Posts Tagged ‘interviews’

From the dawn of time man has sought to extinguish creatures large and small. Whether it be for food, clothing, or just the thrill of the hunt, the human race has attained its position of supremacy in the animal kingdom on the basis of its intelligence, guile, and opposable thumbs. But there are some feats of hunting that even we are no match for: I speak specifically of hunting mice in New York City.

You’ve followed my travails so I don’t have to tell you that I’ve tried everything. You’ll believe me when I tell you this is my very last resort. While I may have come up short in this epic battle for control of Studio Soleil, there is one creature that historically has never failed.

Meet my latest weapon, Six.

I spent a few hours on Thursday down at NYU Law (which is beautiful, by the way, and makes CLS look like a toaster) for their Public Interest Fair (we don’t have our own, but they let New York-area students leech off of theirs). I had an interview at 11AM and then I wanted to sit around picking the brain of one of the ADA’s who had a table there. The interview went well, I was very on. But I have approximately zero desire to work at the organization in question. I only gave their website a cursory glance before firing off an application. The night before the interview (and well past the deadline to cancel) I actually dug through their website and learned about their mission. Turns out I didn’t actually agree with a lot of their principles. But I figured interview practice never hurts. I left the fair around 3PM and headed up to my old neighborhood on the upper east side.

I got her from the ASPCA on 92nd Street. The people there are wonderful. I could not have asked for a better adoption experience. I went into the reception area and was greeted by a young, blond woman with a cheerful disposition and she helped me get my initial paperwork in order. Following that, an almost-elderly woman who volunteered as an adoption intake assistant (AIS) came to introduce me to some cats. She asked what I was looking for in a cat and I told her I wanted one that was no younger than ten. Incredulously, she asked, “Ten years old?” I nodded and she replied, “Why??” I told her that I felt sorry for older cats because no one seemed to want them and I didn’t mind so why not?

From that moment on I was paraded around the building like a war hero just returning home from battle. My AIS would stop every orange-shirted person she saw to tell them that THIS young lady wanted a cat that was ten years old and isn’t that special?

So then she brought me through the glass doors and sat me down to introduce me to Paulette. She was a very sweet lap cat. I don’t know what about me struck the AIS as someone who wanted a lap cat, but I wasn’t feeling any connection. And she was getting black hair all over my clothes. And she was only seven. So I asked to see some more cats. I met a giant fur ball named Brandy and caught a quick glimpse of my future. After I determined that I didn’t have a spare eight hours per day to spend vacuuming, my AIS led me upstairs and I saw a few more nice-looking cats in their glass habitats. No one really struck my fancy in the first room so we proceeded on to the second room where my congregation of AISes had grown to three. As they were definitely up there in years, I suspect they were particularly moved by my strict no youngins requirement.

I met a pretty white cat named Spot that they all seemed to adore although I could not for the life of me figure out why. He wasn’t friendly and when he was let out of his cabinet, he strutted around picking fights with all the other cabinetted cats. After Spot was put away, they showed me Shelley, who I had remembered from the ASPCA website. She was adorable. When they let her out, she came right to me and let me pick her up. I stood there holding her for a long while and knew she would be the one I would take home. She was apparently an ASPCA-worker favorite and everyone was especially nice to me when they found out I was taking her. At thirteen years old, she was the oldest cat I saw and probably the oldest one they had. She had her problems as old cats tend to have (a controlled-by-medication case of hypothyroidism), but she was small and perfect and I had to have her.

I brought her home, re-named her Six (not after the Blossom character), and she immediately went about inspecting everything. When bedtime came, I was surprised that she was still spry enough to make the leap from the floor to my bed. It being her first night and all, I allowed this transgression, but when I awoke in the middle of the night to her sitting on my chest I had a paranoid moment when I thought she was trying to kill me. This morning I put her little cat bed the ASPCA gave me on top of my bed and placed her in it. Ever since then whenever she jumps up onto my bed, she walks straight into her own and plops right down.

As I sit here alternating between writing this post and researching my issue for my moot court brief, she’s sitting under my chair quietly and calmly in a matter befitting someone of her years. As a Very Serious Law Student I’m happy with what a low-maintenance companion she’s turning out to be.