Soul Thumping

Cats Are Like Wives...or Not

A few years ago I was on a project for work that required me to travel every week from my home in Nashville to Seattle for 8 months straight (in other words, Seattle was my home for 8 months).

Every Sunday night I had a car pick me up from the SEA-TAC airport to drive me to my hotel in downtown Seattle.  I got to know the driver fairly well, and we always chit-chatted about my life in Nashville or his new plans for his family.  One evening we got on the subject of my cats.  Cabbie Joe (I will call him that to protect his identity), who was from Nigeria, had a hard time understanding why people (and by "people," I believe he meant "Americans") wanted to own pets.  In his country, he explained, animals are not pets.  He started rattling off numbers on how much money "people"  could save if they didn't have pets.  He had apparently researched this topic well, unless the statistics he spewed at me were made up on the fly.

I had to agree with him (the figures were staggering when I heard them), but asked, "What about companionship?  Pets provide companionship."  He replied, "I have a wife and children for companionship."  I was tired, and didn't feel like getting into a huge philosophical debate with him.  He also believed that I, as a woman, should be married and not traveling around the country for work (this was a discussion we had had on a previous week).

Later that evening while checking emails from my hotel room, I started to give the pet conversation some thought.  Not because I necessarily agreed with him, but because he was extremely firm in his belief about not owning pets and he was very aggressive in getting his point across.  Perhaps he had a strong dislike of animals.  I don't know.

I mention this now because my poor Kwinn has been to the vet 3 times in the last week and a half.  I love this cat with every fiber of my being (I'm not exaggerating this time), but I'm beginning to detest going to the vet as much as he is.  Not just because of the cost, but because he is a rude little bastard when we arrive (understandably...I'll give him that), he pukes in my car each trip, and gives me the cold shoulder for days afterwards.

Last night, after cleaning the cat vomit from the cat carrier (after returning home from our 3rd vet  visit), for a split second I believed that perhaps Cabbie Joe was right after all.  For a nano second.  Then I went through the house looking for Kwinn to apologize for thinking such terrible thoughts.  I found him, hiding under the bed in the guest room.  I lifted the bedskirt and reached out to pet my beloved little companion.  On cue, he growled at me, turned his head the other way, thinking he should have just had a wife and some kids.

 

 

 

 

--Fortuitous Observer

And Another Chapter Comes to an End

It is done.  Tomorrow is my last day at a job that I've been at for nearly two years, but for the most part I've been unsatisfied because I haven't been doing what it is that I do.  I have a niche skill in the IT ERP system industry, and though I've been thankful for the job I've had and learned a great deal, it hasn't really "clicked" with the real me.

Fortunately,  a wonderful opportunity landed in my lap, and of course I had to take it.  Tomorrow is my last day at my current employer and I will of course leave my position in capable hands.

I have been sharing an office with our summer intern for over a year now (she stayed on part-time throughout the year, and she is defintely more than a summer intern), and she just graduated from high school and will start college in the fall.  I am extremely fond of this exceptionally smart, polite, sweet young lady and will truly miss her.  I will call her "Miss M."

Today as I was leaving the office and taking some of my personal belongings with me, I imparted some wisdom (if you want to call it that) on my Miss M as I prepare to leave for a new opportunity.  Throughout my working years, anytime I've left one job for another one, it has always, and I mean always been for the better.  I've never left a job and had later regrets.  I believe I have been fortunate in those regards because I've always gone with my gut instinct.  I may second guess myself sometimes, but I ask myself in the end to remember my initial gut instinct, which has yet to lead me astray.  That is the greatest tip I can give a younger generation.

So, as I close one door and open the next, I move on with confidence and certainty because I've relied on myself, even though my wiring seems faulty sometimes, it is my wiring, and thanks to my dad, I know how to use a soldering iron.

 

--Fortuitous Observer

 

I Want to be a Samurai

I've been working as a computer programmer/analyst/project manager for almost 16 years now and I'm bored.  I like what I do (most of the time) but I'm asking myself lately what it is that I really want to do.  I've decided.  I want to be a Samurai.

During my last semester of college I had to take one more elective course, and every course I was interested in taking was full, so my counselor, Sister Mary (I won't use her last name, yes it was a Catholic college, and no, I'm not Catholic), talked me into taking a Japanese film and literature course.  Actually, there wasn't much "talking" involved...she registered me for it, told me I was taking it, and that was that.  Nuns are very decisive.

Despite my determination to be obstinate, I fell in love with the course immediately.  Never did I think of Samurai warriors and medieval Japan as being so romantic (yes, I saw Shogun as a child, and yes Richard Chamberlain was hot).  I don't mean romantic in the gushy way, but in a beautiful, historic, respected way of life way...if that makes sense.  I was enthralled with this part of history that I knew nothing about.  I've been to Japan, and it is breathtakingly beautiful, but the stories of the Samurai warrior and their lonely, albeit exciting, lives made a huge impact on me during that class.  So prodigious in fact, that I decided I would like to be a Samurai.

Though the Samurai way of life was once very noble and respected, there isn't much demand for them these days.  There are no wealthy landowners who are looking to have their acres protected or poor villagers looking for a ronin (a wandering, lone samurai) to save them from evil miscreants who come to steal their meager dwellings and rice.  I've read through the want ads, performed searches on Monster.com and Craigslist (I did find an ad for a Samurai on Craigslist, but it wasn't the kind of Samurai job I was looking for, more specifically, I wasn't the type of Samurai they were looking for), but alas, nothing.

Until I find a position as a Samurai, I have to be content with watching old Kurosawa flicks and refrain from committing hara-kiri.  I suppose it's just as well.  Samurai were paid in rice, and I'm trying to watch my carbohydrate intake.  Sayonara ( さようなら ).

 

--Fortuitous Observer

Career Change at 41...Mars Bound

Just a question, right?  I could start over.  Why not?  For a second this morning, becoming an astronaut sounded appealing (and oh so original...just like every other Gen Xer at the age of 10) but I know I won't pass the mental, physcial, and IQ tests, so astronaut is out.

Although, anyone interested in becoming an astronaut should read this:  http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Become-An-Astronaut.  I found it this morning while searching on requirements for becoming an astronaut (See, I told you I thought about it for a second or two this morning.  I was serious in a not-really-serious-but-sort-of-curious way).  According to the author, "Not only do you need the balls the size of hypergiant twin binary-stars. You will need a baggage of academic and practical excellence."

So, astronaut is out for me...maybe swap meet coordinator?

--Fortuitous Observer