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The Happiest Rats
Oct. 7th, 2024 07:45 amFriends and long-term readers of my journal will be all too aware of my rat fancy. Well, this weekend I decided to rejoin The Cult of the Rat. Erica and I travelled to The Happy Rattery to bring two youngsters into my home. A big welcome to Mayday (with the white-furred face) and Mayhem (splodgy face). It has not been since 2017 that I've had such animal companions, although some twenty-two rodents graced my life in the fifteen years before that. It is mostly Mel's fault; I expressed disappointment that my travelling lifestyle didn't suit having such pets, but she offered to look after them if I was away. So I hired a steam cleaner for the carpets; you have to protect those ratty noses and gave the place a thorough scrub. It's amazing how much ingrained dirt there was that Reginald the Robot didn't pick up.
In addition, a few months ago Ruby pointed me to a new game in development seeking playtesters. With just a hint of experience in such things, I conducted a thorough review and several sessions with Erica, Mel, and Julie, and sent all the notes to the designer, Benjamin Cadenza. I am very pleased to say that the game, "The Happiest Rat", is now thoroughly tested, and with crowdsourced sales underway, reaching its target in under 48 hours. The author has designed a game with subtle strategy, complexity, and flexibility whilst at the same time being very aware of the behaviour and personality of rats. So these are the main influential vectors that have led me, for the first time in seven years, to have actual rats back in my life.
Just how much of a rat fancier am I? Apart from the twenty-two pet rats I've had the past (I won't list their names), there has been the fundraising for APOPO that Erica and I had for our civil union in 2010, a cyberpunk conference I organised in 2020 that went under the subtitle "Year of the Stainless Steel Rat", an address given to the local Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, initiating a memorial campaign for the Bramble Cay Melomys (a rat of sorts), substantial contributions to the Wikipedia entry for the novel "Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife", lobbying against the now-abolished "forced swim" test, and, of course, my only tattoo, a rat with the equations derived from Curt Richter's brutal experiments. With all this background, I assure you I will do my best to ensure that Mayhem and Mayday are The Happiest Rats.
In addition, a few months ago Ruby pointed me to a new game in development seeking playtesters. With just a hint of experience in such things, I conducted a thorough review and several sessions with Erica, Mel, and Julie, and sent all the notes to the designer, Benjamin Cadenza. I am very pleased to say that the game, "The Happiest Rat", is now thoroughly tested, and with crowdsourced sales underway, reaching its target in under 48 hours. The author has designed a game with subtle strategy, complexity, and flexibility whilst at the same time being very aware of the behaviour and personality of rats. So these are the main influential vectors that have led me, for the first time in seven years, to have actual rats back in my life.
Just how much of a rat fancier am I? Apart from the twenty-two pet rats I've had the past (I won't list their names), there has been the fundraising for APOPO that Erica and I had for our civil union in 2010, a cyberpunk conference I organised in 2020 that went under the subtitle "Year of the Stainless Steel Rat", an address given to the local Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, initiating a memorial campaign for the Bramble Cay Melomys (a rat of sorts), substantial contributions to the Wikipedia entry for the novel "Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife", lobbying against the now-abolished "forced swim" test, and, of course, my only tattoo, a rat with the equations derived from Curt Richter's brutal experiments. With all this background, I assure you I will do my best to ensure that Mayhem and Mayday are The Happiest Rats.