Meeting Toulouse

My adorable friend Erin--and roommate for next year--is obsessed with animals. With as many cats and dogs that live in our town, she's almost impossible to walk with, cooing and stopping to pet every four-legged creature that passes us. A couple days ago she called to say that her friend's cat had kittens and could we maybe have one for next year because we could easily hide it from our future landlord? I'll be honest: cats aren't my fav. Mostly because I've had a rough relationship with my cousins black and white devilish fur-ball but also because they don't care about you once they become actual cats. Rarely do they grace you with their presence, they walk all over your counters, drink from cups that are sitting wherever--they are a tad self-righteous. But I'm a sucker for babies, so a chubby, black-haired, blue-eyed kitten who would cuddle into my arms sounded fantastic (This also may be because I've been watching too many pregnancy movies). So I said yes. Toulouse and I met last night.

It had been a long day. I conducted 5 interviews, had two classes, had homework and tests to study for and all-in-all walked nearly 7 miles going back and forth from classes/home/interviews. Exhaustion. But Erin and I had plans to watch Glee--which was amaaaaazing, by the way!--so she picked me up after one of my meetings and when I got in the car Toulouse was sitting inside her sweatshirt. "He's been having awful gas," she said as she pulled him out of jacket and plopped him into my eager hands. My dislike for cats blew out the window like the putrid fumes he was silently emitting. I adored his blue eyes and baby-soft fur but this cat could whine, so I decided to put him, along with his claws and sharp set of teeth, on my notebook that was sitting on my lap and made sure he didn't fall off.

After a few seconds I heard something hitting the notebook, something wet. "Erin--I think he's peeing on my noteb--" and before I could finish my sentence and look down, I smelled it; rank, diarrhea, overpowering the vanilla Yankee car jar hanging from the front mirror. Holding the cat in the air, away from my lap and wool sweater, Erin and I laughed hysterically. He was perched on the tips of his paws, terrified of being in the air. She quickly grabbed him and put him in an empty, blue solo cup that was sitting in her car. Feeling relieved now that he had used me as a Port-a-Potty, he innocently stared at me from the top of the cup, his big eyes wondering why I was no longer holding him. Tears were streaming down my face from laughter, but I wasn't ready to hold Toulouse again, nor was my sweater.

One day, maybe when I find new notes from my Law class that aren't stained by a cat's bowel, Toulouse and I can be friends. We've got a few months to work on it.

Re-vamp

Clearly, I haven't posted much since beginning my blog last year. In fact, most of the few posts that I've had talked about how I didn't post. So, I'm starting over.

I went home this past weekend to spend time with my family and to see my friend Rachel. We went to high school together and afterwards I went off to school and she moved to Israel. It was supposed to be a year-study before she went to Pratt but she decided to stay. Rachel is one of the most unintentionally funny people I know. She interrupts when she is bored with the topic. She talks with her mouth full but makes it endearing rather than unbecoming. Rachel has huge eyes that look like at any moment they'll run out of her sockets; you can tell when she's really listening by the way they react. She has a laugh that is contagious and charming. She is artistic and silly. So when she said that she was moving to Israel and would have to join the army, I incredulously tried to respond in an appropriate way, whatever that would've been.

Anyway, Rachel comes back to the U.S. every so often, and this weekend she happened to be in. So, I made the three-hour trek home with my sister and a friend and met up with Rachel on Sunday morning (read: 11:30). She, my sister and I went to Panera for lunch and caught up as well as you can with someone that you haven't spoken to in a year. As nice as it is to see people after such long periods of time, it's kind of frustrating. You really miss out on the stories that keep a friendship going. The big stuff is important but the little oh-my-goodness-I-went-out-with-this-weirdo stories get left behind, and all of those together enhance the fibers of a relationship. But I'm rambling. Again.

We talked about our summers and I told her that I'm going to be in NYC to intern with one of our favorite magazines. Rachel's eyes expanded even farther out of her sockets and with complete sincerity told me I had to have a blog for everyone to read while I'm there.

So, I thought about this poor, neglected attempt of a blog and I told her I'd do it. I figure before I go I should become accustomed to blogging semi-daily, so I'm starting now. I leave for Manhattan in a month and a day. My goal is to blog 25 times. If there's anything you want to know more about or especially enjoy, please share it! I read many blogs but writing one is a task that I am nervous about, so I welcome feedback.

Here I go!