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I’ve paid more attention to Merlin this week than I have in a long time. I hadn’t been ignoring him before. He hasn’t done anything to require more attention. But I’ve been painfully aware that he won’t be with me forever.

I’m sitting in my bedroom floor Thursday night and Merlin is sleeping on the bed just inches from me. Lucy is in the floor next to me on my other side. (Thomas is off doing his own thing in the office.)

Molly’s death last Friday had the same effect on me that all of my cat and dog deaths have had. The pain of losing one of them reminds me to love and appreciate the ones I still have — while I still can.

Merlin has been with me for about 14 years. (I don’t remember for sure.) He was already several years old when I brought him in from the streets. When I put those together, I realize that my wise old man might not be with me too much longer — and it makes me want to appreciate whatever time he has left with me.

If you want to love and appreciate something you love — or someone you love — just remember that you can lose this cherished person or thing. There comes a time when it will be too late.

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Think about the worst decision you’ve ever made — the one thing you know you should have done differently.

“If only someone could’ve warned me,” you might think. “If I had just known, everything would be different today.”

I’ve thought things similar to that. After things end in ways that make me unhappy, I tend to go back and find the one moment — and there usually is one moment — when I made a decision or took an action that caused what I’m unhappy about.

I’m prone to thinking how different things could be if I had a time machine to go back to that moment. But I wonder whether that’s true.

I found out this evening that a young woman who I casually know has gotten engaged. She hasn’t been dating the guy very long — and everyone who knows her seems to have very negative impressions of the way he treats her.

As she stood there this evening showing me her ring, I knew better than to express my misgivings. She wouldn’t listen — just as I suspect I wouldn’t have listened if someone had warned me before my own major mistakes.

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Oli London is a British man who became obsessed with Korean pop culture. He became a social media star with his reviews of South Korean pop music. But then this white European decided he was born in the wrong body — so he decided he’s “transracial.”

London spent more than $200,000 for cosmetic surgery intended to give his face more “Korean features.” He used to look like any random white guy, but now he looks like a circus freak. (The photos above are before and after shots.) After 18 surgeries over a period of eight years, London says he is “transracial,” meaning he used to be white but now he’s Asian.

“I identify as Korean,” London proclaimed on a Twitter video. “That’s just my culture, that’s my home country. … I do identify as Korean, I don’t identify as British. I feel like I should have been born in Korea because in that culture, everything from the mannerisms to the way they look is what I identify with.”

Why are we supposed to pretend delusional people are sane?

Although it’s ultimately his own life and his own body, why are so many people afraid to say what should be obvious? This man is mentally ill — and he is completely out of touch with objective reality.

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