I think my cat is strange, I might be renting my house just for him.?

Several things here, #1. We live in Oregon and it's cold here and we move into one room for the winter. Our cat "Angel"(his highness) an 18 pound 41inch long gray/silver MUTT. has some odd behaviors, talents maybe?...he can meow and it sounds like human words, some classic "Mama, hungry(two syables) stopppppppp, pleaseeeee, Donttttt, & daddddd, and a few others,. one is two sylables "Nathan"...and some others that almost sound like he's possessed...(but he aint) he can also reach and trun a doorknob....he has this habit though, he lays down near his food bowl and reaches in and pulls out a few pieces of dry food, pulls them out and eats a few pieces and then does it a few more times,...this has developed into his placing his head into the bowl, laying down infront of it and then turning on his side and tipping the bowl onto it's side so the food runs into his mouth as if he were a human being......Now, he tried to wake me up without walking across my face like he used to do,.....his litter box is near my bed,....about 8:00am he goes and takes a huge stinking dump and it' so bad that my eyes water and my nose burns!!!!!!!! seriously. That dosen't happen the rest of the times during the day when he uses the litter box.....so I have to get up and clean his litter and go back to bed, the moment i get up, he wants me to give him fresh food and water, if i do it, he lays back down and the world is well for him.....now, on the bright side, he won't eat just any food, he won't eat expensive food, not canned food or food from a pouch, he only eats the cheapest food you can buy, he hates science diet and Iams and purina so we get the store brand dry food....he's 10 years old and still spry and youthful, he likes hide and seek and plays with string and all that. Now if we leave for a few days and we creep feed him, we come back and he's crapped on my bed or peed on it or on some other thing that we use as furniture and that TICKS ME OFF........I love this old cat, he's part of me but he makes as good a dog as he does a cat....I'm not so sure about him though......it's as if we rent this place for him and him alone.....thoughts anyone?

Nathan