Growing Pains.

You know it's going to get interesting when by day three, mental notes-to-self are too numerous to account for: unplug the microwave, don't overfill the tea kettle or risk boiling overflows, open the bathroom door when you shower, push the toilet handle down all the way and HOLD it or else it will feign plugged-ness like a kid who plays sick to try and stay home from school.  NICE TRY toilet. No, I did not miss my bus this morning despite your best attempts to fool my newfound talent for early arrival. Take that you and your sniffly little toilet complaints elsewhere. In this little studio apartment I reign QUEEN.

Well, sort of. Like any obnoxiously bold statement (you know what they say about men in super-sized pickup trucks...) I am obviously trying to make up for some faulty, crippling insecurity in my life. 

To be honest, it's not even an arch rival human being. It's a cat by the name of Jake.

This little man-cat thinks he's the coolest cat around. And he probably is, but that's not really saying much because as far as I know, he may be the only cat in the building, aside from the little yapping creature next door that really should qualify as anything other than a dog. But I digress.

Jake is a beautiful tabby with attitude to boot. When I was in the process of moving in, he was on his best behavior for his momma, playing cute, purring, letting me pet him...now all I get is clawed swats at my ankles from under the table; stealthy ambushes that leave me licking my wounds. 

I thought I was the human here?!

Apparently, Jake has other ideas. In an attempt to play the bigger person (cat?) by not reacting to such behavior, I seem to be encouraging more of the same, not less, from Jake. The boredom that I had hoped would plague Jake and then cause the abandonment of his evil plans after he realized he wouldn't get a rile out of me has faded along with the hope of reciprocative interest. All I can say is that I'm in this studio apartment for three weeks and we both better make it out better than where we're starting. It can only go up from here.