I just have to hold out for the rest of the week.

Here's a pretty picture to lower my blood pressure.

 

I'm cat sitting right now. This cat sitting gig requires I stay up there overnight. Which would, ordinarily, be fine, except...the house is so quiet. It's in a little pocket 'burb (in a larger area of suburbs) that is cut off from everything by a thick ring of trees and shrubs. This insulation prevents the sound of cars from getting in. And I never see her neighbors.

Well, that's a lie, I will see one or two scattered about the countryside, usually at 6:45 in the morning when I'm on her back patio in my pjs and frizzy, crazy hair feeding her outdoor cat. You can't really chat with people when you look that homeless and are holding a cup of dry cat food in one hand and a dish of the prepared soft food she gives her cats in the other. It's a bit of a p.r. nightmare, even for me.

Plus, interestingly enough for a woman with televisions in every room of her house, she has the most basic cable available. Meaning, she gets the broadcast stations, all the news, religious and public access stations you could possibly want, WGN Chicago, ABC Family and Ion.

This would ordinarily not be a huge problem, except the silence is so oppressive, and I'm watching 13 cats who are jumpy, frisky and very, very needy, and I feel like the last person alive on Earth. I need some t.v. with science or history content, or at least commercials to watch so I don't feel all alone, but the shows on tap are...sub-par. I've tried watching DVDs, but that makes me feel even more lonely (since there are no commercials, or they're movies, I know they're not being broadcast.)

I never thought I'd get to the point where commercials help me maintain my sanity.

I do like the kitties, and her house is really nice (if a bit furry), so it's got some upsides. I can't cook when I'm up there, which is cramping my style, the silence is driving me mad and there's one of her cats that screams like a woman when it's fighting, which can give you a bit of a start at 3 a.m. in a strange house, but I'll cope.

I only have to hold out until Saturday. Then I get to come home to my stuff, my cat and my cable with sixty trillion channels. Gods bless AT&T!