NOT A CAT PERSON

I’ve been living solo for a year now. It certainly has its perks, such as being able to sleep smack dab in the middle of the bed, having permanent ownership of the remote control and not having to worry about disturbing anyone when coming in really late, except for the upstairs neighbor who can hear when I slide my closet doors shut to loud and claims an inability to get back to sleep once being so rudely disturbed. There are the occasional downsides. The dishes are always mine, the vacuuming doesn’t do itself and no is around to point out that falling asleep in the armchair is going to make for back problems so I should probably get my intoxicated ass all the way to bed.

The toughest adjustment in going from living with someone to not, has been the lack of company. Thus, I am ready for a pet. Since I know I don’t have the dedication or patience to keep a dog healthy in an urban environment, I don’t really consider myself a cat person, and birds are noisy and messy, I’ve elected to adopt fish. A reasonably sized tank w/ a couple of goldfish and a snail for good measure is just the thing. Though it has been unsettling the number of people who seem to think I am a cat person. Is there a vibe I’m unaware of? Of course these assertions were made by cat people, so maybe it was just projection or a nefarious recruitment plot.

The tank was purchased last week and I brought Veronica home on Friday. She actually survived the weekend, though it looked touch and go when she appeared to nearly choke on a piece of artificial grass left in the tank, but she was still swimming, somewhat lethargically, when I left for work this morning. It’s is also possible that I was overfeeding her, but adjustments have been made. Her roomy, Jacqueline, will be collected this afternoon, and I should be able to fit in a shopping trip to select just the right snail companion for the girls.

I’m sure they’ll quickly tire of my endless prattle about office antics and bar disappointments, not to mention the shoddy housekeeping, but now I’ve got some company beyond the TiVo and iPod. Not that they aren’t excellent companions in their own right.