Women & Cats

What's that you say? Why haven't I told you all about my trip yet? Well, here goes.

After getting approximately .2340976 seconds of sleep Saturday night, I over-caffeinated myself to the point of nausea on Sunday morning, so having to watch a bald man seated in front of me on the plane picking at a bloody, oozing scab on his head was quite sub-optimal.

Despite that, I arrived in Virginia without incident and hailed a taxi to my hotel in a very professional manner. I smelled bad, was dressed like a college student, and I think I had lipstick smeared on my face, but the hailing--lo! the hailing!--was my very best imitation of a regular business traveler.

I spent Sunday night holed up in my hotel room feeling very sorry for myself for no particular reason. Monday morning I got a grip on myself, dressed up like A Person Who Does Business and took yet another taxi to the International Headquarters of the Organization for Which I Have Worked for Five Years.

I am so glad I took this trip. Being around colleagues / friends / compatriots / people who understand me was so refreshing, and training a group of people you'd need two hands to count made me realize that my job, while completely unglamorous and easily forgotten, is actually very important. I know things! Things that other people need to know! Things that are skills, even!

But more important than my "I matter" epiphany, I also got to see this. It's the ladies' room door on the floor where I was working. The grate at the bottom of the door is missing to allow the entry of smaller, furrier parties. And yes, there is a corresponding "men & cats" room down the hall. One must maintain a good sense of humor in my line of work, and having cats milling about does help. Sadly, there were not any wandering whiskers out and about during my visit, as they've all not-so-sadly gone home with people.

I did get to see some little darlings whom I would have smuggled home in a split second if I didn't think Jason would have immediately put me on a flight back to Virginia. I don't know their story, but whatever the case, they're definitely better off now. The mama kitty is the one peeking around the edge, and the pile of fluff next to her is made up of some of the orange and white kittens who dominated my tweets last week. I'll put up a video or two of them in another post, but suffice it to say that I may have spent more time finding reasons to leave my desk to go watch them than I spent doing actual work.

Yes, people, I get paid for this.

In between kitten-observing sessions, I managed to have dinner dates with coworkers three times, and go to an impromptu seven person pottery painting contest organized by one of my bosses. Could my job get any cooler? Probably not. I'll tell you later what I painted, but I will say that it necessitated me assuring everyone that I am not, in fact, an alcoholic. I don't know quite how our masterpieces will be distributed to us now that we've returned to our various corners of the country--we neglected to remember that none of us live in Virginia--but in my case I think it involves said boss coming to my house. Which would actually be pretty awesome.

I think I'll give you a kitten video now, because they are just that cute: