yes, she is named after Claudia Jean "CJ" Cregg, our favorite character from The West Wing. That was it for a day. CJ started to adjust to being bottle-fed. She was lonely when we weren't around, though, the poor little thing. Then the next day, our director interrupted our class again - this time with a whole dustpan full of tiny kittens! He asked if we wanted another one. We really, really did. This time we chose the little black and white male. At home, we quickly decided he would be Toby, after Toby Ziegler (also from The West Wing). CJ seemed much happier to have a sibling around, and Toby stopped howling when we put him next to her in the box, too.

Round-the-clock feeding of two tiny kittens while still trying to do language school and also find time for sleeping and eating was not easy. I can say I have a newfound respect for new parents, especially since they have to do that for much longer than one has to for fast-growing kittens! But thankfully our little ones were more than halfway through the weaning process. So we only had to give up vast quantities of sleep for about a week and a half.

Now they're already on solid (wet) cat food, mostly litterbox-trained, and growing more and more every day. They're sweet, cuddly, inquisitive, and playful. They're also developing personalities beyond, "I'm hungry! Feed me now!" My sister's CJ is more fearless and independent than my Toby, who complains a lot and sometimes needs more time to figure out new things. But they both bring me joy every day. I've missed having a cat (or two) in the house. Few things are more relaxing and heart-melting than time spend snuggling with a little kitten in your lap, in my opinion.

I look forward to many years of companionship from these two!