Abiit nemine salutato: April 2008

Saturday, April 26, 2008

gasp choke

It's 3am, the so-called "witching hour." The time when most bad news are received via phone. The time when most people die in their sleep. The time when everything is just... Well, dead.

You're sleeping peacefully, a very deep sleep. Then you wake up gasping for air. You feel as if your airway is cut off as you begin to hack and sputter for air. You sit up, panting, sweating, frustrated. Your throat hurts, your eyes itch and you can't breathe through your nose.

Hay fever REALLY sicks.

I am sorry for not being on for the majority of this week. I've been absolutely sick with hay fever and whenever I get a chance to sleep normally, I take full advantage of it.

Monday, April 21, 2008

bye bye barney

Time has an odd way of working. Turns out, the application I filled out for Barney's adoption was supposed to be dropped off the same day or sooner.

Well today after work, I went to the animal shelter hoping to bond with Barney. Turns out, he was already adopted this Saturday past. When I heard this, I felt the bottom of my stomach drop down to my feet. I felt weak and lightheaded as if I was going to faint. It certainly didn't help I was fighting off hay fever, so you can imagine how I felt.

I went to the solarium where most of the cats are allowed to roam, nap and play to sit and center myself. I wept for 15 minutes. I lost him again.

What's infuriating is that I wasn't even told that he was adopted. They had the cellphone number to contact me. Another thing is that I wasn't told that I had to drop off the application very soon. I naturally assumed since I expressed great interest in Barney, they would hold him on the side.

But nooooo, someone had to procrastinate. No thanks to her, I lost Barney forever =(

At least we'll have that moment together.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Barney and Gabriel

As promised... here is Barney's pic. To say he was affectionate would be an understatement. The workers at the shelter were amazed to see a cat take so quickly to a potential owner. One of them even broke down in years.

Come on God... Cut me slack here. 100 bucks? Please let them give it to me for 70 or less or even free.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Barney = Rafiki

I went to the animal shelter today to view Barney. Upon my request, the attendant I was speaking to asked if I was the one who called on Saturday morning asking about him. She was more than happy to let me hold the cat.

I bent over and watched her as she unlocked the cage and stirred him from his sleep. He opened his eyes, yawned lazily and looked about. We made eye contact and just stared at each other. He actually reached out through the bars with his paw.

She scooped him up and gave me to hold. We stared at each other again. He then did something which not only shocked the workers but sent a chill down my spine. He rested his head on my left shoulder suckled on my left ear. Something Rafiki used to do.

The people were surprised. They all claimed that in the 20 years the shelter has been open, none of the cats had ever acted in such a way. Even the more affectionate ones. One woman even broke down in tears. Another took a picture. As soon as she emails it to me, I'll post it.

When one of them noticed I was also getting misty eyed, I explained why. Needless to say there wasn't a dry eye in the office. This was definitely my cat Rafiki reincarnated. I remember reading sometime ago that certain S. Korean Buddhists believe that animals go through a cycle of reincarnation. I believe that this was one of those times.

It felt good having a cat in my arms again being all lovey-dovey. Mind you, I love Simon with all of my heart but he's not exactly a lap cat and is schmoopy when he wants food but Barney... Barney was all love. If I didn't know better, I swear this cat was hugging me at the moment.

I really hope everything goes well and I'm able to adopt him. I can certainly afford it. I can ask for the 100 bucks from my job and pay it back in 20 weeks and the references will go swimmingly (Tom is a cat lover like myself and Sam loved Rafiki).

My main concern is the vet history concerning Simon and Pedro.

Oh God. Please cut me some slack. I'm not asking for much. Just a chance to have my cat returned to me.