Sorry to keep y'all hanging from Monday!
Monday night I got a call from National saying they got the job offer approved. Yesterday afternoon I got the paperwork.
It's a good job! The pay is perfectly acceptable, the opportunities for advancement are excellent, and the benefits are... they have benefits! Oooh, I can get glasses now. It's been too long since I've had insurance, and FAR to long since I've had _good_ insurance.
I'm a very happy camper. Still stressed like nobody's business, but I suppose this is "good stress". Heh.
Yesterday was busy in another way. We ran out and foolishly got another cat. Papageno (damn, I don't know how to spell that... we just call him "Papa" whatever; papa-doodles, that kind of thing) is not taking it particularly well.
Let's go back to the beginning.
I've been working out of the house for something like eight years. When Marla and I moved in together... ummm... a couple/few years ago (sorry, my mind just isn't coming up with the timespan here) the cat has been a constant companion in the office. He sits on his perch by my desk. He naps in the chair in the corner. He clambers over my paper and demands to be petted.
You know, cat stuff.
Years of this. He's gotten pretty used to my being here.
And he likes his people. He tends to make unhappy noises when Marla goes to work in the morning, even. He spends a bunch of his time either yelling at outside cats to go away, or whining that there aren't outside cats to yell at. Or something. Who knows? He's a cat.
With me going to work full-time, we figured he would be lonely. So we decided to get him a kitten! A half-bread Maine Coon, like him, so it will have a compatible personality and enough size to survive playing with him.
Yesterday we got the little guy. Cute as a button, three months old and already larger than some adult cats we know. Good personality, though a bit shell-shocked.
Poor little tyke was taken from one home to another... grandma's I think. There, he was surround by lots of other cats, some litter-mates, and a bunch of outdoor dogs. Then we swoop down, take him from his siblings, run him through the vet, put goop in his ear, and plop him into the middle of another cat's territory.
Right now, the dinky fellow is establishing some space in the upstairs bathroom. He's doing pretty good.
Papa, however, is not amused. He spent a bunch of time yesterday sniffing our arms, shirts, and/or pants an hissing at them. The rest of the time he spent hiding under the bed or skulking around looking offended.
Today he's a bit more chipper, but is avoiding the upstairs entirely. I kinda miss the silly booger, because my office is up there and I'm used to him being a pest!
Ooh, as I'm writing he just wandered by and into Marla's workroom up here. Good! A good sign!
He's had another cat in his house before. After a few days of what Marla assures me was similar behavior, he got used to her and settled down to play. In _that_ case, the other cat couldn't cope with Papa. That's why we got a kitten of his breed.
So I have high hopes things will work out. Hopefully soon, because I go to work Monday.
Woo-hoo! Work! That means... paychecks. Mmmm, paychecks. If you haven't had the joy of working for two years for random amounts of cash, never enough, then you might not appreciate the joy of the paycheck.
Next time you get one, look at it. Savor it. And consider the alternatives.
Posted by Edwin at February 4, 2004 09:36 AM