I picked up a book called "Sleeping with Cats", which is an autobiography of
the poet and writer, Marge Piercy.  She had a strong-willed cat named Jim
Beam.  A couple of the quotes hit home, reminded me of Otis:

Among cats, he was Genghis Khan.  His energy was electric and his will,
absolute.  He never wavered from what he wanted.  He simply would not change
his mind and would not give up:  the image of a tyrant in the form of a
gorgeous sleek cat.  When you have a pet who is by all objective standards
bad, it is like any other love relationship with someone who is half crazy.
You cling to the good times and make excuses; you understand and understand.
Jim was wildly affectionate and absolutely ours.

AND ...

For Jim  Beam, punishment was attention, and he vastly preferred being
punished to being igonred ...[snip]... Certainly in the winters, he was a
better behaved cat, cuddling with the others, affectionate.  In the summer,
he was a heller.

We are in the winter phase with Otis and I have to say its pretty great.  He
cuddles all night and sleeps in as long as we will.  He is so incredibly
affectionate that I think I'm going to have to start wearing him out of the
house.  He follows me wherever I go and tries to sit on me.  He is
marvellous.  I know from experience that, come spring, the hell of early
morning wakings and loud disruptive behaviour starts again.  It's lucky we
live where the weather is mainly cold for about 8 months of the year!

SM