the password is "jerkwater"

so much to say, so little assistance or support from my home internet connection, which runs hot and cold like a neurologic abyssinian cat in heat. it works, it doesn't work, it starts to work and then changes its mind, it loves me, it loves me not, it spits on fidelity, pitou . . .

i am keeping notes and drawing up blueprints, cross my heart. i will tell you something useful and informative, because i do not fancy myself a belletrist, and i still intend to post my summary of ben greenman's appearance in brookline way, way, way back in some other lifetime of mine (or april; i sometimes get the two confused). but i have things to tend to in the office, and at home, well, you see how it is.

but i would like to take a moment to answer a very important question that somehow directed one knowledge-hungry reader to my den of pretentious hackery:

"what does it mean when a hamster pushes your hand away with their nose?"

excellent question. hamsters are very complex and mysterious creatures, and their tendency to express themselves via subtle, dancelike gesture makes them a favorite pet of rodentophiles, and not just those who are specifically cricetinae enthusiasts. i have had some hamsters, and none of them has ever done this to me. one of them often bit my hand, but nobody ever nudged it. a motion of this sort could mean many things, from "you are blocking my light" to "we have a bond that can only be described through the subtle, dancelike gestures of a hamster, which is dandy, as i am a hamster and can offer you just such an expression. in this movement, as i press my tiny nostril, through which oxygen and thus life enter my body, against your hand, which you use to stroke me and provide me with food and water and therefore sustain my life with, i am telling you that i recognize my debt to you, and i am grateful for your care, and the warmth and tenderness that i feel for you exceeds the bounds of my tiny, furry body and is spilling out into the pine shavings around me with every exhaled breath. as i press against you now, i am acknowledging, with no regrets about the fact, that my life is quite literally in your hands." not knowing your hamster, dear reader, and not having seen the pushing of the hand myself in its authentic context, it is difficult for me to offer a definitive interpretation of the action. if, though, the hamster was, as you say, pushing your hand away, then i would err on the side of caution and assume that the hamster kind of wanted you to get your hand out of its face. or their face, as the case may be. if you submit a video of the pushing next time, along with a brief write-up of the events leading up to the contact, i may be able to give you a more concrete explanation.