On the essence of creativity through the example of my adventures with my cat, Maniulka.

At the beginning of my story, I would like to introduce Maniulka. She is a one-year-old cat whom we jokingly call "Engineer Maniulka." From the earliest months of her life, she has surprised us with her creativity – the ability to come up with new, completely original ideas that can be applied in various fields, not just play, but also in business and art.

Let me explain what happened. Maniulka loves all kinds of technical devices. She especially likes my laptop, and most of all – the mouse receiver and all the cables connected via USB. Maniulka’s creativity lies in the fact that she turned this into an exciting game, where the protagonists are two characters: herself and me. She knows perfectly well that if she takes the mouse receiver, I won’t be sitting at the computer working on – ironically – creative teaching methods, especially those related to business. Instead, I’ll have to spend more time with her.

The result? Several times a week, I sit down at my laptop, only to find that the mouse receiver has simply disappeared. I look at Maniulka – she’s sitting calmly, as if nothing happened. I couldn’t find the first receiver, despite prolonged searches, so I bought a new mouse. With the second receiver, Maniulka again showed her creativity – not only did she pull it out, but she also disconnected the laptop’s power cable and the lamp. However, she didn’t foresee that I could work using the touchpad, though, I admit, it was quite cumbersome.

So, I taped the next receiver. For a while, Maniulka wasn’t too interested in it, but apparently, she was thinking intensively about a solution to the problem. One day, I came home and saw that the tape was half peeled off, the receiver was gone, and all the cables, including the printer, were disconnected. The clever little engineer had come up with a new method – she didn’t immediately rip off the tape, but gently lifted it just enough to grab her prized treasure.

Now that was a challenge! I activated my intellectual resources and decided to take action. I covered all the cables on the left side of the laptop with a glasses case, especially protecting the most important item for Maniulka – the receiver. For two days, there was peace. I was convinced that I had finally solved the problem.

Unfortunately, yesterday, the receiver disappeared again. The case was beside it, all the other cables stayed in place. This time, I resorted to the classic solution – I plugged in a wired mouse. For now, Maniulka doesn’t seem interested in it, though who knows for how long?

What else can I do to use the wireless mouse in a way that Maniulka’s creativity doesn’t surpass mine?

P.S. The two previous mice had built-in receivers. Unfortunately, due to Maniulka’s numerous attempts, the part responsible for Bluetooth and infrared connection got damaged. Help!