Claws In The Lease Agreement

Well, here is the situation.

Here they come for that deposit!

I have a cat.


I was staying in Saturday night, after about 36 hours sober, and not wanting to face the temptation of the Quarter.


I heard some loud meowing outside my door and opened it to see Rose, a fellow resident, holding a gold cat which she said had been abandoned outside by someone.


I told her that I had been trying to coax one of the neighborhood stray cats to befriend me by leaving food for it; but had not been regular enough in my efforts for the cat to be able to expect me at any certain time of the day, and so I hadn't seen it very often.


She soon knocked on my door, holding the cat, a box full of liter and a small paper bag of food.


After we got the thing calmed down (it had been meowing constantly and shaking with fear) she left it to me, and by the next morning it was acting as if it owned the place.


Some of the drawbacks of having the cat, besides the fact that there is a 50 dollar "pet deposit" levied against us residents, became apparent when I realized that the liter box would have to be emptied and refilled at least every other day, and that the cat was going to scratch up the furniture and everything else that it could sink its claws into. My fake-leather covered chairs would be particularly vulnerable to having visible damage done to them.


The thing is still pretty much a kitten, and I will eventually be able to establish some sort of communication with it, in order to train it to not destroy the furniture; I just didn't want to be swatting it on the nose with a newspaper and yelling "no" at this early stage in acclimating it to the apartment. I was trying to calm it down.


I will be able to get a note from my doctor, claimed Rose, which could state that the cat provides the medical functions of staving off depression and lowering my blood pressure and would then be able to have the pet deposit waived.


Another Tie To Apartment

Of course, this is one more thing which kind of ties me to the apartment and pushes into the background the dream of hopping a train with only a backpack and a guitar and seeing the world; but I guess I could do that with a cat in tow.


Also, if I were to tell my caseworker that I planned to be away for 6 months or so, but intended to come back; the apartment might be waiting for me if I did so.


I am just a bit concerned about how my eczema, which I had made a non factor, through diet and exercise and stress free living with plenty of fresh air and sunlight, over the past 10 years, has flared up during the 9 months that I have been living here.


I have read up on the subject quite extensively on line and have seen at least one account from a guy who had pretty bad eczema only when he was living in a certain house, which cleared up when he moved away (the eczema, not the house).


I have reasoned that, in this new dwelling, I am not getting as much sunlight as I was when homeless.


I probably don't have as much adrenaline in my bloodstream as I did when I had to sleep with my guitar tied around my arm and a weapon within reach and would wake up at the sound of a twig snapping.


I wasn't shopping at the same market, where the produce may have different pesticides on it.


And, I wasn't eating any microwaved food. At all. I mention this because, I have also seen articles by people who claim that a microwave oven somehow (excuse the pun) "turns" food toxic.

The Sixth Third Day Sober This Past Year

I'm on another juice fast, and have been since I had my last beer, 80 hours ago, now. I feel better already, and now I just have to go out tomorrow (Monday) night to play for cat food and liter and other non alcoholic purchases. 
I am thinking of replacing the third solar light that has been stolen with one which will run off of batteries that I can charge in the apartment using the free electricity that I get. 
The solar idea was really cool, free energy from the sun -I got quite a charge out of that- but someone seems to be waiting for me to replace the stolen ones so he can steal them also; probably has a regular customer telling him "Yeah, I could use a few more lights, I'll give you a pack of smokes for each one..." 
Sacred Heart skeezers have nothing better to do than that


Am trying to quit smoking at the same time, and struggling. 
"Smoking" is either chain smoking or not smoking at all. Funny how drinking for me kind of becomes either waking up in the morning and having to look around the room for clues as to what happened the previous night (do I still have my guitar? did I bring home any money?) or not drinking a drop...

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