Am I destined to cat-sit at the beginning of each new school year? I did last year, and here I find myself doing it again. Both times were for UCLA professors who provided me with extremely comfortable and roomy lodgings, parking spaces, dial-up internet connections, and, oddly, red bedsheets. The cat I’m taking care of is the sweetest little six-month-old girl ever! Her name is Buttercup and she’s curious, active, and not in the least shy. In the one day that I have been here, she has sat on my lap twice, and the second time she even crawled up to sprawl over my chest and shoulder (while I was sitting up, I might add). Right now she’s napping on a folded-up blanket a few feet away from me. She’s excellent company.
Here she is earlier today:
Staying in this apartment is great because it’s spacious and air-conditioned, has a parking garage, and is in the neighborhood I wanted to live in when I was apartment-hunting last year! But the best thing about it, besides Buttercup, is that the professor has a PIANO. 😀 😀 😀 What more could I ask for? A great sheet music collection? Well, she has that too. I intend to learn Satie’s Gnossiennes by the time she gets back next week, even though my piano skills are now nonexistent. 😦
Alas, dial-up makes all internet activities a royal pain, and I’m using the prof’s computer (so I don’t want to download software onto it), so I won’t be on AIM or updating my journal too much. I think. I’m only ten minutes from my own apartment–and I’m already homesick for it, funnily enough–so I might go home occasionally, but I’m not sure I want to be spending that time on the computer. So we’ll see.
First day of school tomorrow!
[This post was imported on 4/10/14 from my old blog at satsumabug.livejournal.com.]
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 
technical question
at what age do kittens become cats?
are there “cat’s years”?
patrick
ahh!!!
Buttercup is ADORABLE!!! And she’s manapua’s age! If only we lived closer together, they could be playmates. 😀 How cute. She looks like she would be a fun playmate for the little rascally kitten who wakes me up at ungodly hours with wet kisses. So we figured out that probably she does that because whenever she’s sleeping, Devin and I always go and give her kisses because she’s so cute. She probably thinks it’s the thing to do!
And in response to Patrick’s question, kittens stop being kittens when they reach 1 year of age. And then they’re sort of like teenagers until they stop acting like one. Haha just kidding. They’re counted as adults in terms of, for example, buying kitten or adult cat food. But that doesn’t mean they’re any more mature. :]
Hope your first day of school went well! I baked oatmeal cookies for derek but they didn’t turn out to be as nummy as I’d hoped. They’re still good but definitely lacking something. Perhaps nutmeg or cinnamon. Hrm. :]
*hugs*
Shra
Re: ahh!!!
Hee, that’s what I was going to answer: 1 year. Hrm, I should give you the awesome oatmeal cookie recipe I have recently found. It doesn’t have any spices in it but is amazingly good.
Yes Buttercup is soooo cute! I think she’s a mix of Tibby, Honey, and Manapua, especially Manapua’s temperament. She’s really affectionate–I just got home and she purred all over me and then sat in my lap right away. 😀 😀 😀
*hugs*
[…] adopted them from a Russian couple, friends of one of my professors (Buttercup‘s grandmother, to be exact). Tisha is a nickname for a boy’s name, and Lyapa is a made-up name […]